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Title: Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)
Author: Theodore Roosevelt
Release date: November 5, 2024 [eBook #74680]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: The Review of Reviews Company
Credits: A Marshall and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS, VOLUME 2 (OF 7) ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
The original edition did not include a Table of Contents. For the
convenience of the reader one has been created:
Presidential Addresses and State Papers 401
At Dedication of Navy Memorial Monument, San Francisco, Cal.,
May 14, 1903 401
At the University of California, Berkeley, Cal., May 14, 1903 404
At Banquet of the Union League Club of San Francisco, Cal.,
May 14, 1903 413
At Carson City, Nevada, May 19, 1903 414
From Address at the Laying of the Cornerstone of the Lewis and
Clark Memorial, Portland, Ore., May 21, 1903 419
Remarks in Accepting Souvenir Presented by the Workmen of the
Navy Yard, Bremerton, Wash., May 23, 1903 420
To the Arctic Brotherhood, Seattle, Wash., May 23, 1903 421
From Address at Everett, Wash., May 23, 1903 426
From Address at Seattle, Wash., May 23, 1903 428
At Spokane, Wash., May 26, 1903 429
From Address at Columbia Gardens, Butte, Mont., May 27, 1903 432
At the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 29, 1903 435
At Freeport, Ill., June 3, 1903 444
At the Lincoln Monument, Springfield, Ill., June 4, 1903 446
At the Consecration of Grace Memorial Reformed Church,
Washington, D. C., June 7, 1903 446
At the Saengerfest, Baltimore, Md., June 15, 1903 449
At the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.,
June 16, 1903 453
To the Holy Name Society at Oyster Bay, N. Y., August 16, 1903 458
On Board the _Kearsarge_, During the Review of the Fleet,
August 17, 1903 463
On Board the _Olympia_ During the Review of the Fleet,
August 17, 1903 465
At the State Fair, Syracuse, N. Y., September 7, 1903 466
At Richmond Hill, N. Y., September 8, 1903 481
At Antietam, Md., September 17, 1903 482
At the Unveiling of the Sherman Statue, Washington, D. C.,
October 15, 1903 489
At the Pan-american Missionary Service, Cathedral of St. Peter
and St. Paul, Mount St. Alban, Washington, D. C.,
October 25, 1903 495
At the Centennial Exercises in the N. Y. Avenue Presbyterian
Church, Washington, D. C., Nov. 16, 1903 501
Remarks to the Delegates of the German Societies Received at the
White House, Thursday, November 19, 1903 506
Correspondence, October 18, 1902 - To: Mrs. Van Vorst 508
Correspondence, November 26, 1902 - Re: Appointment of Dr. Crum 510
Correspondence, February 24, 1903 - To: Mr. Howell 514
Correspondence, July 13, 1903 - To: Secretary Cortelyou 518
Correspondence, July 14, 1903 - To: Mr. Cortelyou 520
Statement to American Federation of Labor, September 29, 1903 521
Correspondence, August 6, 1903 - To: Governor Durbin 523
Message of the President of the United States, Communicated to the
Two Houses of Congress, at the Beginning of the First Session of
the Fifty-seventh Congress 529
Message of the President of the United States, Communicated to the
Two Houses of Congress at the Beginning of the Second Session of
the Fifty-seventh Congress 605
Message of the President of the United States, Communicated to the
Two Houses of Congress at the Beginning of the First Session of
the Fifty-eighth Congress 644
Message of the President of the United States, Communicated to the
Two Houses of Congress at the Beginning of the Second Session of
the Fifty-eighth Congress 648
Message of the President of the United States, Communicated to the
Two Houses of Congress on January 4, 1904 709
Extracts from the Messages of Theodore Roosevelt As Governor of
the State of New York 758
Message of the Governor of New York to the Legislature,
January 2, 1899 758
Message of the Governor of New York to the Legislature,
May 22, 1899 760
Message of the Governor of New York to the Legislature,
January 3, 1900 770
First Administration Index 789
[Illustration: _THE FOURTH OF MARCH, 1901_
_A photograph taken on the day when Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in
as Vice-President of the United States_]
Homeward Bound Edition
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
AND STATE PAPERS
_December 3, 1901, to January 4, 1904_
BY
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
[Illustration: (colophon)]
[INDEX FIRST ADMINISTRATION]
PUBLISHED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE
AUTHOR THROUGH SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
VOLUME II
NEW YORK
THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS COMPANY
MCMX
The Publishers desire to make clear to the readers that Ex-president Roosevelt
retains no pecuniary interest in the sale of the volumes containing these
speeches. He feels that the material contained in these addresses
has been dedicated to the public, and that it is, therefore,
not to be handled as copyrighted material from which
Mr. Roosevelt should receive any pecuniary return.
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
AND STATE PAPERS
DECEMBER 3, 1901
TO
JANUARY 4, 1904
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS
AT DEDICATION OF NAVY MEMORIAL MONUMENT, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., MAY 14,
1903
_Mr. Mayor; My Fellow-Citizens_:
The ground for this monument was first turned by President McKinley,
and I am glad to have the chance of saying a few words in dedication
of the completed monument. There is no branch of our government in
which all our people are so deeply interested as the Navy of the
United States. It is not merely San Francisco, not merely New York, or
Boston, or Charleston, or New Orleans, not merely the seacoast cities
of the Nation; every individual in the Nation who is proud of America
and jealous of her good name must feel a thrill of generous emotion
at the erection of a monument to the navy, a monument to the fleet
which was victorious under Admiral Dewey on the first of May five
years ago, a fleet which then added a new page to the long honor roll
of American achievement. It is eminently fitting that there should be
here in this great city on the Pacific Ocean a monument to commemorate
the deed which showed once for all that America had taken her position
on the Pacific. I want you all to draw a practical lesson from this
commemoration. We to-day dedicate this monument because those who
went before us had the wisdom to make ready for the victory. If we
wish our children to have the chance of dedicating monuments of this
kind in the event of war we must see that the navy is made ready in
advance. To dedicate the monument would be an empty and foolish thing
if we accompanied it by an abandonment of our national policy of
building up the navy. And good though it is to erect this monument, it
is better still to go on with the building up of the navy which gave
the monument to us, and which, if we ever give it a fair chance, can
be relied upon to rise level to our needs.
Remember that after the war has begun it is too late to improvise
a navy. A naval war is two-thirds settled in advance, at least
two-thirds, because it is mainly settled by the preparation which has
gone on for years preceding its outbreak. We won at Manila because the
shipbuilders of the country, including those here at San Francisco,
under the wise provisions of Congress, had for fifteen years before
been preparing the navy. In 1882 our navy was a shame and a disgrace
to the country in point of material. The personnel contained as fine
material as there was to be found in the world but the ships and the
guns were antiquated, and it would have been a wicked absurdity to
have sent them against the ships of any good power. Then we began to
build up the navy. Every ship that fought under Dewey had been built
between 1883 and 1896.
We come here as patriots remembering that our party lines stop at the
water’s edge. That fleet was successful in 1898 because under the
previous administrations of both political parties, under the previous
Congresses controlled by both political parties, for the previous
fifteen years there had been a resolute effort to build adequate
ships. The ships that went in under Dewey had been constructed under
different successive Secretaries of the Navy and had been provided for
by different successive Congresses of the United States. Not one of
them had been built less than two years, some of them fourteen years.
We could not have begun to fight that battle if we had not been for so
many years making ready the navy.
The last Congress has taken greater strides than any previous Congress
in making ready the navy, but it will be two or three years before the
effects are seen. In no branch of the government are foresight and the
carrying out of a steady and continuous policy so necessary as in the
navy; and you, citizens of San Francisco, of California, and all our
citizens should make it a matter of prime duty to see that there is
no halt in that work, that the next Congress, and the Congress after
that, and the Congress after that, go right on providing formidable
warcraft, providing officers, providing men, and providing the means
of training them in peace to be effective in war. The best ships and
the best guns do not count unless they are handled aright and aimed
aright, and the best men can not thus handle the one nor aim the other
if they do not have ample practice. Our people must be trained in
handling our ships in squadrons on the high seas. Our people on the
ships must be trained by actual practice to do their duty in conning
tower, in the engine-rooms, in the gun-turrets. The shots that count
in battle are the shots that hit.
We have reason to be satisfied with the rapid increase in accuracy
in marksmanship of the navy in recent years, and I congratulate
Admiral Glass and those under him and all our naval officers who are
taking their part so well in perfecting that work, and I congratulate
the enlisted men of the navy upon the extraordinary improvement in
marksmanship shown by the gun pointers.
Applaud the navy and what it has done. That is first-class. But make
your applause count by seeing that the good work goes on. Besides
applauding now see to it that the navy is so built up that the men of
the next generation will have something to applaud also.
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, CAL., MAY 14, 1903
_President Wheeler; Fellow-Members of the University_:
Last night, in speaking to one of my new friends in California, he
told me that he thought enough had been said to me about the fruits
and flowers; that enough had been said to me about California being an
Eden, and that he wished I would pay some attention to Adam as well.
Much though I have been interested in the wonderful physical beauty of
this wonderful State, I have been infinitely more interested in its
citizenship, and perhaps most in its citizenship in the making.
When I come to the University of California and am greeted by its
President I am greeted by an old and valued friend, a friend whom I
have not merely known socially but upon whom, while I was Governor of
New York, I leaned often for advice and assistance in the problems
with which I had to deal. When he accepted your offer I grudged him
to you. And it was not until I came here, not until I have seen you,
that I have been fully reconciled to the loss. But now I am, for I can
conceive of no happier life for any man to lead to whom life means
what it should mean, than the life of the President of this great
University.
This same friend last night suggested to me a thought that I intend
to work out in speaking to you to-day. We were talking over the
University of California, and from that we spoke of the general
educational system of our country. Facts tend to become commonplace,
and we tend to lose sight of their importance when once they are
ingrained into the life of the Nation. Although we talk a good deal
about what the widespread education of this country means, I question
if many of us deeply consider its meaning. From the lowest grade
of the public school to the highest form of university training,
education in this country is at the disposal of every man, every
woman, who chooses to work for and obtain it. The State has done much,
very much; witness this university. Private benefaction has done
very much; witness also this university. And each one of us who has
obtained an education has obtained something for which he or she has
not personally paid. No matter what the school, what the university,
every American who has a school training, a university training, has
obtained something given to him outright by the State, or given to him
by those dead or those living who were able to make provision for that
training because of the protection of the State, because of existence
within its borders. Each one of us then who has an education, school
or college, has obtained something from the community at large for
which he or she has not paid, and no self-respecting man or woman
is content to rest permanently under such an obligation. Where the
State has bestowed education the man who accepts it must be content
to accept it merely as a charity unless he returns it to the State in
full, in the shape of good citizenship. I do not ask of you, men and
women here to-day, good citizenship as a favor to the State. I demand
it of you as a right, and hold you recreant to your duty if you fail
to give it.
Here you are in this university, in this State with its wonderful
climate, which is permitting people of a northern stock for the
first time in the history of that northern stock to gain education
in physical surroundings somewhat akin to those which surrounded the
early Greeks. Here you have all those advantages and you are not to
be excused if you do not show in tangible fashion your appreciation
of them and your power to give practical effect to that appreciation.
From all our citizens we have a right to expect good citizenship;
but most of all from those who have received most; most of all from
those who have had the training of body, of mind, of soul, which
comes from association in and with a great university. From those to
whom much has been given we have Biblical authority to expect and
demand much in return; and the most that can be given to any man is
education. I expect and demand in the name of the Nation much more
from you who have had training of the mind than from those of mere
wealth. To the man of means much has been given, too, and much will
be expected from him, and ought to be, but not as much as from you,
because your possession is more valuable than his. If you envy him I
think poorly of you. Envy is merely the meanest form of admiration,
and a man who envies another admits thereby his own inferiority. We
have a right to expect from the college bred man, the college bred
woman, a proper sense of proportion, a proper sense of perspective,
which will enable him or her to see things in their right relation one
to another, and when thus seen while wealth will have a proper place,
a just place, as an instrument for achieving happiness and power, for
conferring happiness and power, it will not stand as high as much else
in our national life. I ask you to take that not as a conventional
statement from the university platform, but to test it by thinking of
the men whom you admire in our past history and seeing what are the
qualities which have made you admire them, what are the services they
have rendered. For as President Wheeler said to-day, it is true now
as it ever has been true that the greatest good fortune, the greatest
honor, that can befall any man is that he shall serve, that he shall
serve the Nation, serve his people, serve mankind; and looking back in
history the names that come up before us, the names to which we turn,
the names of the men of our own people which stand as shining honor
marks in our annals, the names of those men typifying qualities which
rightly we should hold in reverence, are the names of the statesmen,
of the soldiers, of the poets—and after them, not abreast of them, the
names of the architects of our material prosperity also.
Of recent years I have been thrown in contact with a number of college
graduates doing good service to the country, and as I wish to make it
perfectly evident what I mean by the kind of service which I should
hope to have from you and which it seems to me worth while to render,
I want to say just a word about two college graduates who have during
the last five years rendered and are now rendering such services:
Governor Taft in the Philippines, and Brigadier-General Leonard
Wood, lately Governor of Cuba. When we acquired the Philippines and
took possession for the time being of Cuba to train its people in
citizenship, we assumed heavy responsibilities; so heavy that some
very excellent persons thought we ought to shirk them. I hold that
a great and masterful people forfeits its title to greatness if it
shirks any work because that work is difficult and responsible.
The difficulty and responsibility impose upon us the high duty of
doing the work well, but they in no way excuse us for refusing to
do it. We had to do the work and the question came of the choice of
instruments in doing it. The most important and most difficult task
after the establishment of order by the army in the Philippines was
the establishment of civil government therein; and second only in
importance to that came the administration of Cuba, during the three
years and over that elapsed before we were able to turn its government
over to its own people and start it as a free Republic. When tasks
are all-important the most important factor in doing them right is
the choice of the agents; and among the many debts of gratitude which
this Nation owes to President McKinley, no debt is greater than the
debt we owe him for the choice of his instruments, such a choice as
that of Taft, such a choice as that of Wood. We sent Taft to the
Philippines; we sent Wood to Cuba; both of them as tested by the
standard of our commercial life, poor men; each man with little more
than his salary to keep himself and his family; each man to handle
millions upon millions of dollars, to have the power by mere conniving
at what was improper to acquire untold wealth—and sent them knowing
that we did not ever have to consider whether such opportunities would
be temptations toward them; sent them knowing that they had the ideals
of the true American and that, therefore, we did not have to consider
the chance of such a temptation appealing to them.
Taft went to the Philippines to stay there; not only forfeiting
thereby the certainty of brilliant rise in his profession on the
bench or at the bar here if he had stayed, but at imminent risk to
his own health; because he felt that his duty as an American made him
go; that, as President McKinley told me of him, he had been drafted
into the service of the country and he could not honorably refuse.
We have seen in consequence the Philippine Islands administered by
the American official who is at the head of the government and by his
colleagues in the interest primarily of their people, and seeking to
obtain for the United States, for the dominant race, that spent its
blood and its treasure in making firm and stable the government of
those islands, the reward that comes from the consciousness of duty
well done. Under Taft, by and through his efforts, not only have peace
and material well-being come to those islands to a degree never before
known in their recorded history, and to a degree infinitely greater
than had ever been dreamed possible by those who knew them best, but
more than that, a greater measure of self-government has been given to
them than is now given to any other Asiatic people under alien rule,
than to any other Asiatic people under their own rulers, save Japan
alone. That is an achievement of the past five years which I hold to
be absolutely unparalleled in history; and when the debit and credit
side of our national life is finally made up a long stroke shall be
put to the credit side for what has been done in the Philippines under
Taft and his associates.
In the same way Leonard Wood worked in Cuba. Put down there to do an
absolutely new task, to take a people of a different race, a different
speech, a different creed, a people just emerging from the hideous
welter of a war, cruel and sanguinary beyond what we in this fortunate
country can readily conceive, to take a people down in the depths of
poverty and misery, just recovering from suffering which makes one
shudder to think of, a people untrained utterly and absolutely in
self-government, and fit them for it; and he did it. For three years
he worked. He established a school system as good as the best that
we have in any of our States. He cleaned cities which had never been
cleaned in their existence before. He secured absolute safety for life
and property. He did the kind of governmental work which should be the
undying honor of our people forever. And he came home to what? He came
home to be thanked by a few, to be attacked by others—not to their
credit—and to have as his real reward the sense that though his work
had been done at pecuniary sacrifice to him, that though the demands
upon him had been such as to eat into his private means, yet he had
worthily and well done his duty as an American citizen and reflected
fresh honor upon the uniform of the United States Army.
I have chosen Taft and Wood simply as instances of what other men
by the hundred have done, Americans who have graduated from no
college, Americans who have graduated from our different colleges, and
especially by practically all those Americans who have graduated from
the two great typical American institutions of learning—West Point and
Annapolis. Taft and Wood and their fellows are spending or have spent
the best years of their prime in doing a work which means to them
pecuniary loss, at the best a bare livelihood while they are doing
it, and are doing it gladly because they realize the truth that the
highest privilege that can be given to any American is the privilege
of serving his country, his fellow-Americans. As I am speaking to an
audience with proper ideals, when I say that Taft and Wood have done
all this service to their pecuniary loss I am holding them up not for
pity but for admiration. Every man, every woman here should feel it
incumbent upon him or her to welcome with joy the chance to render
service to the country, service to our people at large, and to accept
the rendering of the service as in itself ample repayment therefor. Do
not misunderstand me. The average man, the average woman must earn his
or her living in one way or another, and I most emphatically do not
advise any one to decline to do the humdrum, every-day duties because
there may come a chance for the display of heroism. I ask of you the
straightforward, earnest, performance of duty in all the little things
that come up day by day in business, in domestic life, in every way,
and then when the opportunity comes, if you have thus done your duty
in the lesser things, I know you will rise level to the heroic needs.
AT BANQUET OF THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., MAY 14,
1903
_Mr. Toastmaster, and you, my Fellow-Members of the Union League
Club_:
No one can too strongly insist upon the elementary fact that you can
not build the superstructure of public virtue save on private virtue.
The sum of the parts is the whole, and if we wish to make that whole,
the State, the representative and exponent and symbol of decency,
it must be so made through the decency, public and private, of the
average citizen.
It is absolutely essential if we are to have the proper standard of
public life that promise shall be square with performance. A lie is
no more to be excused in politics than out of politics. A promise is
as binding on the stump as off the stump; and there are two facets to
that crystal. In the first place, the man who makes a promise which
he does not intend to keep and does not try to keep should rightly be
adjudged to have forfeited in some degree what should be every man’s
most precious possession—his honor. On the other hand, the public that
exacts a promise which ought not to be kept, or which can not be kept,
is by just so much forfeiting its right to self-government. There is
no surer way of destroying the capacity for self-government in a
people than to accustom that people to demanding the impossible or
the improper from its public men. No man fit to be a public man will
promise either the impossible or the improper; and if the demand is
made that he shall do so it means putting a premium upon the unfit in
public life. There is the same sound reason for distrusting the man
who promises too much in public that there is for distrusting the man
who promises too much in private business.
The one indispensable thing for us to keep is a high standard of
character for the average American citizen.
AT CARSON CITY, NEVADA, MAY 19, 1903
_Mr. Governor, Mr. Mayor, and you, my Fellow-Citizens_:
It has been a great pleasure to be introduced in the more than kind
words the Governor has used, because the Governor has been a genuine
pioneer.
Here in this great Western country, the country which is what it is
purely because the pioneers who came here had iron in their veins,
because they were able to conquer plain and mountain, and to make the
wilderness blossom, we are not to be excused if we do not see to it
that the generation that comes after us is trained to have the sum of
the fundamental qualities which enabled their fathers to succeed.
I want to say one special word to-day here in Carson City on a subject
in which all of our people from the Atlantic to the Pacific take an
interest, but which affects in especial the people of the States of
the great plains and mountains and affects no State more than it does
Nevada—the question of irrigation. Now, as I say, I do not regard that
as in any way merely a question of the Rocky Mountain States, of the
great plains States, because anything which tends for the well-being
of any portion of the Union is therefore for the well-being of all
of it, and it was for that reason that I felt warranted in appealing
to the people of the seaboard States on the Atlantic, to the people
of the States of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley, to say
that it was their duty to help in bringing about a scheme of national
irrigation, because the interest of any part of this country is the
interest of all of it; and no man is a really good American who fails
to grasp that fact.
The National Government is still, as you all well know, but as many
Easterners do not know, the greatest land owner in the Western States,
and among all those States Nevada holds the great proportion of vacant
public land, and the need of Nevada for Federal assistance was one
of the strongest arguments used in the discussion which preceded the
reclamation act of June, 1902, the irrigation act of a year ago. The
great extent of the vacant public lands in the State, the fact that
its water supply came chiefly from streams rising in the adjoining
State of California, and the overwhelming difficulties which for these
and other reasons prevented the people of Nevada from efficiently
acting in their own interest, made, in my judgment, and, as it proved,
in the judgment of the Congress, Federal interference absolutely
imperative. It is a matter for the strongest congratulation, not
only for the West, but for the whole Nation, that the policy went
into effect. It is a matter of special congratulation to Nevada that
the Secretary of the Interior, guided in his choice wholly by actual
conditions on the ground, has been led to undertake one of the five
sets of works which have been first undertaken, here in Nevada,
particularly near Reno on the Truckee River, as one of the national
projects for the starting and working of the methods of the law.
Extensive surveys have already been made, and the projects for water
storage and water distribution are at a point which warrants our
belief that immediate action is in sight. There are vast tracts of
excellent land still in the ownership of the general government here
in Nevada and elsewhere to which the reclamation act will bring the
flood waters that now annually go to waste. For Nevada most of these
waters originate in the high mountains lying in sight of Reno, largely
just across the State line in California. Some of these mountains
have been included in the forest reserves, and your interests and the
interests of the irrigators in California imperatively demand the
extension of the forest reserve system so that the source of supply
for the great reservoirs and irrigation works may be safe from fire,
from over-grazing, and from destructive lumbering. I ask you to pay
attention to what I say when I use the word destructive lumbering;
no one can desire to prevent, or do anything but help, practical and
conservative lumbering. In other words, my fellow-citizens, we have
reached a condition in which it must be the object of the Nation and
the State to favor the development of the home-maker, of the man
who takes up the land intending to keep it for himself and for his
children, so that it shall be even of better use to them than to him.
The opportunities for the development of Nevada are very great. Until
recently Nevada was only thought of as a mineral and stock-raising
State. Much can be done yet as regards both the mineral exploitation
and the raising of stock within the State; but now under the stimulus
of irrigation it is probable that irrigated agriculture will come
to the front, and when it does the population will increase with a
rapidity and permanence never before known. The State of Nevada has
led the way not only in the strength of its plea for national aid
in irrigation, but also in its willingness to assist in the work.
I wish to lay emphasis on the fact that in Nevada the authorities
have been anxious in every way to help in working out the problem of
irrigation; and to pay all acknowledgment to them now. The recent
Legislature passed laws which in many respects should serve as models
for the legislation of other States. The union of land and water under
the national law has been recognized, and so has the fundamental
proposition which necessarily underlies the prosperity of all
communities in which irrigated agriculture is the chief industry,
namely, that the water belongs to the people and can not be made a
monopoly. The public appreciation of this fundamental truth that the
water belongs to the people to be taken and put to beneficial use will
wipe out many controversies which are at present so harmful to the
development of the West. And the example of Nevada will be of material
aid in bringing about this fortunate result.
As I said of the forests so it is even more true of the water supply.
It should be our constant policy by national and by State legislation
to see that the water is used for the benefit of the occupants of the
soil, of those who till and use the soil, that it is not exploited by
any one man or set of men in his or their interests as against the
interests of those on the land who are to use it. It is a fundamental
truth that the prosperity of any people is simply another term for the
prosperity of the home-makers among that people. Our entire policy in
irrigation, in forestry, in handling the public lands, should be in
recognition of that truth, to favor in every way the man who wishes to
take up a given area of soil and thereon to build a home in which he
will rear his children as useful citizens of the State.
FROM ADDRESS AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNERSTONE OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK
MEMORIAL, PORTLAND, ORE., MAY 21, 1903
_Mr. Mayor, and you, my Fellow-Citizens_:
We come here to-day to lay a cornerstone of a monument that is to
call to mind the greatest single pioneering feat on this continent,
the voyage across the continent by Lewis and Clark, which rounded
out the ripe statesmanship of Jefferson and his fellows by giving
to the United States all of the domain between the Mississippi and
the Pacific. Following their advent came the reign of the fur trade;
and then some sixty years ago those entered in whose children and
children’s children were to possess the land. Across the continent
in the early 40’s came the ox-drawn white-topped wagons bearing the
pioneers, the stalwart, sturdy, sunburned men, with their wives and
their little ones, who entered into this country to possess it. You
have built up here this wonderful commonwealth, a commonwealth great
in its past, and infinitely greater in its future.
It was a pleasure to me to-day to have as part of my escort the men of
the Second Oregon, who carried on the expansion of our people beyond
the Pacific as your fathers had carried it on to the Pacific. Speaking
to you here I do not have to ask you to face the future high of heart
and confident of soul. You could not assume any other attitude and be
true to your blood, true to the position in which you find yourselves
on this continent. I speak to the men of the Pacific Slope, to the
men whose predecessors gave us this region because they were not
afraid, because they did not seek the life of ease and safety, because
their life training was not to shrink from obstacles but to meet and
overcome them; and now I ask that this Nation go forward as it has
gone forward in the past; I ask that it shape its life in accordance
with the highest ideals; I ask that our name be a synonym for truthful
and fair dealing with all the nations of the world; and I ask two
things in connection with our foreign policy—that we never wrong the
weak and that we never flinch from the strong. Base is the man who
inflicts a wrong, and base is the man who suffers a wrong to be done
him.
We have met to commemorate a mighty pioneer feat, a feat of the
old days, when men needed to call upon every ounce of courage and
hardihood and manliness they possessed in order to make good our
claim to this continent. Let us in our turn with equal courage, equal
hardihood and manliness, carry on the task that our forefathers have
intrusted to our hands; and let us resolve that we shall leave to our
children and our children’s children an even mightier heritage than we
received in our turn.
REMARKS IN ACCEPTING SOUVENIR PRESENTED BY THE WORKMEN OF THE NAVY
YARD, BREMERTON, WASH., MAY 23, 1903
I want to thank you and through you your fellow workmen for this
token. I also wish to repeat what I have said before, that the
victories of Manila and Santiago reflect credit not merely upon those
who fought, but upon every man who did his work in preparing the
ships for battle. There is not a workman in any of our yards who did
his duty in connection with the guns, the armor plate, the turrets,
the hulls, or anything, who has not his full right to a share in the
credit of those victories. You all did your part in winning them just
as much as the men who actually fought. Nothing could have pleased me
more than to have received this gift from the men of the yard, and I
appreciate it.
TO THE ARCTIC BROTHERHOOD, SEATTLE, WASH., MAY 23, 1903
_Mr. Chairman, and you, Men and Women of Alaska_:
Let me thank you and the members of the Arctic Brotherhood for their
greeting. I am happy to say that during the last year or two the
National Legislature has begun to realize its responsibilities in
reference to Alaska; and that even those of our people who do not
live on the Pacific Slope are beginning to understand that in the
not distant future Alaska will be not merely a regularly organized
Territory, but a great and populous State.
Very few European races have exercised a more profound influence
upon Europe, and none has had a more heroic history, than the race
occupying the Scandinavian peninsula of the Old World. And Alaska lies
in the same latitude as, and can and will in the lifetime of those
I am addressing support as great a population as, the Scandinavian
peninsula. It is curious how our fate as a Nation has often driven us
forward toward greatness in spite of the protests of many of those
esteeming themselves in point of training and culture best fitted to
shape the Nation’s destiny. In 1803, when we acquired the territory
stretching from the Mississippi to the Pacific, there were plenty
of wise men who announced that we were acquiring a mere desert,
that it was a violation of the Constitution to acquire it, and that
the acquisition was fraught with the seeds of the dissolution of
the Republic. And think how absolutely the event has falsified the
predictions of those men. So when in the late 60’s we by treaty
acquired Alaska, this great territory with its infinite possibilities
was taken by this Republic in spite of the bitter opposition of many
men who were patriots according to their lights and who esteemed
themselves far-sighted. And but five years ago there were excellent
men who bemoaned the fact that we were obliged during the war with
Spain to take possession of the Philippines and to show that we
were hereafter to be one of the dominant powers of the Pacific. In
every instance how the after events of history have falsified the
predictions of the men of little faith! There are critics so feeble
and so timid that they shrink back when this Nation asserts that it
comes in the category of the nations who dare to be great, and they
want to know, forsooth, the cost of greatness and what it means. We do
not know the cost, but we know it will be more than repaid ten times
over by the result; and what it may ultimately mean we do not know,
but we know what the present holds, what the present need demands, and
we take the present and hold ourselves ready to abide the result of
whatever the future may bring.
When I speak to you of the Pacific Slope, to you of the new Northwest,
whose cities are seated here by the Sound, I speak to people abounding
in their youth and their virile manhood, who do not fear to grasp
opportunity as the opportunity comes, and who weigh slight risk but
lightly in the balance when on the other side of the scale comes the
greatness of triumph, the greatness of acquisition. We took Alaska
thirty-five years ago, and at last we have begun to wake up to the
heritage that thereby we have handed over to our children. I speak to
you, citizens of Alaska, people who have dwelt therein, to say how
much all our people owe to you. During the last year many wise laws
have been put upon the statute book in reference to Alaska; not as
many as should have been put, but a good many. I earnestly hope that
Congress will speedily provide for a delegate from Alaska, so that
the people of the Territory may have some recognized exponent whose
duty it shall be to place its needs before the National Legislature.
Meanwhile, with the assistance of the Senators and Representatives in
Congress from this section of the country, I shall do all that in me
lies to see that the proper kinds of legislation are enacted for the
Territory.
The immediate cause of the great development of Alaska of course is
to be found in its mines; but most of the people of this country are
wholly in error when they think of the mines as being the sole or
even the chief permanent cause of Alaska’s future greatness. Alaska
has great possibilities of agricultural and pastoral development.
Not only her mines, her fisheries, her forests, but her agriculture
and her stock-raising will combine to make Alaska one of the great
wealth-producing portions of our Republic. I am anxious that our laws
should be framed in the interest of those who intend to go there and
stay there and bring up their children there and make it in very fact
as well as in name an integral part of this Republic. I ask your help
and pledge you my help in the effort to secure such legislation. In
the case of the mine you get the metal out of the earth, you can not
leave any metal in there to produce other metal; but in the case of
the salmon fishery, if you are wise you will insist upon its being
carried on under conditions which will make the salmon fishery as
valuable in that river thirty years hence as now. Do not take all the
salmon out and go away and leave the empty river for your children and
children’s children; take it out under conditions—the conditions are
ready to be created for you by the National Fish Commission, which
has been so singularly successful in its work—which will secure the
preservation of that river as a salmon river, which will secure the
perpetuation of salmon canneries along its banks, so that it will be
not an industry carried on only by Orientals in the employ of three
or four alien capitalists, but carried on in such a way as to be a
perpetual source of income to the actual settlers resident in the
locality. Just in the same way I want to have you see that the lumber
industry is exploited in a way which, while giving a great return to
those engaged in it at the moment, shall also secure the preservation
of the forests for the settlers and the settlers’ children that are
to come in and inherit the land. I wish to see such land laws enacted
and to see them so administered as to be in the interest of the actual
settler who goes to Alaska to live, who desires there to produce
crops, to raise stock, to make a home for himself; subject to that
condition I desire to see legislation shaped in the spirit of the
broadest liberality that will secure the quickest possible development
of the resources of Alaska; and with that aim in view to have all
the encouragement possible given to those seeking to establish by
steamship line and by railway quick and efficient transportation
facilities in the Territory.
Few things have been more typical of our people and have been more
full of promise for the future than the way in which the resources
have been developed; and when one sees what has been done here
during the last few years I think we have cause to feel abundantly
justified in our belief that the qualities of the old-time pioneers
who first penetrated the woody wilderness between the Alleghanies
and the Mississippi, who then steered their way across vast seas of
grass from the Mississippi to the Rockies, who penetrated the passes
of the great barren mountains until they came to this, the greatest
of all the oceans, still survive in their grandsons and successors.
Nor must we forget in speaking of Alaska the immense importance that
the Territory has from the standpoint of the needs of the Nation as
a whole, as a dominant power in the Pacific. Exactly as with the
building of the Isthmian Canal we shall make our Atlantic and our
Pacific coasts in effect continuous, so the possession and peopling of
the Alaskan seacoast puts us in a position of dominance as regards the
Pacific which no other nations share or can share.
FROM ADDRESS AT EVERETT, WASH., MAY 23, 1903
There are few problems which so especially concern Washington, Oregon,
and California as the problem of forestry. Nothing has been of better
augury for the welfare and prosperity of these great States as well
as for the other forest States than the way in which those actively
engaged in the lumbering business have come of recent years to work
hand in hand with those who have made forestry a study in the effort
to preserve the forests. The whole question is a business, an economic
question; an economic question for the Nation, a business question
for the individual. East of your great mountain chains the question
of water supply becomes vital and becomes inseparable from that
of forestry. Here that question does not enter in. The lumbering
interest is the fourth great business interest in point of importance
in the United States. There is engaged in it a capital of over six
hundred millions of dollars, and every year the wage-workers in that
industry receive one hundred millions of dollars. Such an industry
so vitally connected with many others in the country can not with
wisdom be neglected, the interests depending upon it are too vast. I
do not have to say here in Washington that fire is a great enemy of
the forests. Here in Washington it is probable that fire has destroyed
more than the axe during the decade in which the axe has been at work.
Our aim should be to get the fullest use from the forest to-day,
and yet to get that benefit in ways which will keep the forests for
our children in the generations to come; so that, for instance, the
country adjoining Puget Sound shall have the lumbering industry as
a permanent industry. Recently the trade journals of that industry
have been dwelling upon the fact that its very existence is actually
at stake, and nowhere in the whole country can the question of
forestry be handled better than in this region, because nowhere else
is it so easy to produce a second crop. You are fortunate in having
such climatic conditions, such conditions of soil, that here more
than anywhere else the forest renews itself quickly, so as in a
comparatively short number of years to be again a great mercantile and
industrial asset. The preservation of our forests depends chiefly
upon the wisdom with which the practical lumberman, the practical
expert in dealing with the lumber industry, works with the men who
have studied forestry under all conditions. I am glad indeed that such
co-operation is more and more being accepted as a matter of course by
both sides.
FROM ADDRESS AT SEATTLE, WASH., MAY 23, 1903
There is no other body of water in the world which confers upon the
commonwealth possessing it quite the natural advantages that Puget
Sound confers upon your State. There is no other State in the Union,
and I include all of them, which has greater natural advantages and
a more assured future of greatness than this State of Washington.
Phenomenal though your growth has been, it has barely begun; and your
growth in the half century now opening will dwarf absolutely even your
growth in the immediate past.
I am speaking in the gateway to Alaska. All our people, even those
from the locality whence I come, are beginning to appreciate a little
of Alaska’s future. The men of my own age whom I am addressing will
not be old men before we see Alaska one of the rich and strong States
of the Union. I thank fortune that the National Legislature has begun
to wake up to the fact that Alaska has interests of vital importance
not merely to her but to the entire Union. Alaska contains a territory
which will within this century support as large a population as the
combined Scandinavian countries of Europe; those countries from which
has sprung as wonderful a race as ever imprinted its characteristics
upon the history of civilization. Exactly as the Scandinavian peoples
have left their mark upon the entire history of Europe, so we shall
see Alaska with its mines, its lumber, its fisheries, with its
possibilities in agriculture and stock-raising, with its possibilities
of commercial command, with the tremendous development that is going
on within it even now, produce as hardy and vigorous a people as any
portion of North America.
AT SPOKANE, WASH., MAY 26, 1903
_Senator Turner, and you, my Fellow-Americans_:
I am in a city at the eastern gateway of this State with the great
railroad systems of the State running through it. On the western
edge of this State in Puget Sound I have seen the homing places of
the great steamship lines, which, in connection with these great
railroads, are doing so much to develop the Oriental trade of this
country and this State. Washington will owe no small part of its
future greatness, and that greatness will be great indeed, to the
fact that it is thus doing its share in acquiring for the United
States the dominance of the Pacific. Those railroads, the men and
the corporations that have built them, have rendered a very great
service to the community. The men who are building, the corporations
which are building the great steamship lines have likewise rendered
a very great service to the community. Every man who has made wealth
or used it in developing great legitimate business enterprises has
been of benefit and not harm to the country at large. This city has
grown by leaps and bounds only when the railroads came to it, when
the railroads came to the State; and if the State were now cut off
from its connection by rail and by steamship with the rest of the
world its position would of course diminish incalculably. Great good
has come from the development of our railroad system; great good has
been done by the individuals and corporations that have made that
development possible; and in return good is done to them, and not
harm, when they are required to obey the law. Ours is a government of
liberty by, through and under the law. No man is above it and no man
is below it. The crime of cunning, the crime of greed, the crime of
violence, are all equally crimes, and against them all alike the law
must set its face. This is not and never shall be a government either
of a plutocracy or of a mob. It is, it has been, and it will be, a
government of the people; including alike the people of great wealth
and of moderate wealth, the people who employ others, the people who
are employed, the wage-worker, the lawyer, the mechanic, the banker,
the farmer; including them all, protecting each and every one if he
acts decently and squarely, and discriminating against any one of
them, no matter from what class he comes, if he does not act squarely
and fairly, if he does not obey the law. While all people are foolish
if they violate or rail against the law—wicked as well as foolish, but
all foolish—yet the most foolish man in this Republic is the man of
wealth who complains because the law is administered with impartial
justice against or for him. His folly is greater than the folly of any
other man who so complains; for he lives and moves and has his being
because the law does in fact protect him and his property.
We have the right to ask every decent American citizen to rally to the
support of the law if it is ever broken against the interest of the
rich man; and we have the same right to ask that rich man cheerfully
and gladly to acquiesce in the enforcement against his seeming
interest of the law, if it is the law. Incidentally, whether he
acquiesces or not, the law will be enforced, and this whoever he may
be, great or small, and at whichever end of the social scale he may be.
I ask that we see to it in our country that the line of division in
the deeper matters of our citizenship be drawn, never between section
and section, never between creed and creed, never, thrice never,
between class and class; but that the line be drawn on the line of
conduct, cutting through sections, cutting through creeds, cutting
through classes; the line that divides the honest from the dishonest,
the line that divides good citizenship from bad citizenship, the line
that declares a man a good citizen only if, and always if, he acts in
accordance with the immutable law of righteousness, which has been
the same from the beginning of history to the present moment, and
which will be the same from now until the end of recorded time.
FROM ADDRESS AT COLUMBIA GARDENS, BUTTE, MONT., MAY 27, 1903
_Mr. Chairman, and you, my Fellow-Citizens_:
It would have been a great pleasure to come to Butte in any event;
it is a double pleasure to come here at the invitation of the
representatives of the wage-workers of Butte. I do not say merely
workingmen, because I hold that every good American who does his duty
must be a workingman. There are many different kinds of work to do;
but so long as the work is honorable, is necessary, and is well done
the man who does it well is entitled to the respect of his fellows.
I have come here to this meeting especially as the invited guest of
the wage-workers, and I am happy to be able to say that the kind of
speech I will make to you, I would make just in exactly the same
language to any group of employers or any set of our citizens in any
corner of this Republic. I do not think so far as I know that I have
ever promised beforehand anything I did not make a strong effort to
make good afterward. It is sometimes very attractive and very pleasant
to make any kind of a promise without thinking whether or not you can
fulfil it; but in the after event it is always unpleasant when the
time for fulfilling comes; for in the long run the most disagreeable
truth is a safer companion than the most pleasant falsehood.
To-night I have come hither looking on either hand at the results of
the enterprises which have made Butte so great. The man who by the use
of his capital develops a great mine, the man who by the use of his
capital builds a great railroad, the man who by the use of his capital
either individually or joined with others like him does any great
legitimate business enterprise, confers a benefit, not a harm, upon
the community, and is entitled to be so regarded. He is entitled to
the protection of the law, and in return he is to be required himself
to obey the law. The law is no respecter of persons. The law is to be
administered neither for the rich man as such, nor for the poor man as
such. It is to be administered for every man, rich or poor, if he is
an honest and law-abiding citizen; and it is to be invoked against any
man, rich or poor, who violates it, without regard to which end of the
social scale he may stand at, without regard to whether his offence
takes the form of greed and cunning, or the form of physical violence;
in either case if he violates the law, the law is to be invoked
against him; and in so invoking it I have the right to challenge the
support of all good citizens and to demand the acquiescence of every
good man. I hope I will have it; but once for all I wish it understood
that even if I do not have it I shall enforce the law.
The soldiers who fought in the great Civil War fought for liberty
under, by, and through the law; and they fought to put a stop
once for all to any effort to sunder this country on the lines of
sectional hatred; therefore their memory shall be forever precious
to our people. We need to keep ever in mind that he is the worst
enemy of this country who would strive to separate its people along
the lines of section against section, of creed against creed, or of
class against class. There are two sides to that. It is a base and an
infamous thing for the man of means to act in a spirit of arrogant and
brutal disregard of right toward his fellow who has less means; and
it is no less infamous, no less base, to act in a spirit of rancor,
envy, and hatred against the man of greater means, merely because
of his greater means. If we are to preserve this Republic as it was
founded, as it was handed down to us by the men of ’61 to ’65, and as
it is and will be, we must draw the line never between section and
section, never between creed and creed, thrice never between class and
class; but along the line of conduct, the line that separates the good
citizen wherever he may be found from the bad citizen wherever he may
be found. This is not and never shall be a government of a plutocracy;
it is not and never shall be a government by a mob. It is as it has
been and as it will be, a government in which every honest man, every
decent man, be he employer or employed, wage-worker, mechanic, banker,
lawyer, farmer, be he who he may, if he acts squarely and fairly, if
he does his duty by his neighbor and the State, receives the full
protection of the law and is given the amplest chance to exercise the
ability that there is within him, alone or in combination with his
fellows as he desires. My friends, it is sometimes easier to preach
a doctrine under which the millennium will be promised off-hand if
you have a particular kind of law, or follow a particular kind of
conduct—it is easier, but it is not better. The millennium is not
here; it is some thousand years off yet. Meanwhile there must be a
good deal of work and struggle, a good deal of injustice; we shall
often see the tower of Siloam fall on the just as well as the unjust.
We are bound in honor to try to remedy injustice, but if we are wise
we will seek to remedy it in practical ways. Above all, remember this:
that the most unsafe adviser to follow is the man who would advise us
to do wrong in order that we may benefit by it. That man is never a
safe man to follow; he is always the most dangerous of guides. The man
who seeks to persuade any of us that our advantage comes in wronging
or oppressing others can be depended upon, if the opportunity comes,
to do wrong to us in his own interest, just as he has endeavored to
make us in our supposed interest do wrong to others.
AT THE TABERNACLE, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, MAY 29, 1903
_Mr. Governor, Mr. Mayor, Senator Kearns, and you, my
Fellow-Americans_:
I am particularly glad to have the chance to speak to you here in
this city, in Utah, this morning, because you have exemplified a
doctrine which it seems to me all-essential for our people ever to
keep fresh in their minds—the fact that though natural resources can
do a good deal, though the law can do a good deal, the fundamental
requisite in building up prosperity and civilization is the requisite
of individual character in the individual man or woman. Here in this
State the pioneers and those who came after them took not the land
that would ordinarily be chosen as land that would yield return with
little effort. You took territory which at the outset was called after
the desert, and you literally—not figuratively—you literally made the
wilderness blossom as the rose. The fundamental element in building up
Utah has been the work of the citizens of Utah. And you did it because
your people entered in to possess the land and to leave it after them
to their children and their children’s children. You here whom I am
addressing and your predecessors did not come in to exploit the land
and then go somewhere else. You came in, as the Governor has said, as
home-makers, to make homes for yourselves and those who should come
after you; and that is the only way in which a State can be built up,
in which the Nation can be built up. You have built up this great
community because you came here with the purpose of making this your
abiding home, and of leaving to your children not an impoverished, but
an enriched heritage; and I ask that all our people from one ocean to
the other, but especially the people of the arid and the semi-arid
regions, the people of the great plains, the people of the mountains,
approach the problem of taking care of the physical resources of
the country in the spirit which has made Utah what it is. You have
developed your metal wealth wonderfully; and your growth is not a boom
growth—it is a thoroughly healthy, normal growth. During the past
decade the population has doubled and the wealth quadrupled; and labor
is employed at as high a compensation as is paid elsewhere in the
world. Although you are not essentially a mining State, in the last
year you marketed thirty millions’ worth of ore; and again you showed
your good sense in the way you handled it; for you paid five millions
in dividends and you invested the balance in labor and surplus. The
effort to make a big showing in dividends is not always healthy for
the future. Here you have shown your wonderful capacity to develop the
earth so as to make both irrigated agriculture and stock-raising in
all its forms two great industries. When you deal with a mine you take
the ore out of the earth and take it away, and in the end exhaust the
mine. The time may be very long in coming before it is exhausted, or
it may be a short time; but in any event, mining means the exhaustion
of the mine. But that is exactly what agriculture does not and must
not mean.
So far from agriculture properly exhausting the land, it is always the
sign of a vicious system of agriculture if the land is rendered poorer
by it. The direct contrary should be the fact. After the farmer has
had the farm for his life he should be able to hand it to his children
as a better farm than it was when he had it.
In these regions, in the Rocky Mountain regions, it is especially
incumbent upon us to treat the question of the natural pasturage,
the question of the forests, and the question of the use of the
waters, all from the one standpoint—the standpoint of the far-seeing
statesman, of the far-seeing citizen, who wishes to preserve and not
to exhaust the resources of the country, who wishes to see those
resources come into the hands not of a few men of great wealth, least
of all into the hands of a few men who will speculate in them; but be
distributed among many men, each of whom intends to make his home in
the land.
This whole so-called arid and semi-arid region is by nature the stock
range of the Nation. One of the questions which are rising to confront
us is how this range may be made to produce the greatest number and
best quality of horses, cattle, and sheep, not only this year, not
only next year, but for this generation and the next generation. The
old system of grazing the ranges so closely as to injure the whole
crop of grass was a serious detriment to the development of the West,
a serious detriment to the development of our people. The ranges must
be treated as a great invested capital; and that old system tended to
dissipate and partially to destroy that capital. That is something
that we can not as a Nation of home-makers permit. The wise man, the
wise industry, the wise nation, maintains such capital unimpaired and
tries to increase it; and more and more the range lands will be used
in conjunction with the small irrigable areas which they include;
so that the industry can take on a more stable character than ever
before. It is impossible permanently, although it may be advisable for
the time being, to move stock in a body from summer to winter ranges
across country which can be made into homesteads, because when the
country can itself be taken by actual settlers, in the long run it
will only be possible to move the stock through hundreds of miles of
dusty lanes where they can not graze, where they can not live. Our
aim must be steadily to help develop the settler, the man who lives
in the land and in growing up with it and raising his children to own
it after him. More and more hereafter the stock owners will have the
necessity forced upon them of providing green summer pasturage within
the limits of their own ranges; and so the question of irrigation is
wellnigh as important to the stockmen as to the agriculturist proper.
In the same way our mountain forests must be preserved from the harm
done by over-grazing. Let all the grazing be done in them that can be
done without injury to them, but do not let the mountain forests be
despoiled by the man who will over-graze them and destroy them for the
sake of three years’ use, and then go somewhere else, and leave by so
much diminished the heritage of those who remain permanently in the
land. I believe that already the movement has begun which will make in
the long run the stock-raisers,—of whom I have been one myself, whose
business I know, and with whom I feel the heartiest sympathy,—through
the enlightenment of their own self-interest, become the heartiest
defenders and the chief beneficiaries of the wise and moderate use of
forest ranges, both within and without the forest reserves. It is and
it must be the definite policy of this government to consider the good
of all its citizens—stockmen, lumbermen, irrigators, and all others—in
dealing with the forest reserves; and for that reason I most earnestly
desire in every way to bring about the heartiest co-operation between
the men who are doing the actual business of stock-raising, the
actual business of irrigated agriculture, the actual business of
lumbering,—the closest and most intimate relations, the heartiest
co-operation between them and the government at Washington through
the Department of Agriculture. Of course I do not have to say to any
audience of intelligent people that nothing is such an enemy to the
stock industry as persistent over-grazing. We shall have not far hence
to raise the problem of the best method of making use of the public
range. Our people have not as yet settled in their own minds what
is that best method. In some way there will have to be formed such
regulation as shall without undue restriction prevent the needless
over-grazing, while keeping the public lands open to settlement
through homestead entry. Such a policy would, of course, be of the
most far-reaching benefit to the whole range industry. It is the same
in dealing with our forest reserves. Almost every industry depends
in some more or less vital way upon the preservation of the forests;
and while citizens die, the government and the nation do not die, and
we are bound in dealing with the forests to exercise the foresight
necessary to use them now, but to use them in such a way as will also
keep them for those who are to come after us.
The first great object of the forest reserves is, of course, the
first great object of the whole land policy of the United States,—the
creation of homes, the favoring of the home-maker. That is why we
wish to provide for the home-makers of the present and the future
the steady and continuous supply of timber, grass, and above all, of
water. That is the object of the forest reserves, and that is why I
bespeak your cordial co-operation in their preservation. Remember you
must realize, what I thoroughly realize, that however wise a policy
may be it can be enforced only if the people of the States believe in
it. We can enforce the provisions of the forest reserve law or of any
other law only so far as the best sentiment of the community or the
State will permit that enforcement. Therefore it lies primarily not
with the people at Washington, but with you, yourselves, to see that
such policies are supported as will redound to the benefit of the home
makers and therefore the sure and steady building up of the State as a
whole.
One word as to the greatest question with which our people as a whole
have to deal in the matter of internal development to-day—the question
of irrigation. Not of recent years has any more important law been
put upon the statute books of the Federal Government than the law a
year ago providing for the first time that the National Government
should interest itself in aiding and building up a system of irrigated
agriculture in the Rocky Mountains and plains States. Here the
government had to a large degree to sit at the feet of Gamaliel in the
person of Utah; for what you had done and learned was of literally
incalculable benefit to those engaged in framing and getting through
the national irrigation law. Irrigation was first practiced on a large
scale in this State. The necessity of the pioneers here led to the
development of irrigation to a degree absolutely unknown before on
this continent. In no respect is the wisdom of the early pioneers made
more evident than in the sedulous care they took to provide for small
farms, carefully tilled by those who lived on and benefited from them;
and hence it comes about that the average amount of land required to
support a family in Utah is smaller than in any other part of the
United States. We all know that when you once get irrigation applied
rain is a very poor substitute for it. The Federal Government must
co-operate with Utah and Utah people for a further extension of the
irrigated area. Many of the simpler problems of obtaining and applying
water have already been solved and so well solved that, as I have
said, some of the most important provisions of the Federal act, such
as the control of the irrigating works by the communities they serve,
such as making the water appurtenant to the land and not a source of
speculation apart from the land, were based upon the experience of
Utah. Of course the control of the larger streams which flow through
more than one State must come under the Federal Government. Many of
the great tracts which will ultimately so enlarge the cultivated
area of Utah, which will ultimately so increase its population and
wealth, are surrounded with intricate complications because of the
high development which irrigation has already reached in this State.
Necessarily the Federal officers charged with the execution of the law
must proceed with great caution so as not to disturb present vested
rights; but subject to that, they will go forward as fast as they
can. They realize, and all men who have actually done irrigating here
will realize, that no man is more timid than the practical irrigator
regarding any change in the water distribution. He wants to look
well before he leaps. He has learned from bitter experience what
damage can come from well meant changes hastily made. The government
can do a good deal; the government will do a good deal; but your
experience here in Utah has shown that the greatest results which
are accomplishing most spring directly from the sturdy courage, the
self-denial, the willingness with iron resolution to endure the risk
and the suffering, of the pioneers; for they were the men who sought
and found a livelihood in what was once a desert, and they must be
protected in the legitimate fruits of their toil.
One of the tasks that the government must do here in Utah is to build
reservoirs for the storage of the flood waters, to undertake works
too great to be undertaken by private capital. Great as the task is,
and great as its benefits will become, the government must do still
more. Besides the storage of the water there must be protection of the
watersheds; and that is why I ask you to help the National Government
protect the watersheds by protecting the forests upon them.
AT FREEPORT, ILL., JUNE 3, 1903
_Congressman Hitt, and you, my Fellow-Countrymen_:
Here where we meet to-day there occurred one of those memorable
scenes in accordance with which the whole future history of nations
is molded. Here were spoken winged words that flew through immediate
time and that will fly through that portion of eternity recorded in
the history of our race. Here was sounded the keynote of the struggle
which after convulsing the Nation, made it in fact what it had only
been in name,—at once united and free. It is eminently fitting that
this monument, given by the women of this city in commemoration of the
great debate that here took place, should be dedicated by the men
whose deeds made good the words of Abraham Lincoln—the soldiers of
the Civil War. The word was mighty. Had it not been for the word the
deeds could not have taken place; but without the deeds the word would
have been the idlest breath. It is forever to the honor of our nation
that we brought forth the statesman who, with far-sighted vision,
could pierce the clouds that obscured the sight of the keenest of his
fellows, could see what the future inevitably held; and moreover that
we had back of the statesman and behind him the men to whom it was
given to fight in the greatest war ever waged for the good of mankind,
for the betterment of the world.
I have literally but a moment here. I could not resist the chance that
was offered me to stop and dedicate this monument, for great though
we now regard Abraham Lincoln, my countrymen, the future will put him
on an even higher pinnacle than we have put him. In all history I do
not believe that there is to be found an orator whose speeches will
last as enduringly as certain of the speeches of Lincoln; and in all
history, with the sole exception of the man who founded this Republic,
I do not think there will be found another statesman at once so great
and so single-hearted in his devotion to the weal of his people. We
can not too highly honor him; and the highest way in which we can
honor him is to see that our homage is not only homage of words; that
to lip loyalty we join the loyalty of the heart; that we pay honor
to the memory of Abraham Lincoln by so conducting ourselves, by so
carrying ourselves as citizens of this Republic, that we shall hand on
undiminished to our children and our children’s children the heritage
we received from the men who upheld the statesmanship of Lincoln in
the council, who made good the soldiership of Grant in the field.
AT THE LINCOLN MONUMENT, SPRINGFIELD, ILL., JUNE 4, 1903
It is a good thing that the guard around the tomb of Lincoln should be
composed of colored soldiers. It was my own good fortune at Santiago
to serve beside colored troops. A man who is good enough to shed
his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal
afterward. More than that no man is entitled to, and less than that no
man shall have.
AT THE CONSECRATION OF GRACE MEMORIAL REFORMED CHURCH, WASHINGTON, D.
C., JUNE 7, 1903
I shall ask your attention to three lines of the Dedication Canticle:
“Serve the Lord with gladness: enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise. Who shall ascend into the hill of the
Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands,
and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul with vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully.”
Better lines could surely not be brought into any dedication service
of a church; and it is a happy thing that we should have repeated them
this morning. This church is consecrated to the service of the Lord;
and we can serve Him by the way we serve our fellow-men. This church
is consecrated to service and duty. It was written of old that “by
their fruits ye shall know them”; and we can show the faith that is in
us, we can show the sincerity of our devotion, by the fruits we bring
forth. The man who is not a tender and considerate husband, a loving
and wise father, is not serving the Lord when he goes to church; so
with the woman; so with all who come here. Our being in this church,
our communion here with one another, our sitting under the pastor and
hearing from him the word of God, must, if we are sincere, show their
effects in our lives outside.
We of the Dutch and German Reformed Churches, like our brethren of
the Lutheran Church, have a peculiar duty to perform in this great
country of ours, a country still in the making, for we have the duty
peculiarly incumbent upon us to take care of our brethren who come
each year from over seas to our shores. The man going to a new country
is torn by the roots from all his old associations, and there is
great danger to him in the time before he gets his roots down into
the new country, before he brings himself into touch with his fellows
in the new land. For that reason I always take a peculiar interest in
the attitude of our churches toward the immigrants who come to these
shores. I feel that we should be peculiarly watchful over them,
because of our own history, because we or our fathers came here under
like conditions. Now that we have established ourselves let us see
to it that we stretch out the hand of help, the hand of brotherhood,
toward the new-comers, and help them as speedily as possible to get
into such relations that it will be easy for them to walk well in the
new life. We are not to be excused if we selfishly sit down and enjoy
gifts that have been given to us and do not try to share them with our
poorer fellows coming from every part of the world, who many of them
stand in such need of the helping hand; who often not only meet too
many people anxious to associate with them for their detriment, but
often too few anxious to associate with them for their good.
I trust that with the consecration of each new church of the Reformed
creed in this our country there will be established a fresh centre of
effort to get at and to help for their good the people that yearly
come from over seas to us. No more important work can be done by our
people; important to the cause of Christianity, important to the cause
of true national life and greatness here in our own land.
Another thing: let us so far as strength is given us make it evident
to those who look on and who are not of us that our faith is not one
of words merely; that it finds expression in deeds. One sad, one
lamentable phase of human history is that the very loftiest words,
implying the loftiest ideas, have often been used as cloaks for the
commission of dreadful deeds of iniquity. No more hideous crimes have
ever been committed by men than those that have been committed in
the name of liberty, of order, of brotherhood, of religion. People
have butchered one another under circumstances of dreadful atrocity,
claiming all the time to be serving the object of the brotherhood of
man or of the fatherhood of God. We must in our lives, in our efforts,
endeavor to further the cause of brotherhood in the human family;
and we must do it in such a way that the men anxious to find subject
for complaint or derision in the churches of the United States, in
our church, may not be able to find it by pointing out any contrast
between our professions and our lives.
This church is consecrated to-day to duty and to service, to the
worship of the Creator, and to an earnest effort on our part so to
shape our lives among ourselves and in relation to the outside world
that we may feel that we have done our part in bringing a little
nearer the day when there shall be on this earth a genuine brotherhood
of man.
AT THE SAENGERFEST, BALTIMORE, MD., JUNE 15, 1903
_My Fellow-Citizens_:
Let me in the first place congratulate the city of Baltimore upon what
she has done and upon the way she has done it; and then let me welcome
the members of the Saengerfest Association and all the guests of
Baltimore this evening. Since the beginning of our country’s history
many different race strains have entered to make up the composite
American. Out of and from each we have gained something for our
national character; to each we owe something special for what it has
contributed to us as a people.
It is almost exactly two hundred and twenty years ago that the first
marked immigration from Germany to what were then the colonies in this
Western Hemisphere began. As is inevitable with any pioneers those
pioneers of the German race on this side of the ocean had to encounter
bitter privation, had to struggle against want in many forms; had
to meet and overcome hardship; for the people that go forth to seek
their well-being in strange lands must inevitably be ready to pay as
the price of success the expenditure of all that there is in them to
overcome the obstacles in their way. It was some fifty years later
that the great tide of German immigration in colonial times began to
flow hither; one of the leaders in it being Muhlenburg, the founder
of a family which has contributed to military and civil life some of
the worthiest figures in American history. The first of the famous
speakers of the House of Representatives was Muhlenburg, of German
ancestry.
Baltimore is a centre in that region of our land where from the
earliest days there was that intermingling of ethnic strains which
finally went to the making of the Americans who in ’76 made this
country a nation. Within the boundaries of this State was founded that
colony which first of all on this western continent saw a government
modeled upon these principles of religious freedom and toleration
which we now regard as the birthrights of American citizens.
Throughout our career of development the German immigration to this
country went steadily onward, and they who came here, and their sons
and grandsons, played an ever-increasing part in the history of our
people—a part that culminated in the Civil War; for every lover of
the Union must ever bear in mind what was done in this commonwealth
as in the commonwealth of Missouri, by the folk of German birth or
origin who served so loyally the flag that was theirs by inheritance
or adoption.
And here in this city I would be unwilling to let an occasion like
this pass without recalling the part of incalculable importance
played by the members of the Turn Verein of Baltimore in saving
Baltimore to the Union. In congratulating every man here to whom it
was given to fight in the great Civil War, in congratulating the men
of Baltimore who in these dark days followed the lead of Sigel, Rapp,
and Blumenberg in playing well and nobly their part in upholding the
hands of Abraham Lincoln, I congratulate them thrice over because it
was given to them to fight in a contest where the victors and the
vanquished alike have bequeathed to us as a heritage the memory of
the valor and the loyalty to the right as to each it was given to see
the right, shown alike by the men who wore the blue and the men who
wore the gray, in the great days of the Civil War. Terrible though
that contest was, in which with blood and tears and sweat, with the
suffering of men and the sorrow of women, the generation of Lincoln
and Grant purchased for us peace and union, it paid for itself over
and over again by what it left to us—not merely a reunited land, not
merely a land in which freedom was a fact instead of only a boast, but
above all the right as Americans to feel within us the lift toward
lofty things which must come to those who know that their fathers and
forefathers have in the supreme crisis entirely shown themselves fit
to rank among the men of all time.
I want to say just one thing more. I feel that the men of this
Association and of kindred associations are not only adding to the
common fund of pleasure, but are doing genuine missionary work
of a needed kind when they hold such a festival as this. I wish
that everywhere in our country we could see clubs and associations
including all our citizens, similar in character to that Society
which has furnished the reason for the assembling of this great
audience to-night. No greater contribution to American social life
could possibly be made than by instilling into it the capacity for
Gemüthlichkeit. No greater good can come to our people than to
encourage in them a capacity for enjoyment which shall discriminate
sharply between what is vicious and what is pleasant. Nothing can
add more to our capacity for healthy social enjoyment than, by force
of example no less than by precept, to encourage the formation of
societies which by their cultivation of music, vocal and instrumental,
give great lift to the artistic side, the æsthetic side of our nature;
and especially is that true when we remember that no man is going to
go very far wrong if he belongs to a society where he can take his
wife with him to enjoy it.
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA., JUNE 16, 1903
_Mr. Chairman; my Fellow-Americans_:
It is to me to-day a double pleasure to be with you; in the first
place, because the University of Virginia is one among that limited
number of institutions of learning to which because of its historic
association every American proud of his country and his country’s
history must turn; and in the next place, because I have just finished
a trip to and fro across this continent, which at almost every
step has reminded me of some great deed done by a Virginian or a
descendant of a Virginian, in that wonderful formative period which
has occupied more than half of this Republic’s life; going across
the Alleghanies in the path over the mountains which men of Virginia
first crossed to found the commonwealth of Kentucky; beyond the Ohio,
which was crossed by a military force carrying the American flag for
the first time when a son of Virginia, George Rogers Clark, led his
little band of backwoods riflemen to conquer what is now the heart
of this Republic, and that in the middle of the Revolutionary War.
Then I crossed the Mississippi and went through that great region of
prairie, plain, and mountain, now dotted with cities, each filled with
the fruits of our material civilization, cities placed upon spots
which were unknown to any map maker but a century ago; thence to the
Pacific Ocean, I went through the regions which mark the two greatest
territorial expansions of this Nation; the greatest of which, by the
fact of its acquisition, is in itself a tribute most to that man who
founded this University—President Thomas Jefferson—and which was
explored by two Virginians born not far from this neighborhood—Lewis
and Clark. When I got south of the limits of the old Louisiana
Purchase I came into that region acquired as the result of the Mexican
War—the region in territorial extent next to the Louisiana Purchase;
and in that war the two foremost figures were men likewise born in
Virginia—Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott.
Virginia has always rightly prided herself upon the character of the
men whom she has sent into public life. No more wonderful example of
governmental ability, ability in statecraft and public administration,
has ever been given than by the history of Virginia’s sons in public
life. I feel that this University, which so peculiarly embodies the
ideal of Virginia, is in no small degree accountable for the happy
keeping up of the spirit which sends into public life men of whom
their constituents exact that they shall possess both courage and
courtesy; and that is the reason why—as I am glad to say here in the
presence of the two United States Senators from Virginia, both of them
graduates of this University—whether one agrees or differs with them
it is so genuine a pleasure to be brought into contact with them in
handling public affairs.
In the very able address to which we have had the honor of listening
it is pointed out that in mere years the history of this University is
not long. Years count differently at different places and at different
times. Fifty years of Europe are very much longer than a cycle of
Cathay; and the period grows longer still when you take it across into
the Western Hemisphere. To us of this Nation there must always be the
charm of old historic associations inseparably connected with this
institution, the birth of which will always recall the names of three
of our greatest Presidents, and from which one can wellnigh see the
former abodes of all three of those Presidents—Jefferson, Madison, and
Monroe.
Let me acknowledge a piece of personal indebtedness to this
institution. When last year we sought at Washington to restore the
White House, which ought to be always kept as the historic building
of the Nation, to what it was planned to be by the founders of the
Republic, we came here to study the building which represented in its
existence the realization of the ideas of certain of those founders
of the Republic, and gained from our study of a portion of this
University an idea of the plan along which the restoration of the
White House was to proceed.
The University is not old in years as years are counted in an older
world, but there are very few institutions of learning in Europe
which, however old, have such an honor roll of service to the State,
in the council chambers of the State, and of service on the tented
field, which have such an honor roll of statesmen and soldiers, as the
roll that can be furnished by reading the list of the graduates of
this University of Virginia. The University has been prolific of men
who have gone into public life; but it is not only in public life that
the record made by the University is imperishable. The strangest, in
some ways the most brilliant name to be found in American letters, the
name of the man who contributed something purely individual in poetry
and in prose, not merely to the literature of this country, not merely
to the literature of our tongue, but to the literature of mankind—the
name of Edgar Allan Poe, is to be found upon your rolls. It is a
pleasure to one who earnestly hopes to see the literary habit in
American life kept up and who hopes to see a keeping up of productive
scholarship and literature, to be able to number among his friends one
of those younger literary men of whom it can be safely asserted that
they have added something permanent to letters, in the person of one
of your graduates—my friend, Mr. Thomas Nelson Page.
I owe you for other things. When I wished to choose the Surgeon-General
of the Navy I had to go to Virginia and to the University of Virginia
to find the man whom I esteem, not only because of his ability as a
public servant, but because of those qualities which will render him
ever one for whom I and mine feel the warmest and liveliest personal
affection. Finally, when I had to choose an Ambassador to represent
us at the court of Russia, I had to take another graduate of your
University—Mr. McCormick. You will pardon me one personal allusion;
I shall never forget as long as I live certain of your graduates who
served in my regiment during the Cuban War.
The University of Virginia has stood for much in our national life.
It is something to stand merely for such beauty as your buildings and
campus represent here. It is a good thing for any nation to have as
beautiful an institution of learning as is this University. It is a
good thing for the taste of a nation to have such an example of good
taste ever before it. You stand for the production of scholarship;
for the production of men who are to do well for the State if ever
the need of calling upon them for their services may arise; but above
all, as has been so well said in the address to which we have listened
to-day, the University of Virginia stands for the production of men;
of men who are to do each a man’s duty in the world. A good American
never owes anything that he does not seek to repay. The man who is
content to go through life owing his alma mater for an education for
which he has made no adequate return is not true to the ideals of
American citizenship. He is in honor bound to make such return. He
can make it in but one way; he can return what he owes to his alma
mater only by making his alma mater proud of what he does in service
rendered to his fellow-men. That is the type of return we have the
right to expect of the University men in this country.
TO THE HOLY NAME SOCIETY AT OYSTER BAY, N. Y., AUGUST 16, 1903
_Very Reverend Dean, Reverend Clergy, and you of the Holy Name
Society_:
I count myself fortunate in having the chance to say a word to you
to-day; and at the outset let me, Father Power, on behalf of my
neighbors, your congregation, welcome all your guests here to Oyster
Bay. I have a partial right to join in that welcome myself, for it
was my good fortune in the days of Father Power’s predecessor, Father
Belford, to be the first man to put down a small contribution for the
erection of your church here. I am particularly glad to see such a
society as this flourishing as your society has flourished, because
the future welfare of our Nation depends upon the way in which we can
combine in our men—in our young men—decency and strength. Just this
morning when attending service on the great battleship _Kearsarge_
I listened to a sermon addressed to the officers and enlisted men of
the navy, in which the central thought was that each American must be
a good man or he could not be a good citizen. And one of the things
dwelt upon in that sermon was the fact that a man must be clean of
mouth as well as clean of life—must show by his words as well as
by his actions his fealty to the Almighty if he was to be what we
have a right to expect from men wearing the national uniform. We
have good Scriptural authority for the statement that it is not what
comes into a man’s mouth but what goes out of it that counts. I am
not addressing weaklings, or I should not take the trouble to come
here. I am addressing strong, vigorous men, who are engaged in the
active hard work of life; and life to be worth living must be a life
of activity and hard work. I am speaking to men engaged in the hard,
active work of life, and therefore to men who will count for good or
for evil. It is peculiarly incumbent upon you who have strength to
set a right example to others. I ask you to remember that you can not
retain your self-respect if you are loose and foul of tongue, that a
man who is to lead a clean and honorable life must inevitably suffer
if his speech likewise is not clean and honorable. Every man here
knows the temptations that beset all of us in this world. At times any
man will slip. I do not expect perfection, but I do expect genuine
and sincere effort toward being decent and cleanly in thought, in
word, and in deed. As I said at the outset, I hail the work of this
society as typifying one of those forces which tend to the betterment
and uplifting of our social system. Our whole effort should be toward
securing a combination of the strong qualities with those qualities
which we term virtues. I expect you to be strong. I would not respect
you if you were not. I do not want to see Christianity professed only
by weaklings; I want to see it a moving spirit among men of strength.
I do not expect you to lose one particle of your strength or courage
by being decent. On the contrary, I should hope to see each man who
is a member of this society, from his membership in it become all the
fitter to do the rough work of the world; all the fitter to work in
time of peace; and if, which may Heaven forfend, war should come, all
the fitter to fight in time of war. I desire to see in this country
the decent men strong and the strong men decent, and until we get
that combination in pretty good shape we are not going to be by any
means as successful as we should be. There is always a tendency among
very young men and among boys who are not quite young men as yet to
think that to be wicked is rather smart; to think it shows that they
are men. Oh, how often you see some young fellow who boasts that he
is going to “see life,” meaning by that that he is going to see that
part of life which it is a thousandfold better should remain unseen!
I ask that every man here constitute himself his brother’s keeper by
setting an example to that younger brother which will prevent him from
getting such a false estimate of life. Example is the most potent of
all things. If any one of you in the presence of younger boys, and
especially the younger people of your own family, misbehave yourself,
if you use coarse and blasphemous language before them, you can be
sure that these younger people will follow your example and not your
precept. It is no use to preach to them if you do not act decently
yourself. You must feel that the most effective way in which you can
preach is by your practice.
As I was driving up here a friend who was with us said that in his
experience the boy who went out into life with a foul tongue was apt
so to go because his kinsfolk, at least his intimate associates,
themselves had foul tongues. The father, the elder brothers, the
friends, can do much toward seeing that the boys as they become men
become clean and honorable men.
I have told you that I wanted you not only to be decent, but to be
strong. These boys will not admire virtue of a merely anæmic type.
They believe in courage, in manliness. They admire those who have the
quality of being brave, the quality of facing life as life should be
faced, the quality that must stand at the root of good citizenship in
peace or in war. If you are to be effective as good Christians you
must possess strength and courage, or your example will count for
little with the young, who admire strength and courage. I want to see
you, the men of the Holy Name Society, you who embody the qualities
which the younger people admire, by your example give those young
people the tendency, the trend, in the right direction; and remember
that this example counts in many other ways besides cleanliness of
speech. I want to see every man able to hold his own with the strong,
and also ashamed to oppress the weak. I want to see each young fellow
able to do a man’s work in the world, and of a type which will not
permit imposition to be practiced upon him. I want to see him too
strong of spirit to submit to wrong, and, on the other hand, ashamed
to do wrong to others. I want to see each man able to hold his own in
the rough work of actual life outside, and also, when he is at home,
a good man, unselfish in dealing with wife, or mother, or children.
Remember that the preaching does not count if it is not backed up by
practice. There is no good in your preaching to your boys to be brave,
if you run away. There is no good in your preaching to them to tell
the truth if you do not. There is no good in your preaching to them
to be unselfish if they see you selfish with your wife, disregardful
of others. We have a right to expect that you will come together in
meetings like this; that you will march in processions; that you will
join in building up such a great and useful association as this; and,
even more, we have a right to expect that in your own homes and among
your own associates you will prove by your deeds that yours is not a
lip loyalty merely; that you show in actual practice the faith that is
in you.
ON BOARD THE _KEARSARGE_, DURING THE REVIEW OF THE FLEET, AUGUST 17,
1903
_Officers and Enlisted Men_:
I wish to say a word of thanks to you on behalf of the people of the
United States. There are many public servants whom I hold in high
esteem, but there are no others whom as a class I hold in quite the
esteem I do the officers and enlisted men of the navy and the army of
the United States.
In doing your work here it should all be done with an eye toward the
day when upon every man, from the admiral to the lowest in rank, may
rest the responsibility as to whether or not a new page of honor
in American history shall be turned. As I passed the _Olympia_ I
remembered her victory of May 1, 1898, which made her name forever
one of renown in our history. But all aboard her had been equipped
for the work by days and months, usually by years, of what must have
often been irksome duty. In speaking to all of you I want a chance to
say a word of special recognition to the gun pointers. The shots that
hit are the shots that tell. They are what make the navy prove itself
equal to any need. I am happy to say that the American seamen have
never been found deficient in the fighting edge—the first requisite
of the fighting man. I do not praise you for being brave; that is
expected. The coward is to be condemned rather than the brave man to
be praised. I expect every one to show a perfect willingness to die
rather than to see the slightest stain put upon the American flag. But
in addition you must know how to use to the utmost advantage the gear
and the weapons. You must know how to fight as well as know how to
die; only thus can you become the most efficient fighting force in the
world. I again thank you for what you are. A peculiar responsibility
attaches to each and every one of you. It has been a pleasure to see
the ship and the guns, but, above all, the men behind the guns.
ON BOARD THE _OLYMPIA_ DURING THE REVIEW OF THE FLEET, AUGUST 17, 1903
As President of the United States, I wish, on behalf of the entire
country, to greet you as representatives of the officers and enlisted
men of the United States Navy. Every man aboard the _Olympia_ must
feel that on him rests a double duty, to see to it that the ship’s
name shall be for evermore a symbol of victory and of glory to all
the people of our country. Nothing pleases me more than to see
to-day for myself how high is the standard of the enlisted men of
the United States Navy. I do not believe that our navy has ever been
at a higher point of efficiency. Month by month the already high
standard is being raised even higher. All alike share in the duty,
and share in the honor which comes if the duty is well done. Whether
the service is rendered in the conning tower, or in the gun-turrets,
or in the engine-room, it matters not, so long as the service itself
is of the highest possible kind. This ship commemorates forever
the name of Admiral Dewey, as the _Hartford_ commemorates that of
Admiral Farragut. And I ask you all, as Americans proud of your
country, from the admiral down to the last enlisted landsman, or the
youngest apprentice, to appreciate alike the high honor and heavy
responsibility of your positions.
AT THE STATE FAIR, SYRACUSE, N. Y., SEPTEMBER 7, 1903
_Governor Higgins; my Fellow-Citizens_:
In speaking on Labor Day at the annual fair of the New York State
Agricultural Association, it is natural to keep especially in mind
the two bodies who compose the majority of our people and upon whose
welfare depends the welfare of the entire State. If circumstances
are such that thrift, energy, industry, and forethought enable the
farmer, the tiller of the soil, on the one hand, and the wage-worker,
on the other, to keep themselves, their wives, and their children in
reasonable comfort, then the State is well off, and we can be assured
that the other classes in the community will likewise prosper. On the
other hand, if there is in the long run a lack of prosperity among
the two classes named, then all other prosperity is sure to be more
seeming than real. It has been our profound good fortune as a Nation
that hitherto, disregarding exceptional periods of depression and
the normal and inevitable fluctuations, there has been on the whole
from the beginning of our government to the present day a progressive
betterment alike in the condition of the tiller of the soil and in
the condition of the man who, by his manual skill and labor, supports
himself and his family, and endeavors to bring up his children so
that they may be at least as well off as, and if possible better off
than, he himself has been. There are, of course, exceptions, but as
a whole the standard of living among the farmers of our country has
risen from generation to generation, and the wealth represented on the
farms has steadily increased, while the wages of labor have likewise
risen, both as regards the actual money paid and as regards the
purchasing power which that money represents.
Side by side with this increase in the prosperity of the wage-worker
and the tiller of the soil has gone on a great increase in prosperity
among the business men and among certain classes of professional
men; and the prosperity of these men has been partly the cause and
partly the consequence of the prosperity of farmer and wage-worker.
It can not be too often repeated that in this country, in the long
run, we all of us tend to go up or go down together. If the average
of well-being is high, it means that the average wage-worker, the
average farmer, and the average business man are all alike well off.
If the average shrinks, there is not one of these classes which will
not feel the shrinkage. Of course there are always some men who are
not affected by good times, just as there are some men who are not
affected by bad times. But speaking broadly, it is true that if
prosperity comes all of us tend to share more or less therein, and
that if adversity comes each of us, to a greater or less extent, feels
the tension. Unfortunately, in this world the innocent frequently
find themselves obliged to pay some of the penalty for the misdeeds
of the guilty; and so if hard times come, whether they be due to our
own fault or to our misfortune, whether they be due to some burst of
speculative frenzy that has caused a portion of the business world
to lose its head—a loss which no legislation can possibly supply—or
whether they be due to any lack of wisdom in a portion of the world of
labor—in each case the trouble once started is felt more or less in
every walk of life.
It is all-essential to the continuance of our healthy national life
that we should recognize this community of interest among our people.
The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare
of all of us, and therefore in public life that man is the best
representative of each of us who seeks to do good to each by doing
good to all; in other words, whose endeavor it is, not to represent
any special class and promote merely that class’s selfish interests,
but to represent all true and honest men of all sections and all
classes and to work for their interests by working for our common
country.
We can keep our government on a sane and healthy basis, we can make
and keep our social system what it should be, only on condition of
judging each man, not as a member of a class, but on his worth as a
man. It is an infamous thing in our American life, and fundamentally
treacherous to our institutions, to apply to any man any test save
that of his personal worth, or to draw between two sets of men any
distinction save the distinction of conduct, the distinction that
marks off those who do well and wisely from those who do ill and
foolishly. There are good citizens and bad citizens in every class
as in every locality, and the attitude of decent people toward
great public and social questions should be determined, not by the
accidental questions of employment or locality, but by those deep-set
principles which represent the innermost souls of men.
The failure in public and in private life thus to treat each man on
his own merits, the recognition of this government as being either
for the poor as such or for the rich as such, would prove fatal to
our Republic, as such failure and such recognition have always proved
fatal in the past to other republics. A healthy republican government
must rest upon individuals, not upon classes or sections. As soon as
it becomes government by a class or by a section it departs from the
old American ideal.
It is, of course, the merest truism to say that free institutions
are of avail only to people who possess the high and peculiar
characteristics needed to take advantage of such institutions. The
century that has just closed has witnessed many and lamentable
instances in which people have seized a government free in form, or
have had it bestowed upon them, and yet have permitted it under the
forms of liberty to become some species of despotism or anarchy,
because they did not have in them the power to make this seeming
liberty one of deed instead of one merely of word. Under such
circumstances the seeming liberty may be supplanted by a tyranny or
despotism in the first place, or it may reach the road of despotism
by the path of license and anarchy. It matters but little which
road is taken. In either case the same goal is reached. People show
themselves just as unfit for liberty whether they submit to anarchy
or to tyranny; and class government, whether it be the government of
a plutocracy or the government of a mob, is equally incompatible with
the principles established in the days of Washington and perpetuated
in the days of Lincoln.
Many qualities are needed by a people which would preserve the power
of self-government in fact as well as in name. Among these qualities
are forethought, shrewdness, self-restraint, the courage which refuses
to abandon one’s own rights, and the disinterested and kindly good
sense which enables one to do justice to the rights of others. Lack
of strength and lack of courage unfit men for self-government on the
one hand; and on the other, brutal arrogance, envy, in short, any
manifestation of the spirit of selfish disregard, whether of one’s own
duties or of the rights of others, are equally fatal.
In the history of mankind many republics have risen, have flourished
for a less or greater time, and then have fallen because their
citizens lost the power of governing themselves and thereby of
governing their state; and in no way has this loss of power been so
often and so clearly shown as in the tendency to turn the government
into a government primarily for the benefit of one class instead of a
government for the benefit of the people as a whole.
Again and again in the republics of ancient Greece, in those of
mediæval Italy and mediæval Flanders, this tendency was shown, and
wherever the tendency became a habit it invariably and inevitably
proved fatal to the state. In the final result it mattered not one
whit whether the movement was in favor of one class or of another.
The outcome was equally fatal, whether the country fell into the
hands of a wealthy oligarchy which exploited the poor or whether it
fell under the domination of a turbulent mob which plundered the
rich. In both cases there resulted violent alternations between
tyranny and disorder, and a final complete loss of liberty to all
citizens—destruction in the end overtaking the class which had for
the moment been victorious as well as that which had momentarily been
defeated. The death knell of the Republic had rung as soon as the
active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to
do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one
special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of
others.
The reason why our future is assured lies in the fact that our people
are genuinely skilled in and fitted for self-government and therefore
will spurn the leadership of those who seek to excite this ferocious
and foolish class antagonism. The average American knows not only
that he himself intends to do about what is right, but that his
average fellow-countryman has the same intention and the same power
to make his intention effective. He knows, whether he be business
man, professional man, farmer, mechanic, employer, or wage-worker,
that the welfare of each of these men is bound up with the welfare of
all the others; that each is neighbor to the other, is actuated by
the same hopes and fears, has fundamentally the same ideals, and that
all alike have much the same virtues and the same faults. Our average
fellow-citizen is a sane and healthy man, who believes in decency and
has a wholesome mind. He therefore feels an equal scorn alike for the
man of wealth guilty of the mean and base spirit of arrogance toward
those who are less well off, and for the man of small means who in his
turn either feels, or seeks to excite in others the feeling of mean
and base envy for those who are better off. The two feelings, envy and
arrogance, are but opposite sides of the same shield, but different
developments of the same spirit. Fundamentally, the unscrupulous rich
man who seeks to exploit and oppress those who are less well off is
in spirit not opposed to, but identical with, the unscrupulous poor
man who desires to plunder and oppress those who are better off. The
courtier and the demagogue are but developments of the same type
under different conditions, each manifesting the same servile spirit,
the same desire to rise by pandering to base passions; though one
panders to power in the shape of a single man and the other to power
in the shape of a multitude. So likewise the man who wishes to rise
by wronging others must by right be contrasted, not with the man who
likewise wishes to do wrong, though to a different set of people, but
with the man who wishes to do justice to all people and to wrong none.
The line of cleavage between good and bad citizenship lies, not
between the man of wealth who acts squarely by his fellows and the
man who seeks each day’s wage by that day’s work, wronging no one and
doing his duty by his neighbor; nor yet does this line of cleavage
divide the unscrupulous wealthy man who exploits others in his own
interest, from the demagogue, or from the sullen and envious being who
wishes to attack all men of property, whether they do well or ill.
On the contrary, the line of cleavage between good citizenship and
bad citizenship separates the rich man who does well from the rich
man who does ill, the poor man of good conduct from the poor man of
bad conduct. This line of cleavage lies at right angles to any such
arbitrary line of division as that separating one class from another,
one locality from another, or men with a certain degree of property
from those of a less degree of property.
The good citizen is the man who, whatever his wealth or his poverty,
strives manfully to do his duty to himself, to his family, to his
neighbor, to the State; who is incapable of the baseness which
manifests itself either in arrogance or in envy, but who while
demanding justice for himself is no less scrupulous to do justice to
others. It is because the average American citizen, rich or poor, is
of just this type that we have cause for our profound faith in the
future of the Republic.
Ours is a government of liberty, by, through, and under the law.
Lawlessness and connivance at law-breaking—whether the law-breaking
take the form of a crime of greed and cunning or of a crime of
violence—are destructive not only of order, but of the true liberties
which can only come through order. If alive to their true interests
rich and poor alike will set their faces like flint against the spirit
which seeks personal advantage by overriding the laws, without regard
to whether this spirit shows itself in the form of bodily violence by
one set of men or in the form of vulpine cunning by another set of men.
Let the watchwords of all our people be the old familiar watchwords of
honesty, decency, fair dealing and common-sense. The qualities denoted
by these words are essential to all of us, as we deal with the complex
industrial problems of to-day, the problems affecting not merely the
accumulation but even more the wise distribution of wealth. We ask
no man’s permission when we require him to obey the law; neither the
permission of the poor man nor yet of the rich man. Least of all can
the man of great wealth afford to break the law, even for his own
financial advantage; for the law is his prop and support, and it is
both foolish and profoundly unpatriotic for him to fail in giving
hearty support to those who show that there is in very fact one law,
and one law only, alike for the rich and the poor, for the great and
the small.
Men sincerely interested in the due protection of property, and men
sincerely interested in seeing that the just rights of labor are
guaranteed, should alike remember not only that in the long run
neither the capitalist nor the wage-worker can be helped in healthy
fashion save by helping the other; but also that to require either
side to obey the law and do its full duty toward the community is
emphatically to that side’s real interest.
There is no worse enemy of the wage-worker than the man who condones
mob violence in any shape or who preaches class hatred; and surely the
slightest acquaintance with our industrial history should teach even
the most shortsighted that the times of most suffering for our people
as a whole, the times when business is stagnant, and capital suffers
from shrinkage and gets no return from its investments, are exactly
the times of hardship, and want, and grim disaster among the poor.
If all the existing instrumentalities of wealth could be abolished,
the first and severest suffering would come among those of us who are
least well off at present. The wage-worker is well off only when the
rest of the country is well off; and he can best contribute to this
general well-being by showing sanity and a firm purpose to do justice
to others.
In his turn the capitalist who is really a conservative, the man
who has forethought as well as patriotism, should heartily welcome
every effort, legislative or otherwise, which has for its object to
secure fair dealing by capital, corporate or individual, toward the
public and toward the employee. Such laws as the franchise tax law in
this State, which the Court of Appeals recently unanimously decided
constitutional—such a law as that passed in Congress last year for
the purpose of establishing a Department of Commerce and Labor,
under which there should be a bureau to oversee and secure publicity
from the great corporations which do an interstate business—such a
law as that passed at the same time for the regulation of the great
highways of commerce so as to keep these roads clear on fair terms to
all producers in getting their goods to market—these laws are in the
interest not merely of the people as a whole, but of the propertied
classes. For in no way is the stability of property better assured
than by making it patent to our people that property bears its proper
share of the burdens of the State; that property is handled not
only in the interest of the owner, but in the interest of the whole
community.
In other words, legislation to be permanently good for any class must
also be good for the Nation as a whole, and legislation which does
injustice to any class is certain to work harm to the Nation. Take
our currency system for example. This Nation is on a gold basis. The
treasury of the public is in excellent condition. Never before has the
per capita of circulation been as large as it is this day; and this
circulation, moreover, is of money every dollar of which is at par
with gold. Now, our having this sound currency system is of benefit to
banks, of course, but it is of infinitely more benefit to the people
as a whole, because of the healthy effect on business conditions.
In the same way, whatever is advisable in the way of remedial or
corrective currency legislation—and nothing revolutionary is advisable
under present conditions—must be undertaken only from the standpoint
of the business community as a whole, that is, of the American body
politic as a whole. Whatever is done, we can not afford to take any
step backward or to cast any doubt upon the certain redemption in
standard coin of every circulating note.
Among ourselves we differ in many qualities of body, head and heart;
we are unequally developed, mentally as well as physically. But each
of us has the right to ask that he shall be protected from wrongdoing
as he does his work and carries his burden through life. No man needs
sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far
and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard
at work worth doing; and this is a prize open to every man, for there
can be no work better worth doing than that done to keep in health and
comfort and with reasonable advantages those immediately dependent
upon the husband, the father, or the son.
There is no room in our healthy American life for the mere idler, for
the man or the woman whose object it is throughout life to shirk the
duties which life ought to bring. Life can mean nothing worth meaning,
unless its prime aim is the doing of duty, the achievement of results
worth achieving. A recent writer has finely said: “After all, the
saddest thing that can happen to a man is to carry no burdens. To be
bent under too great a load is bad; to be crushed by it is lamentable;
but even in that there are possibilities that are glorious. But to
carry no load at all—there is nothing in that. No one seems to arrive
at any goal really worth reaching in this world who does not come to
it heavy laden.”
Surely from our own experience each one of us knows that this is
true. From the greatest to the smallest, happiness and usefulness
are largely found in the same soul, and the joy of life is won in
its deepest and truest sense only by those who have not shirked
life’s burdens. The men whom we most delight to honor in all this
land are those who, in the iron years from ’61 to ’65, bore on their
shoulders the burden of saving the Union. They did not choose the
easy task. They did not shirk the difficult duty. Deliberately and
of their own free will they strove for an ideal, upward and onward
across the stony slopes of greatness. They did the hardest work
that was then to be done; they bore the heaviest burden that any
generation of Americans ever had to bear; and because they did this
they have won such proud joy as it has fallen to the lot of no other
men to win, and have written their names for evermore on the golden
honor roll of the Nation. As it is with the soldier, so it is with
the civilian. To win success in the business world, to become a
first-class mechanic, a successful farmer, an able lawyer or doctor,
means that the man has devoted his best energy and power through
long years to the achievement of his ends. So it is in the life of
the family, upon which in the last analysis the whole welfare of the
Nation rests. The man or woman who as bread-winner and home-maker, or
as wife and mother, has done all that he or she can do, patiently and
uncomplainingly, is to be honored; and is to be envied by all those
who have never had the good fortune to feel the need and duty of doing
such work. The woman who has borne, and who has reared as they should
be reared, a family of children, has in the most emphatic manner
deserved well of the Republic. Her burden has been heavy, and she has
been able to bear it worthily only by the possession of resolution,
of good sense, of conscience, and of unselfishness. But if she has
borne it well, then to her shall come the supreme blessing, for in the
words of the oldest and greatest of books, “Her children shall rise
up and call her blessed;” and among the benefactors of the land her
place must be with those who have done the best and the hardest work,
whether as law-givers or as soldiers, whether in public or private
life.
This is not a soft and easy creed to preach. It is a creed willingly
learned only by men and women who, together with the softer virtues,
possess also the stronger; who can do, and dare, and die at need,
but who while life lasts will never flinch from their allotted task.
You farmers, and wage-workers, and business men of this great State,
of this mighty and wonderful Nation, are gathered together to-day,
proud of your State and still prouder of your Nation, because your
forefathers and predecessors have lived up to just this creed. You
have received from their hands a great inheritance, and you will leave
an even greater inheritance to your children, and your children’s
children, provided only that you practice alike in your private and
your public lives the strong virtues that have given us as a people
greatness in the past. It is not enough to be well-meaning and kindly,
but weak; neither is it enough to be strong, unless morality and
decency go hand in hand with strength. We must possess the qualities
which make us do our duty in our homes and among our neighbors, and in
addition we must possess the qualities which are indispensable to the
make-up of every great and masterful nation—the qualities of courage
and hardihood, of individual initiative and yet of power to combine
for a common end, and above all, the resolute determination to permit
no man and no set of men to sunder us one from the other by lines
of caste or creed or section. We must act upon the motto of all for
each and each for all. There must be ever present in our minds the
fundamental truth that in a republic such as ours the only safety is
to stand neither for nor against any man because he is rich or because
he is poor, because he is engaged in one occupation or another,
because he works with his brains or because he works with his hands.
We must treat each man on his worth and merits as a man. We must see
that each is given a square deal, because he is entitled to no more
and should receive no less. Finally we must keep ever in mind that a
republic such as ours can exist only by virtue of the orderly liberty
which comes through the equal domination of the law over all men
alike, and through its administration in such resolute and fearless
fashion as shall teach all that no man is above it and no man below it.
AT RICHMOND HILL, N. Y., SEPTEMBER 8, 1903
_Dr. Kimball, and you, Men, Women, and Children of Richmond Hill_:
I wish I could talk better to all of you; but I will ask you to have a
little patience for one moment while I thank you for having come out
to greet me, I am glad to see all of you, and allow me to say that I
am most glad to see those who carry small folks in their arms.
You know I am very fond of Mr. Riis; and the reason why is because
when I preach about decent citizenship I can turn to him and think
he has practiced just what I have been preaching. The worth of any
sermon lies in the way in which that sermon can be and is applied
in practice. Of course I am glad to have the chance of being with a
man who shows by his life that he knows how practically to apply the
spirit of decency unaccompanied by mournfulness or false pretences
of any kind, or by weakness. I want to see men decent; I want to
see them act squarely; I want to see them work. That does not mean
that I want to see them have sour faces. I want to see all enjoy
themselves, men, women, and children. I believe in play; I believe in
happiness, and in the joy of living; and I do not believe in the life
that is nothing but play. I believe that you have a thousandfold more
enjoyment if work comes first; but get time to play also. I believe
in cheerfulness as well as in decency and honesty. Finally, I believe
in always combining strength with the sweetness. I want to say how
deeply touched I am at your coming out to greet me, and I want you to
understand that you give me strength of heart when you come in this
way. I greet you all; I am glad to see the grown up people of Richmond
Hill, and I am even more glad to see the children.
AT ANTIETAM, MD., SEPTEMBER 17, 1903
_Governor Murphy, Veterans of New Jersey, Men of the Grand Army_:
I thank you of New Jersey for the monument to the troops of New
Jersey who fought at Antietam, and on behalf of the Nation I accept
the gift. We meet to-day upon one of the great battle-fields of the
Civil War. No other battle of the Civil War lasting but one day shows
as great a percentage of loss as that which occurred here upon the
day on which Antietam was fought. Moreover, in its ultimate effects
this battle was of momentous and even decisive importance, for when
it had ended and Lee had retreated south of the Potomac, Lincoln
forthwith published that immortal paper, the preliminary declaration
of emancipation; the paper which decided that the Civil War, besides
being a war for the preservation of the Union, should be a war for the
emancipation of the slave, so that from that time onward the cause of
Union and of Freedom, of national greatness and individual liberty,
were one and the same.
Men of New Jersey, I congratulate your State because she has the right
to claim her full share in the honor and glory of that memorable day;
and I congratulate you, Governor Murphy, because on that day you had
the high good fortune to serve as a lad with credit and honor in
one of the five regiments which your State sent to the battle. Four
of those regiments, by the way, served in the division commanded
by that gallant soldier, Henry W. Slocum, whom we of New York can
claim as our own. The other regiment, that in which Governor Murphy
served, although practically an entirely new regiment, did work as
good as that of any veteran organization upon the field, and suffered
a proportional loss. This regiment was at one time ordered to the
support of a division commanded by another New York soldier, the
gallant General Greene, whose son himself served as a major-general
in the war with Spain and is now, as Police Commissioner of New York,
rendering as signal service in civil life as he had already rendered
in military life.
If the issue of Antietam had been other than it was, it is probable
that at least two great European powers would have recognized the
independence of the Confederacy; so that you who fought here forty-one
years ago have the profound satisfaction of feeling that you played
well your part in one of those crises big with the fate of all
mankind. You men of the Grand Army by your victory not only rendered
all Americans your debtors for evermore, but you rendered all humanity
your debtors. If the Union had been dissolved, if the great edifice
built with blood and sweat and tears by mighty Washington and his
compeers had gone down in wreck and ruin, the result would have been
an incalculable calamity, not only for our people—and most of all
for those who, in such event would have seemingly triumphed—but for
all mankind. The great American Republic would have become a memory
of derision; and the failure of the experiment of self-government
by a great people on a great scale would have delighted the heart
of every foe of republican institutions. Our country, now so great
and so wonderful, would have been split into little jangling rival
nationalities, each with a history both bloody and contemptible.
It was because you, the men who wear the button of the Grand Army,
triumphed in those dark years, that every American now holds his
head high, proud in the knowledge that he belongs to a Nation whose
glorious past and great present will be succeeded by an even mightier
future; whereas had you failed we would all of us, North and South,
East and West, be now treated by other nations at the best with
contemptuous tolerance; at the worst with overbearing insolence.
Moreover, every friend of liberty, every believer in self-government,
every idealist who wished to see his ideals take practical shape,
wherever he might be in the world, knew that the success of all in
which he most believed was bound up with the success of the Union
armies in this great struggle. I confidently predict that when the
final judgment of history is recorded it will be said that in no other
war of which we have written record was it more vitally essential
for the welfare of mankind that victory should rest where it finally
rested. There have been other wars for individual freedom. There have
been other wars for national greatness. But there has never been
another war in which the issues at stake were so large, looked at from
either standpoint. We take just pride in the great deeds of the men
of 1776, but we must keep in mind that the Revolutionary War would
have been shorn of wellnigh all its results had the side of union and
liberty been defeated in the Civil War. In such case we should merely
have added another to the lamentably long list of cases in which
peoples have shown that after winning their liberty they are wholly
unable to make good use of it.
It now rests with us in civil life to make good by our deeds the
deeds which you who wore the blue did in the great years from ’61
to ’65. The patriotism, the courage, the unflinching resolution and
steadfast endurance of the soldiers whose triumph was crowned at
Appomattox must be supplemented on our part by civic courage, civic
honesty, cool sanity, and steadfast adherence to the immutable laws
of righteousness. You left us a reunited country; reunited in fact
as well as in name. You left us the right of brotherhood with your
gallant foes who wore the gray; the right to feel pride in their
courage and their high fealty to an ideal, even though they warred
against the stars in their courses. You left us also the most splendid
example of what brotherhood really means; for in your careers you
showed in practical fashion that the only safety in our American life
lies in spurning the accidental distinctions which sunder one man from
another, and in paying homage to each man only because of what he
essentially is; in stripping off the husks of occupation, of position,
of accident, until the soul stands forth revealed, and we know the man
only because of his worth as a man.
There was no patent device for securing victory by force of arms
forty years ago; and there is no patent device for securing victory
for the forces of righteousness in civil life now. In each case the
all-important factor was and is the character of the individual man.
Good laws in the State, like a good organization in an army, are
the expressions of national character. Leaders will be developed in
military and in civil life alike; and weapons and tactics change from
generation to generation, as methods of achieving good government
change in civic affairs; but the fundamental qualities which make for
good citizenship do not change any more than the fundamental qualities
which make good soldiers. In the long run in the Civil War the thing
that counted for more than aught else was the fact that the average
American had the fighting edge; had within him the spirit which
spurred him on through toil and danger, fatigue and hardship, to the
goal of the splendid ultimate triumph. So in achieving good government
the fundamental factor must be the character of the average citizen;
that average citizen’s power of hatred for what is mean and base and
unlovely; his fearless scorn of cowardice and his determination to war
unyieldingly against the dark and sordid forces of evil.
The Continental troops who followed Washington were clad in blue
and buff, and were armed with clumsy, flintlock muskets. You, who
followed Grant, wore the famous old blue uniform, and your weapons
had changed as had your uniform; and now the men of the American Army
who uphold the honor of the flag in the far tropic lands are yet
differently armed and differently clad and differently trained; but
the spirit that has driven you all to victory has remained forever
unchanged. So it is in civil life. As you did not win in a month or
a year, but only after long years of hard and dangerous work, so the
fight for governmental honesty and efficiency can be won only by
the display of similar patience and similar resolution and power of
endurance. We need the same type of character now that was needed
by the men who with Washington first inaugurated the system of free
popular government, the system of combined liberty and order here
on this Continent; that was needed by the men who under Lincoln
perpetuated the government which had thus been inaugurated in the
days of Washington. The qualities essential to good citizenship and
to good public service now are in all their essentials exactly the
same as in the days when the first Congresses met to provide for the
establishment of the Union; as in the days seventy years later, when
the Congresses met which had to provide for its salvation.
There are many qualities which we need alike in private citizen
and in public man, but three above all—three for the lack of which
no brilliancy and no genius can atone—and those three are courage,
honesty, and common-sense.
AT THE UNVEILING OF THE SHERMAN STATUE, WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 15,
1903
_General Dodge, Veterans of the Four Great Armies, and you, my
Fellow-Citizens_:
To-day we meet together to do honor to the memory of one of the great
men whom, in the hour of her agony, our Nation brought forth for her
preservation. The Civil War was not only in the importance of the
issues at stake and of the outcome the greatest of modern times, but
it was also, taking into account its duration, the severity of the
fighting, and the size of the armies engaged, the greatest since
the close of the Napoleonic struggles. Among the generals who rose
to high position as leaders of the various armies in the field are
many who will be remembered in our history as long as this history
itself is remembered. Sheridan, the incarnation of fiery energy and
prowess; Thomas, far-sighted, cool-headed, whose steadfast courage
burned ever highest in the supreme moment of the crisis; McClellan,
with his extraordinary gift for organization; Meade, victor in one of
the decisive battles of all time; Hancock, type of the true fighting
man among the regulars; Logan, type of the true fighting man among
the volunteers—the names of these and of many others will endure so
long as our people hold sacred the memory of the fight for union and
for liberty. High among these chiefs rise the figures of Grant and of
Grant’s great lieutenant, Sherman, whose statue here in the national
capital is to-day to be unveiled. It is not necessary here to go
over the long roll of Sherman’s mighty feats. They are written large
throughout the history of the Civil War. Our memories would be poor
indeed if we did not recall them now, as we look along Pennsylvania
Avenue and think of the great triumphal march which surged down its
length when at the close of the war the victorious armies of the East
and of the West met here in the capital of the Nation they had saved.
There is a peculiar fitness in commemorating the great deeds of the
soldiers who preserved this Nation, by suitable monuments at the
National Capital. I trust we shall soon have a proper statue of
Abraham Lincoln, to whom more than to any other one man this Nation
owes its salvation. Meanwhile, on behalf of the people of the Nation,
I wish to congratulate all of you who have been instrumental in
securing the erection of this statue to General Sherman.
The living can best show their respect for the memory of the great
dead by the way in which they take to heart and act upon the lessons
taught by the lives which made these dead men great. Our homage to-day
to the memory of Sherman comes from the depths of our being. We would
be unworthy citizens did we not feel profound gratitude toward him,
and those like him and under him, who, when the country called in her
dire need, sprang forward with such gallant eagerness to answer that
call. Their blood and their toil, their endurance and patriotism,
have made us and all who come after us forever their debtors. They
left us not merely a reunited country, but a country incalculably
greater because of its rich heritage in the deeds which thus left it
reunited. As a Nation we are the greater, not only for the valor and
devotion to duty displayed by the men in blue, who won in the great
struggle for the Union, but also for the valor and the loyalty toward
what they regarded as right of the men in gray; for this war, thrice
fortunate above all other recent wars in its outcome, left to all of
us the right of brotherhood alike with valiant victor and valiant
vanquished.
Moreover, our homage must not only find expression on our lips; it
must also show itself forth in our deeds. It is a great and glorious
thing for a nation to be stirred to present triumph by the splendid
memories of triumphs in the past. But it is a shameful thing for a
nation, if these memories stir it only to empty boastings, to a pride
that does not shrink from present abasement, to that self-satisfaction
which accepts the high resolve and unbending effort of the father as
an excuse for effortless ease or wrongly directed effort in the son.
We of the present, if we are true to the past, must show by our lives
that we have learned aright the lessons taught by the men who did the
mighty deeds of the past. We must have in us the spirit which made the
men of the Civil War what they were; the spirit which produced leaders
such as Sherman; the spirit which gave to the average soldier the
grim tenacity and resourcefulness that made the armies of Grant and
Sherman as formidable fighting machines as this world has ever seen.
We need their ruggedness of body, their keen and vigorous minds, and
above all their dominant quality of forceful character. Their lives
teach us in our own lives to strive after, not the thing which is
merely pleasant, but the thing which it is our duty to do. The life of
duty, not the life of mere ease or mere pleasure—that is the kind of
life which makes the great man as it makes the great nation.
We can not afford to lose the virtues which made the men of ’61 to
’65 great in war. No man is warranted in feeling pride in the deeds
of the Army and Navy of the past if he does not back up the Army and
the Navy of the present. If we are far-sighted in our patriotism,
there will be no let-up in the work of building, and of keeping at
the highest point of efficiency, a navy suited to the part the United
States must hereafter play in the world, and of making and keeping our
small Regular Army, which in the event of a great war can never be
anything but the nucleus around which our volunteer armies must form
themselves, the best army of its size to be found among the nations.
So much for our duties in keeping unstained the honor roll our fathers
made in war. It is of even more instant need that we should show their
spirit of patriotism in the affairs of peace. The duties of peace are
with us always; those of war are but occasional; and with a nation as
with a man, the worthiness of life depends upon the way in which the
every-day duties are done. The home duties are the vital duties. The
nation is nothing but the aggregate of the families within its border;
and if the average man is not hard-working, just, and fearless in his
dealings with those about him, then our average of public life will in
the end be low; for the stream can rise no higher than its source. But
in addition we need to remember that a peculiar responsibility rests
upon the man in public life. We meet in the capital of the Nation, in
the city which owes its existence to the fact that it is the seat of
the National Government. It is well for us in this place, and at this
time, to remember that exactly as there are certain homely qualities
the lack of which will prevent the most brilliant man alive from being
a useful soldier to his country, so there are certain homely qualities
for the lack of which in the public servant no shrewdness or ability
can atone. The greatest leaders, whether in war or in peace, must of
course show a peculiar quality of genius; but the most redoubtable
armies that have ever existed have been redoubtable because the
average soldier, the average officer, possessed to a high degree such
comparatively simple qualities as loyalty, courage, and hardihood.
And so the most successful governments are those in which the average
public servant possesses that variant of loyalty which we call
patriotism, together with common-sense and honesty. We can as little
afford to tolerate a dishonest man in the public service as a coward
in the army. The murderer takes a single life; the corruptionist in
public life, whether he be bribe giver or bribe taker, strikes at the
heart of the commonwealth. In every public service, as in every army,
there will be wrongdoers, there will occur misdeeds. This can not be
avoided; but vigilant watch must be kept, and as soon as discovered
the wrongdoing must be stopped and the wrongdoers punished. Remember
that in popular government we must rely on the people themselves,
alike for the punishment and the reformation. Those upon whom our
institutions cast the initial duty of bringing malefactors to the bar
of justice must be diligent in its discharge; yet in the last resort
the success of their efforts to purge the public service of corruption
must depend upon the attitude of the courts and of the juries drawn
from the people. Leadership is of avail only so far as there is wise
and resolute public sentiment behind it.
In the long run, then, it depends upon us ourselves, upon us the
people as a whole, whether this Government is or is not to stand in
the future as it has stood in the past; and my faith that it will
show no falling off is based upon my faith in the character of our
average citizenship. The one supreme duty is to try to keep this
average high. To this end it is well to keep alive the memory of
those men who are fit to serve as examples of what is loftiest and
best in American citizenship. Such a man was General Sherman. To very
few in any generation is it given to render such services as he
rendered; but each of us in his degree can try to show something of
those qualities of character upon which, in their sum, the high worth
of Sherman rested—his courage, his kindliness, his clean and simple
living, his sturdy good sense, his manliness and tenderness in the
intimate relations of life, and finally, his inflexible rectitude of
soul and his loyalty to all that in this free Republic is hallowed and
symbolized by the national flag.
AT THE PAN-AMERICAN MISSIONARY SERVICE, CATHEDRAL OF ST. PETER AND
ST. PAUL, MOUNT ST. ALBAN, WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 25, 1903
_Bishop Satterlee; and to you representatives of the Church both at
home and abroad; and to all of you, my friends and fellow-citizens_:
I extend greeting, and in your name I especially welcome those who
are in a sense the guests of the nation to-day. In what I am about to
say to you, I wish to dwell upon certain thoughts suggested by three
different quotations: In the first place, “Thou shalt serve the Lord
with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind;” the
next, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves;” and
finally, in the Collect which you, Bishop Doane, just read, that “we
being ready both in body and soul may cheerfully accomplish those
things which thou commandest.”
To an audience such as this I do not have to say anything as to
serving the cause of decency with heart and with soul. I want to
dwell, however, upon the fact that we have the right to claim from you
not merely that you shall have heart in your work, not merely that you
shall put your souls into it, but that you shall give the best that
your minds have to it also. In the eternal, the unending warfare for
righteousness and against evil, the friends of what is good need to
remember that in addition to being decent they must be efficient; that
good intentions, high purposes, can not be in themselves effective,
that they are in no sense a substitute for power to make those
purposes, those intentions felt in action. Of course we must first
have the purpose and the intention. If our powers are not guided
aright it is better that we should not have them at all; but we must
have the power itself before we can guide it aright.
In the second text we are told not merely to be harmless as doves, but
also to be wise as serpents. One of our American humorists who veils
under jocular phrases much deep wisdom—one of those men has remarked
that it is much easier to be a harmless dove than a wise serpent. Now,
we are not to be excused if we do not show both qualities. It is not
very much praise to give a man to say that he is harmless. We have
a right to ask that in addition to the fact that he does no harm to
any one he shall possess the wisdom and the strength to do good to
his neighbor; that together with innocence, together with purity of
motive, shall be joined the wisdom and strength to make that purity
effective, that motive translated into substantial result.
Finally, in the quotation from the Collect, we ask that we may be made
ready both in body and in soul, that we may cheerfully accomplish
those things that we are commanded to do. Ready both in body and in
soul; that means that we must fit ourselves physically and mentally,
fit ourselves to work with the weapons necessary for dealing with this
life no less than with the higher, spiritual weapons; fit ourselves
thus to do the work commanded; and moreover, to do it cheerfully.
Small is our use for the man who individually helps any of us and
shows that he does it grudgingly. We had rather not be helped than
be helped in such fashion. A favor extended in a manner which shows
that the man is sorry that he has to grant it is robbed, sometimes of
all, and sometimes of more than all, its benefit. So, in serving the
Lord, if we serve him, if we serve the cause of decency, the cause of
righteousness, in a way that impresses others with the fact that we
are sad in doing it, our service is robbed of an immense proportion
of its efficacy. We have a right to ask a cheerful heart, a right
to ask a buoyant and cheerful spirit among those to whom is granted
the inestimable privilege of doing the Lord’s work in this world.
The chance to do work, the duty to do work is not a penalty; it is a
privilege. Let me quote a sentence that I have quoted once before:
“In this life the man who wins to any goal worth winning almost always
comes to that goal with a burden bound on his shoulders.” The man who
does best in this world, the woman who does best, almost inevitably
does it because he or she carries some burden. Life is so constituted
that the man or the woman who has not some responsibility is thereby
deprived of the deepest happiness that can come to mankind, because
each and every one of us, if he or she is fit to live in the world
must be conscious that responsibility always rests on him or on
her—the responsibility of duty toward those dependent upon us; the
responsibility of duty toward our families, toward our friends, toward
our fellow-citizens; the responsibility of duty to wife and child, to
the state, to the church. Not only can no man shirk some or all of
those responsibilities, but no man worth his salt will wish to shirk
them. On the contrary, he will welcome thrice over the fortune that
puts them upon him.
In closing, I want to call your attention to something that is
especially my business for the time being, and that is measurably your
business all the time, or else you are unfit to be citizens of this
Republic. In the seventh hymn which we sung, in the last line, you
all joined in singing “God save the State!” Do you intend merely to
sing that, or to try to do it? If you intend merely to sing it, your
part in doing it will be but small. The State will be saved, if the
Lord puts it into the heart of the average man so to shape his life
that the State shall be worth saving, and only on those terms. We need
civic righteousness. The best constitution that the wit of man has
ever devised, the best institutions that the ablest statesmen in the
world have ever reduced to practice by law or by custom, all these
shall be of no avail if they are not vivified by the spirit which
makes a State great by making its citizens honest, just, and brave. I
do not ask you as practical believers in applied Christianity to take
part one way or the other in matters that are merely partisan. There
are plenty of questions about which honest men can and do differ very
greatly and very intensely, but as to which the triumph of either side
may be compatible with the welfare of the State—a lesser degree of
welfare or a greater degree of welfare—but compatible with the welfare
of the State. But there are certain great principles, such as those
which Cromwell would have called “fundamentals,” concerning which
no man has a right to have more than one opinion. Such a question
is honesty. If you have not honesty in the average private citizen,
in the average public servant, then all else goes for nothing. The
abler a man is, the more dexterous, the shrewder, the bolder, why
the more dangerous he is if he has not the root of right living and
right thinking in him—and that in private life, and even more in
public life. Exactly as in time of war, although you need in each
fighting man far more than courage, yet all else counts for nothing
if there is not that courage upon which to base it, so in our civil
life, although we need that the average man in private life, that
the average public servant, shall have far more than honesty, yet
all other qualities go for nothing or for worse than nothing unless
honesty underlies them—honesty in public life and honesty in private
life; not only the honesty that keeps its skirts technically clear,
but the honesty that is such according to the spirit as well as
the letter of the law; the honesty that is aggressive, the honesty
that not merely deplores corruption—it is easy enough to deplore
corruption—but that wars against it and tramples it under foot. I
ask for that type of honesty, I ask for militant honesty, for the
honesty of the kind that makes those who have it discontented with
themselves as long as they have failed to do everything that in them
lies to stamp out dishonesty wherever it can be found, in high place
or in low. And let us not flatter ourselves, we who live in countries
where the people rule that it is ultimately possible for the people
to cast upon any but themselves the responsibilities for the shape
the government and the social and political life of the community
assumes. I ask then that our people feel quickened within them burning
indignation against wrong in every shape, and condemnation of that
wrong, whether found in private or in public life. We have a right to
demand courage of every man who wears the uniform; it is not so much
a credit to him to have it as it is shame unutterable to him if he
lacks it. So when we demand honesty, we demand it not as entitling
the possessor to praise, but as warranting the heartiest condemnation
possible if he lacks it. Surely in every movement for the betterment
of our life, our life social in the truest and deepest sense, our
life political, we have a special right to ask not merely support but
leadership from those of the Church. We ask that you here to whom
much has been given will remember that from you rightly much will be
expected in return. For all of us here the lines have been cast in
pleasant places. Each of us has been given one talent, or five, or ten
talents, and each of us is in honor bound to use that talent or those
talents aright, and to show at the end that he is entitled to the
praise of having done well as a faithful servant.
I greet you this afternoon, and am glad to see you here, and I trust
and believe that after this service every one of us will go home
feeling that he or she has been warranted in coming here by the way
in which he or she, after going home, takes up with fresh heart, with
fresh courage, and with fresh and higher purpose the burden of life as
that burden has been given to him or to her to carry.
AT THE CENTENNIAL EXERCISES IN THE N. Y. AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
WASHINGTON, D. C., NOV. 16, 1903
_Mr. Justice_:
Let me first express the appreciation that all of us feel to Professor
McMaster for his exceedingly interesting address; and the address
showed why he can justly claim to be the historian of the people of
the United States, for what he has told us was what the people did,
not merely what the outward forms and observances were, but what the
life of the people was a century ago. And, Mr. Justice, I think that
the recital has left in the minds of all of us the feeling that while
we revere our ancestors, we are not wholly discontented that we live
in the present day.
To each generation comes its allotted task; and no generation is to
be excused for failure to perform that task. No generation can claim
as an excuse for such failure the fact that it is not guilty of the
sins of the preceding generation. It was a surprise to me, I suppose
it was a surprise to many of us, to realize that a hundred years
ago, in the days of the fathers, the lot of the poor debtor was so
hard. It seems incredible to us now that there should have been such
callousness to the undeserved human suffering then. I hope sincerely
that a century hence it will seem equally incredible to the American
of that generation that there should be corruption and venality
in public life. We can divide, and must divide, on party lines as
regards certain questions; as regards the deepest, as regards the
vital questions, we can not afford to divide, and I have the right
to challenge the best effort of every American worthy of the name
to putting down by every means in his power corruption in private
life, and above all corruption in public life. And, remember, you,
the people of this government by the people, that while the public
servant, the legislator, the executive officer, the judge, are not
to be excused if they fall short of their duty, yet that their doing
their duty can not avail unless you do yours. In the last resort we
have to depend upon the jury drawn from the people to convict the
scoundrel who has tainted our public life; and unless that jury does
its duty, unless it is backed by the public sentiment of the people,
all the work of legislator, of executive officer, of judicial officer,
are for naught.
Mr. Justice, a man would be a poor citizen of this country if he
could sit in Abraham Lincoln’s pew and not feel the solemn sense of
the associations borne in upon him; and I wish to thank the people of
this church for that reverence for the historic past, for the sense
of historic continuity, which has made them keep this pew unchanged.
I hope it will remain unchanged in this church as long as our country
endures. We have not too many monuments of the past; let us keep every
little bit of association with that which is highest and best of the
past as a reminder to us, equally of what we owe to those who have
gone before and of how we should show our appreciation. This evening I
sit in this pew of Abraham Lincoln’s, together with Abraham Lincoln’s
private secretary, who, for my good fortune, now serves as Secretary
of State in my Cabinet.
If ever there lived a President who during his term of service
needed all of the consolation and of the strength that he could
draw from the unseen powers above him, it was Abraham Lincoln, who
worked and suffered for the people, and when he had lived for them
to good end gave his life at the end. If ever there was a man who
practically applied what was taught in our churches, it was Abraham
Lincoln. The other day I was rereading—on the suggestion of Mr. Hay—a
little speech not often quoted of his, yet which seems to me one of
the most remarkable that he ever made; delivered right after his
re-election, I think, to a body of serenaders who had come, if my
memory is correct, from Maryland, and called for an address from him
from the White House. It is extraordinary to read that speech, and to
realize that the man who made it had just come successfully through
a great political contest in which he felt that so much was at stake
for the Nation that he had no time to think whether or not anything
was at stake for himself. The speech is devoid of the least shade of
bitterness. There is not a word of unseemly triumph over those who
have been defeated. There is not a word of glorification of himself,
or in any improper sense of his party. There is an earnest appeal,
now that the election is over, now that the civic strife has been
completed, for all decent men who love the country to join together
in service to the country; and in the speech he uses a thoroughly
Lincoln-like phrase when he says “I have not willingly planted a
thorn in the breast of any man,” thus trying to make clear that he
has nothing to say against any opponent, no bitterness toward any
opponent; that all he wishes is that those who opposed him should join
with those who favored him in working toward a common end. In reading
his works and addresses, one is struck by the fact that as he went
higher and higher all personal bitterness seemed to die out of him. In
the Lincoln-Douglas debates one can still catch now and then a note of
personal antagonism; the man was in the arena, and as the blows were
given and taken you can see that now and then he had a feeling against
his antagonist. When he became President and faced the crisis that he
had to face, from that time on I do not think that you can find an
expression, a speech, a word of Lincoln’s, written or spoken, in which
bitterness is shown to any man. His devotion to the cause was so great
that he neither could nor would have feeling against any individual.
In closing, Mr. Justice, in thanking you of this church, the church so
closely kindred to my own Dutch Reformed Church, in thanking you for
asking me here, let me say how peculiarly glad I am that in the chair
sits one man, a Justice of the Supreme Court, and that I could be
escorted here by another man, who has just severed his connection with
one of the highest places in the United States Army, both of whom—you,
Justice Harlan, you, General Breckinridge—had enjoyed the wonderful
privilege of proving by their deeds the faith that was in them in the
days that tried men’s souls; both of whom did their part in holding
up the hands of mighty Lincoln, and both of whom were born in the
State of Lincoln’s birth.
REMARKS TO THE DELEGATES OF THE GERMAN SOCIETIES RECEIVED AT THE
WHITE HOUSE, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1903
_Mr. Voelckner, and Gentlemen_:
It gives me peculiar pleasure to greet you to-day; and it is a matter
of real regret to me that I can not attend formally your celebration.
You are quite right, Mr. Chairman, when you speak of the stand that
the German element in our citizenship has always taken in all crises
of our national life. In the first place, from the beginning of our
colonial history to this day, the German strain has been constantly
increasing in importance among the many strains that go to make up our
composite national character. I do not have to repeat to you the story
of the early German immigration to this country—the German immigration
that began in a mass toward the end of the seventeenth century, but
before that time had been represented among the very first settlers.
Allow me to give you one bit of ancestral experience of mine. The
first head of the New York City Government who was of German birth was
Leisler, about the year 1680. He was the representative of the popular
faction in the New York colony of that day, and among the Leislerian
aldermen was a forbear of mine named Roosevelt. You are entirely
familiar, of course, with the German immigration that went to the
formation of Pennsylvania from the beginning. That element was equally
strong in the Mohawk Valley in New York; it was equally strong in
Middle and Western Maryland. For instance, in the Revolutionary War,
one of the distinguished figures contributed by New York to the cause
of independence was that of the German Herkimer, whose fight in the
Mohawk Valley represented one of the turning points in the struggle
for independence; and one of the New York counties is now named after
him. The other day I went out to the battlefield of Antietam, here in
Maryland. There the Memorial Church is the German Lutheran Church,
which was founded in 1768, the settlement in the neighborhood of
Antietam being originally exclusively a German settlement. There is a
list of its pastors, and curiously enough a series of memorial windows
of men with German names—men who belonged to the Maryland regiment
recruited largely from that region for the Civil War, which Maryland
regiment was mainly composed of men of German extraction. In the
Civil War it would be difficult to paint in too strong colors what I
may wellnigh call the all-importance of the attitude of the American
citizens of German birth and extraction toward the cause of Union and
Liberty, especially in what were then known as the border States. It
would have been out of the question to have kept Missouri loyal had it
not been for the German element therein. It was the German portion
of the city of St. Louis which formed the core of the Union cause in
Missouri. And but little less important was the part played by the
Germans in Maryland, and also in Louisville and other portions of
Kentucky.
Each body of immigrants, each element that has thus been added to
our national strain, has contributed something of value to the
national character; and to no element do we owe more than we owe to
that element represented by those whom I have the honor this day of
addressing.
WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON,
_October 18, 1902_
MY DEAR MRS. VAN VORST:
I must write you a line to say how much I have appreciated your
article, “The Woman who Toils.” But to me there is a most melancholy
side to it, when you touch upon what is fundamentally infinitely
more important than any other question in this country—that is, the
question of race suicide, complete or partial.
An easy, good-natured kindliness, and a desire to be “independent,”
that is, to live one’s life purely according to one’s own desires,
are in no sense substitutes for the fundamental virtues, for the
practice of the strong racial qualities without which there can be
no strong races—the qualities of courage and resolution in both men
and women, of scorn of what is mean, base, and selfish, of eager
desire to work or fight or suffer as the case may be, provided the
end to be gained is great enough, and the contemptuous putting aside
of mere ease, mere vapid pleasure, mere avoidance of toil and worry.
I do not know whether I most pity or despise the foolish and selfish
man or woman who does not understand that the only things really
worth having in life are those the acquirement of which normally
means cost and effort. If a man or woman, through no fault of his or
hers, goes throughout life denied those highest of all joys which
spring only from home life, from the having and bringing up of many
healthy children, I feel for them deep and respectful sympathy; the
sympathy one extends to the gallant fellow killed at the beginning of
a campaign, or the man who toils hard and is brought to ruin by the
fault of others. But the man or woman who deliberately avoids marriage
and has a heart so cold as to know no passion and a brain so shallow
and selfish as to dislike having children, is in effect a criminal
against the race and should be an object of contemptuous abhorrence by
all healthy people.
Of course no one quality makes a good citizen, and no one quality
will save a nation. But there are certain great qualities for the
lack of which no amount of intellectual brilliancy or of material
prosperity or of easiness of life can atone, and which show decadence
and corruption in the nation, just as much if they are produced by
selfishness and coldness and ease-loving laziness among comparatively
poor people as if they are produced by vicious or frivolous luxury in
the rich. If the men of the nation are not anxious to work in many
different ways, with all their might and strength, and ready and able
to fight at need, and anxious to be fathers of families, and if the
women do not recognize that the greatest thing for any woman is to be
a good wife and mother, why, that nation has cause to be alarmed about
its future.
There is no physical trouble among us Americans. The trouble with the
situation you set forth is one of character, and therefore we can
conquer it if we only will.
Very sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
MRS. BESSIE VAN VORST,
Philadelphia, Pa.
_Personal._
WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON,
_November 26, 1902_
MY DEAR SIR:
I am in receipt of your letter of November 10 and of one from Mr. ——
under date of November 11, in reference to the appointment of Dr. Crum
as collector of the Port of Charleston.
In your letter you make certain specific charges against Dr. Crum,
tending to show his unfitness in several respects for the office
sought. These charges are entitled to the utmost consideration from
me and I shall go over them carefully before taking any action. After
making these charges you add, as a further reason for opposition to
him, that he is a colored man, and after reciting the misdeeds that
followed carpet-bag rule and negro domination in South Carolina,
you say that “we have sworn never again to submit to the rule of
the African, and such an appointment as that of Dr. Crum to any
such office forces us to protest unanimously against this insult to
the white blood”; and you add that you understood me to say that I
would never force a negro on such a community as yours. Mr. —— puts
the objection of color first, saying: “First, he is a colored man,
and that of itself ought to bar him from the office.” In view of
these last statements, I think I ought to make clear to you why I am
concerned and pained by your making them and what my attitude is as
regards all such appointments. How any one could have gained the idea
that I had said I would not appoint reputable and upright colored
men to office, when objection was made to them solely on account of
their color, I confess I am wholly unable to understand. At the time
of my visit to Charleston last spring, I had made, and since that
time I have made, a number of such appointments from several States
in which there is a considerable colored population. For example, I
made one such appointment in Mississippi, and another in Alabama,
shortly before my visit to Charleston. I had at that time appointed
two colored men as judicial magistrates in the District of Columbia.
I have recently announced another such appointment for New Orleans,
and have just made one from Pennsylvania. The great majority of my
appointments in every State have been of white men. North and South
alike it has been my sedulous endeavor to appoint only men of high
character and good capacity, whether white or black. But it has been
my consistent policy in every State where their numbers warranted
it to recognize colored men of good repute and standing in making
appointments to office. These appointments of colored men have in
no State made more than a small proportion of the total number of
appointments. I am unable to see how I can legitimately be asked to
make an exception for South Carolina. In South Carolina, to the four
most important positions in the State I have appointed three men and
continued in office a fourth, all of them white men—three of them
originally Gold Democrats—two of them, as I am informed, the sons
of Confederate soldiers. I have been informed by the citizens of
Charleston whom I have met that these four men represent a high grade
of public service.
I do not intend to appoint any unfit man to office. So far as I
legitimately can I shall always endeavor to pay regard to the wishes
and feelings of the people of each locality; but I can not consent to
take the position that the door of hope—the door of opportunity—is to
be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds of
race or color. Such an attitude would, according to my convictions,
be fundamentally wrong. If, as you hold, the great bulk of the
colored people are not yet fit in point of character and influence
to hold such positions, it seems to me that it is worth while putting
a premium upon the effort among them to achieve the character and
standing which will fit them.
The question of “negro domination” does not enter into the matter
at all. It might as well be asserted that when I was Governor of
New York I sought to bring about negro domination in that State
because I appointed two colored men of good character and standing to
responsible positions—one of them to a position paying a salary twice
as large as that paid in the office now under consideration—one of
them as a director of the Buffalo exposition. The question raised by
you and Mr. —— in the statements to which I refer, is simply whether
it is to be declared that under no circumstances shall any man of
color, no matter how upright and honest, no matter how good a citizen,
no matter how fair in his dealings with his fellows, be permitted
to hold any office under our government. I certainly can not assume
such an attitude, and you must permit me to say that in my view it
is an attitude no man should assume, whether he looks at it from the
standpoint of the true interest of the white men of the South or of
the colored men of the South—not to speak of any other section of the
Union. It seems to me that it is a good thing from every standpoint
to let the colored man know that if he shows in marked degree the
qualities of good citizenship—the qualities which in a white man we
feel are entitled to reward—then he will not be cut off from all hope
of similar reward.
Without any regard to what my decision may be on the merits of this
particular applicant for this particular place, I feel that I ought to
let you know clearly my attitude on the far broader question raised
by you and Mr. ——; an attitude from which I have not varied during my
term of office.
Faithfully yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
HON. ——
Charleston, S. C.
WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON,
_February 24, 1903_
MY DEAR MR. HOWELL:
I have a high opinion of the gentleman you mention and if the
opportunity occurs I shall be glad to do anything I can for him.
Now as to what you say concerning Federal appointments in the South.
Frankly, it seems to me that my appointments speak for themselves and
that my policy is self-explanatory. So far from feeling that they need
the slightest apology or justification, my position is that on the
strength of what I have done I have the right to claim the support of
all good citizens who wish not only a high standard of Federal service
but fair and equitable dealing to the South as well as to the North,
and a policy of consistent justice and good-will toward all men. In
making appointments I have sought to consider the feelings of the
people of each locality so far as I could consistently do so without
sacrificing principle. The prime tests I have applied have been those
of character, fitness and ability, and when I have been dissatisfied
with what has been offered within my own party lines I have without
hesitation gone to the opposite party—and you are of course aware that
I have repeatedly done this in your own State of Georgia. I certainly
can not treat mere color as a permanent bar to holding office, any
more than I could so treat creed or birthplace—always provided that in
other respects the applicant or incumbent is a worthy and well-behaved
American citizen. Just as little will I treat it as conferring a right
to hold office. I have scant sympathy with the mere doctrinaire, with
the man of mere theory who refuses to face facts; but do you not think
that in the long run it is safer for everybody if we act on the motto
“All men up,” rather than that of “Some men down”?
I ask you to judge not by what I say but by what during the last
seventeen months I have actually done. In your own State of Georgia
you are competent to judge from your own experience. In the great
bulk of the cases I have reappointed President McKinley’s appointees.
The changes I have made, such as that in the postmastership at Athens
and in the surveyorship at Atlanta, were, as I think you will agree,
changes for the better and not for the worse. It happens that in each
of these offices I have appointed a white man to succeed a colored
man. In South Carolina I have similarly appointed a white postmaster
to succeed a colored postmaster. Again, in South Carolina I have
nominated a colored man to fill a vacancy in the position of collector
of the port of Charleston, just as in Georgia I have reappointed the
colored man who is now serving as collector of the port of Savannah.
Both are fit men. Why the appointment of one should cause any more
excitement than the appointment of the other, I am wholly at a loss
to imagine. As I am writing to a man of keen and trained intelligence
I need hardly say that to connect either of these appointments, or
any or all of my other appointments, or my actions in upholding
the law at Indianola, with such questions as “social equality” and
“negro domination” is as absurd as to connect them with the nebular
hypothesis or the theory of atoms.
I have consulted freely with your own Senators and Congressmen as to
the character and capacity of any appointee in Georgia concerning
whom there was question. My party advisers in the State have been
Major Hanson of Macon, Mr. Walter Johnson of Atlanta—both of them
ex-Confederate soldiers—and Mr. Harry Stillwell Edwards, also of
Macon. I believe you will agree with me that in no State would it be
possible to find gentlemen abler and more upright or better qualified
to fill the positions they have filled with reference to me. In every
instance where these gentlemen have united in making a recommendation
I have been able to follow their advice. Am I not right in saying
that the Federal office-holders whom I have appointed throughout your
State are, as a body, men and women of a high order of efficiency and
integrity? If you know of any Federal office-holder in Georgia of whom
this is not true pray let me know at once. I will welcome testimony
from you or from any other reputable citizen which will tend to show
that a given public officer is unworthy; and, most emphatically,
short will be the shrift of any one whose lack of worth is proven.
Incidentally I may mention that a large percentage of the incumbents
of Federal offices in Georgia under me are, as I understand it, of
your own political faith. But they are supported by me in every way
as long as they continue to render good and faithful service to the
public.
This is true of your own State; and by applying to Mr. Thomas Nelson
Page of Virginia, to General Basil Duke of Kentucky, to Mr. George
Crawford of Tennessee, to Mr. John McIlhenny of Louisiana, to Judge
Jones of Alabama, and Mr. Edgar L. Wilson of Mississippi, all of
them Democrats and all of them men of the highest standing in their
respective communities, you will find that what I have done in Georgia
stands not as the exception but as the rule for what I have done
throughout the South. I have good reason to believe that my appointees
in the different States mentioned—and as the sum of the parts is the
whole, necessarily in the South at large—represent not merely an
improvement upon those whose places they took, but upon the whole a
higher standard of Federal service than has hitherto been attained in
the communities in question. I may add that the proportion of colored
men among these new appointees is only about one in a hundred.
In view of all these facts I have been surprised, and somewhat pained,
at what seems to me the incomprehensible outcry in the South about my
actions—an outcry apparently started in New York for reasons wholly
unconnected with the question nominally at issue. I am concerned at
the attitude thus taken by so many of the Southern people; but I
am not in the least angry; and still less will this attitude have
the effect of making me swerve one hair’s breadth, to one side or
the other, from the course I have marked out—the course I have
consistently followed in the past and shall consistently follow in the
future.
With regard,
Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Hon. Clark Howell
Editor, “The Constitution,”
Atlanta, Ga.
On May 18, 1903, William A. Miller was removed by the Public Printer
from his position of Assistant Foreman at the Government Printing
Office. Mr. Miller filed a complaint with the Civil Service
Commission alleging that his removal had been made in violation of the
civil service law and rules. After an investigation of the complaint,
and upon July 6th, the Civil Service Commission advised the Public
Printer of its decision as follows:
“Section 2 of Civil Service Rule XII, governing removals, provides
that no person shall be removed from a competitive position except
for such cause as will promote the efficiency of the public service.
The Commission does not consider expulsion from a labor union, being
the action of a body is no way connected with the public service nor
having authority over public employees, to be such a cause as will
promote the efficiency of the public service.
“As the only reason given by you for your removal of Mr. Miller
is that he was expelled from Local Union No. 4, International
Brotherhood of Bookbinders, you are advised that the Commission can
not recognize his removal and must request that he be reassigned to
duty in his position.”
Mr. Miller’s complaint had also been filed with the President,
under whose direction it was being investigated by the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor simultaneously with the investigation by the Civil
Service Commission. As a result of such investigations, the following
letters, under dates of July 13th and 14th, 1903, were written by the
President:
OYSTER BAY, N. Y.
_July 13, 1903_
MY DEAR SECRETARY CORTELYOU:
In accordance with the letter of the Civil Service Commission of
July 6th, the Public Printer will reinstate Mr. W. A. Miller in his
position. Meanwhile I will withhold my final decision of the whole
case until I have received the report of the investigation on Miller’s
second communication, which you notify me has been begun to-day, July
13th.
On the face of the papers presented, Miller would appear to have been
removed in violation of law. There is no objection to the employees of
the Government Printing Office constituting themselves into a union
if they so desire; but no rules or resolutions of that union can be
permitted to over-ride the laws of the United States, which it is my
sworn duty to enforce.
Please communicate a copy of this letter to the Public Printer for his
information and that of his subordinates.
Very truly yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
HON. GEORGE B. CORTELYOU,
Secretary of Commerce and Labor.
OYSTER BAY, N. Y.
_July 14, 1903_
MY DEAR MR. CORTELYOU:
In connection with my letter of yesterday I call attention to this
judgment and award by the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission in its
report to me of March 18th last:
It is adjudged and awarded that no person shall be refused
employment or in any way discriminated against on account of
membership or non-membership in any labor organization, and that
there shall be no discrimination against or interference with any
employee who is not a member of any labor organization by members of
such organization.
I heartily approve of this award and judgment by the commission
appointed by me, which itself included a member of a labor union. This
commission was dealing with labor organizations working for private
employers. It is of course mere elementary decency to require that all
the Government departments shall be handled in accordance with the
principle thus clearly and fearlessly enunciated.
Please furnish a copy of this letter both to Mr. Palmer and to the
Civil Service Commission for their guidance.
Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
HON. GEO. B. CORTELYOU,
Secretary of Commerce and Labor.
_September 29, 1903_
Pursuant to the request of Samuel Gompers, President of the American
Federation of Labor, the President granted an interview this evening
to the following members of the executive council of that body:
Mr. Samuel Gompers, Mr. James Duncan, Mr. John Mitchell, Mr. James
O’Connell and Mr. Frank Morrison, at which various subjects of
legislation in the interest of labor, as well as executive action,
were discussed. Concerning the case of William A. Miller the President
made the following statement:
I thank you and your committee for your courtesy, and I appreciate the
opportunity to meet with you. It will always be a pleasure to see you
or any representatives of your organizations or of your Federation as
a whole.
As regards the Miller case, I have little to add to what I have
already said. In dealing with it I ask you to remember that I am
dealing purely with the relation of the Government to its employees.
I must govern my action by the laws of the land, which I am sworn to
administer, and which differentiate any case in which the Government
of the United States is a party from all other cases whatsoever. These
laws are enacted for the benefit of the whole people, and can not and
must not be construed as permitting discrimination against some of
the people. I am President of all the people of the United States,
without regard to creed, color, birthplace, occupation, or social
condition. My aim is to do equal and exact justice as among them all.
In the employment and dismissal of men in the Government service I can
no more recognize the fact that a man does or does not belong to a
union as being for or against him than I can recognize the fact that
he is a Protestant or a Catholic, a Jew or a Gentile, as being for or
against him.
In the communications sent me by various labor organizations
protesting against the retention of Miller in the Government Printing
Office, the grounds alleged are twofold: 1, that he is a non-union
man; 2, that he is not personally fit. The question of his personal
fitness is one to be settled in the routine of administrative detail,
and can not be allowed to conflict with or to complicate the larger
question of governmental discrimination for or against him or any
other man because he is or is not a member of a union. This is the
only question now before me for decision; and as to this my decision
is final.
OYSTER BAY, N. Y.
_August 6, 1903_
MY DEAR GOVERNOR DURBIN:
Permit me to thank you as an American citizen for the admirable way in
which you have vindicated the majesty of the law by your recent action
in reference to lynching. I feel, my dear sir, that you have made all
men your debtors who believe, as all far-seeing men must, that the
well-being, indeed the very existence, of the Republic depends upon
that spirit of orderly liberty under the law which is as incompatible
with mob violence as with any form of despotism. Of course mob
violence is simply one form of anarchy; and anarchy is now, as it
always has been, the handmaiden and forerunner of tyranny.
I feel that you have not only reflected honor upon the State which
for its good fortune has you as its Chief Executive, but upon the
whole nation. It is incumbent upon every man throughout this country
not only to hold up your hands in the course you have been following,
but to show his realization that the matter is one which is of vital
concern to us all.
All thoughtful men must feel the gravest alarm over the growth of
lynching in this country, and especially over the peculiarly hideous
forms so often taken by mob violence when colored men are the
victims—on which occasions the mob seems to lay most weight, not on
the crime, but on the color of the criminal. In a certain proportion
of these cases the man lynched has been guilty of a crime horrible
beyond description; a crime so horrible that as far as he himself
is concerned he has forfeited the right to any kind of sympathy
whatsoever. The feeling of all good citizens that such a hideous
crime shall not be hideously punished by mob violence is due not in
the least to sympathy for the criminal, but to a very lively sense of
the train of dreadful consequences which follows the course taken by
the mob in exacting inhuman vengeance for an inhuman wrong. In such
cases, moreover, it is well to remember that the criminal not merely
sins against humanity in inexpiable and unpardonable fashion, but sins
particularly against his own race, and does them a wrong far greater
than any white man can possibly do them. Therefore, in such cases
the colored people throughout the land should in every possible way
show their belief that they, more than all others in the community,
are horrified at the commission of such a crime and are peculiarly
concerned in taking every possible measure to prevent its recurrence
and to bring the criminal to immediate justice. The slightest lack of
vigor either in denunciation of the crime or in bringing the criminal
to justice is itself unpardonable.
Moreover, every effort should be made under the law to expedite the
proceedings of justice in the case of such an awful crime. But it can
not be necessary in order to accomplish this to deprive any citizen of
those fundamental rights to be heard in his own defence which are so
dear to us all and which lie at the root of our liberty. It certainly
ought to be possible by the proper administration of the laws to
secure swift vengeance upon the criminal; and the best and immediate
efforts of all legislators, judges, and citizens should be addressed
to securing such reforms in our legal procedure as to leave no vestige
of excuse for those misguided men who undertake to reap vengeance
through violent methods.
Men who have been guilty of a crime like rape or murder should be
visited with swift and certain punishment, and the just effort
made by the courts to protect them in their rights should under no
circumstances be perverted into permitting any mere technicality
to avert or delay their punishment. The substantial rights of the
prisoner to a fair trial must of course be guaranteed, as you have so
justly insisted that they should be; but, subject to this guarantee,
the law must work swiftly and surely, and all the agents of the law
should realize the wrong they do when they permit justice to be
delayed or thwarted for technical or insufficient reasons. We must
show that the law is adequate to deal with crime by freeing it from
every vestige of technicality and delay.
But the fullest recognition of the horror of the crime and the most
complete lack of sympathy with the criminal can not in the least
diminish our horror at the way in which it has become customary
to avenge these crimes and at the consequences that are already
proceeding therefrom. It is of course inevitable that where vengeance
is taken by a mob it should frequently light on innocent people; and
the wrong done in such a case to the individual is one for which
there is no remedy. But even where the real criminal is reached,
the wrong done by the mob to the community itself is wellnigh as
great. Especially is this true where the lynching is accompanied with
torture. There are certain hideous sights which when once seen can
never be wholly erased from the mental retina. The mere fact of having
seen them implies degradation. This is a thousandfold stronger when
instead of merely seeing the deed the man has participated in it.
Whoever in any part of our country has ever taken part in lawlessly
putting to death a criminal by the dreadful torture of fire must
forever after have the awful spectacle of his own handiwork seared
into his brain and soul. He can never again be the same man.
This matter of lynching would be a terrible thing even if it stopped
with the lynching of men guilty of the inhuman and hideous crime
of rape; but as a matter of fact, lawlessness of this type never
does stop and never can stop in such fashion. Every violent man in
the community is encouraged by every case of lynching in which the
lynchers go unpunished to himself take the law into his own hands
whenever it suits his own convenience. In the same way the use of
torture by the mob in certain cases is sure to spread until it is
applied more or less indiscriminately in other cases. The spirit of
lawlessness grows with what it feeds on, and when mobs with impunity
lynch criminals for one cause, they are certain to begin to lynch
real or alleged criminals for other causes. In the recent cases
of lynching, over three-fourths were not for rape at all, but for
murder, attempted murder, and even less heinous offences. Moreover,
the history of these recent cases shows the awful fact that when the
minds of men are habituated to the use of torture by lawless bodies
to avenge crimes of a peculiarly revolting description, other lawless
bodies will use torture in order to punish crimes of an ordinary
type. Surely no patriot can fail to see the fearful brutalization and
debasement which the indulgence of such a spirit and such practices
inevitably portends. Surely all public men, all writers for the daily
press, all clergymen, all teachers, all who in any way have a right
to address the public, should with every energy unite to denounce such
crimes and to support those engaged in putting them down. As a people
we claim the right to speak with peculiar emphasis for freedom and
for fair treatment of all men without regard to differences of race,
fortune, creed, or color. We forfeit the right so to speak when we
commit or condone such crimes as these of which I speak.
The nation, like the individual, can not commit a crime with impunity.
If we are guilty of lawlessness and brutal violence, whether our
guilt consists in active participation therein or in mere connivance
and encouragement, we shall assuredly suffer later on because of
what we have done. The cornerstone of this Republic, as of all free
government, is respect for and obedience to the law. Where we permit
the law to be defied or evaded, whether by rich man or poor man, by
black man or white, we are by just so much weakening the bonds of our
civilization and increasing the chances of its overthrow, and of the
substitution therefor of a system in which there shall be violent
alternations of anarchy and tyranny.
Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
HON. WINFIELD T. DURBIN,
Governor of Indiana,
Indianapolis, Ind.
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMUNICATED TO THE
TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE
FIFTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS
MESSAGE
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
The Congress assembles this year under the shadow of a great calamity.
On the sixth of September, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist
while attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and died in
that city on the fourteenth of that month.
Of the last seven elected Presidents, he is the third who has
been murdered, and the bare recital of this fact is sufficient to
justify grave alarm among all loyal American citizens. Moreover,
the circumstances of this, the third assassination of an American
President, have a peculiarity sinister significance. Both President
Lincoln and President Garfield were killed by assassins of types
unfortunately not uncommon in history; President Lincoln falling a
victim to the terrible passions aroused by four years of civil war,
and President Garfield to the revengeful vanity of a disappointed
office-seeker. President McKinley was killed by an utterly depraved
criminal belonging to that body of criminals who object to all
governments, good and bad alike, who are against any form of popular
liberty if it is guaranteed by even the most just and liberal laws,
and who are as hostile to the upright exponent of a free people’s
sober will as to the tyrannical and irresponsible despot.
It is not too much to say that at the time of President McKinley’s
death he was the most widely loved man in all the United States;
while we have never had any public man of his position who has been
so wholly free from the bitter animosities incident to public life.
His political opponents were the first to bear the heartiest and most
generous tribute to the broad kindliness of nature, the sweetness and
gentleness of character which so endeared him to his close associates.
To a standard of lofty integrity in public life he united the tender
affections and home virtues which are all-important in the make-up
of national character. A gallant soldier in the great war for the
Union, he also shone as an example to all our people because of his
conduct in the most sacred and intimate of home relations. There
could be no personal hatred of him, for he never acted with aught but
consideration for the welfare of others. No one could fail to respect
him who knew him in public or private life. The defenders of those
murderous criminals who seek to excuse their criminality by asserting
that it is exercised for political ends, inveigh against wealth and
irresponsible power. But for this assassination even this base apology
can not be urged.
President McKinley was a man of moderate means, a man whose stock
sprang from the sturdy tillers of the soil, who had himself belonged
among the wage-workers, who had entered the Army as a private soldier.
Wealth was not struck at when the President was assassinated, but the
honest toil which is content with moderate gains after a lifetime
of unremitting labor, largely in the service of the public. Still
less was power struck at in the sense that power is irresponsible or
centred in the hands of any one individual. The blow was not aimed at
tyranny or wealth. It was aimed at one of the strongest champions the
wage-worker has ever had; at one of the most faithful representatives
of the system of public rights and representative government who has
ever risen to public office. President McKinley filled that political
office for which the entire people vote, and no President—not even
Lincoln himself—was ever more earnestly anxious to represent the well
thought out wishes of the people; his one anxiety in every crisis was
to keep in closest touch with the people—to find out what they thought
and to endeavor to give expression to their thought, after having
endeavored to guide that thought aright. He had just been re-elected
to the Presidency because the majority of our citizens, the majority
of our farmers and wage-workers, believed that he had faithfully
upheld their interests for four years. They felt themselves in close
and intimate touch with him. They felt that he represented so well and
so honorably all their ideals and aspirations that they wished him to
continue for another four years to represent them.
And this was the man at whom the assassin struck! That there might be
nothing lacking to complete the Judas-like infamy of his act, he took
advantage of an occasion when the President was meeting the people
generally; and advancing as if to take the hand outstretched to him
in kindly and brotherly fellowship, he turned the noble and generous
confidence of the victim into an opportunity to strike the fatal blow.
There is no baser deed in all the annals of crime.
The shock, the grief of the country, are bitter in the minds of all
who saw the dark days while the President yet hovered between life
and death. At last the light was stilled in the kindly eyes and the
breath went from the lips that even in mortal agony uttered no words
save of forgiveness to his murderer, of love for his friends, and
of unfaltering trust in the will of the Most High. Such a death,
crowning the glory of such a life, leaves us with infinite sorrow, but
with such pride in what he had accomplished and in his own personal
character, that we feel the blow not as struck at him, but as struck
at the nation. We mourn a good and great President who is dead; but
while we mourn we are lifted up by the splendid achievements of his
life and the grand heroism with which he met his death.
When we turn from the man to the nation, the harm done is so great as
to excite our gravest apprehensions and to demand our wisest and most
resolute action. This criminal was a professed anarchist, inflamed
by the teachings of professed anarchists, and probably also by the
reckless utterances of those who, on the stump and in the public
press, appeal to the dark and evil spirits of malice and greed, envy
and sullen hatred. The wind is sowed by the men who preach such
doctrines, and they can not escape their share of responsibility for
the whirlwind that is reaped. This applies alike to the deliberate
demagogue, to the exploiter of sensationalism, and to the crude and
foolish visionary who, for whatever reason, apologizes for crime or
excites aimless discontent.
The blow was aimed not at this President, but at all Presidents; at
every symbol of government. President McKinley was as emphatically the
embodiment of the popular will of the nation expressed through the
forms of law as a New England town meeting is in similar fashion the
embodiment of the law-abiding purpose and practice of the people of
the town. On no conceivable theory could the murder of the President
be accepted as due to protest against “inequalities in the social
order,” save as the murder of all the freemen engaged in a town
meeting could be accepted as a protest against that social inequality
which puts a malefactor in jail. Anarchy is no more an expression of
“social discontent” than picking pockets or wife-beating.
The anarchist, and especially the anarchist in the United States, is
merely one type of criminal, more dangerous than any other because
he represents the same depravity in a greater degree. The man who
advocates anarchy directly or indirectly, in any shape or fashion,
or the man who apologizes for anarchists and their deeds, makes
himself morally accessory to murder before the fact. The anarchist
is a criminal whose perverted instincts lead him to prefer confusion
and chaos to the most beneficent form of social order. His protest of
concern for workingmen is outrageous in its impudent falsity; for if
the political institutions of this country do not afford opportunity
to every honest and intelligent son of toil, then the door of hope is
forever closed against him. The anarchist is everywhere not merely
the enemy of system and of progress, but the deadly foe of liberty.
If ever anarchy is triumphant, its triumph will last for but one red
moment, to be succeeded for ages by the gloomy night of despotism.
For the anarchist himself, whether he preaches or practices his
doctrines, we need not have one particle more concern than for any
ordinary murderer. He is not the victim of social or political
injustice. There are no wrongs to remedy in his case. The cause of his
criminality is to be found in his own evil passions and in the evil
conduct of those who urge him on, not in any failure by others or by
the State to do justice to him or his. He is a malefactor and nothing
else. He is in no sense, in no shape or way, a “product of social
conditions,” save as a highwayman is “produced” by the fact that an
unarmed man happens to have a purse. It is a travesty upon the great
and holy names of liberty and freedom to permit them to be invoked in
such a cause. No man or body of men preaching anarchistic doctrines
should be allowed at large any more than if preaching the murder of
some specified private individual. Anarchistic speeches, writings, and
meetings are essentially seditious and treasonable.
I earnestly recommend to the Congress that in the exercise of its
wise discretion it should take into consideration the coming to this
country of anarchists or persons professing principles hostile to all
government and justifying the murder of those placed in authority.
Such individuals as those who not long ago gathered in open meeting to
glorify the murder of King Humbert of Italy perpetrate a crime, and
the law should ensure their rigorous punishment. They and those like
them should be kept out of this country; and if found here they should
be promptly deported to the country whence they came; and far-reaching
provisions should be made for the punishment of those who stay. No
matter calls more urgently for the wisest thought of the Congress.
The Federal courts should be given jurisdiction over any man who kills
or attempts to kill the President or any man who by the Constitution
or by law is in line of succession for the Presidency, while the
punishment for an unsuccessful attempt should be proportioned to the
enormity of the offence against our institutions.
Anarchy is a crime against the whole human race; and all mankind
should band against the anarchist. His crime should be made an offence
against the law of nations, like piracy and that form of man-stealing
known as the slave trade; for it is of far blacker infamy than either.
It should be so declared by treaties among all civilized powers. Such
treaties would give to the Federal Government the power of dealing
with the crime.
A grim commentary upon the folly of the anarchist position was
afforded by the attitude of the law toward this very criminal who had
just taken the life of the President. The people would have torn him
limb from limb if it had not been that the law he defied was at once
invoked in his behalf. So far from his deed being committed on behalf
of the people against the government, the government was obliged at
once to exert its full police power to save him from instant death at
the hands of the people. Moreover, his deed worked not the slightest
dislocation in our governmental system, and the danger of a recurrence
of such deeds, no matter how great it might grow, would work only in
the direction of strengthening and giving harshness to the forces of
order. No man will ever be restrained from becoming President by any
fear as to his personal safety. If the risk to the President’s life
became great, it would mean that the office would more and more come
to be filled by men of a spirit which would make them resolute and
merciless in dealing with every friend of disorder. This great country
will not fall into anarchy, and if anarchists should ever become a
serious menace to its institutions, they would not merely be stamped
out, but would involve in their own ruin every active or passive
sympathizer with their doctrines. The American people are slow to
wrath, but when their wrath is once kindled it burns like a consuming
flame.
During the last five years business confidence has been restored and
the nation is to be congratulated because of its present abounding
prosperity. Such prosperity can never be created by law alone,
although it is easy enough to destroy it by mischievous laws. If
the hand of the Lord is heavy upon any country, if flood or drought
comes, human wisdom is powerless to avert the calamity. Moreover, no
law can guard us against the consequences of our own folly. The men
who are idle or credulous, the men who seek gains not by genuine work
with head or hand but by gambling in any form, are always a source
of menace not only to themselves but to others. If the business
world loses its head, it loses what legislation can not supply.
Fundamentally the welfare of each citizen, and therefore the welfare
of the aggregate of citizens which makes the nation, must rest upon
individual thrift and energy, resolution and intelligence. Nothing can
take the place of this individual capacity; but wise legislation and
honest and intelligent administration can give it the fullest scope,
the largest opportunity to work to good effect.
The tremendous and highly complex industrial development which went
on with ever accelerated rapidity during the latter half of the
nineteenth century brings us face to face, at the beginning of the
twentieth, with very serious social problems. The old laws, and the
old customs which had almost the binding force of law, were once quite
sufficient to regulate the accumulation and distribution of wealth.
Since the industrial changes which have so enormously increased the
productive power of mankind, they are no longer sufficient.
The growth of cities has gone on beyond comparison faster than the
growth of the country, and the upbuilding of the great industrial
centres has meant a startling increase, not merely in the aggregate of
wealth, but in the number of very large individual, and especially of
very large corporate, fortunes. The creation of these great corporate
fortunes has not been due to the tariff nor to any other governmental
action, but to natural causes in the business world, operating in
other countries as they operate in our own.
The process has aroused much antagonism, a great part of which is
wholly without warrant. It is not true that as the rich have grown
richer the poor have grown poorer. On the contrary, never before
has the average man, the wage-worker, the farmer, the small trader,
been so well off as in this country and at the present time. There
have been abuses connected with the accumulation of wealth; yet it
remains true that a fortune accumulated in legitimate business can
be accumulated by the person specially benefited only on condition
of conferring immense incidental benefits upon others. Successful
enterprise, of the type which benefits all mankind, can only exist
if the conditions are such as to offer great prizes as the rewards of
success.
The captains of industry who have driven the railway systems across
this continent, who have built up our commerce, who have developed our
manufactures, have on the whole done great good to our people. Without
them the material development of which we are so justly proud could
never have taken place. Moreover, we should recognize the immense
importance to this material development of leaving as unhampered as is
compatible with the public good the strong and forceful men upon whom
the success of business operations inevitably rests. The slightest
study of business conditions will satisfy any one capable of forming a
judgment that the personal equation is the most important factor in a
business operation; that the business ability of the man at the head
of any business concern, big or little, is usually the factor which
fixes the gulf between striking success and hopeless failure.
An additional reason for caution in dealing with corporations is to
be found in the international commercial conditions of to-day. The
same business conditions which have produced the great aggregations
of corporate and individual wealth have made them very potent factors
in international commercial competition. Business concerns which have
the largest means at their disposal and are managed by the ablest men
are naturally those which take the lead in the strife for commercial
supremacy among the nations of the world. America has only just begun
to assume that commanding position in the international business world
which we believe will more and more be hers. It is of the utmost
importance that this position be not jeoparded, especially at a time
when the overflowing abundance of our own natural resources and the
skill, business energy, and mechanical aptitude of our people make
foreign markets essential. Under such conditions it would be most
unwise to cramp or to fetter the youthful strength of our nation.
Moreover, it can not too often be pointed out that to strike with
ignorant violence at the interests of one set of men almost inevitably
endangers the interests of all. The fundamental rule in our national
life—the rule which underlies all others—is that, on the whole, and in
the long run, we shall go up or down together. There are exceptions;
and in times of prosperity some will prosper far more, and in times
of adversity some will suffer far more, than others; but speaking
generally, a period of good times means that all share more or less in
them, and in a period of hard times all feel the stress to a greater
or less degree. It surely ought not to be necessary to enter into any
proof of this statement; the memory of the lean years which began in
1893 is still vivid, and we can contrast them with the conditions
in this very year which is now closing. Disaster to great business
enterprises can never have its effects limited to the men at the top.
It spreads throughout, and while it is bad for everybody, it is worst
for those furthest down. The capitalist may be shorn of his luxuries;
but the wage-worker may be deprived of even bare necessities.
The mechanism of modern business is so delicate that extreme care
must be taken not to interfere with it in a spirit of rashness or
ignorance. Many of those who have made it their vocation to denounce
the great industrial combinations which are popularly, although with
technical inaccuracy, known as “trusts,” appeal especially to hatred
and fear. These are precisely the two emotions, particularly when
combined with ignorance, which unfit men for the exercise of cool
and steady judgment. In facing new industrial conditions, the whole
history of the world shows that legislation will generally be both
unwise and ineffective unless undertaken after calm inquiry and with
sober self-restraint. Much of the legislation directed at the trusts
would have been exceedingly mischievous had it not also been entirely
ineffective. In accordance with a well-known sociological law, the
ignorant or reckless agitator has been the really effective friend
of the evils which he has been nominally opposing. In dealing with
business interests, for the government to undertake by crude and
ill-considered legislation to do what may turn out to be bad, would
be to incur the risk of such far-reaching national disaster that it
would be preferable to undertake nothing at all. The men who demand
the impossible or the undesirable serve as the allies of the forces
with which they are nominally at war, for they hamper those who would
endeavor to find out in rational fashion what the wrongs really are
and to what extent and in what manner it is practicable to apply
remedies.
All this is true; and yet it is also true that there are real and
grave evils, one of the chief being overcapitalization because of its
many baleful consequences; and a resolute and practical effort must be
made to correct these evils.
There is widespread conviction in the minds of the American people
that the great corporations known as trusts are in certain of their
features and tendencies hurtful to the general welfare. This springs
from no spirit of envy or uncharitableness, nor lack of pride in the
great industrial achievements that have placed this country at the
head of the nations struggling for commercial supremacy. It does not
rest upon a lack of intelligent appreciation of the necessity of
meeting changing and changed conditions of trade with new methods, nor
upon ignorance of the fact that combination of capital in the effort
to accomplish great things is necessary when the world’s progress
demands that great things be done. It is based upon sincere conviction
that combination and concentration should be, not prohibited, but
supervised and within reasonable limits controlled; and in my judgment
this conviction is right.
It is no limitation upon property rights or freedom of contract to
require that when men receive from government the privilege of doing
business under corporate form, which frees them from individual
responsibility, and enables them to call into their enterprises the
capital of the public, they shall do so upon absolutely truthful
representations as to the value of the property in which the capital
is to be invested. Corporations engaged in interstate commerce should
be regulated if they are found to exercise a license working to the
public injury. It should be as much the aim of those who seek for
social betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunning
as to rid the entire body politic of crimes of violence. Great
corporations exist only because they are created and safeguarded by
our institutions; and it is therefore our right and our duty to see
that they work in harmony with these institutions.
The first essential in determining how to deal with the great
industrial combinations is knowledge of the facts—publicity. In the
interest of the public, the government should have the right to
inspect and examine the workings of the great corporations engaged
in interstate business. Publicity is the only sure remedy which
we can now invoke. What further remedies are needed in the way of
governmental regulation, or taxation, can only be determined after
publicity has been obtained, by process of law, and in the course
of administration. The first requisite is knowledge, full and
complete—knowledge which may be made public to the world.
Artificial bodies, such as corporations and joint stock or other
associations, depending upon any statutory law for their existence or
privileges, should be subject to proper governmental supervision, and
full and accurate information as to their operations should be made
public regularly at reasonable intervals.
The large corporations, commonly called trusts, though organized in
one State, always do business in many States, often doing very little
business in the State where they are incorporated. There is utter lack
of uniformity in the State laws about them; and as no State has any
exclusive interest in or power over their acts, it has in practice
proved impossible to get adequate regulation through State action.
Therefore, in the interest of the whole people, the Nation should,
without interfering with the power of the States in the matter itself,
also assume power of supervision and regulation over all corporations
doing an interstate business. This is especially true where the
corporation derives a portion of its wealth from the existence of some
monopolistic element or tendency in its business. There would be no
hardship in such supervision; banks are subject to it, and in their
case it is now accepted as a simple matter of course. Indeed, it is
probable that supervision of corporations by the National Government
need not go so far as is now the case with the supervision exercised
over them by so conservative a State as Massachusetts, in order to
produce excellent results.
When the Constitution was adopted, at the end of the eighteenth
century, no human wisdom could foretell the sweeping changes, alike in
industrial and political conditions, which were to take place by the
beginning of the twentieth century. At that time it was accepted as a
matter of course that the several States were the proper authorities
to regulate, so far as was then necessary, the comparatively
insignificant and strictly localized corporate bodies of the day.
The conditions are now wholly different and wholly different action
is called for. I believe that a law can be framed which will enable
the National Government to exercise control along the lines above
indicated, profiting by the experience gained through the passage
and administration of the Interstate Commerce Act. If, however, the
judgment of the Congress is that it lacks the constitutional power to
pass such an act, then a constitutional amendment should be submitted
to confer the power.
There should be created a Cabinet officer, to be known as Secretary
of Commerce and Industries, as provided in the bill introduced at the
last session of the Congress. It should be his province to deal with
commerce in its broadest sense; including among many other things
whatever concerns labor and all matters affecting the great business
corporations and our merchant marine.
The course proposed is one phase of what should be a comprehensive
and far-reaching scheme of constructive statesmanship for the purpose
of broadening our markets, securing our business interests on a
safe basis, and making firm our new position in the international
industrial world, while scrupulously safeguarding the rights of
wage-worker and capitalist, of investor and private citizen, so as to
secure equity as between man and man in this Republic.
With the sole exception of the farming interest, no one matter is
of such vital moment to our whole people as the welfare of the
wage-workers. If the farmer and the wage-worker are well off, it
is absolutely certain that all others will be well off too. It is
therefore a matter for hearty congratulation that on the whole wages
are higher to-day in the United States than ever before in our
history, and far higher than in any other country. The standard of
living is also higher than ever before. Every effort of legislator
and administrator should be bent to secure the permanency of this
condition of things and its improvement wherever possible. Not only
must our labor be protected by the tariff, but it should also be
protected so far as it is possible from the presence in this country
of any laborers brought over by contract, or of those who, coming
freely, yet represent a standard of living so depressed that they
can undersell our men in the labor market and drag them to a lower
level. I regard it as necessary, with this end in view, to re-enact
immediately the law excluding Chinese laborers and to strengthen it
wherever necessary in order to make its enforcement entirely effective.
The National Government should demand the highest quality of service
from its employees; and in return it should be a good employer.
If possible legislation should be passed, in connection with the
Interstate Commerce Law, which will render effective the efforts of
different States to do away with the competition of convict contract
labor in the open labor market. So far as practicable under the
conditions of government work, provision should be made to render the
enforcement of the eight-hour law easy and certain. In all industries
carried on directly or indirectly for the United States Government
women and children should be protected from excessive hours of
labor, from night work, and from work under unsanitary conditions.
The government should provide in its contracts that all work should
be done under “fair” conditions, and in addition to setting a high
standard should uphold it by proper inspection, extending if necessary
to the subcontractors. The government should forbid all night work
for women and children, as well as excessive overtime. For the
District of Columbia a good factory law should be passed; and, as a
powerful indirect aid to such laws, provision should be made to turn
the inhabited alleys, the existence of which is a reproach to our
Capital City, into minor streets, where the inhabitants can live under
conditions favorable to health and morals.
American wage-workers work with their heads as well as their hands.
Moreover, they take a keen pride in what they are doing; so that,
independent of the reward, they wish to turn out a perfect job. This
is the great secret of our success in competition with the labor of
foreign countries.
The most vital problem with which this country, and for that matter
the whole civilized world, has to deal, is the problem which has for
one side the betterment of social conditions, moral and physical, in
large cities, and for another side the effort to deal with that tangle
of far-reaching questions which we group together when we speak of
“labor.” The chief factor in the success of each man—wage-worker,
farmer, and capitalist alike—must ever be the sum total of his own
individual qualities and abilities. Second only to this comes the
power of acting in combination or association with others. Very great
good has been and will be accomplished by associations or unions of
wage-workers, when managed with forethought, and when they combine
insistence upon their own rights with law-abiding respect for the
rights of others. The display of these qualities in such bodies is
a duty to the nation no less than to the associations themselves.
Finally, there must also in many cases be action by the government
in order to safeguard the rights and interests of all. Under our
Constitution there is much more scope for such action by the State
and the municipality than by the nation. But on points such as those
touched on above the National Government can act.
When all is said and done, the rule of brotherhood remains as the
indispensable prerequisite to success in the kind of national life
for which we strive. Each man must work for himself, and unless he so
works no outside help can avail him; but each man must remember also
that he is indeed his brother’s keeper, and that while no man who
refuses to walk can be carried with advantage to himself or any one
else, yet that each at times stumbles or halts, that each at times
needs to have the helping hand outstretched to him. To be permanently
effective, aid must always take the form of helping a man to help
himself; and we can all best help ourselves by joining together in the
work that is of common interest to all.
Our present immigration laws are unsatisfactory. We need every
honest and efficient immigrant fitted to become an American citizen,
every immigrant who comes here to stay, who brings here a strong
body, a stout heart, a good head, and a resolute purpose to do his
duty well in every way and to bring up his children as law-abiding
and God-fearing members of the community. But there should be a
comprehensive law enacted with the object of working a threefold
improvement over our present system. First, we should aim to exclude
absolutely not only all persons who are known to be believers in
anarchistic principles or members of anarchistic societies, but also
all persons who are of a low moral tendency or of unsavory reputation.
This means that we should require a more thorough system of inspection
abroad and a more rigid system of examination at our immigration
ports, the former being especially necessary.
The second object of a proper immigration law ought to be to secure
by a careful and not merely perfunctory educational test some
intelligent capacity to appreciate American institutions and act
sanely as American citizens. This would not keep out all anarchists,
for many of them belong to the intelligent criminal class. But it
would do what is also in point, that is, tend to decrease the sum
of ignorance, so potent in producing the envy, suspicion, malignant
passion, and hatred of order, out of which anarchistic sentiment
inevitably springs. Finally, all persons should be excluded who are
below a certain standard of economic fitness to enter our industrial
field as competitors with American labor. There should be proper
proof of personal capacity to earn an American living and enough
money to ensure a decent start under American conditions. This would
stop the influx of cheap labor, and the resulting competition which
gives rise to so much of bitterness in American industrial life; and
it would dry up the springs of the pestilential social conditions in
our great cities, where anarchistic organizations have their greatest
possibility of growth.
Both the educational and economic tests in a wise immigration law
should be designed to protect and elevate the general body politic
and social. A very close supervision should be exercised over the
steamship companies which mainly bring over the immigrants, and they
should be held to a strict accountability for any infraction of the
law.
* * * * *
There is general acquiescence in our present tariff system as a
national policy. The first requisite to our prosperity is the
continuity and stability of this economic policy. Nothing could be
more unwise than to disturb the business interests of the country
by any general tariff change at this time. Doubt, apprehension,
uncertainty are exactly what we most wish to avoid in the interest of
our commercial and material well-being. Our experience in the past
has shown that sweeping revisions of the tariff are apt to produce
conditions closely approaching panic in the business world. Yet it
is not only possible, but eminently desirable, to combine with the
stability of our economic system a supplementary system of reciprocal
benefit and obligation with other nations. Such reciprocity is an
incident and result of the firm establishment and preservation of our
present economic policy. It was specially provided for in the present
tariff law.
Reciprocity must be treated as the handmaiden of protection. Our first
duty is to see that the protection granted by the tariff in every case
where it is needed is maintained, and that reciprocity be sought for
so far as it can safely be done without injury to our home industries.
Just how far this is must be determined according to the individual
case, remembering always that every application of our tariff policy
to meet our shifting national needs must be conditioned upon the
cardinal fact that the duties must never be reduced below the point
that will cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad.
The well-being of the wage-worker is a prime consideration of our
entire policy of economic legislation.
Subject to this proviso of the proper protection necessary to our
industrial well-being at home, the principle of reciprocity must
command our hearty support. The phenomenal growth of our export trade
emphasizes the urgency of the need for wider markets and for a liberal
policy in dealing with foreign nations. Whatever is merely petty and
vexatious in the way of trade restrictions should be avoided. The
customers to whom we dispose of our surplus products in the long run,
directly or indirectly, purchase those surplus products by giving us
something in return. Their ability to purchase our products should as
far as possible be secured by so arranging our tariff as to enable
us to take from them those products which we can use without harm to
our own industries and labor, or the use of which will be of marked
benefit to us.
It is most important that we should maintain the high level of our
present prosperity. We have now reached the point in the development
of our interests where we are not only able to supply our own markets
but to produce a constantly growing surplus for which we must find
markets abroad. To secure these markets we can utilize existing
duties in any case where they are no longer needed for the purpose of
protection, or in any case where the article is not produced here and
the duty is no longer necessary for revenue, as giving us something to
offer in exchange for what we ask. The cordial relations with other
nations which are so desirable will naturally be promoted by the
course thus required by our own interests.
The natural line of development for a policy of reciprocity will be
in connection with those of our productions which no longer require
all of the support once needed to establish them upon a sound basis,
and with those others where either because of natural or of economic
causes we are beyond the reach of successful competition.
I ask the attention of the Senate to the reciprocity treaties laid
before it by my predecessor.
* * * * *
The condition of the American merchant marine is such as to call for
immediate remedial action by the Congress. It is discreditable to us
as a nation that our merchant marine should be utterly insignificant
in comparison to that of other nations which we overtop in other forms
of business. We should not longer submit to conditions under which
only a trifling portion of our great commerce is carried in our own
ships. To remedy this state of things would not merely serve to build
up our shipping interests, but it would also result in benefit to all
who are interested in the permanent establishment of a wider market
for American products, and would provide an auxiliary force for the
navy. Ships work for their own countries just as railroads work for
their terminal points. Shipping lines, if established to the principal
countries with which we have dealings, would be of political as well
as commercial benefit. From every standpoint it is unwise for the
United States to continue to rely upon the ships of competing nations
for the distribution of our goods. It should be made advantageous to
carry American goods in American-built ships.
At present American shipping is under certain great disadvantages when
put in competition with the shipping of foreign countries. Many of the
fast foreign steamships, at a speed of fourteen knots or above, are
subsidized; and all our ships, sailing vessels and steamers alike,
cargo carriers of slow speed and mail carriers of high speed, have to
meet the fact that the original cost of building American ships is
greater than is the case abroad; that the wages paid the officers and
seamen are very much higher than those paid the officers and seamen of
foreign competing countries; and that the standard of living on our
ships is far superior to the standard of living on the ships of our
commercial rivals.
Our government should take such action as will remedy these
inequalities. The American merchant marine should be restored to the
ocean.
* * * * *
The Act of March 14, 1900, intended unequivocally to establish gold
as the standard money and to maintain at a parity therewith all forms
of money medium in use with us, has been shown to be timely and
judicious. The price of our government bonds in the world’s market,
when compared with the price of similar obligations issued by other
nations, is a flattering tribute to our public credit. This condition
it is evidently desirable to maintain.
In many respects the National Banking Law furnishes sufficient liberty
for the proper exercise of the banking function; but there seems
to be need of better safeguards against the deranging influence of
commercial crises and financial panics. Moreover, the currency of the
country should be made responsive to the demands of our domestic trade
and commerce.
The collections from duties on imports and internal taxes continue
to exceed the ordinary expenditures of the government, thanks mainly
to the reduced army expenditures. The utmost care should be taken
not to reduce the revenues so that there will be any possibility of
a deficit; but, after providing against any such contingency, means
should be adopted which will bring the revenues more nearly within the
limit of our actual needs. In his report to the Congress the Secretary
of the Treasury considers all these questions at length, and I ask
your attention to the report and recommendations.
I call special attention to the need of strict economy in
expenditures. The fact that our national needs forbid us to be
niggardly in providing whatever is actually necessary to our
well-being, should make us doubly careful to husband our national
resources, as each of us husbands his private resources, by scrupulous
avoidance of anything like wasteful or reckless expenditure. Only by
avoidance of spending money on what is needless or unjustifiable can
we legitimately keep our income to the point required to meet our
needs that are genuine.
* * * * *
In 1887 a measure was enacted for the regulation of interstate
railways, commonly known as the Interstate Commerce Act. The cardinal
provisions of that act were that railway rates should be just and
reasonable and that all shippers, localities, and commodities should
be accorded equal treatment. A commission was created and endowed
with what were supposed to be the necessary powers to execute the
provisions of this act.
That law was largely an experiment. Experience has shown the wisdom
of its purposes, but has also shown, possibly that some of its
requirements are wrong, certainly that the means devised for the
enforcement of its provisions are defective. Those who complain of
the management of the railways allege that established rates are not
maintained; that rebates and similar devices are habitually resorted
to; that these preferences are usually in favor of the large shipper;
that they drive out of business the smaller competitor; that while
many rates are too low, many others are excessive; and that gross
preferences are made, affecting both localities and commodities. Upon
the other hand, the railways assert that the law by its very terms
tends to produce many of these illegal practices by depriving carriers
of that right of concerted action which they claim is necessary to
establish and maintain non-discriminating rates.
The act should be amended. The railway is a public servant. Its rates
should be just to and open to all shippers alike. The government
should see to it that within its jurisdiction this is so and should
provide a speedy, inexpensive, and effective remedy to that end.
At the same time it must not be forgotten that our railways are the
arteries through which the commercial lifeblood of this nation flows.
Nothing could be more foolish than the enactment of legislation which
would unnecessarily interfere with the development and operation of
these commercial agencies. The subject is one of great importance and
calls for the earnest attention of the Congress.
* * * * *
The Department of Agriculture during the past fifteen years has
steadily broadened its work on economic lines, and has accomplished
results of real value in upbuilding domestic and foreign trade. It
has gone into new fields until it is now in touch with all sections
of our country and with two of the island groups that have lately
come under our jurisdiction, whose people must look to agriculture as
a livelihood. It is searching the world for grains, grasses, fruits,
and vegetables specially fitted for introduction into localities in
the several States and Territories where they may add materially to
our resources. By scientific attention to soil survey and possible
new crops, to breeding of new varieties of plants, to experimental
shipments, to animal industry and applied chemistry, very practical
aid has been given our farming and stock-growing interests. The
products of the farm have taken an unprecedented place in our export
trade during the year that has just closed.
* * * * *
Public opinion throughout the United States has moved steadily toward
a just appreciation of the value of forests, whether planted or of
natural growth. The great part played by them in the creation and
maintenance of the national wealth is now more fully realized than
ever before.
Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest
resources, whether of wood, water, or grass, from contributing their
full share to the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, gives
the assurance of larger and more certain supplies. The fundamental
idea of forestry is the perpetuation of forests by use. Forest
protection is not an end of itself; it is a means to increase and
sustain the resources of our country and the industries which depend
upon them. The preservation of our forests is an imperative business
necessity. We have come to see clearly that whatever destroys the
forest, except to make way for agriculture, threatens our well-being.
The practical usefulness of the national forest reserves to the
mining, grazing, irrigation, and other interests of the regions in
which the reserves lie has led to a widespread demand by the people
of the West for their protection and extension. The forest reserves
will inevitably be of still greater use in the future than in the
past. Additions should be made to them whenever practicable, and their
usefulness should be increased by a thoroughly businesslike management.
At present the protection of the forest reserves rests with the
General Land Office, the mapping and description of their timber with
the United States Geological Survey, and the preparation of plans for
their conservative use with the Bureau of Forestry, which is also
charged with the general advancement of practical forestry in the
United States. These various functions should be united in the Bureau
of Forestry, to which they properly belong. The present diffusion
of responsibility is bad from every standpoint. It prevents that
effective co-operation between the government and the men who utilize
the resources of the reserves, without which the interests of both
must suffer. The scientific bureaus generally should be put under the
Department of Agriculture. The President should have by law the power
of transferring lands for use as forest reserves to the Department of
Agriculture. He already has such power in the case of lands needed by
the Departments of War and the Navy.
The wise administration of the forest reserves will be not less
helpful to the interests which depend on water than to those which
depend on wood and grass. The water supply itself depends upon the
forest. In the arid region it is water, not land, which measures
production. The western half of the United States would sustain a
population greater than that of our whole country to-day if the waters
that now run to waste were saved and used for irrigation. The forest
and water problems are perhaps the most vital internal questions of
the United States.
Certain of the forest reserves should also be made preserves for the
wild forest creatures. All of the reserves should be better protected
from fires. Many of them need special protection because of the great
injury done by live stock, above all by sheep. The increase in deer,
elk, and other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be
expected when other mountain forests are properly protected by law
and properly guarded. Some of these areas have been so denuded of
surface vegetation by over-grazing that the ground breeding birds,
including grouse and quail, and many mammals, including deer, have
been exterminated or driven away. At the same time the water-storing
capacity of the surface has been decreased or destroyed, thus
promoting floods in times of rain and diminishing the flow of streams
between rains.
In cases where natural conditions have been restored for a few
years, vegetation has again carpeted the ground, birds and deer are
coming back, and hundreds of persons, especially from the immediate
neighborhood, come each summer to enjoy the privilege of camping. Some
at least of the forest reserves should afford perpetual protection
to the native fauna and flora, safe havens of refuge to our rapidly
diminishing wild animals of the larger kinds, and free camping grounds
for the ever-increasing numbers of men and women who have learned
to find rest, health, and recreation in the splendid forests and
flower-clad meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves should be
set apart forever for the use and benefit of our people as a whole
and not sacrificed to the shortsighted greed of a few.
* * * * *
The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams in
flood and replenishing them in drought they make possible the use
of waters otherwise wasted. They prevent the soil from washing, and
so protect the storage reservoirs from filling up with silt. Forest
conservation is therefore an essential condition of water conservation.
The forests alone can not, however, fully regulate and conserve the
waters of the arid region. Great storage works are necessary to
equalize the flow of streams and to save the flood waters. Their
construction has been conclusively shown to be an undertaking too vast
for private effort. Nor can it be best accomplished by the individual
States acting alone. Far-reaching interstate problems are involved;
and the resources of single States would often be inadequate. It is
properly a national function, at least in some of its features. It is
as right for the National Government to make the streams and rivers of
the arid region useful by engineering works for water storage as to
make useful the rivers and harbors of the humid region by engineering
works of another kind. The storing of the floods in reservoirs at the
headwaters of our rivers is but an enlargement of our present policy
of river control, under which levees are built on the lower reaches of
the same streams.
The Government should construct and maintain these reservoirs as it
does other public works. Where their purpose is to regulate the flow
of streams, the water should be turned freely into the channels in the
dry season to take the same course under the same laws as the natural
flow.
The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents a
different problem. Here it is not enough to regulate the flow of
streams. The object of the government is to dispose of the land to
settlers who will build homes upon it. To accomplish this object water
must be brought within their reach.
The pioneer settlers on the arid public domain chose their homes along
streams from which they could themselves divert the water to reclaim
their holdings. Such opportunities are practically gone. There remain,
however, vast areas of public land which can be made available for
homestead settlement, but only by reservoirs and main-line canals
impracticable for private enterprise. These irrigation works should
be built by the National Government. The lands reclaimed by them
should be reserved by the Government for actual settlers, and the
cost of construction should so far as possible be repaid by the
land reclaimed. The distribution of the water, the division of the
streams among irrigators, should be left to the settlers themselves in
conformity with State laws and without interference with those laws or
with vested rights. The policy of the National Government should be to
aid irrigation in the several States and Territories in such manner as
will enable the people in the local communities to help themselves,
and as will stimulate needed reforms in the State laws and regulations
governing irrigation.
The reclamation and settlement of the arid lands will enrich every
portion of our country, just as the settlement of the Ohio and
Mississippi Valleys brought prosperity to the Atlantic States. The
increased demand for manufactured articles will stimulate industrial
production, while wider home markets and the trade of Asia will
consume the larger food supplies and effectually prevent Western
competition with Eastern agriculture. Indeed, the products of
irrigation will be consumed chiefly in upbuilding local centres of
mining and other industries, which would otherwise not come into
existence at all. Our people as a whole will profit, for successful
home-making is but another name for the upbuilding of the Nation.
The necessary foundation has already been laid for the inauguration
of the policy just described. It would be unwise to begin by doing
too much, for a great deal will doubtless be learned, both as to
what can and what can not be safely attempted, by the early efforts,
which must of necessity be partly experimental in character. At the
very beginning the Government should make clear, beyond shadow of
doubt, its intention to pursue this policy on lines of the broadest
public interest. No reservoir or canal should ever be built to satisfy
selfish personal or local interests; but only in accordance with the
advice of trained experts, after long investigation has shown the
locality where all the conditions combine to make the work most needed
and fraught with the greatest usefulness to the community as a whole.
There should be no extravagance, and the believers in the need of
irrigation will most benefit their cause by seeing to it that it is
free from the least taint of excessive or reckless expenditure of the
public moneys.
Whatever the Nation does for the extension of irrigation should
harmonize with, and tend to improve, the condition of those now
living on irrigated land. We are not at the starting point of this
development. Over two hundred millions of private capital has already
been expended in the construction of irrigation works, and many
million acres of arid land reclaimed. A high degree of enterprise and
ability has been shown in the work itself; but as much can not be said
in reference to the laws relating thereto. The security and value of
the homes created depend largely on the stability of titles to water;
but the majority of these rest on the uncertain foundation of court
decisions rendered in ordinary suits at law. With a few creditable
exceptions, the arid States have failed to provide for the certain and
just division of streams in times of scarcity. Lax and uncertain laws
have made it possible to establish rights to water in excess of actual
uses or necessities, and many streams have already passed into private
ownership, or a control equivalent to ownership.
Whoever controls a stream practically controls the land it renders
productive, and the doctrine of private ownership of water apart from
land can not prevail without causing enduring wrong. The recognition
of such ownership, which has been permitted to grow up in the arid
regions, should give way to a more enlightened and larger recognition
of the rights of the public in the control and disposal of the public
water supplies. Laws founded upon conditions obtaining in humid
regions, where water is too abundant to justify hoarding it, have no
proper application in a dry country.
In the arid States the only right to water which should be recognized
is that of use. In irrigation this right should attach to the land
reclaimed and be inseparable therefrom. Granting perpetual water
rights to others than users, without compensation to the public,
is open to all the objections which apply to giving away perpetual
franchises to the public utilities of cities. A few of the Western
States have already recognized this, and have incorporated in their
constitutions the doctrine of perpetual State ownership of water.
The benefits which have followed the unaided development of the past
justify the nation’s aid and co-operation in the more difficult and
important work yet to be accomplished. Laws so vitally affecting
homes as those which control the water supply will only be effective
when they have the sanction of the irrigators; reforms can only be
final and satisfactory when they come through the enlightenment of
the people most concerned. The larger development which national aid
ensures should, however, awaken in every arid State the determination
to make its irrigation system equal in justice and effectiveness
that of any country in the civilized world. Nothing could be more
unwise than for isolated communities to continue to learn everything
experimentally, instead of profiting by what is already known
elsewhere. We are dealing with a new and momentous question, in the
pregnant years while institutions are forming, and what we do will
affect not only the present but future generations.
Our aim should be not simply to reclaim the largest area of land and
provide homes for the largest number of people, but to create for this
new industry the best possible social and industrial conditions; and
this requires that we not only understand the existing situation, but
avail ourselves of the best experience of the time in the solution of
its problems. A careful study should be made, both by the Nation and
the States, of the irrigation laws and conditions here and abroad.
Ultimately it will probably be necessary for the Nation to co-operate
with the several arid States in proportion as these States by their
legislation and administration show themselves fit to receive it.
* * * * *
In Hawaii our aim must be to develop the Territory on the traditional
American lines. We do not wish a region of large estates tilled
by cheap labor; we wish a healthy American community of men who
themselves till the farms they own. All our legislation for the
islands should be shaped with this end in view; the well-being of
the average home-maker must afford the true test of the healthy
development of the islands. The land policy should as nearly as
possible be modeled on our homestead system.
It is a pleasure to say that it is hardly more necessary to report as
to Porto Rico than as to any State or Territory within our continental
limits. The island is thriving as never before, and it is being
administered efficiently and honestly. Its people are now enjoying
liberty and order under the protection of the United States, and
upon this fact we congratulate them and ourselves. Their material
welfare must be as carefully and jealously considered as the welfare
of any other portion of our country. We have given them the great
gift of free access for their products to the markets of the United
States. I ask the attention of the Congress to the need of legislation
concerning the public lands of Porto Rico.
In Cuba such progress has been made toward putting the independent
government of the island upon a firm footing that before the present
session of the Congress closes this will be an accomplished fact. Cuba
will then start as her own mistress; and to the beautiful Queen of
the Antilles, as she unfolds this new page of her destiny, we extend
our heartiest greetings and good wishes. Elsewhere I have discussed
the question of reciprocity. In the case of Cuba, however, there are
weighty reasons of morality and of national interest why the policy
should be held to have a peculiar application, and I most earnestly
ask your attention to the wisdom, indeed to the vital need, of
providing for a substantial reduction in the tariff duties on Cuban
imports into the United States. Cuba has in her Constitution affirmed
what we desired, that she should stand, in international matters, in
closer and more friendly relations with us than with any other power;
and we are bound by every consideration of honor and expediency to
pass commercial measures in the interest of her material well-being.
In the Philippines our problem is larger. They are very rich tropical
islands, inhabited by many varying tribes, representing widely
different stages of progress toward civilization. Our earnest effort
is to help these people upward along the stony and difficult path that
leads to self-government. We hope to make our administration of the
islands honorable to our Nation by making it of the highest benefit to
the Filipinos themselves; and as an earnest of what we intend to do,
we point to what we have done. Already a greater measure of material
prosperity and of governmental honesty and efficiency has been
attained in the Philippines than ever before in their history.
It is no light task for a nation to achieve the temperamental
qualities without which the institutions of free government are but an
empty mockery. Our people are now successfully governing themselves,
because for more than a thousand years they have been slowly fitting
themselves, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, toward
this end. What has taken us thirty generations to achieve, we can not
expect to see another race accomplish out of hand, especially when
large portions of that race start very far behind the point which our
ancestors had reached even thirty generations ago. In dealing with the
Philippine people we must show both patience and strength, forbearance
and steadfast resolution. Our aim is high. We do not desire to do for
the islanders merely what has elsewhere been done for tropic peoples
by even the best foreign governments. We hope to do for them what has
never before been done for any people of the tropics—to make them fit
for self-government after the fashion of the really free nations.
History may safely be challenged to show a single instance in which
a masterful race such as ours, having been forced by the exigencies
of war to take possession of an alien land, has behaved to its
inhabitants with the disinterested zeal for their progress that our
people have shown in the Philippines. To leave the islands at this
time would mean that they would fall into a welter of murderous
anarchy. Such desertion of duty on our part would be a crime against
humanity. The character of Governor Taft and of his associates and
subordinates is a proof, if such be needed, of the sincerity of
our effort to give the islanders a constantly increasing measure
of self-government, exactly as fast as they show themselves fit
to exercise it. Since the civil government was established not an
appointment has been made in the islands with any reference to
considerations of political influence, or to aught else save the
fitness of the man and the needs of the service.
In our anxiety for the welfare and progress of the Philippines, it
may be that here and there we have gone too rapidly in giving them
local self-government. It is on this side that our error, if any, has
been committed. No competent observer, sincerely desirous of finding
out the facts and influenced only by a desire for the welfare of the
natives, can assert that we have not gone far enough. We have gone
to the very verge of safety in hastening the process. To have taken
a single step further or faster in advance would have been folly and
weakness, and might well have been crime. We are extremely anxious
that the natives shall show the power of governing themselves. We
are anxious, first for their sakes, and next, because it relieves us
of a great burden. There need not be the slightest fear of our not
continuing to give them all the liberty for which they are fit.
The only fear is lest in our overanxiety we give them a degree of
independence for which they are unfit, thereby inviting reaction
and disaster. As fast as there is any reasonable hope that in a
given district the people can govern themselves, self-government
has been given in that district. There is not a locality fitted for
self-government which has not received it. But it may well be that in
certain cases it will have to be withdrawn because the inhabitants
show themselves unfit to exercise it; such instances have already
occurred. In other words, there is not the slightest chance of our
failing to show a sufficiently humanitarian spirit. The danger comes
in the opposite direction.
There are still troubles ahead in the islands. The insurrection
has become an affair of local banditti and marauders, who deserve
no higher regard than the brigands of portions of the Old World.
Encouragement, direct or indirect, to these insurrectos stands on the
same footing as encouragement to hostile Indians in the days when we
still had Indian wars. Exactly as our aim is to give to the Indian who
remains peaceful the fullest and amplest consideration, but to have it
understood that we will show no weakness if he goes on the warpath,
so we must make it evident, unless we are false to our own traditions
and to the demands of civilization and humanity, that while we will do
everything in our power for the Filipino who is peaceful, we will take
the sternest measures with the Filipino who follows the path of the
insurrecto and the ladrone.
The heartiest praise is due to large numbers of the natives of
the islands for their steadfast loyalty. The Macabebes have been
conspicuous for their courage and devotion to the flag. I recommend
that the Secretary of War be empowered to take some systematic action
in the way of aiding those of these men who are crippled in the
service and the families of those who are killed.
The time has come when there should be additional legislation for
the Philippines. Nothing better can be done for the islands than
to introduce industrial enterprises. Nothing would benefit them so
much as throwing them open to industrial development. The connection
between idleness and mischief is proverbial, and the opportunity to
do remunerative work is one of the surest preventives of war. Of
course no business man will go into the Philippines unless it is to
his interest to do so, and it is immensely to the interest of the
islands that he should go in. It is therefore necessary that the
Congress should pass laws by which the resources of the islands can
be developed; so that franchises (for limited terms of years) can be
granted to companies doing business in them, and every encouragement
be given to the incoming of business men of every kind.
Not to permit this is to do a wrong to the Philippines. The franchises
must be granted and the business permitted only under regulations
which will guarantee the islands against any kind of improper
exploitation. But the vast natural wealth of the islands must be
developed, and the capital willing to develop it must be given the
opportunity. The field must be thrown open to individual enterprise,
which has been the real factor in the development of every region over
which our flag has flown. It is urgently necessary to enact suitable
laws dealing with general transportation, mining, banking, currency,
homesteads, and the use and ownership of the lands and timber. These
laws will give free play to industrial enterprise; and the commercial
development which will surely follow will afford to the people of the
islands the best proofs of the sincerity of our desire to aid them.
* * * * *
I call your attention most earnestly to the crying need of a cable to
Hawaii and the Philippines, to be continued from the Philippines to
points in Asia. We should not defer a day longer than necessary the
construction of such a cable. It is demanded not merely for commercial
but for political and military considerations.
Either the Congress should immediately provide for the construction
of a government cable, or else an arrangement should be made by which
like advantages to those accruing from a government cable may be
secured to the Government by contract with a private cable company.
* * * * *
No single great material work which remains to be undertaken on
this continent is of such consequence to the American people as the
building of a canal across the Isthmus connecting North and South
America. Its importance to the Nation is by no means limited merely
to its material effects upon our business prosperity; and yet with
view to these effects alone it would be to the last degree important
for us immediately to begin it. While its beneficial effects would
perhaps be most marked upon the Pacific Coast and the Gulf and South
Atlantic States, it would also greatly benefit other sections. It
is emphatically a work which it is for the interest of the entire
country to begin and complete as soon as possible; it is one of those
great works which only a great nation can undertake with prospects
of success, and which when done are not only permanent assets in
the nation’s material interests, but standing monuments to its
constructive ability.
I am glad to be able to announce to you that our negotiations on this
subject with Great Britain, conducted on both sides in a spirit of
friendliness and mutual good-will and respect, have resulted in my
being able to lay before the Senate a treaty which if ratified will
enable us to begin preparations for an Isthmian Canal at any time, and
which guarantees to this Nation every right that it has ever asked
in connection with the canal. In this treaty, the old Clayton-Bulwer
treaty, so long recognized as inadequate to supply the base for the
construction and maintenance of a necessarily American ship canal, is
abrogated. It specifically provides that the United States alone shall
do the work of building and assume the responsibility of safeguarding
the canal and shall regulate its neutral use by all nations on terms
of equality without the guarantee or interference of any outside
nation from any quarter. The signed treaty will at once be laid before
the Senate, and if approved the Congress can then proceed to give
effect to the advantages it secures us by providing for the building
of the canal.
* * * * *
The true end of every great and free people should be self-respecting
peace; and this Nation most earnestly desires sincere and cordial
friendship with all others. Over the entire world, of recent years,
wars between the great civilized powers have become less and less
frequent. Wars with barbarous or semi-barbarous peoples come in an
entirely different category, being merely a most regrettable but
necessary international police duty which must be performed for the
sake of the welfare of mankind. Peace can only be kept with certainty
where both sides wish to keep it; but more and more the civilized
peoples are realizing the wicked folly of war and are attaining that
condition of just and intelligent regard for the rights of others
which will in the end, as we hope and believe, make world-wide peace
possible. The peace conference at The Hague gave definite expression
to this hope and belief and marked a stride toward their attainment.
This same peace conference acquiesced in our statement of the Monroe
Doctrine as compatible with the purposes and aims of the conference.
The Monroe Doctrine should be the cardinal feature of the foreign
policy of all the nations of the two Americas, as it is of the United
States. Just seventy-eight years have passed since President Monroe
in his Annual Message announced that “The American continents are
henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization
by any European power.” In other words, the Monroe Doctrine is a
declaration that there must be no territorial aggrandizement by any
non-American power at the expense of any American power on American
soil. It is in no wise intended as hostile to any nation in the Old
World. Still less is it intended to give cover to any aggression by
one New World power at the expense of any other. It is simply a step,
and a long step, toward assuring the universal peace of the world by
securing the possibility of permanent peace on this hemisphere.
During the past century other influences have established the
permanence and independence of the smaller states of Europe. Through
the Monroe Doctrine we hope to be able to safeguard like independence
and secure like permanence for the lesser among the New World nations.
This doctrine has nothing to do with the commercial relations of
any American power, save that it in truth allows each of them to
form such as it desires. In other words, it is really a guaranty of
the commercial independence of the Americas. We do not ask under
this doctrine for any exclusive commercial dealings with any other
American state. We do not guarantee any state against punishment if it
misconducts itself, provided that punishment does not take the form of
the acquisition of territory by any non-American power.
Our attitude in Cuba is a sufficient guaranty of our own good faith.
We have not the slightest desire to secure any territory at the
expense of any of our neighbors. We wish to work with them hand in
hand, so that all of us may be uplifted together, and we rejoice
over the good fortune of any of them, we gladly hail their material
prosperity and political stability, and are concerned and alarmed if
any of them fall into industrial or political chaos. We do not wish
to see any Old World military power grow up on this continent, or to
be compelled to become a military power ourselves. The peoples of the
Americas can prosper best if left to work out their own salvation in
their own way.
* * * * *
The work of upbuilding the navy must be steadily continued. No one
point of our policy, foreign or domestic, is more important than this
to the honor and material welfare, and above all to the peace, of our
Nation in the future. Whether we desire it or not, we must henceforth
recognize that we have international duties no less than international
rights. Even if our flag were hauled down in the Philippines and Porto
Rico, even if we decided not to build the Isthmian Canal, we should
need a thoroughly trained navy of adequate size, or else be prepared
definitely and for all time to abandon the idea that our Nation
is among those whose sons go down to the sea in ships. Unless our
commerce is always to be carried in foreign bottoms, we must have war
craft to protect it.
Inasmuch, however, as the American people have no thought of
abandoning the path upon which they have entered, and especially in
view of the fact that the building of the Isthmian Canal is fast
becoming one of the matters which the whole people are united in
demanding, it is imperative that our navy should be put and kept in
the highest state of efficiency, and should be made to answer to our
growing needs. So far from being in any way a provocation to war, an
adequate and highly trained navy is the best guaranty against war,
the cheapest and most effective peace insurance. The cost of building
and maintaining such a navy represents the very lightest premium for
insuring peace which this nation can possibly pay.
Probably no other great nation in the world is so anxious for peace
as we are. There is not a single civilized power which has anything
whatever to fear from aggressiveness on our part. All we want is
peace; and toward this end we wish to be able to secure the same
respect for our rights from others which we are eager and anxious
to extend to their rights in return, to insure fair treatment to us
commercially, and to guarantee the safety of the American people.
Our people intend to abide by the Monroe Doctrine and to insist
upon it as the one sure means of securing the peace of the Western
Hemisphere. The navy offers us the only means of making our insistence
upon the Monroe Doctrine anything but a subject of derision to
whatever nation chooses to disregard it. We desire the peace which
comes as of right to the just man armed; not the peace granted on
terms of ignominy to the craven and the weakling.
It is not possible to improvise a navy after war breaks out. The ships
must be built and the men trained long in advance. Some auxiliary
vessels can be turned into makeshifts which will do in default of any
better for the minor work, and a proportion of raw men can be mixed
with the highly trained, their shortcomings being made good by the
skill of their fellows; but the efficient fighting force of the navy
when pitted against an equal opponent will be found almost exclusively
in the warships that have been regularly built and in the officers and
men who through years of faithful performance of sea duty have been
trained to handle their formidable but complex and delicate weapons
with the highest efficiency. In the late war with Spain the ships that
dealt the decisive blows at Manila and Santiago had been launched from
two to fourteen years, and they were able to do as they did because
the men in the conning towers, the gun-turrets, and the engine-rooms
had through long years of practice at sea learned how to do their duty.
Our present navy was begun in 1882. At that period our navy consisted
of a collection of antiquated wooden ships, already almost as out of
place against modern war vessels as the galleys of Alcibiades and
Hamilcar—certainly as the ships of Tromp and Blake. Nor at that time
did we have men fit to handle a modern man-of-war. Under the wise
legislation of the Congress and the successful administration of a
succession of patriotic Secretaries of the Navy, belonging to both
political parties, the work of upbuilding the navy went on, and ships
equal to any in the world of their kind were continually added; and
what was even more important, these ships were exercised at sea singly
and in squadrons until the men aboard them were able to get the
best possible service out of them. The result was seen in the short
war with Spain, which was decided with such rapidity because of the
infinitely greater preparedness of our navy than of the Spanish navy.
While awarding the fullest honor to the men who actually commanded
and manned the ships which destroyed the Spanish sea forces in the
Philippines and in Cuba, we must not forget that an equal meed of
praise belongs to those without whom neither blow could have been
struck. The Congressmen who voted years in advance the money to
lay down the ships, to build the guns, to buy the armor plate; the
Department officials and the business men and wage-workers who
furnished what the Congress had authorized; the Secretaries of the
Navy who asked for and expended the appropriations; and finally
the officers who, in fair weather and foul, on actual sea service,
trained and disciplined the crews of the ships when there was no war
in sight—all are entitled to a full share in the glory of Manila and
Santiago, and the respect accorded by every true American to those who
wrought such signal triumph for our country. It was forethought and
preparation which secured us the overwhelming triumph of 1898. If we
fail to show forethought and preparation now, there may come a time
when disaster will befall us instead of triumph; and should this time
come, the fault will rest primarily, not upon those whom the accident
of events puts in supreme command at the moment, but upon those who
have failed to prepare in advance.
There should be no cessation in the work of completing our navy. So
far ingenuity has been wholly unable to devise a substitute for the
great war craft whose hammering guns beat out the mastery of the high
seas. It is unsafe and unwise not to provide this year for several
additional battleships and heavy armored cruisers, with auxiliary
and lighter craft in proportion; for the exact numbers and character
I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy. But there
is something we need even more than additional ships, and this is
additional officers and men. To provide battleships and cruisers and
then lay them up, with the expectation of leaving them unmanned until
they are needed in actual war, would be worse than folly; it would be
a crime against the nation.
To send any warship against a competent enemy unless those aboard it
have been trained by years of actual sea service, including incessant
gunnery practice, would be to invite not merely disaster, but the
bitterest shame and humiliation. Four thousand additional seamen and
one thousand additional marines should be provided; and an increase
in the officers should be provided by making a large addition to
the classes at Annapolis. There is one small matter which should be
mentioned in connection with Annapolis. The pretentious and unmeaning
title of “naval cadet” should be abolished; the title of “midshipman,”
full of historic association, should be restored.
Even in time of peace a warship should be used until it wears out,
for only so can it be kept fit to respond to any emergency. The
officers and men alike should be kept as much as possible on blue
water, for it is there only they can learn their duties as they
should be learned. The big vessels should be manœuvred in squadrons
containing not merely battleships, but the necessary proportion of
cruisers and scouts. The torpedo boats should be handled by the
younger officers in such manner as will best fit the latter to take
responsibility and meet the emergencies of actual warfare.
Every detail ashore which can be performed by a civilian should
be so performed, the officer being kept for his special duty in
the sea service. Above all, gunnery practice should be unceasing.
It is important to have our navy of adequate size, but it is even
more important that ship for ship it should equal in efficiency any
navy in the world. This is possible only with highly drilled crews
and officers, and this in turn imperatively demands continuous and
progressive instruction in target practice, ship handling, squadron
tactics, and general discipline. Our ships must be assembled in
squadrons actively cruising away from harbors and never long at
anchor. The resulting wear upon engines and hulls must be endured;
a battleship worn out in long training of officers and men is well
paid for by the results, while, on the other hand, no matter in how
excellent condition, it is useless if the crew be not expert.
We now have seventeen battleships appropriated for, of which nine are
completed and have been commissioned for actual service. The remaining
eight will be ready in from two to four years, but it will take at
least that time to recruit and train the men to fight them. It is of
vast concern that we have trained crews ready for the vessels by the
time they are commissioned. Good ships and good guns are simply good
weapons, and the best weapons are useless save in the hands of men who
know how to fight with them. The men must be trained and drilled under
a thorough and well-planned system of progressive instruction, while
the recruiting must be carried on with still greater vigor. Every
effort must be made to exalt the main function of the officer—the
command of men. The leading graduates of the Naval Academy should be
assigned to the combatant branches, the line and marines.
Many of the essentials of success are already recognized by the
General Board, which, as the central office of a growing staff, is
moving steadily toward a proper war efficiency and a proper efficiency
of the whole Navy, under the Secretary. This General Board, by
fostering the creation of a general staff, is providing for the
official and then the general recognition of our altered conditions as
a nation and of the true meaning of a great war fleet, which meaning
is, first, the best men, and, second, the best ships.
The Naval Militia forces are State organizations, and are trained for
coast service, and in event of war they will constitute the inner line
of defence. They should receive hearty encouragement from the General
Government.
But in addition we should at once provide for a National Naval
Reserve, organized and trained under the direction of the Navy
Department, and subject to the call of the Chief Executive whenever
war becomes imminent. It should be a real auxiliary to the naval
seagoing peace establishment, and offer material to be drawn on at
once for manning our ships in time of war. It should be composed
of graduates of the Naval Academy, graduates of the Naval Militia,
officers and crews of coast-line steamers, longshore schooners,
fishing vessels, and steam yachts, together with the coast population
about such centres as life-saving stations and light-houses.
The American people must either build and maintain an adequate navy
or else make up their minds definitely to accept a secondary position
in international affairs, not merely in political, but in commercial,
matters. It has been well said that there is no surer way of courting
national disaster than to be “opulent, aggressive, and unarmed.”
* * * * *
It is not necessary to increase our army beyond its present size at
this time. But it is necessary to keep it at the highest point of
efficiency. The individual units who as officers and enlisted men
compose this army, are, we have good reason to believe, at least as
efficient as those of any other army in the entire world. It is our
duty to see that their training is of a kind to insure the highest
possible expression of power to these units when acting in combination.
The conditions of modern war are such as to make an infinitely heavier
demand than ever before upon the individual character and capacity of
the officer and the enlisted man, and to make it far more difficult
for men to act together with effect. At present the fighting must
be done in extended order, which means that each man must act for
himself and at the same time act in combination with others with whom
he is no longer in the old-fashioned elbow-to-elbow touch. Under such
conditions a few men of the highest excellence are worth more than
many men without the special skill which is only found as the result
of special training applied to men of exceptional physique and morale.
But nowadays the most valuable fighting man and the most difficult to
perfect is the rifleman who is also a skilful and daring rider.
The proportion of our cavalry regiments has wisely been increased.
The American cavalryman, trained to manœuvre and fight with equal
facility on foot and on horseback, is the best type of soldier for
general purposes now to be found in the world. The ideal cavalryman of
the present day is a man who can fight on foot as effectively as the
best infantryman, and who is in addition unsurpassed in the care and
management of his horse and in his ability to fight on horseback.
A general staff should be created. As for the present staff and supply
departments, they should be filled by details from the line, the men
so detailed returning after a while to their line duties. It is very
undesirable to have the senior grades of the army composed of men
who have come to fill the positions by the mere fact of seniority. A
system should be adopted by which there shall be an elimination grade
by grade of those who seem unfit to render the best service in the
next grade. Justice to the veterans of the Civil War who are still in
the army would seem to require that in the matter of retirements they
be given by law the same privileges accorded to their comrades in the
navy.
The process of elimination of the least fit should be conducted in a
manner that would render it practically impossible to apply political
or social pressure on behalf of any candidate, so that each man may
be judged purely on his own merits. Pressure for the promotion of
civil officials for political reasons is bad enough, but it is tenfold
worse where applied on behalf of officers of the army or navy. Every
promotion and every detail under the War Department must be made
solely with regard to the good of the service and to the capacity and
merit of the man himself. No pressure, political, social, or personal,
of any kind, will be permitted to exercise the least effect in any
question of promotion or detail; and if there is reason to believe
that such pressure is exercised at the instigation of the officer
concerned, it will be held to militate against him. In our army we can
not afford to have rewards or duties distributed save on the simple
ground that those who by their own merits are entitled to the rewards
get them, and that those who are peculiarly fit to do the duties are
chosen to perform them.
Every effort should be made to bring the army to a constantly
increasing state of efficiency. When on actual service no work save
that directly in the line of such service should be required. The
paper work in the army, as in the navy, should be greatly reduced.
What is needed is proved power of command and capacity to work well
in the field. Constant care is necessary to prevent dry rot in the
transportation and commissary departments.
Our army is so small and so much scattered that it is very difficult
to give the higher officers (as well as the lower officers and
the enlisted men) a chance to practice manœuvres in mass and on a
comparatively large scale. In time of need no amount of individual
excellence would avail against the paralysis which would follow
inability to work as a coherent whole, under skilful and daring
leadership. The Congress should provide means whereby it will be
possible to have field exercises by at least a division of regulars,
and if possible also a division of national guardsmen, once a year.
These exercises might take the form of field manœuvres; or, if on
the Gulf Coast or the Pacific or Atlantic Seaboard, or in the region
of the Great Lakes, the army corps when assembled could be marched
from some inland point to some point on the water, there embarked,
disembarked after a couple of days’ journey at some other point, and
again marched inland. Only by actual handling and providing for men in
masses while they are marching, camping, embarking, and disembarking,
will it be possible to train the higher officers to perform their
duties well and smoothly.
A great debt is owing from the public to the men of the army and navy.
They should be so treated as to enable them to reach the highest point
of efficiency, so that they may be able to respond instantly to any
demand made upon them to sustain the interests of the nation and the
honor of the flag. The individual American enlisted man is probably
on the whole a more formidable fighting man than the regular of any
other army. Every consideration should be shown him, and in return the
highest standard of usefulness should be exacted from him. It is well
worth while for the Congress to consider whether the pay of enlisted
men upon second and subsequent enlistments should not be increased to
correspond with the increased value of the veteran soldier.
Much good has already come from the act reorganizing the army, passed
early in the present year. The three prime reforms, all of them of
literally inestimable value, are, first, the substitution of four-year
details from the line for permanent appointments in the so-called
staff divisions; second, the establishment of a corps of artillery
with a chief at the head; third, the establishment of a maximum and
minimum limit for the army. It would be difficult to overestimate the
improvement in the efficiency of our army which these three reforms
are making, and have in part already effected.
The reorganization provided for by the act has been substantially
accomplished. The improved conditions in the Philippines have
enabled the War Department materially to reduce the military charge
upon our revenue and to arrange the number of soldiers so as to
bring this number much nearer to the minimum than to the maximum
limit established by law. There is, however, need of supplementary
legislation. Thorough military education must be provided, and in
addition to the regulars the advantages of this education should be
given to the officers of the National Guard and others in civil life
who desire intelligently to fit themselves for possible military duty.
The officers should be given the chance to perfect themselves by study
in the higher branches of this art. At West Point the education should
be of the kind most apt to turn out men who are good in actual field
service; too much stress should not be laid on mathematics, nor should
proficiency therein be held to establish the right of entry to a corps
d’élite. The typical American officer of the best kind need not be a
good mathematician; but he must be able to master himself, to control
others, and to show boldness and fertility of resource in every
emergency.
Action should be taken in reference to the militia and to the raising
of volunteer forces. Our militia law is obsolete and worthless. The
organization and armament of the National Guard of the several
States, which are treated as militia in the appropriations by the
Congress, should be made identical with those provided for the regular
forces. The obligations and duties of the Guard in time of war should
be carefully defined, and a system established by law under which the
method of procedure of raising volunteer forces should be prescribed
in advance. It is utterly impossible in the excitement and haste of
impending war to do this satisfactorily if the arrangements have not
been made long beforehand. Provision should be made for utilizing in
the first volunteer organizations called out the training of those
citizens who have already had experience under arms, and especially
for the selection in advance of the officers of any force which may
be raised; for careful selection of the kind necessary is impossible
after the outbreak of war.
That the army is not at all a mere instrument of destruction has been
shown during the last three years. In the Philippines, Cuba, and Porto
Rico it has proved itself a great constructive force, a most potent
implement for the upbuilding of a peaceful civilization.
* * * * *
No other citizens deserve so well of the Republic as the veterans, the
survivors of those who saved the Union. They did the one deed which
if left undone would have meant that all else in our history went
for nothing. But for their steadfast prowess in the greatest crisis
of our history, all our annals would be meaningless, and our great
experiment in popular freedom and self-government a gloomy failure.
Moreover, they not only left us a united nation, but they left us also
as a heritage the memory of the mighty deeds by which the Nation was
kept united. We are now indeed one nation, one in fact as well as in
name; we are united in our devotion to the flag which is the symbol of
national greatness and unity; and the very completeness of our union
enables us all, in every part of the country, to glory in the valor
shown alike by the sons of the North and the sons of the South in the
times that tried men’s souls.
The men who in the last three years have done so well in the East
and the West Indies and on the mainland of Asia have shown that this
remembrance is not lost. In any serious crisis the United States
must rely for the great mass of its fighting men upon the volunteer
soldiery who do not make a permanent profession of the military
career; and whenever such a crisis arises the deathless memories of
the Civil War will give to Americans the lift of lofty purpose which
comes to those whose fathers have stood valiantly in the forefront of
the battle.
* * * * *
The merit system of making appointments is in its essence as
democratic and American as the common school system itself. It
simply means that in clerical and other positions where the duties
are entirely non-political, all applicants should have a fair field
and no favor, each standing on his merits as he is able to show them
by practical test. Written competitive examinations offer the only
available means in many cases for applying this system. In other
cases, as where laborers are employed, a system of registration
undoubtedly can be widely extended. There are, of course, places
where the written competitive examination can not be applied, and
others where it offers by no means an ideal solution, but where under
existing political conditions it is, though an imperfect means, yet
the best present means of getting satisfactory results.
Wherever the conditions have permitted the application of the merit
system in its fullest and widest sense, the gain to the government has
been immense. The navy yards and postal service illustrate, probably
better than any other branches of the government, the great gain
in economy, efficiency, and honesty due to the enforcement of this
principle.
I recommend the passage of a law which will extend the classified
service to the District of Columbia, or will at least enable the
President thus to extend it. In my judgment all laws providing for the
temporary employment of clerks should hereafter contain a provision
that they be selected under the Civil Service Law.
It is important to have this system obtain at home, but it is even
more important to have it applied rigidly in our insular possessions.
Not an office should be filled in the Philippines or Porto Rico with
any regard to the man’s partisan affiliations or services, with any
regard to the political, social, or personal influence which he may
have at his command; in short, heed should be paid to absolutely
nothing save the man’s own character and capacity and the needs of the
service.
The administration of these islands should be as wholly free from the
suspicion of partisan politics as the administration of the army and
navy. All that we ask from the public servant in the Philippines or
Porto Rico is that he reflect honor on his country by the way in which
he makes that country’s rule a benefit to the peoples who have come
under it. This is all that we should ask, and we can not afford to be
content with less.
The merit system is simply one method of securing honest and efficient
administration of the government; and in the long run the sole
justification of any type of government lies in its proving itself
both honest and efficient.
* * * * *
The consular service is now organized under the provisions of a law
passed in 1856, which is entirely inadequate to existing conditions.
The interest shown by so many commercial bodies throughout the country
in the reorganization of the service is heartily commended to your
attention. Several bills providing for a new consular service have in
recent years been submitted to the Congress. They are based upon the
just principle that appointments to the service should be made only
after a practical test of the applicant’s fitness, that promotions
should be governed by trustworthiness, adaptability, and zeal in
the performance of duty, and that the tenure of office should be
unaffected by partisan considerations.
The guardianship and fostering of our rapidly expanding foreign
commerce, the protection of American citizens resorting to foreign
countries in lawful pursuit of their affairs, and the maintenance of
the dignity of the Nation abroad, combine to make it essential that
our consuls should be men of character, knowledge, and enterprise.
It is true that the service is now, in the main, efficient, but a
standard of excellence can not be permanently maintained until the
principles set forth in the bills heretofore submitted to the Congress
on this subject are enacted into law.
* * * * *
In my judgment the time has arrived when we should definitely make up
our minds to recognize the Indian as an individual and not as a member
of a tribe. The General Allotment Act is a mighty pulverizing engine
to break up the tribal mass. It acts directly upon the family and the
individual. Under its provisions some sixty thousand Indians have
already become citizens of the United States. We should now break up
the tribal funds, doing for them what allotment does for the tribal
lands; that is, they should be divided into individual holdings. There
will be a transition period during which the funds will in many cases
have to be held in trust. This is the case also with the lands. A stop
should be put upon the indiscriminate permission to Indians to lease
their allotments. The effort should be steadily to make the Indian
work like any other man on his own ground. The marriage laws of the
Indians should be made the same as those of the whites.
In the schools the education should be elementary and largely
industrial. The need of higher education among the Indians is very,
very limited. On the reservations care should be taken to try to suit
the teaching to the needs of the particular Indian. There is no use in
attempting to induce agriculture in a country suited only for cattle
raising, where the Indian should be made a stock grower. The ration
system, which is merely the corral and the reservation system, is
highly detrimental to the Indians. It promotes beggary, perpetuates
pauperism, and stifles industry. It is an effectual barrier to
progress. It must continue to a greater or less degree as long as
tribes are herded on reservations and have everything in common. The
Indian should be treated as an individual—like the white man. During
the change of treatment inevitable hardships will occur; every effort
should be made to minimize these hardships; but we should not because
of them hesitate to make the change. There should be a continuous
reduction in the number of agencies.
* * * * *
In dealing with the aboriginal races few things are more important
than to preserve them from the terrible physical and moral degradation
resulting from the liquor traffic. We are doing all we can to save our
own Indian tribes from this evil. Wherever by international agreement
this same end can be attained as regards races where we do not
possess exclusive control, every effort should be made to bring it
about.
* * * * *
I bespeak the most cordial support from the Congress and the people
for the St. Louis Exposition to Commemorate the One Hundredth
Anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. This purchase was the greatest
instance of expansion in our history. It definitely decided that we
were to become a great continental republic, by far the foremost power
in the Western Hemisphere. It is one of three or four great landmarks
in our history—the great turning-points in our development. It is
eminently fitting that all our people should join with heartiest good
will in commemorating it, and the citizens of St. Louis, of Missouri,
of all the adjacent region, are entitled to every aid in making the
celebration a noteworthy event in our annals. We earnestly hope that
foreign nations will appreciate the deep interest our country takes in
this Exposition, and our view of its importance from every standpoint,
and that they will participate in securing its success. The National
Government should be represented by a full and complete set of
exhibits.
* * * * *
The people of Charleston, with great energy and civic spirit, are
carrying on an Exposition which will continue throughout most of the
present session of the Congress. I heartily commend this Exposition
to the good will of the people. It deserves all the encouragement
that can be given it. The managers of the Charleston Exposition
have requested the Cabinet officers to place thereat the government
exhibits which have been at Buffalo, promising to pay the necessary
expenses. I have taken the responsibility of directing that this be
done, for I feel that it is due to Charleston to help her in her
praiseworthy effort. In my opinion the management should not be
required to pay all these expenses. I earnestly recommend that the
Congress appropriate at once the small sum necessary for this purpose.
* * * * *
The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo has just closed. Both from the
industrial and the artistic standpoint this Exposition has been in a
high degree creditable and useful, not merely to Buffalo but to the
United States. The terrible tragedy of the President’s assassination
interfered materially with its being a financial success. The
Exposition was peculiarly in harmony with the trend of our public
policy, because it represented an effort to bring into closer touch
all the peoples of the Western Hemisphere, and give them an increasing
sense of unity. Such an effort was a genuine service to the entire
American public.
* * * * *
The advancement of the highest interests of national science and
learning and the custody of objects of art and of the valuable results
of scientific expeditions conducted by the United States have been
committed to the Smithsonian Institution. In furtherance of its
declared purpose—for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge among
men”—the Congress has from time to time given it other important
functions. Such trusts have been executed by the Institution with
notable fidelity. There should be no halt in the work of the
Institution, in accordance with the plans which its Secretary has
presented, for the preservation of the vanishing races of great North
American animals in the National Zoölogical Park. The urgent needs of
the National Museum are recommended to the favorable consideration of
the Congress.
* * * * *
Perhaps the most characteristic educational movement of the past
fifty years is that which has created the modern public library and
developed it into broad and active service. There are now over five
thousand public libraries in the United States, the product of this
period. In addition to accumulating material, they are also striving
by organization, by improvement in method, and by co-operation, to
give greater efficiency to the material they hold, to make it more
widely useful, and by avoidance of unnecessary duplication in process
to reduce the cost of its administration.
In these efforts they naturally look for assistance to the Federal
library, which, though still the Library of Congress, and so entitled,
is the one national library of the United States. Already the largest
single collection of books on the Western Hemisphere, and certain to
increase more rapidly than any other through purchase, exchange,
and the operation of the copyright law, this library has a unique
opportunity to render to the libraries of this country—to American
scholarship—service of the highest importance. It is housed in a
building which is the largest and most magnificent yet erected for
library uses. Resources are now being provided which will develop
the collection properly, equip it with the apparatus and service
necessary to its effective use, render its bibliographic work widely
available, and enable it to become, not merely a centre of research,
but the chief factor in great co-operative efforts for the diffusion
of knowledge and the advancement of learning.
* * * * *
For the sake of good administration, sound economy, and the
advancement of science, the Census Office as now constituted should be
made a permanent government bureau. This would insure better, cheaper,
and more satisfactory work, in the interest not only of our business
but of statistic, economic, and social science.
* * * * *
The remarkable growth of the postal service is shown in the fact
that its revenues have doubled and its expenditures have nearly
doubled within twelve years. Its progressive development compels
constantly increasing outlay, but in this period of business energy
and prosperity its receipts grow so much faster than its expenses
that the annual deficit has been steadily reduced from $11,411,779 in
1897 to $3,923,727 in 1901. Among recent postal advances the success
of rural free-delivery wherever established has been so marked, and
actual experience has made its benefits so plain, that the demand for
its extension is general and urgent.
It is just that the great agricultural population should share in
the improvement of the service. The number of rural routes now in
operation is 6,009, practically all established within three years,
and there are 6,000 applications awaiting action. It is expected
that the number in operation at the close of the current fiscal year
will reach 8,600. The mail will then be daily carried to the doors
of 5,700,000 of our people who have heretofore been dependent upon
distant offices, and one-third of all that portion of the country
which is adapted to it will be covered by this kind of service.
The full measure of postal progress which might be realized has long
been hampered and obstructed by the heavy burden imposed on the
Government through the intrenched and well-understood abuses which
have grown up in connection with second-class mail matter. The extent
of this burden appears when it is stated that while the second-class
matter makes nearly three-fifths of the weight of all the mail, it
paid for the last fiscal year only $4,294,445 of the aggregate postal
revenue of $111,631,193. If the pound rate of postage, which produces
the large loss thus entailed, and which was fixed by the Congress with
the purpose of encouraging the dissemination of public information,
were limited to the legitimate newspapers and periodicals actually
contemplated by the law, no just exception could be taken. That
expense would be the recognized and accepted cost of a liberal public
policy deliberately adopted for a justifiable end. But much of the
matter which enjoys the privileged rate is wholly outside of the
intent of the law, and has secured admission only through an evasion
of its requirements or through lax construction. The proportion of
such wrongly included matter is estimated by postal experts to be
one-half of the whole volume of second-class mail. If it be only
one-third or one-quarter, the magnitude of the burden is apparent. The
Post-Office Department has now undertaken to remove the abuses so far
as is possible by a stricter application of the law; and it should be
sustained in its effort.
* * * * *
Owing to the rapid growth of our power and our interests on the
Pacific, whatever happens in China must be of the keenest national
concern to us.
The general terms of the settlement of the questions growing out of
the anti-foreign uprisings in China of 1900, having been formulated
in a joint note addressed to China by the representatives of the
injured powers in December last, were promptly accepted by the Chinese
Government. After protracted conferences the plenipotentiaries of the
several powers were able to sign a final protocol with the Chinese
plenipotentiaries on the 7th of last September, setting forth the
measures taken by China in compliance with the demands of the joint
note, and expressing their satisfaction therewith. It will be laid
before the Congress, with a report of the plenipotentiary on behalf of
the United States, Mr. William Woodville Rockhill, to whom high praise
is due for the tact, good judgment, and energy he has displayed in
performing an exceptionally difficult and delicate task.
The agreement reached disposes in a manner satisfactory to the powers
of the various grounds of complaint, and will contribute materially to
better future relations between China and the powers. Reparation has
been made by China for the murder of foreigners during the uprising
and punishment has been inflicted on the officials, however high in
rank, recognized as responsible for or having participated in the
outbreak. Official examinations have been forbidden for a period of
five years in all cities in which foreigners have been murdered or
cruelly treated, and edicts have been issued making all officials
directly responsible for the future safety of foreigners and for the
suppression of violence against them.
Provisions have been made for ensuring the future safety of the
foreign representatives in Pekin by setting aside for their exclusive
use a quarter of the city which the powers can make defensible and
in which they can if necessary maintain permanent military guards;
by dismantling the military works between the capital and the sea;
and by allowing the temporary maintenance of foreign military posts
along this line. An edict has been issued by the Emperor of China
prohibiting for two years the importation of arms and ammunition into
China. China has agreed to pay adequate indemnities to the states,
societies, and individuals for the losses sustained by them and for
the expenses of the military expeditions sent by the various powers to
protect life and restore order.
Under the provisions of the joint note of December, 1900, China has
agreed to revise the treaties of commerce and navigation and to take
such other steps for the purpose of facilitating foreign trade as the
foreign powers may decide to be needed.
The Chinese Government has agreed to participate financially in the
work of bettering the water approaches to Shanghai and to Tien-tsin,
the centres of foreign trade in central and northern China, and an
international conservancy board, in which the Chinese Government is
largely represented, has been provided for the improvement of the
Shanghai River and the control of its navigation. In the same line
of commercial advantages a revision of the present tariff on imports
has been assented to for the purpose of substituting specific for _ad
valorem_ duties, and an expert has been sent abroad on the part of the
United States to assist in this work. A list of articles to remain
free of duty, including flour, cereals, and rice, gold and silver coin
and bullion, has also been agreed upon in the settlement.
During these troubles our Government has unswervingly advocated
moderation, and has materially aided in bringing about an adjustment
which tends to enhance the welfare of China and to lead to a more
beneficial intercourse between the Empire and the modern world; while
in the critical period of revolt and massacre we did our full share
in safeguarding life and property, restoring order, and vindicating
the national interest and honor. It behooves us to continue in these
paths, doing what lies in our power to foster feelings of good will,
and leaving no effort untried to work out the great policy of full
and fair intercourse between China and the nations, on a footing
of equal rights and advantages to all. We advocate the “open door”
with all that it implies; not merely the procurement of enlarged
commercial opportunities on the coasts, but access to the interior by
the waterways with which China has been so extraordinarily favored.
Only by bringing the people of China into peaceful and friendly
community of trade with all the peoples of the earth can the work
now auspiciously begun be carried to fruition. In the attainment of
this purpose we necessarily claim parity of treatment, under the
conventions, throughout the Empire for our trade and our citizens with
those of all other powers.
* * * * *
We view with lively interest and keen hopes of beneficial results the
proceedings of the Pan-American Congress, convoked at the invitation
of Mexico, and now sitting at the Mexican capital. The delegates
of the United States are under the most liberal instructions to
co-operate with their colleagues in all matters promising advantage
to the great family of American commonwealths, as well in their
relations among themselves as in their domestic advancement and in
their intercourse with the world at large.
My predecessor communicated to the Congress the fact that the Weil and
La Abra awards against Mexico have been adjudged by the highest courts
of our country to have been obtained through fraud and perjury on the
part of the claimants, and that in accordance with the acts of the
Congress the money remaining in the hands of the Secretary of State
on these awards has been returned to Mexico. A considerable portion
of the money received from Mexico on these awards had been paid by
this Government to the claimants before the decision of the courts was
rendered. My judgment is that the Congress should return to Mexico an
amount equal to the sums thus already paid to the claimants.
* * * * *
The death of Queen Victoria caused the people of the United States
deep and heartfelt sorrow, to which the Government gave full
expression. When President McKinley died, our nation in turn received
from every quarter of the British Empire expressions of grief and
sympathy no less sincere. The death of the Empress Dowager Frederick
of Germany also aroused the genuine sympathy of the American people;
and this sympathy was cordially reciprocated by Germany when the
President was assassinated. Indeed, from every quarter of the
civilized world we received, at the time of the President’s death,
assurances of such grief and regard as to touch the hearts of our
people. In the midst of our affliction we reverently thank the
Almighty that we are at peace with the nations of mankind; and we
firmly intend that our policy shall be such as to continue unbroken
these international relations of mutual respect and good will.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
WHITE HOUSE,
_December 3, 1901_.
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMUNICATED TO THE
TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE
FIFTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
We still continue in a period of unbounded prosperity. This prosperity
is not the creature of law, but undoubtedly the laws under which we
work have been instrumental in creating the conditions which made
it possible, and by unwise legislation it would be easy enough to
destroy it. There will undoubtedly be periods of depression. The wave
will recede; but the tide will advance. This nation is seated on a
continent flanked by two great oceans. It is composed of men the
descendants of pioneers, or, in a sense, pioneers themselves; of men
winnowed out from among the nations of the Old World by the energy,
boldness, and love of adventure found in their own eager hearts. Such
a nation, so placed, will surely wrest success from fortune.
As a people we have played a large part in the world, and we are bent
upon making our future even larger than the past. In particular, the
events of the last four years have definitely decided that, for woe
or for weal, our place must be great among the nations. We may either
fail greatly or succeed greatly; but we can not avoid the endeavor
from which either great failure or great success must come. Even if
we would, we can not play a small part. If we should try, all that
would follow would be that we should play a large part ignobly and
shamefully.
But our people, the sons of the men of the Civil War, the sons of
the men who had iron in their blood, rejoice in the present and face
the future high of heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed
of the weakling and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and of
triumphant endeavor. We do not shrink from the struggle before us.
There are many problems for us to face at the outset of the twentieth
century—grave problems abroad and still graver at home; but we know
that we can solve them and solve them well, provided only that we
bring to the solution the qualities of head and heart which were shown
by the men who, in the days of Washington, founded this government,
and, in the days of Lincoln, preserved it.
No country has ever occupied a higher plane of material well-being
than ours at the present moment. This well-being is due to no
sudden or accidental causes, but to the play of the economic forces
in this country for over a century; to our laws, our sustained and
continuous policies; above all, to the high individual average of our
citizenship. Great fortunes have been won by those who have taken the
lead in this phenomenal industrial development, and most of these
fortunes have been won, not by doing evil, but as an incident to
action which has benefited the community as a whole. Never before
has material well-being been so widely diffused among our people.
Great fortunes have been accumulated, and yet in the aggregate these
fortunes are small indeed when compared to the wealth of the people
as a whole. The plain people are better off than they have ever been
before. The insurance companies, which are practically mutual benefit
societies—especially helpful to men of moderate means—represent
accumulations of capital which are among the largest in this country.
There are more deposits in the savings banks, more owners of farms,
more well-paid wage-workers in this country now than ever before in
our history. Of course, when the conditions have favored the growth
of so much that was good, they have also favored somewhat the growth
of what was evil. It is eminently necessary that we should endeavor
to cut out this evil, but let us keep a due sense of proportion; let
us not in fixing our gaze upon the lesser evil forget the greater
good. The evils are real and some of them are menacing, but they are
the outgrowth, not of misery or decadence, but of prosperity—of the
progress of our gigantic industrial development. This industrial
development must not be checked, but side by side with it should go
such progressive regulation as will diminish the evils. We should
fail in our duty if we did not try to remedy the evils, but we shall
succeed only if we proceed patiently, with practical common-sense as
well as resolution, separating the good from the bad and holding on to
the former while endeavoring to get rid of the latter.
* * * * *
In my Message to the present Congress at its first session I discussed
at length the question of the regulation of those big corporations
commonly doing an interstate business, often with some tendency to
monopoly, which are popularly known as trusts. The experience of the
past year has emphasized, in my opinion, the desirability of the steps
I then proposed. A fundamental requisite of social efficiency is a
high standard of individual energy and excellence; but this is in no
wise inconsistent with power to act in combination for aims which can
not so well be achieved by the individual acting alone. A fundamental
base of civilization is the inviolability of property; but this is
in no wise inconsistent with the right of society to regulate the
exercise of the artificial powers which it confers upon the owners of
property, under the name of corporate franchises, in such a way as
to prevent the misuse of these powers. Corporations, and especially
combinations of corporations, should be managed under public
regulation. Experience has shown that under our system of government
the necessary supervision can not be obtained by State action. It
must therefore be achieved by national action. Our aim is not to do
away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are
an inevitable development of modern industrialism, and the effort to
destroy them would be futile unless accomplished in ways that would
work the utmost mischief to the entire body politic. We can do nothing
of good in the way of regulating and supervising these corporations
until we fix clearly in our minds that we are not attacking the
corporations, but endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We
are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be
so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the line against
misconduct, not against wealth. The capitalist who, alone or in
conjunction with his fellows, performs some great industrial feat by
which he wins money is a welldoer, not a wrongdoer, provided only he
works in proper and legitimate lines. We wish to favor such a man
when he does well. We wish to supervise and control his actions only
to prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the honest
corporation; and we need not be overtender about sparing the dishonest
corporation.
In curbing and regulating the combinations of capital which are or
may become injurious to the public we must be careful not to stop
the great enterprises which have legitimately reduced the cost of
production, not to abandon the place which our country has won in
the leadership of the international industrial world, not to strike
down wealth with the result of closing factories and mines, of turning
the wage-worker idle in the streets and leaving the farmer without a
market for what he grows. Insistence upon the impossible means delay
in achieving the possible, exactly as, on the other hand, the stubborn
defence alike of what is good and what is bad in the existing system,
the resolute effort to obstruct any attempt at betterment, betrays
blindness to the historic truth that wise evolution is the sure
safeguard against revolution.
No more important subject can come before the Congress than this of
the regulation of interstate business. This country can not afford to
sit supine on the plea that under our peculiar system of government
we are helpless in the presence of the new conditions, and unable
to grapple with them or to cut out whatever of evil has arisen in
connection with them. The power of the Congress to regulate interstate
commerce is an absolute and unqualified grant, and without limitations
other than those prescribed by the Constitution. The Congress has
constituted authority to make all laws necessary and proper for
executing this power, and I am satisfied that this power has not been
exhausted by any legislation now on the statute books. It is evident,
therefore, that evils restrictive of commercial freedom and entailing
restraint upon national commerce fall within the regulative power of
the Congress, and that a wise and reasonable law would be a necessary
and proper exercise of Congressional authority to the end that such
evils should be eradicated.
I believe that monopolies, unjust discriminations, which prevent or
cripple competition, fraudulent overcapitalization, and other evils in
trust organizations and practices which injuriously affect interstate
trade can be prevented under the power of the Congress to “regulate
commerce with foreign nations and among the several States” through
regulations and requirements operating directly upon such commerce,
the instrumentalities thereof, and those engaged therein.
I earnestly recommend this subject to the consideration of the
Congress with a view to the passage of a law reasonable in its
provisions and effective in its operations, upon which the questions
can be finally adjudicated that now raise doubts as to the necessity
of constitutional amendment. If it prove impossible to accomplish the
purposes above set forth by such a law, then, assuredly, we should
not shrink from amending the Constitution so as to secure beyond
peradventure the power sought.
The Congress has not heretofore made any appropriation for the better
enforcement of the anti-trust law as it now stands. Very much has been
done by the Department of Justice in securing the enforcement of this
law, but much more could be done if the Congress would make a special
appropriation for this purpose, to be expended under the direction of
the Attorney-General.
One proposition advocated has been the reduction of the tariff
as a means of reaching the evils of the trusts which fall within
the category I have described. Not merely would this be wholly
ineffective, but the diversion of our efforts in such a direction
would mean the abandonment of all intelligent attempt to do away with
these evils. Many of the largest corporations, many of those which
should certainly be included in any proper scheme of regulation,
would not be affected in the slightest degree by a change in the
tariff, save as such change interfered with the general prosperity
of the country. The only relation of the tariff to big corporations
as a whole is that the tariff makes manufactures profitable, and
the tariff remedy proposed would be in effect simply to make
manufactures unprofitable. To remove the tariff as a punitive
measure directed against trusts would inevitably result in ruin to
the weaker competitors who are struggling against them. Our aim
should be not by unwise tariff changes to give foreign products the
advantage over domestic products, but by proper regulation to give
domestic competition a fair chance; and this end can not be reached
by any tariff changes which would affect unfavorably all domestic
competitors, good and bad alike. The question of regulation of the
trusts stands apart from the question of tariff revision.
Stability of economic policy must always be the prime economic need of
this country. This stability should not be fossilization. The country
has acquiesced in the wisdom of the protective tariff principle. It
is exceedingly undesirable that this system should be destroyed or
that there should be violent and radical changes therein. Our past
experience shows that great prosperity in this country has always come
under a protective tariff and that the country can not prosper under
fitful tariff changes at short intervals. Moreover, if the tariff laws
as a whole work well, and if business has prospered under them and is
prospering, it is better to endure for a time slight inconveniences
and inequalities in some schedules than to upset business by too quick
and too radical changes. It is most earnestly to be wished that we
could treat the tariff from the standpoint solely of our business
needs. It is, perhaps, too much to hope that partisanship may be
entirely excluded from consideration of the subject, but at least it
can be made secondary to the business interests of the country—that
is, to the interests of our people as a whole. Unquestionably these
business interests will best be served if together with fixity of
principle as regards the tariff we combine a system which will permit
us from time to time to make the necessary reapplication of the
principle to the shifting national needs. We must take scrupulous care
that the reapplication shall be made in such a way that it will not
amount to a dislocation of our system, the mere threat of which (not
to speak of the performance) would produce paralysis in the business
energies of the community. The first consideration in making these
changes would, of course, be to preserve the principle which underlies
our whole tariff system—that is, the principle of putting American
business interests at least on a full equality with interests abroad,
and of always allowing a sufficient rate of duty to more than cover
the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well-being
of the wage-worker, like the well-being of the tiller of the soil,
should be treated as an essential in shaping our whole economic
policy. There must never be any change which will jeopardize the
standard of comfort, the standard of wages of the American wage-worker.
One way in which the readjustment sought can be reached is by
reciprocity treaties. It is greatly to be desired that such treaties
may be adopted. They can be used to widen our markets and to give a
greater field for the activities of our producers on the one hand, and
on the other hand to secure in practical shape the lowering of duties
when they are no longer needed for protection among our own people,
or when the minimum of damage done may be disregarded for the sake of
the maximum of good accomplished. If it prove impossible to ratify the
pending treaties, and if there seem to be no warrant for the endeavor
to execute others, or to amend the pending treaties so that they can
be ratified, then the same end—to secure reciprocity—should be met by
direct legislation.
Wherever the tariff conditions are such that a needed change can not
with advantage be made by the application of the reciprocity idea,
then it can be made outright by a lowering of duties on a given
product. If possible, such change should be made only after the
fullest consideration by practical experts, who should approach the
subject from a business standpoint, having in view both the particular
interests affected and the commercial well-being of the people as a
whole. The machinery for providing such careful investigation can
readily be supplied. The executive department has already at its
disposal methods of collecting facts and figures; and if the Congress
desires additional consideration to that which will be given the
subject by its own committees, then a commission of business experts
can be appointed whose duty it should be to recommend action by the
Congress after a deliberate and scientific examination of the various
schedules as they are affected by the changed and changing conditions.
The unhurried and unbiased report of this commission would show what
changes should be made in the various schedules, and how far these
changes could go without also changing the great prosperity which this
country is now enjoying, or upsetting its fixed economic policy.
The cases in which the tariff can produce a monopoly are so few as to
constitute an inconsiderable factor in the question; but of course
if in any case it be found that a given rate of duty does promote
a monopoly which works ill, no protectionist would object to such
reduction of the duty as would equalize competition.
In my judgment, the tariff on anthracite coal should be removed, and
anthracite put actually, where it now is nominally, on the free list.
This would have no effect at all save in crises; but in crises it
might be of service to the people.
* * * * *
Interest rates are a potent factor in business activity, and in
order that these rates may be equalized to meet the varying needs
of the seasons and of widely separated communities, and to prevent
the recurrence of financial stringencies which injuriously affect
legitimate business, it is necessary that there should be an element
of elasticity in our monetary system. Banks are the natural servants
of commerce, and upon them should be placed, as far as practicable,
the burden of furnishing and maintaining a circulation adequate to
supply the needs of our diversified industries and of our domestic
and foreign commerce; and the issue of this should be so regulated
that a sufficient supply should be always available for the business
interests of the country.
It would be both unwise and unnecessary at this time to attempt to
reconstruct our financial system, which has been the growth of a
century; but some additional legislation is, I think, desirable.
The mere outline of any plan sufficiently comprehensive to meet
these requirements would transgress the appropriate limits of this
communication. It is suggested, however, that all future legislation
on the subject should be with the view of encouraging the use of such
instrumentalities as will automatically supply every legitimate demand
of productive industries and of commerce, not only in the amount,
but in the character of circulation; and of making all kinds of money
interchangeable, and, at the will of the holder, convertible into the
established gold standard.
* * * * *
I again call your attention to the need of passing a proper
immigration law, covering the points outlined in my Message to you at
the first session of the present Congress; substantially such a bill
has already passed the House.
* * * * *
How to secure fair treatment alike for labor and for capital, how to
hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or employee,
without weakening individual initiative, without hampering and
cramping the industrial development of the country, is a problem
fraught with great difficulties and one which it is of the highest
importance to solve on lines of sanity and far-sighted common-sense
as well as of devotion to the right. This is an era of federation
and combination. Exactly as business men find they must often work
through corporations, and as it is a constant tendency of these
corporations to grow larger, so it is often necessary for laboring
men to work in federations, and these have become important factors
of modern industrial life. Both kinds of federation, capitalistic and
labor, can do much good, and as a necessary corollary they can both do
evil. Opposition to each kind of organization should take the form of
opposition to whatever is bad in the conduct of any given corporation
or union—not of attacks upon corporations as such nor upon unions as
such; for some of the most far-reaching beneficent work for our people
has been accomplished through both corporations and unions. Each must
refrain from arbitrary or tyrannous interference with the rights of
others. Organized capital and organized labor alike should remember
that in the long run the interest of each must be brought into harmony
with the interest of the general public; and the conduct of each
must conform to the fundamental rules of obedience to the law, of
individual freedom, and of justice and fair dealing toward all. Each
should remember that in addition to power it must strive after the
realization of healthy, lofty, and generous ideals. Every employer,
ever wage-worker, must be guaranteed his liberty and his right to do
as he likes with his property or his labor so long as he does not
infringe upon the rights of others. It is of the highest importance
that employer and employee alike should endeavor to appreciate each
the viewpoint of the other and the sure disaster that will come upon
both in the long run if either grows to take as habitual an attitude
of sour hostility and distrust toward the other. Few people deserve
better of the country than those representatives both of capital and
labor—and there are many such—who work continually to bring about a
good understanding of this kind, based upon wisdom and upon broad
and kindly sympathy between employers and employed. Above all, we
need to remember that any kind of class animosity in the political
world is, if possible, even more wicked, even more destructive to
national welfare, than sectional, race, or religious animosity. We
can get good government only upon condition that we keep true to the
principles upon which this Nation was founded, and judge each man not
as a part of a class, but upon his individual merits. All that we
have a right to ask of any man, rich or poor, whatever his creed, his
occupation, his birthplace, or his residence, is that he shall act
well and honorably by his neighbor and by his country. We are neither
for the rich man as such nor for the poor man as such; we are for the
upright man, rich or poor. So far as the constitutional powers of the
National Government touch these matters of general and vital moment to
the Nation, they should be exercised in conformity with the principles
above set forth.
* * * * *
It is earnestly hoped that a secretary of commerce may be created,
with a seat in the Cabinet. The rapid multiplication of questions
affecting labor and capital, the growth and complexity of the
organizations through which both labor and capital now find
expression, the steady tendency toward the employment of capital in
huge corporations, and the wonderful strides of this country toward
leadership in the international business world justify an urgent
demand for the creation of such a position. Substantially all the
leading commercial bodies in this country have united in requesting
its creation. It is desirable that some such measure as that which
has already passed the Senate be enacted into law. The creation
of such a department would in itself be an advance toward dealing
with and exercising supervision over the whole subject of the great
corporations doing an interstate business; and with this end in view,
the Congress should endow the department with large powers, which
could be increased as experience might show the need.
* * * * *
I hope soon to submit to the Senate a reciprocity treaty with Cuba.
On May 20 last the United States kept its promise to the island by
formally vacating Cuban soil and turning Cuba over to those whom her
own people had chosen as the first officials of the new republic.
Cuba lies at our doors, and whatever affects her for good or for ill
affects us also. So much have our people felt this that in the Platt
Amendment we definitely took the ground that Cuba must hereafter have
closer political relations with us than with any other power. Thus in
a sense Cuba has become a part of our international political system.
This makes it necessary that in return she should be given some of the
benefits of becoming part of our economic system. It is, from our own
standpoint, a shortsighted and mischievous policy to fail to recognize
this need. Moreover, it is unworthy of a mighty and generous nation,
itself the greatest and most successful republic in history, to refuse
to stretch out a helping hand to a young and weak sister republic just
entering upon its career of independence. We should always fearlessly
insist upon our rights in the face of the strong, and we should with
ungrudging hand do our generous duty by the weak. I urge the adoption
of reciprocity with Cuba not only because it is eminently for our own
interests to control the Cuban market and by every means to foster
our supremacy in the tropical lands and waters south of us, but also
because we, of the giant republic of the north, should make all our
sister nations of the American Continent feel that whenever they will
permit it we desire to show ourselves disinterestedly and effectively
their friend.
* * * * *
A convention with Great Britain has been concluded, which will be at
once laid before the Senate for ratification, providing for reciprocal
trade arrangements between the United States and Newfoundland on
substantially the lines of the convention formerly negotiated by the
Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine. I believe reciprocal trade relations
will be greatly to the advantage of both countries.
* * * * *
As civilization grows warfare becomes less and less the normal
condition of foreign relations. The last century has seen a marked
diminution of wars between civilized powers; wars with uncivilized
powers are largely mere matters of international police duty,
essential for the welfare of the world. Wherever possible, arbitration
or some similar method should be employed in lieu of war to settle
difficulties between civilized nations, although as yet the world
has not progressed sufficiently to render it possible, or necessarily
desirable, to invoke arbitration in every case. The formation of the
international tribunal which sits at The Hague is an event of good
omen from which great consequences for the welfare of all mankind may
flow. It is far better, where possible, to invoke such a permanent
tribunal than to create special arbitrators for a given purpose.
It is a matter of sincere congratulation to our country that the
United States and Mexico should have been the first to use the good
offices of The Hague Court. This was done last summer with most
satisfactory results in the case of a claim at issue between us and
our sister republic. It is earnestly to be hoped that this first case
will serve as a precedent for others, in which not only the United
States but foreign nations may take advantage of the machinery already
in existence at The Hague.
* * * * *
I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the Hawaiian
fire claims, which were the subject of careful investigation during
the last session.
* * * * *
The Congress has wisely provided that we shall build at once an
Isthmian Canal, if possible at Panama. The Attorney-General reports
that we can undoubtedly acquire good title from the French Panama
Canal Company. Negotiations are now pending with Colombia to secure
her assent to our building the canal. This canal will be one of
the greatest engineering feats of the twentieth century; a greater
engineering feat than has yet been accomplished during the history
of mankind. The work should be carried out as a continuing policy
without regard to change of Administration; and it should be begun
under circumstances which will make it a matter of pride for all
Administrations to continue the policy.
The canal will be of great benefit to America, and of importance to
all the world. It will be of advantage to us industrially and also
as improving our military position. It will be of advantage to the
countries of tropical America. It is earnestly to be hoped that all
of these countries will do as some of them have already done with
signal success, and will invite to their shores commerce and improve
their material conditions by recognizing that stability and order are
the prerequisites of successful development. No independent nation in
America need have the slightest fear of aggression from the United
States. It behooves each one to maintain order within its own borders
and to discharge its just obligations to foreigners. When this is done
they can rest assured that, be they strong or weak, they have nothing
to dread from outside interference. More and more the increasing
interdependence and complexity of international, political, and
economic relations render it incumbent on all civilized and orderly
powers to insist on the proper policing of the world.
During the fall of 1901 a communication was addressed to the Secretary
of State, asking whether permission would be granted by the President
to a corporation to lay a cable from a point on the California coast
to the Philippine Islands by way of Hawaii. A statement of conditions
or terms upon which such corporation would undertake to lay and
operate a cable was volunteered.
Inasmuch as the Congress was shortly to convene, and Pacific cable
legislation had been the subject of consideration by the Congress
for several years, it seemed to me wise to defer action upon the
application until the Congress had first an opportunity to act. The
Congress adjourned without taking any action, leaving the matter
in exactly the same condition in which it stood when the Congress
convened.
Meanwhile it appears that the Commercial Pacific Cable Company had
promptly proceeded with preparations for laying its cable. It also
made application to the President for access to and use of soundings
taken by the U. S. S. _Nero_, for the purpose of discovering a
practicable route for a trans-Pacific cable, the company urging that
with access to these soundings it could complete its cable much sooner
than if it were required to take soundings upon its own account.
Pending consideration of this subject, it appeared important and
desirable to attach certain conditions to the permission to examine
and use the soundings, if it should be granted.
In consequence of this solicitation of the cable company, certain
conditions were formulated, upon which the President was willing to
allow access to these soundings and to consent to the landing and
laying of the cable, subject to any alterations or additions thereto
imposed by the Congress. This was deemed proper, especially as it
was clear that a cable connection of some kind with China, a foreign
country, was a part of the company’s plan. This course was, moreover,
in accordance with a line of precedents, including President Grant’s
action in the case of the first French cable, explained to the
Congress in his Annual Message of December, 1875, and the instance
occurring in 1879 of the second French cable from Brest to St. Pierre,
with a branch to Cape Cod.
These conditions prescribed, among other things, a maximum rate for
commercial messages and that the company should construct a line from
the Philippine Islands to China, there being at present, as is well
known, a British line from Manila to Hongkong.
The representatives of the cable company kept these conditions long
under consideration, continuing, in the meantime, to prepare for
laying the cable. They have, however, at length acceded to them, and
an all-American line between our Pacific coast and the Chinese Empire,
by way of Honolulu and the Philippine Islands, is thus provided for,
and is expected within a few months to be ready for business.
Among the conditions is one reserving the power of the Congress to
modify or repeal any or all of them. A copy of the conditions is
herewith transmitted.
* * * * *
Of Porto Rico it is only necessary to say that the prosperity of the
island and the wisdom with which it has been governed have been such
as to make it serve as an example of all that is best in insular
administration.
* * * * *
On July 4 last, on the one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary
of the declaration of our independence, peace and amnesty were
promulgated in the Philippine Islands. Some trouble has since from
time to time threatened with the Mohammedan Moros, but with the
late insurrectionary Filipinos the war has entirely ceased. Civil
government has now been introduced. Not only does each Filipino enjoy
such rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as he has
never before known during the recorded history of the islands, but
the people taken as a whole now enjoy a measure of self-government
greater than that granted to any other Orientals by any foreign power
and greater than that enjoyed by any other Orientals under their own
governments, save the Japanese alone. We have not gone too far in
granting these rights of liberty and self-government; but we have
certainly gone to the limit that in the interests of the Philippine
people themselves it was wise or just to go. To hurry matters, to go
faster than we are now going, would entail calamity on the people of
the islands. No policy ever entered into by the American people has
vindicated itself in more signal manner than the policy of holding
the Philippines. The triumph of our arms, above all the triumph of
our laws and principles, has come sooner than we had any right to
expect. Too much praise can not be given to the army for what it has
done in the Philippines both in warfare and from an administrative
standpoint in preparing the way for civil government; and similar
credit belongs to the civil authorities for the way in which they have
planted the seeds of self-government in the ground thus made ready
for them. The courage, the unflinching endurance, the high soldierly
efficiency, and the general kind-heartedness and humanity of our
troops have been strikingly manifested. There now remain only some
fifteen thousand troops in the islands. All told, over one hundred
thousand have been sent there. Of course, there have been individual
instances of wrongdoing among them. They warred under fearful
difficulties of climate and surroundings; and under the strain of
the terrible provocations which they continually received from their
foes, occasional instances of cruel retaliation occurred. Every effort
has been made to prevent such cruelties, and finally these efforts
have been completely successful. Every effort has also been made to
detect and punish the wrongdoers. After making all allowance for these
misdeeds, it remains true that few indeed have been the instances in
which war has been waged by a civilized power against semi-civilized
or barbarous forces where there has been so little wrongdoing by the
victors as in the Philippine Islands. On the other hand, the amount
of difficult, important, and beneficent work which has been done is
wellnigh incalculable.
Taking the work of the army and the civil authorities together, it may
be questioned whether anywhere else in modern times the world has seen
a better example of real constructive statesmanship than our people
have given in the Philippine Islands. High praise should also be given
those Filipinos, in the aggregate very numerous, who have accepted the
new conditions and joined with our representatives to work with hearty
good-will for the welfare of the islands.
The army has been reduced to the minimum allowed by law. It is very
small for the size of the nation, and most certainly should be kept at
the highest point of efficiency. The senior officers are given scant
chance under ordinary conditions to exercise commands commensurate
with their rank, under circumstances which would fit them to do their
duty in the time of actual war. A system of manœuvring our army in
bodies of some little size has been begun and should be steadily
continued. Without such manœuvres it is folly to expect that in the
event of hostilities with any serious foe even a small army corps
could be handled to advantage. Both our officers and enlisted men are
such that we can take hearty pride in them. No better material can
be found. But they must be thoroughly trained, both as individuals
and in the mass. The marksmanship of the men must receive special
attention. In the circumstances of modern warfare the man must act far
more on his own individual responsibility than ever before, and the
high individual efficiency of the unit is of the utmost importance.
Formerly this unit was the regiment; it is now not the regiment, not
even the troop or company; it is the individual soldier. Every effort
must be made to develop every workmanlike and soldierly quality in
both the officer and the enlisted man.
I urgently call your attention to the need of passing a bill providing
for a general staff and for the reorganization of the supply
departments on the lines of the bill proposed by the Secretary of War
last year. When the young officers enter the army from West Point they
probably stand above their compeers in any other military service.
Every effort should be made, by training, by reward of merit, by
scrutiny into their careers and capacity, to keep them of the same
high relative excellence throughout their careers.
The measure providing for the reorganization of the militia system and
for securing the highest efficiency in the National Guard, which has
already passed the House, should receive prompt attention and action.
It is of great importance that the relation of the National Guard
to the militia and volunteer forces of the United States should be
defined, and that in place of our present obsolete laws a practical
and efficient system should be adopted.
Provision should be made to enable the Secretary of War to keep
cavalry and artillery horses, worn-out in long performance of duty.
Such horses fetch but a trifle when sold; and rather than turn them
out to the misery awaiting them when thus disposed of, it would
be better to employ them at light work around the posts, and when
necessary to put them painlessly to death.
* * * * *
For the first time in our history naval manœuvres on a large scale
are being held under the immediate command of the admiral of the
navy. Constantly increasing attention is being paid to the gunnery
of the navy, but it is yet far from what it should be. I earnestly
urge that the increase asked for by the Secretary of the Navy in the
appropriation for improving the marksmanship be granted. In battle
the only shots that count are the shots that hit. It is necessary to
provide ample funds for practice with the great guns in time of peace.
These funds must provide not only for the purchase of projectiles, but
for allowances for prizes to encourage the gun crews, and especially
the gun pointers, and for perfecting an intelligent system under which
alone it is possible to get good practice.
There should be no halt in the work of building up the navy, providing
every year additional fighting craft. We are a very rich country, vast
in extent of territory and great in population; a country, moreover,
which has an army diminutive indeed when compared with that of any
other first-class power. We have deliberately made our own certain
foreign policies which demand the possession of a first-class navy.
The Isthmian Canal will greatly increase the efficiency of our navy
if the navy is of sufficient size; but if we have an inadequate navy,
then the building of the canal would be merely giving a hostage to
any power of superior strength. The Monroe Doctrine should be treated
as the cardinal feature of American foreign policy; but it would be
worse than idle to assert it unless we intended to back it up, and it
can be backed up only by a thoroughly good navy. A good navy is not a
provocative of war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.
Each individual unit of our navy should be the most efficient of its
kind as regards both material and personnel that is to be found in
the world. I call your special attention to the need of providing
for the manning of the ships. Serious trouble threatens us if we can
not do better than we are now doing as regards securing the services
of a sufficient number of the highest type of sailormen, of sea
mechanics. The veteran seamen of our warships are of as high a type
as can be found in any navy which rides the waters of the world; they
are unsurpassed in daring, in resolution, in readiness, in thorough
knowledge of their profession. They deserve every consideration
that can be shown them. But there are not enough of them. It is no
more possible to improvise a crew than it is possible to improvise
a warship. To build the finest ship, with the deadliest battery,
and to send it afloat with a raw crew, no matter how brave they were
individually, would be to insure disaster if a foe of average capacity
were encountered. Neither ships nor men can be improvised when war has
begun.
We need a thousand additional officers in order to properly man the
ships now provided for and under construction. The classes at the
naval school at Annapolis should be greatly enlarged. At the same time
that we thus add the officers where we need them, we should facilitate
the retirement of those at the head of the list whose usefulness has
become impaired. Promotion must be fostered if the service is to be
kept efficient.
The lamentable scarcity of officers, and the large number of recruits
and of unskilled men necessarily put aboard the new vessels as they
have been commissioned, has thrown upon our officers, and especially
on the lieutenants and junior grades, unusual labor and fatigue and
has gravely strained their powers of endurance. Nor is there sign
of any immediate let-up in this strain. It must continue for some
time longer, until more officers are graduated from Annapolis, and
until the recruits become trained and skilful in their duties. In
these difficulties incident upon the development of our war fleet
the conduct of all our officers has been creditable to the service,
and the lieutenants and junior grades in particular have displayed
an ability and a steadfast cheerfulness which entitles them to the
ungrudging thanks of all who realize the disheartening trials and
fatigues to which they are of necessity subjected.
There is not a cloud on the horizon at present. There seems not the
slightest chance of trouble with a foreign power. We most earnestly
hope that this state of things may continue; and the way to insure
its continuance is to provide for a thoroughly efficient navy. The
refusal to maintain such a navy would invite trouble, and if trouble
came would ensure disaster. Fatuous self-complacency or vanity, or
short-sightedness in refusing to prepare for danger, is both foolish
and wicked in such a nation as ours; and past experience has shown
that such fatuity in refusing to recognize or prepare for any crisis
in advance is usually succeeded by a mad panic of hysterical fear once
the crisis has actually arrived.
* * * * *
The striking increase in the revenues of the Post-Office Department
shows clearly the prosperity of our people and the increasing activity
of the business of the country.
The receipts of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year
ending June 30 last amounted to $121,848,047.26, an increase of
$10,216,853.87 over the preceding year, the largest increase known in
the history of the postal service. The magnitude of this increase will
best appear from the fact that the entire postal receipts for the year
1860 amounted to but $8,518,067.
Rural free-delivery service is no longer in the experimental stage;
it has become a fixed policy. The results following its introduction
have fully justified the Congress in the large appropriations made
for its establishment and extension. The average yearly increase in
post-office receipts in the rural districts of the country is about
two per cent. We are now able, by actual results, to show that where
rural free-delivery service has been established to such an extent as
to enable us to make comparisons the yearly increase has been upward
of ten per cent.
On November 1, 1902, 11,650 rural free-delivery routes had been
established and were in operation, covering about one-third of the
territory of the United States available for rural free-delivery
service. There are now awaiting the action of the Department petitions
and applications for the establishment of 10,748 additional routes.
This shows conclusively the want which the establishment of the
service has met and the need of further extending it as rapidly as
possible. It is justified both by the financial results and by the
practical benefits to our rural population; it brings the men who live
on the soil into close relations with the active business world; it
keeps the farmer in daily touch with the markets; it is a potential
educational force; it enhances the value of farm property, makes farm
life far pleasanter and less isolated, and will do much to check the
undesirable current from country to city.
It is to be hoped that the Congress will make liberal appropriations
for the continuance of the service already established and for its
further extension.
Few subjects of more importance have been taken up by the Congress in
recent years than the inauguration of the system of nationally-aided
irrigation for the arid regions of the far West. A good beginning
therein has been made. Now that this policy of national irrigation has
been adopted, the need of thorough and scientific forest protection
will grow more rapidly than ever throughout the public-land States.
Legislation should be provided for the protection of the game, and
the wild creatures generally, on the forest reserves. The senseless
slaughter of game, which can by judicious protection be permanently
preserved on our national reserves for the people as a whole, should
be stopped at once. It is, for instance, a serious count against our
national good sense to permit the present practice of butchering off
such a stately and beautiful creature as the elk for its antlers or
tusks.
So far as they are available for agriculture, and to whatever extent
they may be reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining
public lands should be held rigidly for the home builder, the settler
who lives on his land, and for no one else. In their actual use the
desert-land law, the timber and stone law, and the commutation clause
of the homestead law have been so perverted from the intention with
which they were enacted as to permit the acquisition of large areas of
the public domain for other than actual settlers and the consequent
prevention of settlement. Moreover, the approaching exhaustion of the
public ranges has of late led to much discussion as to the best manner
of using these public lands in the West which are suitable chiefly or
only for grazing. The sound and steady development of the West depends
upon the building up of homes therein. Much of our prosperity as a
nation has been due to the operation of the homestead law. On the
other hand, we should recognize the fact that in the grazing region
the man who corresponds to the homesteader may be unable to settle
permanently if only allowed to use the same amount of pasture land
that his brother, the homesteader, is allowed to use of arable land.
One hundred and sixty acres of fairly rich and well-watered soil, or
a much smaller amount of irrigated land, may keep a family in plenty,
whereas no one could get a living from one hundred and sixty acres of
dry pasture land capable of supporting at the outside only one head
of cattle to every ten acres. In the past great tracts of the public
domain have been fenced in by persons having no title thereto, in
direct defiance of the law forbidding the maintenance or construction
of any such unlawful inclosure of public land. For various reasons
there has been little interference with such inclosures in the past,
but ample notice has now been given the trespassers, and all the
resources at the command of the Government will hereafter be used to
put a stop to such trespassing.
In view of the capital importance of these matters, I commend them to
the earnest consideration of the Congress, and if the Congress finds
difficulty in dealing with them from lack of thorough knowledge of
the subject, I recommend that provision be made for a commission of
experts specially to investigate and report upon the complicated
questions involved.
* * * * *
I especially urge upon the Congress the need of wise legislation for
Alaska. It is not to our credit as a nation that Alaska, which has
been ours for thirty-five years, should still have as poor a system
of laws as is the case. No country has a more valuable possession—in
mineral wealth, in fisheries, furs, forests, and also in land
available for certain kinds of farming and stock-growing. It is a
territory of great size and varied resources, well fitted to support
a large permanent population. Alaska needs a good land law and such
provisions for homesteads and pre-emptions as will encourage permanent
settlement. We should shape legislation with a view not to the
exploiting and abandoning of the territory, but to the building up of
homes therein. The land laws should be liberal in type, so as to hold
out inducements to the actual settler whom we most desire to see take
possession of the country. The forests of Alaska should be protected,
and, as a secondary but still important matter, the game also, and at
the same time it is imperative that the settlers should be allowed to
cut timber, under proper regulations, for their own use. Laws should
be enacted to protect the Alaskan salmon fisheries against the greed
which would destroy them. They should be preserved as a permanent
industry and food supply. Their management and control should be
turned over to the Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Alaska should
have a Delegate in the Congress. It would be well if a Congressional
committee could visit Alaska and investigate its needs on the ground.
* * * * *
In dealing with the Indians our aim should be their ultimate
absorption into the body of our people. But in many cases this
absorption must and should be very slow. In portions of the Indian
Territory the mixture of blood has gone on at the same time with
progress in wealth and education, so that there are plenty of men
with varying degrees of purity of Indian blood who are absolutely
indistinguishable in point of social, political, and economic ability
from their white associates. There are other tribes which have as yet
made no perceptible advance toward such equality. To try to force such
tribes too fast is to prevent their going forward at all. Moreover,
the tribes live under widely different conditions. Where a tribe has
made considerable advance and lives on fertile farming soil it is
possible to allot the members lands in severalty much as is the case
with white settlers. There are other tribes where such a course is not
desirable. On the arid prairie lands the effort should be to induce
the Indians to lead pastoral rather than agricultural lives, and to
permit them to settle in villages rather than to force them into
isolation.
The large Indian schools situated remote from any Indian reservation
do a special and peculiar work of great importance. But, excellent
though these are, an immense amount of additional work must be done
on the reservations themselves among the old, and above all among the
young, Indians.
The first and most important step toward the absorption of the Indian
is to teach him to earn his living; yet it is not necessarily to
be assumed that in each community all Indians must become either
tillers of the soil or stock-raisers. Their industries may properly
be diversified, and those who show special desire or adaptability for
industrial or even commercial pursuits should be encouraged so far as
practicable to follow out each his own bent.
Every effort should be made to develop the Indian along the lines of
natural aptitude, and to encourage the existing native industries
peculiar to certain tribes, such as the various kinds of basket
weaving, canoe building, smith work, and blanket work. Above all, the
Indian boys and girls should be given confident command of colloquial
English, and should ordinarily be prepared for a vigorous struggle
with the conditions under which their people live, rather than for
immediate absorption into some more highly developed community.
The officials who represent the Government in dealing with the Indians
work under hard conditions, and also under conditions which render
it easy to do wrong and very difficult to detect wrong. Consequently
they should be amply paid on the one hand, and on the other hand a
particularly high standard of conduct should be demanded from them,
and where misconduct can be proved the punishment should be exemplary.
* * * * *
In no department of governmental work in recent years has there
been greater success than in that of giving scientific aid to the
farming population, thereby showing them how most efficiently to help
themselves. There is no need of insisting upon its importance, for the
welfare of the farmer is fundamentally necessary to the welfare of the
Republic as a whole. In addition to such work as quarantine against
animal and vegetable plagues, and warring against them when here
introduced, much efficient help has been rendered to the farmer by the
introduction of new plants specially fitted for cultivation under the
peculiar conditions existing in different portions of the country. New
cereals have been established in the semi-arid West. For instance,
the practicability of producing the best types of macaroni wheats in
regions of an annual rainfall of only ten inches or thereabouts has
been conclusively demonstrated. Through the introduction of new rices
in Louisiana and Texas the production of rice in this country has been
made to about equal the home demand. In the Southwest the possibility
of regrassing over-stocked range lands has been demonstrated; in the
North many new forage crops have been introduced, while in the East
it has been shown that some of our choicest fruits can be stored and
shipped in such a way as to find a profitable market abroad.
I again recommend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the
plans of the Smithsonian Institution for making the Museum under
its charge worthy of the Nation, and for preserving at the National
Capital not only records of the vanishing races of men but of the
animals of this continent which, like the buffalo, will soon become
extinct unless specimens from which their representatives may be
renewed are sought in their native regions and maintained there in
safety.
* * * * *
The District of Columbia is the only part of our territory in which
the National Government exercises local or municipal functions, and
where in consequence the Government has a free hand in reference
to certain types of social and economic legislation which must be
essentially local or municipal in their character. The Government
should see to it, for instance, that the hygienic and sanitary
legislation affecting Washington is of a high character. The evils
of slum dwellings, whether in the shape of crowded and congested
tenement-house districts or of the back-alley type, should never be
permitted to grow up in Washington. The city should be a model in
every respect for all the cities of the country. The charitable and
correctional systems of the District should receive consideration
at the hands of the Congress to the end that they may embody the
results of the most advanced thought in these fields. Moreover, while
Washington is not a great industrial city, there is some industrialism
here, and our labor legislation, while it would not be important in
itself, might be made a model for the rest of the Nation. We should
pass, for instance, a wise employer’s-liability act for the District
of Columbia, and we need such an act in our navy yards. Railroad
companies in the District ought to be required by law to block their
frogs.
* * * * *
The safety-appliance law, for the better protection of the lives and
limbs of railway employees, which was passed in 1893, went into full
effect on August 1, 1901. It has resulted in averting thousands of
casualties. Experience shows, however, the necessity of additional
legislation to perfect this law. A bill to provide for this passed the
Senate at the last session. It is to be hoped that some such measure
may now be enacted into law.
* * * * *
There is a growing tendency to provide for the publication of masses
of documents for which there is no public demand and for the printing
of which there is no real necessity. Large numbers of volumes are
turned out by the Government printing presses for which there is no
justification. Nothing should be printed by any of the Departments
unless it contains something of permanent value, and the Congress
could with advantage cut down very materially on all the printing
which it has now become customary to provide. The excessive cost of
Government printing is a strong argument against the position of those
who are inclined on abstract grounds to advocate the Government’s
doing any work which can with propriety be left in private hands.
* * * * *
Gratifying progress has been made during the year in the extension of
the merit system of making appointments in the Government service. It
should be extended by law to the District of Columbia. It is much to
be desired that our consular system be established by law on a basis
providing for appointment and promotion only in consequence of proved
fitness.
* * * * *
Through a wise provision of the Congress at its last session, the
White House, which had become disfigured by incongruous additions
and changes, has now been restored to what it was planned to be by
Washington. In making the restorations the utmost care has been
exercised to come as near as possible to the early plans and to
supplement these plans by a careful study of such buildings as that of
the University of Virginia, which was built by Jefferson. The White
House is the property of the Nation, and so far as is compatible
with living therein it should be kept as it originally was, for
the same reasons that we keep Mount Vernon as it originally was.
The stately simplicity of its architecture is an expression of the
character of the period in which it was built, and is in accord with
the purposes it was designed to serve. It is a good thing to preserve
such buildings as historic monuments which keep alive our sense of
continuity with the Nation’s past.
The reports of the several Executive Departments are submitted to the
Congress with this communication.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
WHITE HOUSE,
_December 2, 1902_.
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMUNICATED TO THE
TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE
FIFTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I have convened the Congress that it may consider the legislation
necessary to put into operation the commercial treaty with Cuba, which
was ratified by the Senate at its last session, and subsequently by
the Cuban Government. I deem such legislation demanded not only by
our interest but by our honor. We can not with propriety abandon the
course upon which we have so wisely embarked. When the acceptance
of the Platt Amendment was required from Cuba by the action of the
Congress of the United States, this Government thereby definitely
committed itself to the policy of treating Cuba as occupying a unique
position as regards this country. It was provided that when the island
became a free and independent republic she should stand in such close
relations with us as in certain respects to come within our system of
international policy; and it necessarily followed that she must also
to a certain degree become included within the lines of our economic
policy. Situated as Cuba is, it would not be possible for this
country to permit the strategic abuse of the island by any foreign
military power. It is for this reason that certain limitations have
been imposed upon her financial policy, and that naval stations have
been conceded by her to the United States. The negotiations as to the
details of these naval stations are on the eve of completion. They are
so situated as to prevent any idea that there is the intention ever to
use them against Cuba, or otherwise than for the protection of Cuba
from the assaults of foreign foes, and for the better safeguarding of
American interests in the waters south of us.
These interests have been largely increased by the consequences of the
war with Spain, and will be still further increased by the building of
the Isthmian Canal. They are both military and economic. The granting
to us by Cuba of the naval stations above alluded to is of the utmost
importance from a military standpoint, and is proof of the good faith
with which Cuba is treating us. Cuba has made great progress since her
independence was established. She has advanced steadily in every way.
She already stands high among her sister republics of the New World.
She is loyally observing her obligations to us; and she is entitled to
like treatment by us.
The treaty submitted to you for approval secures to the United States
economic advantages as great as those given to Cuba. Not an American
interest is sacrificed. By the treaty a large Cuban market is secured
to our producers. It is a market which lies at our doors, which is
already large, which is capable of great expansion, and which is
especially important to the development of our export trade. It would
be indeed shortsighted for us to refuse to take advantage of such an
opportunity, and to force Cuba into making arrangements with other
countries to our disadvantage.
This reciprocity treaty stands by itself. It is demanded on
considerations of broad national policy as well as by our economic
interest. It will do harm to no industry. It will benefit many
industries. It is in the interest of our people as a whole, both
because of its importance from the broad standpoint of international
policy, and because economically it intimately concerns us to develop
and secure the rich Cuban market for our farmers, artisans, merchants,
and manufacturers. Finally, it is desirable as a guaranty of the
good faith of our Nation toward her young sister republic to the
south, whose welfare must ever be closely bound with ours. We gave
her liberty. We are knit to her by the memories of the blood and the
courage of our soldiers who fought for her in war; by the memory of
the wisdom and integrity of our administrators who served her in peace
and who started her so well on the difficult path of self-government.
We must help her onward and upward; and in helping her we shall help
ourselves.
The foregoing considerations caused the negotiations of the treaty
with Cuba and its ratification by the Senate. They now with equal
force support the legislation by the Congress which by the terms of
the treaty is necessary to render it operative. A failure to enact
such legislation would come perilously near a repudiation of the
pledged faith of the Nation.
I transmit herewith the treaty, as amended by the Senate and ratified
by the Cuban Government.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
WHITE HOUSE,
_November 10, 1903_.
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMUNICATED TO THE
TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE
FIFTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
The country is to be congratulated on the amount of substantial
achievement which has marked the past year both as regards our foreign
and as regards our domestic policy.
With a nation as with a man the most important things are those of the
household, and therefore the country is especially to be congratulated
on what has been accomplished in the direction of providing for the
exercise of supervision over the great corporations and combinations
of corporations engaged in interstate commerce. The Congress has
created the Department of Commerce and Labor, including the Bureau
of Corporations, with for the first time authority to secure proper
publicity of such proceedings of these great corporations as the
public has the right to know. It has provided for the expediting
of suits for the enforcement of the Federal anti-trust law; and by
another law it has secured equal treatment to all producers in the
transportation of their goods, thus taking a long stride forward in
making effective the work of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
The establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor, with
the Bureau of Corporations thereunder, marks a real advance in the
direction of doing all that is possible for the solution of the
questions vitally affecting capitalists and wage-workers. The act
creating the Department was approved on February 14, 1903, and two
days later the head of the Department was nominated and confirmed
by the Senate. Since then the work of organization has been pushed
as rapidly as the initial appropriations permitted, and with due
regard to thoroughness and the broad purposes which the Department
is designed to serve. After the transfer of the various bureaus and
branches to the Department at the beginning of the current fiscal
year, as provided for in the act, the personnel comprised 1,289
employees in Washington and 8,836 in the country at large. The scope
of the Department’s duty and authority embraces the commercial and
industrial interests of the Nation. It is not designed to restrict
or control the fullest liberty of legitimate business action, but to
secure exact and authentic information which will aid the Executive in
enforcing existing laws, and which will enable the Congress to enact
additional legislation, if any should be found necessary, in order to
prevent the few from obtaining privileges at the expense of diminished
opportunities for the many.
The preliminary work of the Bureau of Corporations in the Department
has shown the wisdom of its creation. Publicity in corporate affairs
will tend to do away with ignorance, and will afford facts upon which
intelligent action may be taken. Systematic, intelligent investigation
is already developing facts the knowledge of which is essential to a
right understanding of the needs and duties of the business world. The
corporation which is honestly and fairly organized, whose managers
in the conduct of its business recognize their obligation to deal
squarely with their stockholders, their competitors, and the public,
has nothing to fear from such supervision. The purpose of this Bureau
is not to embarrass or assail legitimate business, but to aid in
bringing about a better industrial condition—a condition under which
there shall be obedience to law and recognition of public obligation
by all corporations, great or small. The Department of Commerce and
Labor will be not only the clearing house for information regarding
the business transactions of the Nation but the executive arm of
the Government to aid in strengthening our domestic and foreign
markets, in perfecting our transportation facilities, in building
up our merchant marine, in preventing the entrance of undesirable
immigrants, in improving commercial and industrial conditions, and
in bringing together on common ground those necessary partners in
industrial progress—capital and labor. Commerce between the nations is
steadily growing in volume, and the tendency of the times is toward
closer trade relations. Constant watchfulness is needed to secure to
Americans the chance to participate to the best advantage in foreign
trade; and we may confidently expect that the new Department will
justify the expectation of its creators by the exercise of this
watchfulness, as well as by the businesslike administration of such
laws relating to our internal affairs as are intrusted to its care.
In enacting the laws above enumerated the Congress proceeded on sane
and conservative lines. Nothing revolutionary was attempted; but
a common-sense and successful effort was made in the direction of
seeing that corporations are so handled as to subserve the public
good. The legislation was moderate. It was characterized throughout by
the idea that we were not attacking corporations, but endeavoring to
provide for doing away with any evil in them; that we drew the line
against misconduct, not against wealth; gladly recognizing the great
good done by the capitalist who alone, or in conjunction with his
fellows, does his work along proper and legitimate lines. The purpose
of the legislation, which purpose will undoubtedly be fulfilled, was
to favor such a man when he does well, and to supervise his action
only to prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the
honest corporation. The only corporation that has cause to dread
it is the corporation which shrinks from the light, and about the
welfare of such corporations we need not be oversensitive. The work of
the Department of Commerce and Labor has been conditioned upon this
theory, of securing fair treatment alike for labor and for capital.
* * * * *
The consistent policy of the National Government, so far as it
has the power, is to hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether
employer or employee; but to refuse to weaken individual initiative
or to hamper or cramp the industrial development of the country.
We recognize that this is an era of federation and combination, in
which great capitalistic corporations and labor unions have become
factors of tremendous importance in all industrial centres. Hearty
recognition is given the far-reaching, beneficent work which has
been accomplished through both corporations and unions, and the line
as between different corporations, as between different unions, is
drawn as it is between different individuals; that is, it is drawn
on conduct, the effort being to treat both organized capital and
organized labor alike, asking nothing save that the interest of each
shall be brought into harmony with the interest of the general public,
and that the conduct of each shall conform to the fundamental rules
of obedience to law, of individual freedom, and of justice and fair
dealing towards all. Whenever either corporation, labor union, or
individual disregards the law or acts in a spirit of arbitrary and
tyrannous interference with the rights of others, whether corporations
or individuals, then where the Federal Government has jurisdiction,
it will see to it that the misconduct is stopped, paying not the
slightest heed to the position or power of the corporation, the
union or the individual, but only to one vital fact—that is, the
question whether or not the conduct of the individual or aggregate of
individuals is in accordance with the law of the land. Every man must
be guaranteed his liberty and his right to do as he likes with his
property or his labor, so long as he does not infringe the rights of
others. No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask
any man’s permission when we require him to obey it. Obedience to the
law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor.
We have cause as a Nation to be thankful for the steps that have
been so successfully taken to put these principles into effect. The
progress has been by evolution, not by revolution. Nothing radical
has been done; the action has been both moderate and resolute.
Therefore the work will stand. There shall be no backward step. If in
the working of the laws it proves desirable that they shall at any
point be expanded or amplified, the amendment can be made as its
desirability is shown. Meanwhile they are being administered with
judgment, but with insistence upon obedience to them; and their need
has been emphasized in signal fashion by the events of the past year.
* * * * *
From all sources, exclusive of the postal service, the receipts of
the Government for the last fiscal year aggregated $560,396,674.
The expenditures for the same period were $506,099,007, the surplus
for the fiscal year being $54,297,667. The indications are that the
surplus for the present fiscal year will be very small, if indeed
there be any surplus. From July to November the receipts from customs
were, approximately, nine million dollars less than the receipts from
the same source for a corresponding portion of last year. Should this
decrease continue at the same ratio throughout the fiscal year, the
surplus would be reduced by, approximately, thirty million dollars.
Should the revenue from customs suffer much further decrease during
the fiscal year, the surplus would vanish. A large surplus is
certainly undesirable. Two years ago the war taxes were taken off
with the express intention of equalizing the governmental receipts
and expenditures, and though the first year thereafter still showed a
surplus, it now seems likely that a substantial equality of revenue
and expenditure will be attained. Such being the case it is of great
moment both to exercise care and economy in appropriations, and
to scan sharply any change in our fiscal revenue system which may
reduce our income. The need of strict economy in our expenditures is
emphasized by the fact that we can not afford to be parsimonious in
providing for what is essential to our national well-being. Careful
economy wherever possible will alone prevent our income from falling
below the point required in order to meet our genuine needs.
* * * * *
The integrity of our currency is beyond question, and under
present conditions it would be unwise and unnecessary to attempt a
reconstruction of our entire monetary system. The same liberty should
be granted the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit customs receipts
as is granted him in the deposit of receipts from other sources. In
my Message of December 2, 1902, I called attention to certain needs
of the financial situation, and I again ask the consideration of the
Congress for these questions.
During the last session of the Congress, at the suggestion of a joint
note from the Republic of Mexico and the Imperial Government of China,
and in harmony with an act of the Congress appropriating $25,000 to
pay the expenses thereof, a commission was appointed to confer with
the principal European countries in the hope that some plan might be
devised whereby a fixed rate of exchange could be assured between
the gold standard countries and the silver standard countries. This
commission has filed its preliminary report, which has been made
public. I deem it important that the commission be continued, and
that a sum of money be appropriated sufficient to pay the expenses of
its further labors.
* * * * *
A majority of our people desire that steps be taken in the interests
of American shipping, so that we may once more resume our former
position in the ocean carrying trade. But hitherto the differences of
opinion as to the proper method of reaching this end have been so wide
that it has proved impossible to secure the adoption of any particular
scheme. Having in view these facts, I recommend that the Congress
direct the Secretary of the Navy, the Postmaster-General, and the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor, associated with such a representation
from the Senate and House of Representatives as the Congress in its
wisdom may designate, to serve as a commission for the purpose of
investigating and reporting to the Congress at its next session what
legislation is desirable or necessary for the development of the
American merchant marine and American commerce, and incidentally of
a national ocean mail service of adequate auxiliary naval cruisers
and naval reserves. While such a measure is desirable in any event,
it is especially desirable at this time, in view of the fact that our
present governmental contract for ocean mail with the American Line
will expire in 1905. Our ocean mail act was passed in 1891. In 1895
our 20-knot transatlantic mail line was equal to any foreign line.
Since then the Germans have put on 23-knot steamers, and the British
have contracted for 24-knot steamers. Our service should equal the
best. If it does not, the commercial public will abandon it. If we are
to stay in the business it ought to be with a full understanding of
the advantages to the country on one hand, and on the other with exact
knowledge of the cost and proper methods of carrying it on. Moreover,
lines of cargo ships are of even more importance than fast mail lines,
save so far as the latter can be depended upon to furnish swift
auxiliary cruisers in time of war. The establishment of new lines of
cargo ships to South America, to Asia, and elsewhere would be much in
the interest of our commercial expansion.
* * * * *
We can not have too much immigration of the right kind, and we should
have none at all of the wrong kind. The need is to devise some system
by which undesirable immigrants shall be kept out entirely, while
desirable immigrants are properly distributed throughout the country.
At present some districts which need immigrants have none; and in
others, where the population is already congested, immigrants come in
such numbers as to depress the conditions of life for those already
there. During the last two years the immigration service at New
York has been greatly improved, and the corruption and inefficiency
which formerly obtained there have been eradicated. This service
has just been investigated by a committee of New York citizens of
high standing, Messrs. Arthur v. Briesen, Lee K. Frankel, Eugene A.
Philbin, Thomas W. Hynes, and Ralph Trautmann. Their report deals
with the whole situation at length, and concludes with certain
recommendations for administrative and legislative action. It is now
receiving the attention of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor.
* * * * *
The special investigation of the subject of naturalization under the
direction of the Attorney-General, and the consequent prosecutions,
reveal a condition of affairs calling for the immediate attention
of the Congress. Forgeries and perjuries of shameless and flagrant
character have been perpetrated, not only in the dense centres of
population, but throughout the country; and it is established beyond
doubt that very many so-called citizens of the United States have
no title whatever to that right, and are asserting and enjoying the
benefits of the same through the grossest frauds. It is never to be
forgotten that citizenship is, to quote the words recently used by
the Supreme Court of the United States, an “inestimable heritage,”
whether it proceeds from birth within the country or is obtained by
naturalization; and we poison the sources of our national character
and strength at the fountain, if the privilege is claimed and
exercised without right, and by means of fraud and corruption. The
body politic can not be sound and healthy if many of its constituent
members claim their standing through the prostitution of the high
right and calling of citizenship. It should mean something to become a
citizen of the United States; and in the process no loophole whatever
should be left open to fraud.
The methods by which these frauds—now under full investigation with
a view to meting out punishment and providing adequate remedies—are
perpetuated, include many variations of procedure by which false
certificates of citizenship are forged in their entirety; or genuine
certificates fraudulently or collusively obtained in blank are filled
in by the criminal conspirators; or certificates are obtained on
fraudulent statements as to the time of arrival and residence in this
country; or imposition and substitution of another party for the real
petitioner occur in court; or certificates are made the subject of
barter and sale and transferred from the rightful holder to those
not entitled to them; or certificates are forged by erasure of the
original names and the insertion of the names of other persons not
entitled to the same.
It is not necessary for me to refer here at large to the causes
leading to this state of affairs. The desire for naturalization
is heartily to be commended where it springs from a sincere and
permanent intention to become citizens, and a real appreciation of
the privilege. But it is a source of untold evil and trouble where it
is traceable to selfish and dishonest motives, such as the effort by
artificial and improper means, in wholesale fashion to create voters
who are ready-made tools of corrupt politicians, or the desire to
evade certain labor laws creating discriminations against alien labor.
All good citizens, whether naturalized or native born, are equally
interested in protecting our citizenship against fraud in any form,
and, on the other hand, in affording every facility for naturalization
to those who in good faith desire to share alike our privileges and
our responsibilities.
The Federal grand jury lately in session in New York City dealt with
this subject and made a presentment which states the situation briefly
and forcibly and contains important suggestions for the consideration
of the Congress. This presentment is included as an appendix to the
report of the Attorney-General.
* * * * *
In my last annual Message, in connection with the subject of the
due regulation of combinations of capital which are or may become
injurious to the public, I recommended a special appropriation for
the better enforcement of the anti-trust law as it now stands, to be
expended under the direction of the Attorney-General. Accordingly (by
the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act of February
25, 1903, 32 Stat., 854, 904), the Congress appropriated, for the
purpose of enforcing the various Federal trust and interstate commerce
laws, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, to be expended under
the direction of the Attorney-General in the employment of special
counsel and agents in the Department of Justice to conduct proceedings
and prosecutions under said laws in the courts of the United States.
I now recommend, as a matter of the utmost importance and urgency,
the extension of the purposes of this appropriation, so that it may
be available, under the direction of the Attorney-General, and until
used, for the due enforcement of the laws of the United States in
general and especially of the civil and criminal laws relating to
public lands and the laws relating to postal crimes and offences and
the subject of naturalization. Recent investigations have shown a
deplorable state of affairs in these three matters of vital concern.
By various frauds and by forgeries and perjuries, thousands of
acres of the public domain, embracing lands of different character
and extending through various sections of the country, have been
dishonestly acquired. It is hardly necessary to urge the importance of
recovering these dishonest acquisitions, stolen from the people, and
of promptly and duly punishing the offenders. I speak in another part
of this Message of the widespread crimes by which the sacred right
of citizenship is falsely asserted and that “inestimable heritage”
perverted to base ends. By similar means—that is, through frauds,
forgeries, and perjuries, and by shameless briberies—the laws relating
to the proper conduct of the public service in general and to the due
administration of the Post-Office Department have been notoriously
violated, and many indictments have been found, and the consequent
prosecutions are in course of hearing or on the eve thereof. For the
reasons thus indicated, and so that the government may be prepared
to enforce promptly and with the greatest effect the due penalties
for such violations of law, and to this end may be furnished with
sufficient instrumentalities and competent legal assistance for the
investigations and trials which will be necessary at many different
points of the country, I urge upon the Congress the necessity of
making the said appropriation available for immediate use for all such
purposes, to be expended under the direction of the Attorney-General.
Steps have been taken by the State Department looking to the making
of bribery an extraditable offence with foreign powers. The need of
more effective treaties covering this crime is manifest. The exposures
and prosecutions of official corruption in St. Louis, Mo., and other
cities and States have resulted in a number of givers and takers of
bribes becoming fugitives in foreign lands. Bribery has not been
included in extradition treaties heretofore, as the necessity for it
has not arisen. While there may have been as much official corruption
in former years, there has been more developed and brought to light
in the immediate past than in the preceding century of our country’s
history. It should be the policy of the United States to leave no
place on earth where a corrupt man fleeing from this country can rest
in peace. There is no reason why bribery should not be included in
all treaties as extraditable. The recent amended treaty with Mexico,
whereby this crime was put in the list of extraditable offences, has
established a salutary precedent in this regard. Under this treaty the
State Department has asked, and Mexico has granted, the extradition
of one of the St. Louis bribe givers.
There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offences
violate one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all
law. Under our form of government all authority is vested in the
people and by them delegated to those who represent them in official
capacity. There can be no offence heavier than that of him in whom
such a sacred trust has been reposed, who sells it for his own gain
and enrichment; and no less heavy is the offence of the bribe giver.
He is worse than the thief, for the thief robs the individual, while
the corrupt official plunders an entire city or State. He is as wicked
as the murderer, for the murderer may only take one life against the
law, while the corrupt official and the man who corrupts the official
alike aim at the assassination of the commonwealth itself. Government
of the people, by the people, for the people will perish from the face
of the earth if bribery is tolerated. The givers and takers of bribes
stand on an evil pre-eminence of infamy. The exposure and punishment
of public corruption is an honor to a nation, not a disgrace. The
shame lies in toleration, not in correction. No city or State, still
less the Nation, can be injured by the enforcement of law. As long
as public plunderers when detected can find a haven of refuge in any
foreign land and avoid punishment, just so long encouragement is given
them to continue their practices. If we fail to do all that in us lies
to stamp out corruption we can not escape our share of responsibility
for the guilt. The first requisite of successful self-government is
unflinching enforcement of the law and the cutting out of corruption.
* * * * *
For several years past the rapid development of Alaska and the
establishment of growing American interests in regions theretofore
unsurveyed and imperfectly known brought into prominence the urgent
necessity of a practical demarcation of the boundaries between the
jurisdictions of the United States and Great Britain. Although the
treaty of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, the provisions of
which were copied in the treaty of 1867, whereby Russia conveyed
Alaska to the United States, was positive as to the control, first by
Russia and later by the United States, of a strip of territory along
the continental mainland from the western shore of Portland Canal
to Mount St. Elias, following and surrounding the indentations of
the coast and including the islands to the westward, its description
of the landward margin of the strip was indefinite, resting on the
supposed existence of a continuous ridge or range of mountains
skirting the coast, as figured in the charts of the early navigators.
It had at no time been possible for either party in interest to lay
down, under the authority of the treaty, a line so obviously exact
according to its provisions as to command the assent of the other.
For nearly three-fourths of a century the absence of tangible local
interests demanding the exercise of positive jurisdiction on either
side of the border left the question dormant. In 1878, questions of
revenue administration on the Stikine River led to the establishment
of a provisional demarcation, crossing the channel between two high
peaks on either side about twenty-four miles above the river mouth. In
1899, similar questions growing out of the extraordinary development
of mining interests in the region about the head of Lynn Canal brought
about a temporary _modus vivendi_, by which a convenient separation
was made at the watershed divides of the White and Chilkoot passes
and to the north of Klukwan, on the Klehini River. These partial and
tentative adjustments could not, in the very nature of things, be
satisfactory or lasting. A permanent disposition of the matter became
imperative.
After unavailing attempts to reach an understanding through a Joint
High Commission, followed by prolonged negotiations, conducted in an
amicable spirit, a convention between the United States and Great
Britain was signed, January 24, 1903, providing for an examination
of the subject by a mixed tribunal of six members, three on a side,
with a view to its final disposition. Ratifications were exchanged on
March 3 last, whereupon the two governments appointed their respective
members. Those on behalf of the United States were Elihu Root,
Secretary of War; Henry Cabot Lodge, a Senator of the United States,
and George Turner, an ex-Senator of the United States, while Great
Britain named the Right Honorable Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice
of England; Sir Louis Amable Jetté, K.C.M.G., retired judge of the
Supreme Court of Quebec, and A. B. Aylesworth, K.C., of Toronto. This
Tribunal met in London on September 3, under the Presidency of Lord
Alverstone. The proceedings were expeditious, and marked by a friendly
and conscientious spirit. The respective cases, counter cases, and
arguments presented the issues clearly and fully. On the 20th of
October a majority of the Tribunal reached and signed an agreement on
all the questions submitted by the terms of the Convention. By this
award the right of the United States to the control of a continuous
strip or border of the mainland shore, skirting all the tide-water
inlets and sinuosities of the coast, is confirmed; the entrance to
Portland Canal (concerning which legitimate doubt appeared) is defined
as passing by Tongass Inlet and to the northwestward of Wales and
Pearse Islands; a line is drawn from the head of Portland Canal to
the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude; and the interior border
line of the strip is fixed by lines connecting certain mountain
summits lying between Portland Canal and Mount St. Elias, and running
along the crest of the divide separating the coast slope from the
inland watershed at the only part of the frontier where the drainage
ridge approaches the coast within the distance of ten marine leagues
stipulated by the treaty as the extreme width of the strip around the
heads of Lynn Canal and its branches.
While the line so traced follows the provisional demarcation of 1878
at the crossing of the Stikine River, and that of 1899 at the summits
of the White and Chilkoot passes, it runs much further inland from
the Klehini than the temporary line of the later _modus vivendi_, and
leaves the entire mining district of the Porcupine River and Glacier
Creek within the jurisdiction of the United States.
The result is satisfactory in every way. It is of great material
advantage to our people in the Far Northwest. It has removed from the
field of discussion and possible danger a question liable to become
more acutely accentuated with each passing year. Finally, it has
furnished a signal proof of the fairness and good-will with which two
friendly nations can approach and determine issues involving national
sovereignty and by their nature incapable of submission to a third
power for adjudication.
The award is self-executing on the vital points. To make it effective
as regards the others it only remains for the two governments to
appoint, each on its own behalf, one or more scientific experts, who
shall, with all convenient speed, proceed together to lay down the
boundary line in accordance with the decision of the majority of the
Tribunal. I recommend that the Congress make adequate provision for
the appointment, compensation, and expenses of the members to serve on
this joint boundary commission on the part of the United States.
* * * * *
It will be remembered that during the second session of the last
Congress Great Britain, Germany, and Italy formed an alliance for
the purpose of blockading the ports of Venezuela and using such other
means of pressure as would secure a settlement of claims due, as they
alleged, to certain of their subjects. Their employment of force for
the collection of these claims was terminated by an agreement brought
about through the offices of the diplomatic representatives of the
United States at Caracas and the Government at Washington, thereby
ending a situation which was bound to cause increasing friction, and
which jeoparded the peace of the continent. Under this agreement
Venezuela agreed to set apart a certain percentage of the customs
receipts of two of her ports to be applied to the payment of whatever
obligations might be ascertained by mixed commissions appointed for
that purpose to be due from her, not only to the three powers already
mentioned, whose proceedings against her had resulted in a state
of war, but also to the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, and Mexico, who had not employed force
for the collection of the claims alleged to be due to certain of their
citizens.
A demand was then made by the so-called blockading powers that the
sums ascertained to be due to their citizens by such mixed commissions
should be accorded payment in full before anything was paid upon the
claims of any of the so-called peace powers. Venezuela, on the other
hand, insisted that all her creditors should be paid upon a basis of
exact equality. During the efforts to adjust this dispute it was
suggested by the powers in interest that it should be referred to me
for decision, but I was clearly of the opinion that a far wiser course
would be to submit the question to the Permanent Court of Arbitration
at The Hague. It seemed to me to offer an admirable opportunity to
advance the practice of the peaceful settlement of disputes between
nations and to secure for The Hague Tribunal a memorable increase of
its practical importance. The nations interested in the controversy
were so numerous, and in many instances so powerful, as to make it
evident that beneficent results would follow from their appearance at
the same time before the bar of that august tribunal of peace.
Our hopes in that regard have been realized. Russia and Austria are
represented in the persons of the learned and distinguished jurists
who compose the Tribunal, while Great Britain, Germany, France,
Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway, Mexico,
the United States, and Venezuela are represented by their respective
agents and counsel. Such an imposing concourse of nations presenting
their arguments to and invoking the decision of that high court of
international justice and international peace can hardly fail to
secure a like submission of many future controversies. The nations
now appearing there will find it far easier to appear there a second
time, while no nation can imagine its just pride will be lessened by
following the example now presented. This triumph of the principle of
international arbitration is a subject of warm congratulation and
offers a happy augury for the peace of the world.
There seems good ground for the belief that there has been a real
growth among the civilized nations of a sentiment which will permit a
gradual substitution of other methods than the method of war in the
settlement of disputes. It is not pretended that as yet we are near a
position in which it will be possible wholly to prevent war, or that a
just regard for national interest and honor will in all cases permit
of the settlement of international disputes by arbitration; but by a
mixture of prudence and firmness with wisdom we think it is possible
to do away with much of the provocation and excuse for war, and at
least in many cases to substitute some other and more rational method
for the settlement of disputes. The Hague Court offers so good an
example of what can be done in the direction of such settlement that
it should be encouraged in every way.
Further steps should be taken. In President McKinley’s annual Message
of December 5, 1898, he made the following recommendation:
“The experiences of the last year bring forcibly home to us a sense
of the burdens and the waste of war. We desire, in common with most
civilized nations, to reduce to the lowest possible point the damage
sustained in time of war by peaceable trade and commerce. It is
true we may suffer in such cases less than other communities, but
all nations are damaged more or less by the state of uneasiness and
apprehension into which an outbreak of hostilities throws the entire
commercial world. It should be our object, therefore, to minimize, so
far as practicable, this inevitable loss and disturbance. This purpose
can probably best be accomplished by an international agreement
to regard all private property at sea as exempt from capture or
destruction by the forces of belligerent powers. The United States
Government has for many years advocated this humane and beneficent
principle, and is now in a position to recommend it to other powers
without the imputation of selfish motives. I therefore suggest for
your consideration that the Executive be authorized to correspond
with the governments of the principal maritime powers with a view
of incorporating into the permanent law of civilized nations the
principle of the exemption of all private property at sea, not
contraband of war, from capture or destruction by belligerent powers.”
I cordially renew this recommendation.
The Supreme Court, speaking on December 11, 1899, through Peckham, J.,
said:
“It is, we think, historically accurate to say that this Government
has always been, in its views, among the most advanced of the
governments of the world in favor of mitigating, as to all
non-combatants, the hardships and horrors of war. To accomplish that
object it has always advocated those rules which would in most cases
do away with the right to capture the private property of an enemy on
the high seas.”
I advocate this as a matter of humanity and morals. It is
anachronistic when private property is respected on land that it
should not be respected at sea. Moreover, it should be borne in mind
that shipping represents, internationally speaking, a much more
generalized species of private property than is the case with ordinary
property on land—that is, property found at sea is much less apt than
is the case with property found on land really to belong to any one
nation. Under the modern system of corporate ownership the flag of a
vessel often differs from the flag which would mark the nationality of
the real ownership and money control of the vessel; and the cargo may
belong to individuals of yet a different nationality. Much American
capital is now invested in foreign ships; and among foreign nations
it often happens that the capital of one is largely invested in the
shipping of another. Furthermore, as a practical matter, it may be
mentioned that while commerce destroying may cause serious loss and
great annoyance, it can never be more than a subsidiary factor in
bringing to terms a resolute foe. This is now well recognized by all
of our naval experts. The fighting ship, not the commerce destroyer,
is the vessel whose feats add renown to a nation’s history, and
establish her place among the great powers of the world.
Last year the Interparliamentary Union for International Arbitration
met at Vienna, six hundred members of the different legislatures of
civilized countries attending. It was provided that the next meeting
should be in 1904 at St. Louis, subject to our Congress extending an
invitation. Like The Hague Tribunal, this Interparliamentary Union
is one of the forces tending toward peace among the nations of the
earth, and it is entitled to our support. I trust the invitation can
be extended.
* * * * *
Early in July, having received intelligence, which happily turned
out to be erroneous, of the assassination of our vice-consul at
Beirut, I despatched a small squadron to that port for such service
as might be found necessary on arrival. Although the attempt on the
life of our vice-consul had not been successful, yet the outrage was
symptomatic of a state of excitement and disorder which demanded
immediate attention. The arrival of the vessels had the happiest
result. A feeling of security at once took the place of the former
alarm and disquiet; our officers were cordially welcomed by the
consular body and the leading merchants, and ordinary business resumed
its activity. The government of the Sultan gave a considerate hearing
to the representations of our minister; the official who was regarded
as responsible for the disturbed condition of affairs was removed.
Our relations with the Turkish Government remain friendly; our claims
founded on inequitable treatment of some of our schools and missions
appear to be in process of amicable adjustment.
* * * * *
The signing of a new commercial treaty with China, which took place
at Shanghai on the 8th of October, is a cause for satisfaction.
This act, the result of long discussion and negotiation, places
our commercial relations with the great Oriental Empire on a more
satisfactory footing than they have ever heretofore enjoyed. It
provides not only for the ordinary rights and privileges of diplomatic
and consular officers, but also for an important extension of our
commerce by increased facility of access to Chinese ports, and for
the relief of trade by the removal of some of the obstacles which
have embarrassed it in the past. The Chinese Government engages, on
fair and equitable conditions, which will probably be accepted by the
principal commercial nations, to abandon the levy of “liken” and other
transit dues throughout the Empire, and to introduce other desirable
administrative reforms. Larger facilities are to be given to our
citizens who desire to carry on mining enterprises in China. We have
secured for our missionaries a valuable privilege, the recognition of
their right to rent and lease in perpetuity such property as their
religious societies may need in all parts of the Empire. And, what
was an indispensable condition for the advance and development of
our commerce in Manchuria, China, by treaty with us, has opened to
foreign commerce the cities of Mukden, the capital of the province of
Manchuria, and Antung, an important port on the Yalu River, on the
road to Korea. The full measure of development which our commerce may
rightfully expect can hardly be looked for until the settlement of the
present abnormal state of things in the Empire; but the foundation
for such development has at last been laid.
* * * * *
I call your attention to the reduced cost in maintaining the consular
service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, as shown in the
annual report of the Auditor for the State and other Departments, as
compared with the year previous. For the year under consideration
the excess of expenditures over receipts on account of the consular
service amounted to $26,125.12, as against $96,972.50 for the year
ending June 30, 1902, and $147,040.16 for the year ending June 30,
1901. This is the best showing in this respect for the consular
service for the past fourteen years, and the reduction in the cost
of the service to the Government has been made in spite of the fact
that the expenditures for the year in question were more than $20,000
greater than for the previous year.
* * * * *
The rural free-delivery service has been steadily extended. The
attention of the Congress is asked to the question of the compensation
of the letter carriers and clerks engaged in the postal service,
especially on the new rural free-delivery routes. More routes have
been installed since the first of July last than in any like period
in the Department’s history. While a due regard to economy must be
kept in mind in the establishment of new routes, yet the extension
of the rural free-delivery system must be continued, for reasons
of sound public policy. No governmental movement of recent years
has resulted in greater immediate benefit to the people of the
country districts. Rural free-delivery, taken in connection with the
telephone, the bicycle, and the trolley, accomplishes much toward
lessening the isolation of farm life and making it brighter and more
attractive. In the immediate past the lack of just such facilities as
these has driven many of the more active and restless young men and
women from the farms to the cities; for they rebelled at loneliness
and lack of mental companionship. It is unhealthy and undesirable
for the cities to grow at the expense of the country; and rural
free-delivery is not only a good thing in itself, but is good because
it is one of the causes which check this unwholesome tendency toward
the urban concentration of our population at the expense of the
country districts. It is for the same reason that we sympathize with
and approve of the policy of building good roads. The movement for
good roads is one fraught with the greatest benefit to the country
districts.
* * * * *
I trust that the Congress will continue to favor in all proper ways
the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This Exposition commemorates the
Louisiana Purchase, which was the first great step in the expansion
which made us a continental nation. The expedition of Lewis and Clark
across the continent followed thereon, and marked the beginning of
the process of exploration and colonization which thrust our national
boundaries to the Pacific. The acquisition of the Oregon country,
including the present States of Oregon and Washington, was a fact
of immense importance in our history; first giving us our place on
the Pacific seaboard, and making ready the way for our ascendency in
the commerce of the greatest of the oceans. The centennial of our
establishment upon the western coast by the expedition of Lewis and
Clark is to be celebrated at Portland, Oregon, by an exposition in the
summer of 1905, and this event should receive recognition and support
from the National Government.
* * * * *
I call your special attention to the Territory of Alaska. The country
is developing rapidly, and it has an assured future. The mineral
wealth is great and has as yet hardly been tapped. The fisheries, if
wisely handled and kept under national control, will be a business as
permanent as any other, and of the utmost importance to the people.
The forests if properly guarded will form another great source of
wealth. Portions of Alaska are fitted for farming and stock-raising,
although the methods must be adapted to the peculiar conditions of
the country. Alaska is situated in the far north; but so are Norway
and Sweden and Finland; and Alaska can prosper and play its part in
the New World just as those nations have prospered and played their
parts in the Old World. Proper land laws should be enacted; and the
survey of the public lands immediately begun. Coal-land laws should
be provided whereby the coal-land entryman may make his location
and secure patent under methods kindred to those now prescribed
for homestead and mineral entrymen. Salmon hatcheries, exclusively
under government control, should be established. The cable should
be extended from Sitka westward. Wagon roads and trails should be
built, and the building of railroads promoted in all legitimate ways.
Light-houses should be built along the coast. Attention should be paid
to the needs of the Alaska Indians; provision should be made for an
officer, with deputies, to study their needs, relieve their immediate
wants, and help them adapt themselves to the new conditions.
The commission appointed to investigate, during the season of 1903,
the condition and needs of the Alaskan salmon fisheries, has finished
its work in the field, and is preparing a detailed report thereon. A
preliminary report reciting the measures immediately required for the
protection and preservation of the salmon industry has already been
submitted to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for his attention and
for the needed action.
* * * * *
I recommend that an appropriation be made for building light-houses in
Hawaii, and taking possession of those already built. The Territory
should be reimbursed for whatever amounts it has already expended for
light-houses. The Governor should be empowered to suspend or remove
any official appointed by him, without submitting the matter to the
legislature.
Of our insular possessions, the Philippines and Porto Rico, it is
gratifying to say that their steady progress has been such as to make
it unnecessary to spend much time in discussing them. Yet the Congress
should ever keep in mind that a peculiar obligation rests upon us to
further in every way the welfare of these communities. The Philippines
should be knit closer to us by tariff arrangements. It would, of
course, be impossible suddenly to raise the people of the islands to
the high pitch of industrial prosperity and of governmental efficiency
to which they will in the end by degrees attain; and the caution and
moderation shown in developing them have been among the main reasons
why this development has hitherto gone on so smoothly.
Scrupulous care has been taken in the choice of governmental agents,
and the entire elimination of partisan politics from the public
service. The condition of the islanders is in material things far
better than ever before, while their governmental, intellectual,
and moral advance has kept pace with their material advance. No one
people ever benefited another people more than we have benefited the
Filipinos by taking possession of the islands.
* * * * *
The cash receipts of the General Land Office for the last fiscal year
were $11,024,743.65, an increase of $4,762,816.47 over the preceding
year. Of this sum, approximately, $8,461,493 will go to the credit of
the fund for the reclamation of arid land, making the total of this
fund, up to the 30th of June, 1903, approximately, $16,191,836.
A gratifying disposition has been evinced by those having unlawful
inclosures of public land to remove their fences. Nearly two
million acres so inclosed have been thrown open on demand. In but
comparatively few cases has it been necessary to go into court to
accomplish this purpose. This work will be vigorously prosecuted until
all unlawful inclosures have been removed.
Experience has shown that in the Western States themselves, as well
as in the rest of the country, there is widespread conviction that
certain of the public-land laws and the resulting administrative
practice no longer meet the present needs. The character and uses of
the remaining public lands differ widely from those of the public
lands which Congress had especially in view when these laws were
passed. The rapidly increasing rate of disposal of the public lands is
not followed by a corresponding increase in home building. There is a
tendency to mass in large holdings public lands, especially timber and
grazing lands, and thereby to retard settlement. I renew and emphasize
my recommendation of last year that so far as they are available for
agriculture in its broadest sense, and to whatever extent they may
be reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining public
lands should be held rigidly for the home builder. The attention of
the Congress is especially directed to the timber and stone law, the
desert-land law, and the commutation clause of the homestead law,
which in their operation have in many respects conflicted with wise
public-land policy. The discussions in the Congress and elsewhere have
made it evident that there is a wide divergence of opinions between
those holding opposite views on these subjects; and that the opposing
sides have strong and convinced representatives of weight both within
and without the Congress; the differences being not only as to
matters of opinion but as to matters of fact. In order that definite
information may be available for the use of the Congress, I have
appointed a commission composed of W. A. Richards, Commissioner of the
General Land Office; Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the Bureau of Forestry
of the Department of Agriculture, and F. H. Newell, Chief Hydrographer
of the Geological Survey, to report at the earliest practicable moment
upon the condition, operation, and effect of the present land laws and
on the use, condition, disposal, and settlement of the public lands.
The commission will report especially what changes in organization,
laws, regulations, and practice affecting the public lands are needed
to effect the largest practicable disposition of the public lands
to actual settlers who will build permanent homes upon them, and
to secure in permanence the fullest and most effective use of the
resources of the public lands; and it will make such other reports
and recommendations as its study of these questions may suggest. The
commission is to report immediately upon those points concerning
which its judgment is clear; on any point upon which it has doubt it
will take the time necessary to make investigation and reach a final
judgment.
The work of reclamation of the arid lands of the West is progressing
steadily and satisfactorily under the terms of the law setting
aside the proceeds from the disposal of public lands. The corps of
engineers known as the Reclamation Service, which is conducting the
surveys and examinations, has been thoroughly organized, especial
pains being taken to secure under the civil-service rules a body of
skilled, experienced, and efficient men. Surveys and examinations
are progressing throughout the arid States and Territories, plans
for reclaiming works being prepared and passed upon by boards of
engineers before approval by the Secretary of the Interior. In Arizona
and Nevada, in localities where such work is pre-eminently needed,
construction has already been begun. In other parts of the arid West
various projects are well advanced toward the drawing up of contracts,
these being delayed in part by necessities of reaching agreements or
understanding as regards rights of way or acquisition of real estate.
Most of the works contemplated for construction are of national
importance, involving interstate questions or the securing of stable,
self-supporting communities in the midst of vast tracts of vacant
land. The Nation as a whole is of course the gainer by the creation
of these homes, adding as they do to the wealth and stability of the
country, and furnishing a home market for the products of the East
and South. The reclamation law, while perhaps not ideal, appears at
present to answer the larger needs for which it is designed. Further
legislation is not recommended until the necessities of change are
more apparent.
The study of the opportunities of reclamation of the vast extent of
arid land shows that whether this reclamation is done by individuals,
corporations, or the State, the sources of water supply must be
effectively protected and the reservoirs guarded by the preservation
of the forests at the headwaters of the streams. The engineers making
the preliminary examinations continually emphasize this need and urge
that the remaining public lands at the headwaters of the important
streams of the West be reserved to insure permanency of water supply
for irrigation. Much progress in forestry has been made during the
past year. The necessity for perpetuating our forest resources,
whether in public or private hands, is recognized now as never before.
The demand for forest reserves has become insistent in the West,
because the West must use the water, wood, and summer range which
only such reserves can supply. Progressive lumbermen are striving,
through forestry, to give their business permanence. Other great
business interests are awakening to the need of forest preservation as
a business matter. The Government’s forest work should receive from
the Congress hearty support, and especially support adequate for the
protection of the forest reserves against fire. The forest reserve
policy of the Government has passed beyond the experimental stage and
has reached a condition where scientific methods are essential to its
successful prosecution. The administration features of forest reserves
are at present unsatisfactory, being divided between three Bureaus
of two Departments. It is therefore recommended that all matters
pertaining to forest reserves, except those involving or pertaining
to land titles, be consolidated in the Bureau of Forestry of the
Department of Agriculture.
* * * * *
The cotton-growing States have recently been invaded by a weevil
that has done much damage and threatens the entire cotton industry.
I suggest to the Congress the prompt enactment of such remedial
legislation as its judgment may approve.
* * * * *
In granting patents to foreigners the proper course for this country
to follow is to give the same advantages to foreigners here that
the countries in which these foreigners dwell extend in return to
our citizens; that is, to extend the benefits of our patent laws
on inventions and the like where in return the articles would be
patentable in the foreign countries concerned—where an American could
get a corresponding patent in such countries.
* * * * *
The Indian agents should not be dependent for their appointment
or tenure of office upon considerations of partisan politics; the
practice of appointing, when possible, ex-army officers or bonded
superintendents to the vacancies that occur is working well.
Attention is invited to the widespread illiteracy due to lack of
public schools in the Indian Territory. Prompt heed should be paid to
the need of education for the children in this Territory.
* * * * *
In my last annual Message the attention of the Congress was called
to the necessity of enlarging the safety-appliance law, and it is
gratifying to note that this law was amended in important respects.
With the increasing railway mileage of the country, the greater number
of men employed, and the use of larger and heavier equipment, the
urgency for renewed effort to prevent the loss of life and limb upon
the railroads of the country, particularly to employees, is apparent.
For the inspection of water craft and the Life-Saving Service upon
the water the Congress has built up an elaborate body of protective
legislation and a thorough method of inspection and is annually
spending large sums of money. It is encouraging to observe that the
Congress is alive to the interests of those who are employed upon our
wonderful arteries of commerce—the railroads—who so safely transport
millions of passengers and billions of tons of freight. The Federal
inspection of safety appliances, for which the Congress is now making
appropriations, is a service analogous to that which the Government
has upheld for generations in regard to vessels, and it is believed
will prove of great practical benefit, both to railroad employees and
the traveling public. As the greater part of commerce is interstate
and exclusively under the control of the Congress the needed safety
and uniformity must be secured by national legislation.
* * * * *
No other class of our citizens deserves so well of the Nation as those
to whom the Nation owes its very being, the veterans of the Civil War.
Special attention is asked to the excellent work of the Pension Bureau
in expediting and disposing of pension claims. During the fiscal year
ending July 1, 1903, the Bureau settled 251,982 claims, an average of
825 claims for each working day of the year. The number of settlements
since July 1, 1903, has been in excess of last year’s average,
approaching 1,000 claims for each working day, and it is believed that
the work of the Bureau will be current at the close of the present
fiscal year.
* * * * *
During the year ended June 30 last 25,566 persons were appointed
through competitive examinations under the civil-service rules.
This was 12,672 more than during the preceding year, and 40 per
cent of those who passed the examinations. This abnormal growth was
largely occasioned by the extension of classification to the rural
free-delivery service and the appointment last year of over 9,000
rural carriers.
A revision of the civil-service rules took effect on April 15 last,
which has greatly improved their operation. The completion of the
reform of the civil service is recognized by good citizens everywhere
as a matter of the highest public importance, and the success of
the merit system largely depends upon the effectiveness of the rules
and the machinery provided for their enforcement. A very gratifying
spirit of friendly co-operation exists in all the Departments of the
Government in the enforcement and uniform observance of both the
letter and spirit of the civil-service act. Executive orders of July
3, 1902, March 26, 1903, and July 8, 1903, require that appointments
of all unclassified laborers, both in the Departments at Washington
and in the field service, shall be made with the assistance of the
United States Civil Service Commission, under a system of registration
to test the relative fitness of applicants for appointment or
employment. This system is competitive, and is open to all citizens of
the United States qualified in respect to age, physical ability, moral
character, industry, and adaptability for manual labor; except that in
case of veterans of the Civil War the element of age is omitted. This
system of appointment is distinct from the classified service and does
not classify positions of mere laborer under the civil-service act
and rules. Regulations in aid thereof have been put in operation in
several of the Departments and are being gradually extended in other
parts of the service. The results have been very satisfactory, as
extravagance has been checked by decreasing the number of unnecessary
positions and by increasing the efficiency of the employees remaining.
* * * * *
The Congress, as the result of a thorough investigation of the
charities and reformatory institutions in the District of Columbia,
by a joint select committee of the two Houses which made its report
in March, 1898, created in the act approved June 6, 1900, a board of
charities for the District of Columbia, to consist of five residents
of the District, appointed by the President of the United States,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, each for a term
of three years, to serve without compensation. President McKinley
appointed five men who had been active and prominent in the public
charities of Washington, all of whom upon taking office July 1,
1900, resigned from the different charities with which they had
been connected. The members of the board have been reappointed in
successive years. The board serves under the Commissioners of the
District of Columbia. The board gave its first year to a careful and
impartial study of the special problems before it, and has continued
that study every year in the light of the best practice in public
charities elsewhere. Its recommendations in its annual reports to the
Congress through the Commissions of the District of Columbia “for
the economical and efficient administration of the charities and
reformatories of the District of Columbia,” as required by the act
creating it, have been based upon the principles commended by the
joint select committee of the Congress in its report of March, 1898,
and approved by the best administrators of public charities, and make
for the desired systematization and improvement of the affairs under
its supervision. They are worthy of favorable consideration by the
Congress.
* * * * *
The effect of the laws providing a General Staff for the army and
for the more effective use of the National Guard has been excellent.
Great improvement has been made in the efficiency of our army in
recent years. Such schools as those erected at Fort Leavenworth and
Fort Riley and the institution of fall manœuvre work accomplish
satisfactory results. The good effect of these manœuvres upon the
National Guard is marked, and ample appropriation should be made to
enable the guardsmen of the several States to share in the benefit.
The Government should as soon as possible secure suitable permanent
camp sites for military manœuvres in the various sections of the
country. The service thereby rendered not only to the Regular Army,
but to the National Guard of the several States, will be so great as
to repay many times over the relatively small expense. We should not
rest satisfied with what has been done, however. The only people who
are contented with a system of promotion by mere seniority are those
who are contented with the triumph of mediocrity over excellence. On
the other hand a system which encouraged the exercise of social or
political favoritism in promotions would be even worse. But it would
surely be easy to devise a method of promotion from grade to grade
in which the opinion of the higher officers of the service upon the
candidates should be decisive upon the standing and promotion of the
latter. Just such a system now obtains at West Point. The quality of
each year’s work determines the standing of that year’s class, the
man being dropped or graduated into the next class in the relative
position which his military superiors decide to be warranted by his
merit. In other words, ability, energy, fidelity, and all other
similar qualities determine the rank of a man year after year in West
Point, and his standing in the army when he graduates from West Point;
but from that time on, all effort to find which man is best or worst,
and reward or punish him accordingly, is abandoned; no brilliancy,
no amount of hard work, no eagerness in the performance of duty, can
advance him, and no slackness or indifference that falls short of a
court-martial offence can retard him. Until this system is changed
we can not hope that our officers will be of as high grade as we
have a right to expect, considering the material upon which we draw.
Moreover, when a man renders such service as Captain Pershing rendered
last spring in the Moro campaign, it ought to be possible to reward
him without at once jumping him to the grade of brigadier-general.
* * * * *
Shortly after the enunciation of that famous principle of American
foreign policy now known as the “Monroe Doctrine,” President Monroe,
in a special Message to Congress on January 30, 1824, spoke as
follows: “The navy is the arm from which our Government will always
derive most aid in support of our ... rights. Every power engaged in
war will know the strength of our naval power, the number of our ships
of each class, their condition, and the promptitude with which we
may bring them into service, and will pay due consideration to that
argument.”
I heartily congratulate the Congress upon the steady progress in
building up the American Navy. We can not afford a let-up in this
great work. To stand still means to go back. There should be no
cessation in adding to the effective units of the fighting strength of
the fleet. Meanwhile the Navy Department and the officers of the navy
are doing well their part by providing constant service at sea under
conditions akin to those of actual warfare. Our officers and enlisted
men are learning to handle the battleships, cruisers, and torpedo
boats with high efficiency in fleet and squadron formations, and the
standard of marksmanship is being steadily raised. The best work
ashore is indispensable, but the highest duty of a naval officer is to
exercise command at sea.
The establishment of a naval base in the Philippines ought not to
be longer postponed. Such a base is desirable in time of peace; in
time of war it would be indispensable, and its lack would be ruinous.
Without it our fleet would be helpless. Our naval experts are agreed
that Subig Bay is the proper place for the purpose. The national
interests require that the work of fortification and development of
a naval station at Subig Bay be begun at an early date; for under the
best conditions it is a work which will consume much time.
It is eminently desirable, however, that there should be provided a
naval general staff on lines similar to those of the General Staff
lately created for the army. Within the Navy Department itself the
needs of the service have brought about a system under which the
duties of a general staff are partially performed; for the Bureau
of Navigation has under its direction the War College, the Office
of Naval Intelligence, and the Board of Inspection, and has been in
close touch with the General Board of the navy. But though under the
excellent officers at their head these boards and bureaus do good
work, they have not the authority of a general staff, and have not
sufficient scope to ensure a proper readiness for emergencies. We need
the establishment by law of a body of trained officers, who shall
exercise a systematic control of the military affairs of the navy, and
be authorized advisers of the Secretary concerning it.
* * * * *
By the act of June 28, 1902, the Congress authorized the President to
enter into treaty with Colombia for the building of the canal across
the Isthmus of Panama; it being provided that in the event of failure
to secure such treaty after the lapse of a reasonable time, recourse
should be had to building a canal through Nicaragua. It has not been
necessary to consider this alternative, as I am enabled to lay before
the Senate a treaty providing for the building of the canal across the
Isthmus of Panama. This was the route which commended itself to the
deliberate judgment of the Congress, and we can now acquire by treaty
the right to construct the canal over this route. The question now,
therefore, is not by which route the Isthmian Canal shall be built,
for that question has been definitely and irrevocably decided. The
question is simply whether or not we shall have an Isthmian Canal.
When the Congress directed that we should take the Panama route
under treaty with Colombia, the essence of the condition, of course,
referred not to the government which controlled that route, but to the
route itself; to the territory across which the route lay, not to the
name which for the moment the territory bore on the map. The purpose
of the law was to authorize the President to make a treaty with the
power in actual control of the Isthmus of Panama. This purpose has
been fulfilled.
In the year 1846 this Government entered into a treaty with New
Granada, the predecessor upon the Isthmus of the Republic of Colombia
and of the present Republic of Panama, by which treaty it was provided
that the Government and citizens of the United States should always
have free and open right of way or transit across the Isthmus of
Panama by any modes of communication that might be constructed, while
in return our Government guaranteed the perfect neutrality of the
above-mentioned Isthmus with the view that the free transit from the
one to the other sea might not be interrupted or embarrassed. The
treaty vested in the United States a substantial property right carved
out of the rights of sovereignty and property which New Granada then
had and possessed over the said territory. The name of New Granada has
passed away and its territory has been divided. Its successor, the
Government of Colombia, has ceased to own any property in the Isthmus.
A new republic, that of Panama, which was at one time a sovereign
state, and at another time a mere department of the successive
confederations known as New Granada and Colombia, has now succeeded to
the rights which first one and then the other formerly exercised over
the Isthmus. But as long as the Isthmus endures, the mere geographical
fact of its existence, and the peculiar interest therein which is
required by our position, perpetuate the solemn contract which binds
the holders of the territory to respect our right to freedom of
transit across it, and binds us in return to safeguard for the Isthmus
and the world the exercise of that inestimable privilege. The true
interpretation of the obligations upon which the United States entered
in this treaty of 1846 has been given repeatedly in the utterances of
Presidents and Secretaries of State. Secretary Cass in 1858 officially
stated the position of this Government as follows:
“The progress of events has rendered the interoceanic route across the
narrow portion of Central America vastly important to the commercial
world, and especially to the United States, whose possessions extend
along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and demand the speediest and
easiest modes of communication. While the rights of sovereignty of
the states occupying this region should always be respected, we
shall expect that these rights be exercised in a spirit befitting
the occasion and the wants and circumstances that have arisen.
Sovereignty has its duties as well as its rights, and none of these
local governments, even if administered with more regard to the just
demands of other nations than they have been, would be permitted, in
a spirit of Eastern isolation, to close the gates of intercourse on
the great highways of the world, and justify the act by the pretension
that these avenues of trade and travel belong to them and that they
choose to shut them, or, what is almost equivalent, to encumber them
with such unjust relations as would prevent their general use.”
Seven years later, in 1865, Mr. Seward in different communications
took the following position:
“The United States have taken and will take no interest in any
question of internal revolution in the State of Panama, or any
State of the United States of Colombia, but will maintain a perfect
neutrality in connection with such domestic altercations. The United
States will, nevertheless, hold themselves ready to protect the
transit trade across the Isthmus against invasion of either domestic
or foreign disturbers of the peace of the State of Panama.... Neither
the text nor the spirit of the stipulation in that article by which
the United States engages to preserve the neutrality of the Isthmus of
Panama, imposes an obligation on this Government to comply with the
requisition [of the President of the United States of Colombia for a
force to protect the Isthmus of Panama from a body of insurgents of
that country]. The purpose of the stipulation was to guarantee the
Isthmus against seizure or invasion by a foreign power only.”
Attorney-General Speed, under date of November 7, 1865, advised
Secretary Seward as follows:
“From this treaty it can not be supposed that New Granada invited the
United States to become a party to the intestine troubles of that
government, nor did the United States become bound to take sides in
the domestic broils of New Granada. The United States did guarantee
New Granada in the sovereignty and property over the territory. This
was as against other and foreign governments.”
For four hundred years, ever since shortly after the discovery of this
hemisphere, the canal across the Isthmus has been planned. For two
score years it has been worked at. When made it is to last for the
ages. It is to alter the geography of a continent and the trade routes
of the world. We have shown by every treaty we have negotiated or
attempted to negotiate with the peoples in control of the Isthmus and
with foreign nations in reference thereto our consistent good faith
in observing our obligations; on the one hand to the peoples of the
Isthmus, and on the other hand to the civilized world whose commercial
rights we are safeguarding and guaranteeing by our action. We have
done our duty to others in letter and in spirit, and we have shown the
utmost forbearance in exacting our own rights.
Last spring, under the act above referred to, a treaty concluded
between the representatives of the Republic of Colombia and of our
Government was ratified by the Senate. This treaty was entered into at
the urgent solicitation of the people of Colombia and after a body of
experts appointed by our Government especially to go into the matter
of the routes across the Isthmus had pronounced unanimously in favor
of the Panama route. In drawing up this treaty every concession was
made to the people and to the Government of Colombia. We were more
than just in dealing with them. Our generosity was such as to make it
a serious question whether we had not gone too far in their interest
at the expense of our own; for in our scrupulous desire to pay all
possible heed, not merely to the real but even to the fancied rights
of our weaker neighbor, who already owed so much to our protection
and forbearance, we yielded in all possible ways to her desires in
drawing up the treaty. Nevertheless the Government of Colombia not
merely repudiated the treaty, but repudiated it in such manner as to
make it evident by the time the Colombian Congress adjourned that not
the scantiest hope remained of ever getting a satisfactory treaty
from them. The Government of Colombia made the treaty, and yet when
the Colombian Congress was called to ratify it the vote against
ratification was unanimous. It does not appear that the government
made any real effort to secure ratification.
Immediately after the adjournment of the Congress a revolution broke
out in Panama. The people of Panama had long been discontented with
the Republic of Colombia, and they had been kept quiet only by
the prospect of the conclusion of the treaty, which was to them a
matter of vital concern. When it became evident that the treaty was
hopelessly lost, the people of Panama rose literally as one man. Not
a shot was fired by a single man on the Isthmus in the interest of
the Colombian Government. Not a life was lost in the accomplishment
of the revolution. The Colombian troops stationed on the Isthmus, who
had long been unpaid, made common cause with the people of Panama,
and with astonishing unanimity the new republic was started. The duty
of the United States in the premises was clear. In strict accordance
with the principles laid down by Secretaries Cass and Seward in the
official documents above quoted, the United States gave notice that
it would permit the landing of no expeditionary force, the arrival
of which would mean chaos and destruction along the line of the
railroad and of the proposed canal, and an interruption of transit
as an inevitable consequence. The de facto Government of Panama was
recognized in the following telegram to Mr. Ehrman:
“The people of Panama have, by apparently unanimous movement,
dissolved their political connection with the Republic of Colombia
and resumed their independence. When you are satisfied that a
de facto government, republican in form and without substantial
opposition from its own people, has been established in the State
of Panama, you will enter into relations with it as the responsible
government of the territory and look to it for all due action to
protect the persons and property of citizens of the United States
and to keep open the isthmian transit, in accordance with the
obligations of existing treaties governing the relations of the
United States to that territory.”
The Government of Colombia was notified of our action by the following
telegram to Mr. Beaupré:
“The people of Panama having, by an apparently unanimous movement,
dissolved their political connection with the Republic of Colombia
and resumed their independence, and having adopted a government of
their own, republican in form, with which the Government of the
United States of America has entered into relations, the President
of the United States, in accordance with the ties of friendship
which have so long and so happily existed between the respective
nations, most earnestly commends to the Governments of Colombia and
of Panama the peaceful and equitable settlement of all questions at
issue between them. He holds that he is bound not merely by treaty
obligations, but by the interests of civilization, to see that the
peaceful traffic of the world across the Isthmus of Panama shall
not longer be disturbed by a constant succession of unnecessary and
wasteful wars.”
When these events happened, fifty-seven years had elapsed since the
United States had entered into its treaty with New Granada. During
that time the Governments of New Granada and of its successor,
Colombia, have been in a constant state of flux. The following is
a partial list of the disturbances on the Isthmus of Panama during
the period in question, as reported to us by our consuls. It is not
possible to give a complete list, and some of the reports that speak
of “revolutions” must mean unsuccessful revolutions.
May 22, 1850.—Outbreak; two Americans killed. War vessel demanded to
quell outbreak.
October, 1850.—Revolutionary plot to bring about independence of the
Isthmus.
July 22, 1851.—Revolution in four Southern provinces.
November 14, 1851.—Outbreak at Chagres. Man-of-war requested for
Chagres.
June 27, 1853.—Insurrection at Bogota, and consequent disturbance on
Isthmus. War vessel demanded.
May 23, 1854.—Political disturbances; war vessel requested.
June 28, 1854.—Attempted revolution.
October 24, 1854.—Independence of Isthmus demanded by provincial
legislature.
April, 1856.—Riot, and massacre of Americans.
May 4, 1856.—Riot.
May 18, 1856.—Riot.
June 3, 1856.—Riot.
October 2, 1856.—Conflict between two native parties. United States
forces landed.
December 18, 1858.—Attempted secession of Panama.
April, 1859.—Riots.
September, 1860.—Outbreak.
October 4, 1860.—Landing of United States forces in consequence.
May 23, 1861.—Intervention of the United States forces required, by
intendente.
October 2, 1861.—Insurrection and civil war.
April 4, 1862.—Measures to prevent rebels crossing Isthmus.
June 13, 1862.—Mosquera’s troops refused admittance to Panama.
March, 1865.—Revolution, and United States troops landed.
August, 1865.—Riots; unsuccessful attempt to invade Panama.
March, 1866.—Unsuccessful revolution.
April, 1867.—Attempt to overthrow Government.
August, 1867.—Attempt at revolution.
July 5, 1868.—Revolution; provisional government inaugurated.
August 29, 1868.—Revolution; provisional government overthrown.
April, 1871.—Revolution; followed apparently by counter revolution.
April, 1873.—Revolution and civil war which lasted to October, 1875.
August, 1876.—Civil war which lasted until April, 1877.
July, 1878.—Rebellion.
December, 1878.—Revolt.
April, 1879.—Revolution.
June, 1879.—Revolution.
March, 1883.—Riot.
May, 1883.—Riot.
June, 1884.—Revolutionary attempt.
December, 1884.—Revolutionary attempt.
January, 1885.—Revolutionary disturbances.
March, 1885.—Revolution.
April, 1887.—Disturbance on Panama Railroad.
November, 1887.—Disturbance on line of canal.
January, 1889.—Riot.
January, 1895.—Revolution which lasted until April.
March, 1895.—Incendiary attempt.
October, 1899.—Revolution.
February, 1900, to July, 1900.—Revolution.
January, 1901.—Revolution.
July, 1901.—Revolutionary disturbances.
September, 1901.—City of Colon taken by rebels.
March, 1902.—Revolutionary disturbances.
July, 1902.—Revolution.
The above is only a partial list of the revolutions, rebellions,
insurrections, riots, and other outbreaks that have occurred during
the period in question; yet they number 53 for the 57 years. It will
be noted that one of them lasted for nearly three years before it
was quelled; another for nearly a year. In short, the experience of
over half a century has shown Colombia to be utterly incapable of
keeping order on the Isthmus. Only the active interference of the
United States has enabled her to preserve so much as a semblance of
sovereignty. Had it not been for the exercise by the United States
of the police power in her interest, her connection with the Isthmus
would have been sundered long ago. In 1856, in 1860, in 1873, in
1885, in 1901, and again in 1902, sailors and marines from United
States warships were forced to land in order to patrol the Isthmus,
to protect life and property, and to see that the transit across
the Isthmus was kept open. In 1861, in 1862, in 1885, and in 1900,
the Colombian Government asked that the United States Government
would land troops to protect its interests and maintain order on the
Isthmus. Perhaps the most extraordinary request is that which has just
been received and which runs as follows:
“Knowing that revolution has already commenced in Panama [an eminent
Colombian] says that if the Government of the United States will
land troops to preserve Colombian sovereignty, and the transit, if
requested by Colombian chargé d’affaires, this government will declare
martial law; and, by virtue of vested constitutional authority, when
public order is disturbed, will approve by decree the ratification
of the canal treaty as signed; or, if the Government of the United
States prefers, will call extra session of the Congress—with new
and friendly members—next May to approve the treaty. [An eminent
Colombian] has the perfect confidence of vice-president, he says, and
if it became necessary will go to the Isthmus or send representative
there to adjust matters along above lines to the satisfaction of the
people there.”
This despatch is noteworthy from two standpoints. Its offer of
immediately guaranteeing the treaty to us is in sharp contrast with
the positive and contemptuous refusal of the Congress which has just
closed its sessions to consider favorably such a treaty; it shows
that the government which made the treaty really had absolute control
over the situation, but did not choose to exercise this control. The
despatch further calls on us to restore order and secure Colombian
supremacy in the Isthmus from which the Colombian Government has just
by its action decided to bar us by preventing the construction of the
canal.
The control, in the interest of the commerce and traffic of the whole
civilized world, of the means of undisturbed transit across the
Isthmus of Panama has become of transcendent importance to the United
States. We have repeatedly exercised this control by intervening in
the course of domestic dissension, and by protecting the territory
from foreign invasion. In 1853 Mr. Everett assured the Peruvian
minister that we should not hesitate to maintain the neutrality of
the Isthmus in the case of war between Peru and Colombia. In 1864
Colombia, which has always been vigilant to avail itself of its
privileges conferred by the treaty, expressed its expectation that
in the event of war between Peru and Spain the United States would
carry into effect the guarantee of neutrality. There have been few
administrations of the State Department in which this treaty has
not, either by the one side or the other, been used as a basis of
more or less important demands. It was said by Mr. Fish in 1871 that
the Department of State had reason to believe that an attack upon
Colombian sovereignty on the Isthmus had, on several occasions, been
averted by warning from this Government. In 1886, when Colombia was
under the menace of hostilities from Italy in the Cerruti case, Mr.
Bayard expressed the serious concern that the United States could
not but feel, that a European power should resort to force against
a sister republic of this hemisphere, as to the sovereign and
uninterrupted use of a part of whose territory we are guarantors under
the solemn faith of a treaty.
The above recital of facts establishes beyond question: First, that
the United States has for over half a century patiently and in good
faith carried out its obligations under the treaty of 1846; second,
that when for the first time it became possible for Colombia to do
anything in requital of the services thus repeatedly rendered to it
for fifty-seven years by the United States, the Colombian Government
peremptorily and offensively refused thus to do its part, even though
to do so would have been to its advantage and immeasurably to the
advantage of the State of Panama, at that time under its jurisdiction;
third, that throughout this period revolutions, riots, and factional
disturbances of every kind have occurred one after the other in almost
uninterrupted succession, some of them lasting for months and even for
years, while the central government was unable to put them down or to
make peace with the rebels; fourth, that these disturbances instead of
showing any sign of abating have tended to grow more numerous and more
serious in the immediate past; fifth, that the control of Colombia
over the Isthmus of Panama could not be maintained without the armed
intervention and assistance of the United States. In other words, the
Government of Colombia, though wholly unable to maintain order on the
Isthmus, has nevertheless declined to ratify a treaty the conclusion
of which opened the only chance to secure its own stability and to
guarantee permanent peace on, and the construction of a canal across,
the Isthmus.
Under such circumstances, the Government of the United States would
have been guilty of folly and weakness, amounting in their sum to a
crime against the Nation, had it acted otherwise than it did when
the revolution of November 3 last took place in Panama. This great
enterprise of building the interoceanic canal can not be held up to
gratify the whims, or out of respect to the governmental impotence,
or to the even more sinister and evil political peculiarities, of
people who, though they dwell afar off, yet, against the wish of the
actual dwellers on the Isthmus, assert an unreal supremacy over the
territory. The possession of a territory fraught with such peculiar
capacities as the Isthmus in question carries with it obligations to
mankind. The course of events has shown that this canal can not be
built by private enterprise, or by any other nation than our own;
therefore it must be built by the United States.
Every effort has been made by the Government of the United States to
persuade Colombia to follow a course which was essentially not only to
our interests and to the interests of the world, but to the interests
of Colombia itself. These efforts have failed; and Colombia, by her
persistence in repulsing the advances that have been made, has forced
us, for the sake of our own honor, and of the interest and well-being,
not merely of our own people, but of the people of the Isthmus of
Panama and the people of the civilized countries of the world, to
take decisive steps to bring to an end a condition of affairs which
had become intolerable. The new Republic of Panama immediately
offered to negotiate a treaty with us. This treaty I herewith submit.
By it our interests are better safeguarded than in the treaty with
Colombia which was ratified by the Senate at its last session. It is
better in its terms than the treaties offered to us by the Republics
of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. At last the right to begin this great
undertaking is made available. Panama has done her part. All that
remains is for the American Congress to do its part and forthwith this
Republic will enter upon the execution of a project colossal in its
size and of wellnigh incalculable possibilities for the good of this
country and the nations of mankind.
By the provisions of the treaty the United States guarantees and will
maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama. There is granted
to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of
a strip ten miles wide and extending three nautical miles into the sea
at either terminal, with all lands lying outside of the zone necessary
for the construction of the canal or for its auxiliary works, and with
the islands in the Bay of Panama. The cities of Panama and Colon are
not embraced in the canal zone, but the United States assumes their
sanitation and, in case of need, the maintenance of order therein;
the United States enjoys within the granted limits all the rights,
power, and authority which it would possess were it the sovereign of
the territory to the exclusion of the exercise of sovereign rights
by the republic. All railway and canal property rights belonging to
Panama and needed for the canal pass to the United States, including
any property of the respective companies in the cities of Panama and
Colon; the works, property, and personnel of the canal and railways
are exempted from taxation as well in the cities of Panama and Colon
as in the canal zone and its dependencies. Free immigration of the
personnel and importation of supplies for the construction and
operation of the canal are granted. Provision is made for the use of
military force and the building of fortifications by the United States
for the protection of the transit. In other details, particularly as
to the acquisition of the interests of the New Panama Canal Company
and the Panama Railway by the United States and the condemnation of
private property for the uses of the canal, the stipulations of the
Hay-Herran treaty are closely followed, while the compensation to be
given for these enlarged grants remains the same, being ten millions
of dollars payable on exchange of ratifications; and, beginning nine
years from that date, an annual payment of $250,000 during the life of
the convention.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
WHITE HOUSE,
_December 7, 1903_.
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMUNICATED TO THE
TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS ON JANUARY 4, 1904
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
I lay before the Congress for its information a statement of my action
up to this time in executing the act entitled “An act to provide for
the construction of a canal connecting the waters of the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans,” approved June 28, 1902.
By the said act the President was authorized to secure for the United
States the property of the Panama Canal Company and the perpetual
control of a strip six miles wide across the Isthmus of Panama. It was
further provided that “should the President be unable to obtain for
the United States a satisfactory title to the property of the New
Panama Canal Company and the control of the necessary territory of the
Republic of Colombia ... within a reasonable time and upon reasonable
terms, then the President” should endeavor to provide for a canal
by the Nicaragua route. The language quoted defines with exactness
and precision what was to be done, and what as a matter of fact has
been done. The President was authorized to go to the Nicaragua route
only if within a reasonable time he could not obtain “control of the
necessary territory of the Republic of Colombia.” This control has now
been obtained; the provision of the act has been complied with; it is
no longer possible under existing legislation to go to the Nicaragua
route as an alternative.
This act marked the climax of the effort on the part of the United
States to secure, so far as legislation was concerned, an interoceanic
canal across the Isthmus. The effort to secure a treaty for this
purpose with one of the Central American republics did not stand on
the same footing with the effort to secure a treaty under any ordinary
conditions. The proper position for the United States to assume in
reference to this canal, and therefore to the governments of the
Isthmus, had been clearly set forth by Secretary Cass in 1858. In
my Annual Message I have already quoted what Secretary Cass said;
but I repeat the quotation here, because the principle it states is
fundamental:
While the rights of sovereignty of the States occupying this region
(Central America) should always be respected, we shall expect that
these rights be exercised in a spirit befitting the occasion and the
wants and circumstances that have arisen. Sovereignty has its duties
as well as its rights, and none of these local governments, even if
administered with more regard to the just demands of other nations
than they have been, would be permitted, in a spirit of Eastern
isolation, to close the gates of intercourse on the great highways
of the world, and justify the act by the pretension that these
avenues of trade and travel belong to them and that they choose to
shut them, or, what is almost equivalent, to encumber them with such
unjust relations as would prevent their general use.
The principle thus enunciated by Secretary Cass was sound then and it
is sound now. The United States has taken the position that no other
government is to build the canal. In 1889, when France proposed to
come to the aid of the French Panama Company by guaranteeing their
bonds, the Senate of the United States in executive session, with only
some three votes dissenting, passed a resolution as follows:
That the Government of the United States will look with serious
concern and disapproval upon any connection of any European
government with the construction or control of any ship canal across
the Isthmus of Darien or across Central America, and must regard
any such connection or control as injurious to the just rights and
interests of the United States and as a menace to their welfare.
Under the Hay-Pauncefote treaty it was explicitly provided that the
United States should control, police, and protect the canal which was
to be built, keeping it open for the vessels of all nations on equal
terms. The United States thus assumed the position of guarantor of the
canal and of its peaceful use by all the world. The guarantee included
as a matter of course the building of the canal. The enterprise was
recognized as responding to an international need; and it would be
the veriest travesty on right and justice to treat the governments in
possession of the Isthmus as having the right, in the language of Mr.
Cass, “to close the gates of intercourse on the great highways of the
world, and justify the act by the pretension that these avenues of
trade and travel belong to them and that they choose to shut them.”
When this Government submitted to Colombia the Hay-Herran treaty three
things were, therefore, already settled.
One was that the canal should be built. The time for delay, the time
for permitting the attempt to be made by private enterprise, the time
for permitting any government of anti-social spirit and of imperfect
development to bar the work, was past. The United States had assumed
in connection with the canal certain responsibilities not only to its
own people, but to the civilized world, which imperatively demanded
that there should no longer be delay in beginning the work.
Second. While it was settled that the canal should be built without
unnecessary or improper delay, it was no less clearly shown to be our
purpose to deal not merely in a spirit of justice but in a spirit of
generosity with the people through whose land we might build it. The
Hay-Herran treaty, if it erred at all, erred in the direction of an
overgenerosity toward the Colombian Government. In our anxiety to be
fair we had gone to the very verge in yielding to a weak nation’s
demands what that nation was helplessly unable to enforce from us
against our will. The only criticisms made upon the Administration for
the terms of the Hay-Herran treaty were for having granted too much
to Colombia, not for failure to grant enough. Neither in the Congress
nor in the public press, at the time that this treaty was formulated,
was there complaint that it did not in the fullest and amplest manner
guarantee to Colombia everything that she could by any color of title
demand.
Nor is the fact to be lost sight of that the rejected treaty, while
generously responding to the pecuniary demands of Colombia, in
other respects merely provided for the construction of the canal in
conformity with the express requirements of the act of the Congress
of June 28, 1902. By that act, as heretofore quoted, the President
was authorized to acquire from Colombia, for the purposes of the
canal, “perpetual control” of a certain strip of land; and it was
expressly required that the “control” thus to be obtained should
include “jurisdiction” to make police and sanitary regulations and
to establish such judicial tribunals as might be agreed on for
their enforcement. These were conditions precedent prescribed by
the Congress; and for their fulfilment suitable stipulations were
embodied in the treaty. It has been stated in public prints that
Colombia objected to these stipulations, on the ground that they
involved a relinquishment of her “sovereignty”; but in the light
of what has taken place, this alleged objection must be considered
as an afterthought. In reality, the treaty, instead of requiring a
cession of Colombia’s sovereignty over the canal strip, expressly
acknowledged, confirmed, and preserved her sovereignty over it. The
treaty in this respect simply proceeded on the lines on which all the
negotiations leading up to the present situation have been conducted.
In those negotiations the exercise by the United States, subject
to the paramount rights of the local sovereign, of a substantial
control over the canal and the immediately adjacent territory, has
been treated as a fundamental part of any arrangement that might
be made. It has formed an essential feature of all our plans, and
its necessity is fully recognized in the Hay-Pauncefote treaty.
The Congress, in providing that such control should be secured,
adopted no new principle, but only incorporated in its legislation
a condition the importance and propriety of which were universally
recognized. During all the years of negotiation and discussion that
preceded the conclusion of the Hay-Herran treaty, Colombia never
intimated that the requirement by the United States of control over
the canal strip would render unattainable the construction of a
canal by way of the Isthmus of Panama; nor were we advised, during
the months when legislation of 1902 was pending before the Congress,
that the terms which it embodied would render negotiations with
Colombia impracticable. It is plain that no nation could construct
and guarantee the neutrality of the canal with a less degree of
control than was stipulated for in the Hay-Herran treaty. A refusal
to grant such degree of control was necessarily a refusal to make any
practicable treaty at all. Such refusal therefore squarely raised
the question whether Colombia was entitled to bar the transit of the
worlds traffic across the Isthmus.
That the canal itself was eagerly demanded by the people of the
locality through which it was to pass, and that the people of this
locality no less eagerly longed for its construction under American
control, are shown by the unanimity of action in the new Panama
Republic. Furthermore, Colombia, after having rejected the treaty in
spite of our protests and warnings when it was in her power to accept
it, has since shown the utmost eagerness to accept the same treaty
if only the status quo could be restored. One of the men standing
highest in the official circles of Colombia, on November 6, addressed
the American minister at Bogota, saying that if the Government of the
United States would land troops to preserve Colombian sovereignty and
the transit, the Colombian Government would “declare martial law;
and, by virtue of vested constitutional authority, when public order
is disturbed, [would] approve by decree the ratification of the canal
treaty as signed; or, if the Government of the United States prefers,
[would] call extra session of the Congress—with new and friendly
members—next May to approve the treaty.” Having these facts in view,
there is no shadow of question that the Government of the United
States proposed a treaty which was not merely just, but generous to
Colombia, which our people regarded as erring, if at all, on the side
of overgenerosity; which was hailed with delight by the people of
the immediate locality through which the canal was to pass, who were
most concerned as to the new order of things, and which the Colombian
authorities now recognize as being so good that they are willing to
promise its unconditional ratification if only we will desert those
who have shown themselves our friends and restore to those who have
shown themselves unfriendly the power to undo what they did. I pass
by the question as to what assurance we have that they would now
keep their pledge and not again refuse to ratify the treaty if they
had the power; for, of course, I will not for one moment discuss the
possibility of the United States committing an act of such baseness as
to abandon the new Republic of Panama.
Third. Finally the Congress definitely settled where the canal was to
be built. It was provided that a treaty should be made for building
the canal across the Isthmus of Panama; and if, after reasonable
time, it proved impossible to secure such treaty, that then we should
go to Nicaragua. The treaty has been made; for it needs no argument
to show that the intent of the Congress was to ensure a canal across
Panama, and that whether the republic granting the title was called
New Granada, Colombia, or Panama mattered not one whit. As events
turned out, the question of “reasonable time” did not enter into the
matter at all. Although, as the months went by, it became increasingly
improbable that the Colombian Congress would ratify the treaty or
take steps which would be equivalent thereto, yet all chance for such
action on their part did not vanish until the Congress closed at the
end of October; and within three days thereafter the revolution in
Panama had broken out. Panama became an independent state, and the
control of the territory necessary for building the canal then became
obtainable. The condition under which alone we could have gone to
Nicaragua thereby became impossible of fulfilment. If the pending
treaty with Panama should not be ratified by the Senate this would
not alter the fact that we could not go to Nicaragua. The Congress
has decided the route, and there is no alternative under existing
legislation.
When in August it began to appear probable that the Colombian
Legislature would not ratify the treaty, it became incumbent upon me
to consider well what the situation was and to be ready to advise the
Congress as to what were the various alternatives of action open to
us. There were several possibilities. One was that Colombia would at
the last moment see the unwisdom of her position. That there might
be nothing omitted, Secretary Hay, through the minister at Bogota,
repeatedly warned Colombia that grave consequences might follow from
her rejection of the treaty. Although it was a constantly diminishing
chance, yet the possibility of ratification did not wholly pass away
until the close of the session of the Colombian Congress.
A second alternative was that by the close of the session on the last
day of October, without the ratification of the treaty by Colombia
and without any steps taken by Panama, the American Congress on
assembling early in November would be confronted with a situation in
which there had been a failure to come to terms as to building the
canal along the Panama route, and yet there had not been a lapse of a
reasonable time—using the word reasonable in any proper sense—such as
would justify the Administration going to the Nicaragua route. This
situation seemed on the whole the most likely, and as a matter of fact
I had made the original draft of my Message to the Congress with a
view to its existence.
It was the opinion of eminent international jurists that in view of
the fact that the great design of our guarantee under the treaty of
1846 was to dedicate the Isthmus to the purposes of interoceanic
transit, and above all to secure the construction of an interoceanic
canal, Colombia could not under existing conditions refuse to enter
into a proper arrangement with the United States to that end, without
violating the spirit and substantially repudiating the obligations of
a treaty the full benefits of which she had enjoyed for over fifty
years. My intention was to consult the Congress as to whether under
such circumstances it would not be proper to announce that the canal
was to be dug forthwith; that we would give the terms that we had
offered and no others; and that if such terms were not agreed to we
would enter into an arrangement with Panama direct, or take what other
steps were needful in order to begin the enterprise.
A third possibility was that the people of the Isthmus, who had
formerly constituted an independent state, and who until recently
were united to Colombia only by a loose tie of federal relationship,
might take the protection of their own vital interests into their own
hands, reassert their former rights, declare their independence upon
just grounds, and establish a government competent and willing to do
its share in this great work for civilization. This third possibility
is what actually occurred. Every one knew that it was a possibility,
but it was not until toward the end of October that it appeared to
be an imminent probability. Although the Administration, of course,
had special means of knowledge, no such means were necessary in order
to appreciate the possibility, and toward the end the likelihood, of
such a revolutionary outbreak and of its success. It was a matter
of common notoriety. Quotations from the daily papers could be
indefinitely multiplied to show this state of affairs; a very few
will suffice. From Costa Rica on August 31 a special was sent to the
Washington “Post,” running as follows:
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA,
_August 31_
Travelers from Panama report the Isthmus alive with fires of a new
revolution. It is inspired, it is believed, by men who, in Panama
and Colon, have systematically engendered the pro-American feeling
to secure the building of the Isthmian Canal by the United States.
The Indians have risen, and the late followers of Gen. Benjamin
Herrera are mustering in the mountain villages, preparatory to
joining in an organized revolt, caused by the rejection of the canal
treaty.
Hundreds of stacks of arms, confiscated by the Colombian Government
at the close of the late revolution, have reappeared from some
mysterious source, and thousands of rifles that look suspiciously
like the Mausers the United States captured in Cuba are issuing to
the gathering forces from central points of distribution. With the
arms goes ammunition, fresh from factories, showing the movement is
not spasmodic, but is carefully planned.
* * * * *
The government forces in Panama and Colon, numbering less than
1,500 men, are reported to be a little more than friendly to the
revolutionary spirit. They have been ill paid since the revolution
closed, and their only hope of prompt payment is another war.
General Huertes, commander of the forces, who is ostensibly loyal
to the Bogota Government, is said to be secretly friendly to the
proposed revolution. At least, all his personal friends are open
in denunciation of the Bogota Government and the failure of the
Colombian Congress to ratify the canal treaty.
The consensus of opinion gathered from late arrivals from the
Isthmus is that the revolution is coming, and that it will succeed.
A special despatch to the Washington “Post,” under date of New York,
September 1, runs as follows:
B. G. Duque, editor and proprietor of the “Panama Star and Herald,”
a resident of the Isthmus during the past twenty-seven years, who
arrived to-day in New York, declared that if the canal treaty fell
through a revolution would be likely to follow.
“There is a very strong feeling in Panama,” said Mr. Duque, “that
Colombia, in negotiating the sale of a canal concession in Panama,
is looking for profits that might just as well go to Panama herself.
“The Colombian Government, only the other day, suppressed a
newspaper that dared to speak of independence for Panama. A while
ago there was a secret plan afoot to cut loose from Colombia and
seek the protection of the United States.”
In the New York “Herald” of September 10 the following statement
appeared:
Representatives of strong interests on the Isthmus of Panama, who
make their headquarters in this city, are considering a plan of
action to be undertaken in co-operation with men of similar views in
Panama and Colon to bring about a revolution and form an independent
government in Panama opposed to that in Bogota.
There is much indignation on the Isthmus on account of the failure
of the canal treaty, which is ascribed to the authorities at Bogota.
This opinion is believed to be shared by a majority of the Isthmians
of all shades of political belief, and they think it is to their
best interest for a new republic to be formed on the Isthmus,
which may negotiate directly with the United States a new treaty
which will permit the digging of the Panama Canal under favorable
conditions.
In the New York “Times,” under date of September 13, there appeared
from Bogota the following statement:
A proposal made by Señor Perez y Sotos to ask the Executive to
appoint an anti-secessionist governor in Panama has been approved
by the Senate. Speakers in the Senate said that Señor Obaldía, who
was recently appointed Governor of Panama, and who is favorable to
a canal treaty, was a menace to the national integrity. Senator
Marroquín protested against the action of the Senate.
President Marroquín succeeded later in calming the Congressmen.
It appears that he was able to give them satisfactory reasons for
Governor Obaldía’s appointment. He appears to realize the imminent
peril of the Isthmus of Panama declaring its independence.
Señor Deroux, representative for a Panama constituency, recently
delivered a sensational speech in the House. Among other things he
said:
“In Panama the bishops, governors, magistrates, military
chiefs, and their subordinates have been and are foreign to
the department. It seems that the government, with surprising
tenacity, wishes to exclude the Isthmus from all participation in
public affairs. As regards international dangers in the Isthmus,
all I can say is that if these dangers exist they are due to the
conduct of the national government, which is in the direction of
reaction.
“If the Colombian Government will not take action with a view to
preventing disaster, the responsibility will rest with it alone.”
In the New York “Herald” of October 26 it was reported that a
revolutionary expedition of about 70 men had actually landed on the
Isthmus. In the Washington “Post” of October 29 it was reported from
Panama that in view of the impending trouble on the Isthmus the Bogota
Government had gathered troops in sufficient numbers to at once put
down an attempt at secession. In the New York “Herald” of October 30
it was announced from Panama that Bogota was hurrying troops to the
Isthmus to put down the projected revolt. In the New York “Herald” of
November 2 it was announced that in Bogota the Congress had indorsed
the energetic measures taken to meet the situation on the Isthmus and
that 6,000 men were about to be sent thither.
Quotations like the above could be multiplied indefinitely. Suffice it
to say that it was notorious that revolutionary trouble of a serious
nature was impending upon the Isthmus. But it was not necessary to
rely exclusively upon such general means of information. On October
15 Commander Hubbard, of the navy, notified the Navy Department
that, though things were quiet on the Isthmus, a revolution had
broken out in the State of Cauca. On October 16, at the request of
Lieutenant-General Young, I saw Capt. C. B. Humphrey and Lieut.
Grayson Mallet-Prevost Murphy, who had just returned from a four
months’ tour through the northern portions of Venezuela and Colombia.
They stopped in Panama on their return in the latter part of
September. At the time they were sent down there had been no thought
of their going to Panama, and their visit to the Isthmus was but
an unpremeditated incident of their return journey; nor had they
been spoken to by any one at Washington regarding the possibility
of a revolt. Until they landed at Colon they had no knowledge that
a revolution was impending, save what they had gained from the
newspapers. What they saw in Panama so impressed them that they
reported thereon to Lieutenant-General Young, according to his
memorandum—
that while on the Isthmus they became satisfied beyond question
that, owing largely to the dissatisfaction because of the failure
of Colombia to ratify the Hay-Herran treaty, a revolutionary party
was in course of organization having for its object the separation
of the State of Panama from Colombia, the leader being Dr. Richard
Arango, a former governor of Panama; that when they were on the
Isthmus arms and ammunition were being smuggled into the city of Colon
in piano boxes, merchandise crates, etc., the small arms received
being principally the Gras French rifle, the Remington, and the
Mauser; that nearly every citizen in Panama had some sort of rifle
or gun in his possession, with ammunition therefor; that in the city
of Panama there had been organized a fire brigade which was really
intended for a revolutionary military organization; that there were
representatives of the revolutionary organization at all-important
points on the Isthmus; that in Panama, Colon, and the other principal
places of the Isthmus police forces had been organized which were in
reality revolutionary forces; that the people on the Isthmus seemed
to be unanimous in their sentiment against the Bogota Government, and
their disgust over the failure of that government to ratify the treaty
providing for the construction of the canal, and that a revolution
might be expected immediately upon the adjournment of the Colombian
Congress without ratification of the treaty.
Lieutenant-General Young regarded their report as of such
importance as to make it advisable that I should personally see
these officers. They told me what they had already reported to the
Lieutenant-General, adding that on the Isthmus the excitement
was seething, and that the Colombian troops were reported to be
disaffected. In response to a question of mine they informed me that
it was the general belief that the revolution might break out at any
moment, and if it did not happen before, would doubtless take place
immediately after the closing of the Colombian Congress (at the end of
October) if the canal treaty were not ratified. They were certain that
the revolution would occur, and before leaving the Isthmus had made
their own reckoning as to the time, which they had set down as being
probably from three to four weeks after their leaving. The reason they
set this as the probable inside limit of time was that they reckoned
that it would be at least three or four weeks—say not until October
20—before a sufficient quantity of arms and munitions would have been
landed.
In view of all these facts I directed the Navy Department to issue
instructions such as would ensure our having ships within easy reach
of the Isthmus in the event of need arising. Orders were given on
October 19 to the _Boston_ to proceed to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua;
to the _Dixie_ to prepare to sail from League Island; and to the
_Atlanta_ to proceed to Guantanamo. On October 30 the _Nashville_
was ordered to proceed to Colon. On November 2, when, the Colombian
Congress having adjourned, it was evident that the outbreak was
imminent, and when it was announced that both sides were making ready
forces whose meeting would mean bloodshed and disorder, the Colombian
troops having been embarked on vessels, the following instructions
were sent to the commanders of the _Boston_, _Nashville_, and _Dixie_:
Maintain free and uninterrupted transit. If interruption is
threatened by armed force, occupy the line of railroad. Prevent
landing of any armed force with hostile intent, either government or
insurgent, at any point within 50 miles of Panama. Government force
reported approaching the Isthmus in vessels. Prevent their landing
if, in your judgment, the landing would precipitate a conflict.
These orders were delivered in pursuance of the policy on which our
Government had repeatedly acted. This policy was exhibited in the
following orders, given under somewhat similar circumstances last
year, and the year before, and the year before that. The first two
telegrams are from the Department of State to the consul at Panama:
JULY _25, 1900_
You are directed to protest against any act of hostility which may
involve or imperil the safe and peaceful transit of persons or
property across the Isthmus of Panama. The bombardment of Panama
would have this effect, and the United States must insist upon the
neutrality of the Isthmus as guaranteed by the treaty.
NOVEMBER _20, 1901_
Notify all parties molesting or interfering with free transit
across the Isthmus that such interference must cease and that the
United States will prevent the interruption of traffic upon the
railroad. Consult with captain of the _Iowa_, who will be instructed
to land marines, if necessary, for the protection of the railroad,
in accordance with the treaty rights and obligations of the United
States. Desirable to avoid bloodshed, if possible.
The next three telegrams are from and to the Secretary of the Navy:
SEPTEMBER _12, 1902_
RANGER, _Panama_:
United States guarantees perfect neutrality of Isthmus and that a
free transit from sea to sea be not interrupted or embarrassed....
Any transportation of troops which might contravene these provisions
of treaty should not be sanctioned by you nor should use of road be
permitted which might convert the line of transit into theatre of
hostility.
MOODY.
COLON,
_September 20, 1902_
SECRETARY NAVY, _Washington_:
Everything is conceded. The United States guards and guarantees
traffic and the line of transit. To-day I permitted the exchange of
Colombian troops from Panama to Colon, about 1,000 men each way, the
troops without arms in train guarded by American naval force in the
same manner as other passengers; arms and ammunition in separate
train, guarded also by naval force in the same manner as other
freight.
MCLEAN.
PANAMA,
_October 3, 1902_
SECRETARY NAVY,
_Washington, D. C._:
Have sent this communication to the American consul at Panama:
“Inform Governor while trains running under United States protection
I must decline transportation any combatants, ammunition, arms,
which might cause interruption traffic or convert line of transit
into theatre hostilities.”
CASEY.
On November 3 Commander Hubbard responded to the above-quoted telegram
of November 2, 1903, saying that before the telegram had been received
400 Colombian troops from Cartagena had landed at Colon; that there
had been no revolution on the Isthmus, but that the situation was most
critical if the revolutionary leaders should act. On this same date
the Associated Press in Washington received a bulletin stating that
a revolutionary outbreak had occurred. When this was brought to the
attention of the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Loomis, he prepared
the following cablegram to the consul-general at Panama and the consul
at Colon:
Uprising on Isthmus reported. Keep Department promptly and fully
informed.
Before this telegram was sent, however, one was received from Consul
Malmros at Colon, running as follows:
Revolution imminent. Government force on the Isthmus about 500
men. Their official promised support revolution. Fire department,
Panama, 441, are well organized and favor revolution. Government
vessel, _Cartagena_, with about 400 men, arrived early to-day with
new commander-in-chief, Tobar. Was not expected until November 10.
Tobar’s arrival is not probable to stop revolution.
This cablegram was received at 2.35 P.M., and at 3.40 P.M. Mr. Loomis
sent the telegram which he had already prepared to both Panama and
Colon. Apparently, however, the consul-general at Panama had not
received the information embodied in the Associated Press bulletin,
upon which the Assistant Secretary of State based his dispatch; for
his answer was that there was no uprising, although the situation
was critical, this answer being received at 8.15 P.M. Immediately
afterward he sent another dispatch, which was received at 9.50 P.M.,
saying that the uprising had occurred, and had been successful, with
no bloodshed. The Colombian gunboat _Bogota_ next day began to shell
the city of Panama, with the result of killing one Chinaman. The
consul-general was directed to notify her to stop firing. Meanwhile,
on November 4, Commander Hubbard notified the Department that he had
landed a force to protect the lives and property of American citizens
against the threats of the Colombian soldiery.
Before any step whatever had been taken by the United States troops
to restore order, the commander of the newly landed Colombian troops
had indulged in wanton and violent threats against American citizens,
which created serious apprehension. As Commander Hubbard reported in
his letter of November 5, this officer and his troops practically
began war against the United States, and only the forbearance and
coolness of our officers and men prevented bloodshed. The letter of
Commander Hubbard is of such interest that it deserves quotation in
full, and runs as follows:
U. S. S. NASHVILLE, THIRD RATE,
_Colon, U. S. Colombia, November 5, 1903_
SIR: Pending a complete report of the occurrences of the last
three days in Colon, Colombia, I most respectfully invite the
Department’s attention to those of the date of Wednesday, November
4, which amounted to practically the making of war against the
United States by the officer in command of the Colombian troops in
Colon. At 1 o’clock P.M. on that date I was summoned on shore by a
preconcerted signal, and on landing met the United States consul,
vice-consul, and Colonel Shaler, the general superintendent of the
Panama Railroad. The consul informed me that he had received notice
from the officer commanding the Colombian troops, Colonel Torres,
through the prefect of Colon, to the effect that if the Colombian
officers, Generals Tobal and Amaya, who had been seized in Panama on
the evening of the 3d of November by the Independents and held as
prisoners, were not released by 2 o’clock P.M., he, Torres, would
open fire on the town of Colon and kill every United States citizen
in the place, and my advice and action were requested. I advised
that all the United States citizens should take refuge in the shed
of the Panama Railroad Company, a stone building susceptible of
being put into good state for defence, and that I would immediately
land such body of men with extra arms for arming the citizens, as
the complement of the ship would permit. This was agreed to, and I
immediately returned on board, arriving at 1.15 P.M. The order for
landing was immediately given, and at 1.30 P.M. the boats left the
ship with a party of 42 men under the command of Lieut.-Commander
H. M. Witzel, with Midshipman J. P. Jackson as second in command.
Time being pressing I gave verbal orders to Mr. Witzel to take the
building above referred to, to put it into the best state of defence
possible, and protect the lives of the citizens assembled there—not
firing unless fired upon. The women and children took refuge on
the German steamer _Marcomania_ and Panama Railroad steamer _City
of Washington_, both ready to haul out from dock if necessary. The
_Nashville_ I got under way and patrolled with her along the water
front close in and ready to use either small-arm or shrapnel fire.
The Colombians surrounded the building of the railroad company
almost immediately after we had taken possession, and for about
one and a half hours their attitude was most threatening, it being
seemingly their purpose to provoke an attack. Happily our men were
cool and steady, and, while the tension was very great, no shot was
fired. At about 3.15 P.M. Colonel Torres came into the building for
an interview and expressed himself as most friendly to Americans,
claiming that the whole affair was a misapprehension and that he
would like to send the alcalde of Colon to Panama to see General
Tobal and have him direct the discontinuance of the show of force.
A special train was furnished and safe conduct guaranteed. At about
5.30 P.M. Colonel Torres made the proposition of withdrawing his
troops to Monkey Hill, if I would withdraw the _Nashville’s_ force
and leave the town in possession of the police until the return of
the alcalde on the morning of the 5th. After an interview with the
United States consul and Colonel Shaler as to the probability of
good faith in the matter, I decided to accept the proposition and
brought my men on board, the disparity in numbers between my force
and that of the Colombians, nearly ten to one, making me desirous of
avoiding a conflict so long as the object in view, the protection of
American citizens, was not imperiled.
I am positive that the determined attitude of our men, their
coolness and evident intention of standing their ground, had a most
salutary and decisive effect on the immediate situation, and was the
initial step in the ultimate abandoning of Colon by these troops and
their return to Cartagena the following day. Lieutenant-Commander
Witzel is entitled to much praise for his admirable work in command
on the spot.
I feel that I can not sufficiently strongly represent to the
Department the grossness of this outrage and the insult to our
dignity, even apart from the savagery of the threat.
Very respectfully,
JOHN HUBBARD,
_Commander, U. S. Navy,
Commanding_.
THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY,
_Navy Department, Washington, D. C._
In his letter of November 8 Commander Hubbard sets forth the facts
more in detail:
U. S. S. NASHVILLE, THIRD RATE,
_Porto Bello, U. S. Colombia, November 8, 1903_
SIR: 1. I have the honor to make the following report of the
occurrences which took place at Colon and Panama in the interval
between the arrival of the _Nashville_ at Colon on the evening of
November 2, 1903, and the evening of November 5, 1903, when by the
arrival of the U. S. S. _Dixie_ at Colon I was relieved as senior
officer by Commander F. H. Delano, U. S. Navy.
2. At the time of the arrival of the _Nashville_ at Colon at 5.30
P.M. on November 2 everything on the Isthmus was quiet. There was
talk of proclaiming the independence of Panama, but no definite
action had been taken and there had been no disturbance of peace and
order. At daylight on the morning of November 3 it was found that a
vessel which had come in during the night was the Colombian gunboat
_Cartagena_ carrying between 400 and 500 troops. I had her boarded
and learned that these troops were for the garrison at Panama.
Inasmuch as the Independent party had not acted and the Government
of Colombia was at the time in undisputed control of the Province of
Panama, I did not feel, in the absence of any instructions, that I
was justified in preventing the landing of these troops, and at 8.30
o’clock they were disembarked. The commanding officers, Generals
Amaya and Tobal, with four others, immediately went over to Panama
to make arrangements for receiving and quartering their troops,
leaving the command in charge of an officer whom I later learned
to be Colonel Torres. The Department’s message addressed to the
care of the United States consul I received at 10.30 A.M.; it was
delivered to one of the ship’s boats while I was at the consul’s and
not to the consul as addressed. The message was said to have been
received at the cable office at 9.30 A.M. Immediately on deciphering
the message I went on shore to see what arrangements the railroad
company had made for the transportation of these troops to Panama,
and learned that the company would not transport them except on
request of the Governor of Panama, and that the prefect at Colon
and the officer left in command of the troops had been so notified
by the general superintendent of the Panama Railroad Company. I
remained at the company’s office until it was sure that no action
on my part would be needed to prevent the transportation of the
troops that afternoon, when I returned on board and cabled the
Department the situation of affairs. At about 5.30 P.M. I again went
on shore, and received notice from the general superintendent of the
railroad that he had received the request for the transportation
of the troops and that they would leave on the 8 A.M. train on the
following day. I immediately went to see the general superintendent,
and learned that it had just been announced that a provisional
government had been established at Panama—that Generals Amaya and
Tobal, the Governor of Panama, and four officers, who had gone to
Panama in the morning, had been seized and were held as prisoners;
that they had an organized force of 1,500 troops and wished the
government troops in Colon to be sent over. This I declined to
permit, and verbally prohibited the general superintendent from
giving transportation to the troops of either party.
It being then late in the evening, I sent early in the morning of
November 4 written notification to the general superintendent of
the Panama Railroad, to the prefect of Colon, and to the officer
left in command of the Colombian troops, later ascertained to be
Colonel Torres, that I had prohibited the transportation of troops
in either direction, in order to preserve the free and uninterrupted
transit of the Isthmus. Copies of these letters are hereto appended;
also copy of my notification to the consul. Except to a few people,
nothing was known in Colon of the proceedings in Panama until the
arrival of the train at 10.45 on the morning of the 4th. Some
propositions were, I was later told, made to Colonel Torres by
the representatives of the new Government at Colon, with a view
to inducing him to re-embark in the _Cartagena_ and return to the
port of Cartagena, and it was in answer to this proposition that
Colonel Torres made the threat and took the action reported in my
letter No. 96, of November 5, 1903. The _Cartagena_ left the port
just after the threat was made, and I did not deem it expedient to
attempt to detain her, as such action would certainly, in the then
state of affairs, have precipitated a conflict on shore which I
was not prepared to meet. It is my understanding that she returned
to Cartagena. After the withdrawal of the Colombian troops on the
evening of November 4, and the return of the _Nashville’s_ force on
board, as reported in my letter No. 96, there was no disturbance
on shore, and the night passed quietly. On the morning of the 5th
I discovered that the commander of the Colombian troops had not
withdrawn so far from the town as he had agreed, but was occupying
buildings near the outskirts of the town. I immediately inquired
into the matter and learned that he had some trivial excuse for
not carrying out his agreement, and also that it was his intention
to occupy Colon again on the arrival of the alcalde due at 10.45
A.M., unless General Tobal sent word by the alcalde that he,
Colonel Torres, should withdraw. That General Tobal had declined
to give any instructions I was cognizant of, and the situation at
once became quite as serious as on the day previous. I immediately
landed an armed force, reoccupied the same building; also landed
two 1-pounders and mounted them on platform cars behind protection
of cotton bales, and then in company with the United States consul
had an interview with Colonel Torres, in the course of which I
informed him that I had relanded my men because he had not kept
his agreement; that I had no interest in the affairs of either
party; that my attitude was strictly neutral; that the troops of
neither side should be transported; that my sole purpose in landing
was to protect the lives and property of American citizens if
threatened, as they had been threatened, and to maintain the free
and uninterrupted transit of the Isthmus, and that purpose I should
maintain by force if necessary. I also strongly advised that in the
interests of peace, and to prevent the possibility of a conflict
that could not but be regrettable, he should carry out his agreement
of the previous evening and withdraw to Monkey Hill.
Colonel Torres’s only reply was that it was unhealthy at Monkey
Hill, a reiteration of his love of Americans, and persistence in
his intention to occupy Colon, should General Tobal not give him
directions to the contrary.
On the return of the alcalde at about 11 A.M. the Colombian troops
marched into Colon, but did not assume the threatening demeanor
of the previous day. The American women and children again went
on board the _Marcomania_ and _City of Washington_, and through
the British vice-consul I offered protection to British subjects
as directed in the Department’s cablegram. A copy of the British
vice-consul’s acknowledgment is hereto appended. The _Nashville_ I
got under way as on the previous day and moved close in to protect
the water front. During the afternoon several propositions were made
to Colonel Torres by the representatives of the new government,
and he was finally persuaded by them to embark on the Royal Mail
steamer _Orinoco_ with all his troops and return to Cartagena. The
_Orinoco_ left her dock with the troops—474 all told—at 7.35 P.M.
The _Dixie_ arrived and anchored at 7.05 P.M., when I went on board
and acquainted the commanding officer with the situation. A portion
of the marine battalion was landed and the _Nashville’s_ force
withdrawn.
3. On the evening of November 4 Major William M. Black and Lieut.
Mark Brooke, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, came to Colon from
Culebra and volunteered their services, which were accepted, and
they rendered very efficient help on the following day.
4. I beg to assure the Department that I had no part whatever in
the negotiations that were carried on between Colonel Torres and
the representatives of the provisional government; that I landed
an armed force only when the lives of American citizens were
threatened, and withdrew this force as soon as there seemed to be
no grounds for further apprehension of injury to American lives or
property; that I relanded an armed force because of the failure of
Colonel Torres to carry out his agreement to withdraw and announced
intention of returning, and that my attitude throughout was strictly
neutral as between the two parties, my only purpose being to
protect the lives and property of American citizens and to preserve
the free and uninterrupted transit of the Isthmus.
Very respectfully,
(Signed) JOHN HUBBARD,
_Commander, U. S. Navy, Commanding_.
THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY,
_Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department,
Washington, D. C._
This plain official account of the occurrences of November 4 shows
that, instead of there having been too much prevision by the American
Government for the maintenance of order and the protection of life
and property on the Isthmus, the orders for the movement of the
American warships had been too long delayed; so long, in fact, that
there were but forty-two marines and sailors available to land and
protect the lives of American men and women. It was only the coolness
and gallantry with which this little band of men wearing the American
uniform faced ten times their number of armed foes, bent on carrying
out the atrocious threat of the Colombian commander, that prevented
a murderous catastrophe. At Panama, when the revolution broke out,
there was no American man-of-war and no American troops or sailors.
At Colon, Commander Hubbard acted with entire impartiality toward
both sides, preventing any movement, whether by the Colombians or
the Panamans, which would tend to produce bloodshed. On November 9
he prevented a body of the revolutionists from landing at Colon.
Throughout he behaved in the most creditable manner. In the New
York “Evening Post,” under date of Panama, December 8, there is an
article from a special correspondent, which sets forth in detail the
unbearable oppression of the Colombian Government in Panama. In this
article is an interesting interview with a native Panaman, which runs
in part as follows:
... We looked upon the building of the canal as a matter of life
or death to us. We wanted that because it meant, with the United
States in control of it, peace and prosperity for us. President
Marroquin appointed an Isthmian to be governor of Panama; and we
looked upon that as of happy augury. Soon we heard that the canal
treaty was not likely to be approved at Bogota; next we heard that our
Isthmian Governor, Obaldía, who had scarcely assumed power, was to be
superseded by a soldier from Bogota....
Notwithstanding all that Colombia has drained us of in the way of
revenues, she did not bridge for us a single river, nor make a single
roadway, nor erect a single college where our children could be
educated, nor do anything at all to advance our industries.... Well,
when the new generals came we seized them, arrested them, and the
town of Panama was in joy. Not a protest was made, except the shots
fired from the Colombian gunboat _Bogota_, which killed one Chinese
lying in his bed. We were willing to encounter the Colombian troops at
Colon and fight it out; but the commander of the United States cruiser
_Nashville_ forbade Superintendent Shaler to allow the railroad to
transport troops for either party. That is our story.
* * * * *
I call especial attention to the concluding portion of this interview,
which states the willingness of the Panama people to fight the
Colombian troops and the refusal of Commander Hubbard to permit them
to use the railroad and therefore to get into a position where the
fight could take place. It thus clearly appears that the fact that
there was no bloodshed on the Isthmus was directly due—and only
due—to the prompt and firm enforcement by the United States of its
traditional policy. During the past forty years revolutions and
attempts at revolution have succeeded one another with monotonous
regularity on the Isthmus, and again and again United States sailors
and marines have been landed as they were landed in this instance
and under similar instructions to protect the transit. One of these
revolutions resulted in three years of warfare; and the aggregate of
bloodshed and misery caused by them has been incalculable. The fact
that in this last revolution not a life was lost, save that of the
man killed by the shells of the Colombian gunboat, and no property
destroyed, was due to the action which I have described. We, in
effect, policed the Isthmus in the interest of its inhabitants and
of our own national needs, and for the good of the entire civilized
world. Failure to act as the Administration acted would have meant
great waste of life, great suffering, great destruction of property;
all of which was avoided by the firmness and prudence with which
Commander Hubbard carried out his orders and prevented either party
from attacking the other. Our action was for the peace both of
Colombia and of Panama. It is earnestly to be hoped that there will be
no unwise conduct on our part which may encourage Colombia to embark
on a war which can not result in her regaining control of the Isthmus,
but which may cause much bloodshed and suffering.
I hesitate to refer to the injurious insinuations which have been
made of complicity by this government in the revolutionary movement
in Panama. They are as destitute of foundation as of propriety. The
only excuse for my mentioning them is the fear lest unthinking persons
might mistake for acquiescence the silence of mere self-respect.
I think proper to say, therefore, that no one connected with this
Government had any part in preparing, inciting, or encouraging
the late revolution on the Isthmus of Panama, and that save from
the reports of our military and naval officers, given above, no
one connected with this Government had any previous knowledge of
the revolution except such as was accessible to any person of
ordinary intelligence who read the newspapers and kept up a current
acquaintance with public affairs.
By the unanimous action of its people, without the firing of a
shot—with a unanimity hardly before recorded in any similar case—the
people of Panama declared themselves an independent republic. Their
recognition by this Government was based upon a state of facts in
no way dependent for its justification upon our action in ordinary
cases. I have not denied, nor do I wish to deny, either the validity
or the propriety of the general rule that a new state should not be
recognized as independent till it has shown its ability to maintain
its independence. This rule is derived from the principle of
non-intervention, and as a corollary of that principle has generally
been observed by the United States. But, like the principle from which
it is deduced, the rule is subject to exceptions; and there are in
my opinion clear and imperative reasons why a departure from it was
justified and even required in the present instance. These reasons
embrace, first, our treaty rights; second, our national interests and
safety; and, third, the interests of collective civilization.
I have already adverted to the treaty of 1846, by the thirty-fifth
article of which the United States secured the right to a free and
open transit across the Isthmus of Panama, and to that end agreed to
guarantee to New Granada her rights of sovereignty and property over
that territory. This article is sometimes discussed as if the latter
guarantee constituted its sole object and bound the United States to
protect the sovereignty of New Granada against domestic revolution.
Nothing, however, could be more erroneous than this supposition. That
our wise and patriotic ancestors, with all their dread of entangling
alliances, would have entered into a treaty with New Granada solely
or even primarily for the purpose of enabling that remnant of the
original Republic of Colombia, then resolved into the States of New
Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador, to continue from Bogota to rule
over the Isthmus of Panama, is a conception that would in itself be
incredible, even if the contrary did not clearly appear. It is true
that since the treaty was made the United States has again and again
been obliged forcibly to intervene for the preservation of order
and the maintenance of an open transit, and that this intervention
has usually operated to the advantage of the titular Government of
Colombia, but it is equally true that the United States in intervening
with or without Colombia’s consent, for the protection of the transit,
has disclaimed any duty to defend the Colombian Government against
domestic insurrection or against the erection of an independent
government on the Isthmus of Panama. The attacks against which the
United States engaged to protect New Granadian sovereignty were
those of foreign powers; but this engagement was only a means to the
accomplishment of a yet more important end. The great design of the
article was to assure the dedication of the Isthmus to the purposes of
free and unobstructed interoceanic transit, the consummation of which
would be found in an interoceanic canal. To the accomplishment of this
object the Government of the United States had for years directed its
diplomacy. It occupied a place in the instructions to our delegates to
the Panama Congress during the Administration of John Quincy Adams. It
formed the subject of a resolution of the Senate in 1835, and of the
House of Representatives in 1839. In 1846 its importance had become
still more apparent by reason of the Mexican war. If the treaty of
1846 did not in terms bind New Granada to grant reasonable concessions
for the construction of means of interoceanic communication, it was
only because it was not imagined that such concessions would ever
be withheld. As it was expressly agreed that the United States, in
consideration of its onerous guarantee of New Granadian sovereignty,
should possess the right of free and open transit on any modes of
communication that might be constructed, the obvious intent of the
treaty rendered it unnecessary, if not superfluous, in terms to
stipulate that permission for the construction of such modes of
communication should not be denied.
Long before the conclusion of the Hay-Herran treaty the course of
events had shown that a canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans must be built by the United States or not at all. Experience
had demonstrated that private enterprise was utterly inadequate for
the purpose; and a fixed policy, declared by the United States on
many memorable occasions, and supported by the practically unanimous
voice of American opinion, had rendered it morally impossible that
the work should be undertaken by European powers, either singly or
in combination. Such were the universally recognized conditions on
which the legislation of the Congress was based, and on which the late
negotiations with Colombia were begun and concluded. Nevertheless,
when the well-considered agreement was rejected by Colombia and the
revolution on the Isthmus ensued, one of Colombia’s first acts was to
invoke the intervention of the United States; nor does her invitation
appear to have been confined to this Government alone. By a telegram
from Mr. Beaupré, our minister at Bogota, of the 7th of November last,
we were informed that General Reyes would soon leave Panama invested
with full powers; that he had telegraphed the President of Mexico to
ask the Government of the United States and all countries represented
at the Pan-American Conference “to aid Colombia to preserve her
integrity”; and that he had requested that the Government of the
United States should meanwhile “preserve the neutrality and transit
of the Isthmus” and should “not recognize the new government.” In
another telegram from Mr. Beaupré, which was sent later in the day,
this Government was asked whether it would take action “to maintain
Colombian right and sovereignty on the Isthmus in accordance with
article 35 [of] the treaty of 1846” in case the Colombian Government
should be “entirely unable to suppress the secession movement there.”
Here was a direct solicitation to the United States to intervene for
the purpose of suppressing, contrary to the treaty of 1846 as this
Government has uniformly construed it, a new revolt against Colombia’s
authority brought about by her own refusal to permit the fulfilment of
the great design for which that treaty was made. It was under these
circumstances that the United States, instead of using its forces to
destroy those who sought to make the engagements of the treaty a
reality, recognized them as the proper custodians of the sovereignty
of the Isthmus.
This recognition was, in the second place, further justified by the
highest considerations of our national interests and safety. In all
the range of our international relations I do not hesitate to affirm
that there is nothing of greater or more pressing importance than
the construction of an interoceanic canal. Long acknowledged to be
essential to our commercial development, it has become, as the result
of the recent extension of our territorial dominion, more than ever
essential to our national self-defence. In transmitting to the Senate
the treaty of 1846, President Polk pointed out as the principal
reason for its ratification that the passage of the Isthmus, which it
was designed to secure, “would relieve us from a long and dangerous
navigation of more than 9,000 miles around Cape Horn, and render our
communication with our own possessions on the northwest coast of
America comparatively easy and speedy.” The events of the past five
years have given to this consideration an importance immeasurably
greater than it possessed in 1846. In the light of our present
situation, the establishment of easy and speedy communication by
sea between the Atlantic and the Pacific presents itself not simply
as something to be desired, but as an object to be positively and
promptly attained. Reasons of convenience have been superseded by
reasons of vital necessity, which do not admit of indefinite delays.
To such delays the rejection by Colombia of the Hay-Herran treaty
directly exposed us. As proof of this fact I need only refer to the
programme outlined in the report of the majority of the Panama Canal
Committee, read in the Colombian Senate on the 14th of October last.
In this report, which recommended that the discussion of a law to
authorize the government to enter upon new negotiations should be
indefinitely postponed, it is proposed that the consideration of
the subject should be deferred till October 31, 1904, when the next
Colombian Congress should have met in ordinary session. By that time,
as the report goes on to say, the extension of time granted to the New
Panama Canal Company by treaty in 1893 would have expired, and the
new Congress would be in a position to take up the question whether
the company had not, in spite of further extensions that had been
granted by legislative acts, forfeited all its property and rights.
“When that time arrives,” the report significantly declares, “the
Republic, without any impediment, will be able to contract, and will
be in more clear, more definite, and more advantageous possession,
both legally and materially.” The naked meaning of this report is that
Colombia proposed to wait until, by the enforcement of a forfeiture
repugnant to the ideas of justice which obtain in every civilized
nation, the property and rights of the New Panama Canal Company could
be confiscated.
Such is the scheme to which it was proposed that the United States
should be invited to become a party. The construction of the canal
was to be relegated to the indefinite future, while Colombia was,
by reason of her own delay, to be placed in the “more advantageous”
position of claiming not merely the compensation to be paid by the
United States for the privilege of completing the canal, but also
the forty millions authorized by the act of 1902 to be paid for the
property of the New Panama Canal Company. That the attempt to carry
out this scheme would have brought Colombia into conflict with the
Government of France can not be doubted; nor could the United States
have counted upon immunity from the consequences of the attempt,
even apart from the indefinite delays to which the construction of
the canal was to be subjected. On the first appearance of danger to
Colombia, this Government would have been summoned to interpose, in
order to give effect to the guarantees of the treaty of 1846; and all
this in support of a plan which, while characterized in its first
stage by the wanton disregard of our own highest interests, was fitly
to end in further injury to the citizens of a friendly nation, whose
enormous losses in their generous efforts to pierce the Isthmus have
become a matter of history.
In the third place, I confidently maintain that the recognition of the
Republic of Panama was an act justified by the interests of collective
civilization. If ever a government could be said to have received a
mandate from civilization to effect an object the accomplishment of
which was demanded in the interest of mankind, the United States
holds that position with regard to the interoceanic canal. Since
our purpose to build the canal was definitely announced, there have
come from all quarters assurances of approval and encouragement, in
which even Colombia herself at one time participated; and to general
assurances were added specific acts and declarations. In order that
no obstacle might stand in our way, Great Britain renounced important
rights under the Clayton-Bulwer treaty and agreed to its abrogation,
receiving in return nothing but our honorable pledge to build the
canal and protect it as an open highway. It was in view of this
pledge, and of the proposed enactment by the Congress of the United
States of legislation to give it immediate effect, that the second
Pan-American Conference, at the City of Mexico, on January 22, 1902,
adopted the following resolution:
The Republics assembled at the International Conference of Mexico
applaud the purpose of the United States Government to construct an
interoceanic canal, and acknowledge that this work will not only
be worthy of the greatness of the American people, but also in the
highest sense a work of civilization, and to the greatest degree
beneficial to the development of commerce between the American
States and the other countries of the world.
Among those who signed this resolution on behalf of their respective
governments was General Reyes, the delegate of Colombia. Little
could it have been foreseen that two years later the Colombian
Government, led astray by false allurements of selfish advantage, and
forgetful alike of its international obligations and of the duties
and responsibilities of sovereignty, would thwart the efforts of the
United States to enter upon and complete a work which the nations
of America, re-echoing the sentiment of the nations of Europe, had
pronounced to be not only “worthy of the greatness of the American
people,” but also “in the highest sense a work of civilization.”
That our position as the mandatary of civilization has been by no
means misconceived is shown by the promptitude with which the powers
have, one after another, followed our lead in recognizing Panama as an
independent State. Our action in recognizing the new republic has been
followed by like recognition on the part of France, Germany, Denmark,
Russia, Sweden, and Norway, Nicaragua, Peru, China, Cuba, Great
Britain, Italy, Costa Rica, Japan, and Austria-Hungary.
In view of the manifold considerations of treaty right and obligation,
of national interest and safety, and of collective civilization,
by which our Government was constrained to act, I am at a loss to
comprehend the attitude of those who can discern in the recognition
of the Republic of Panama only a general approval of the principle of
“revolution” by which a given government is overturned or one portion
of a country separated from another. Only the amplest justification
can warrant a revolutionary movement of either kind. But there is
no fixed rule which can be applied to all such movements. Each case
must be judged on its own merits. There have been many revolutionary
movements, many movements for the dismemberment of countries, which
were evil, tried by any standard. But in my opinion no disinterested
and fair-minded observer acquainted with the circumstances can fail
to feel that Panama had the amplest justification for separation
from Colombia under the conditions existing, and, moreover, that its
action was in the highest degree beneficial to the interests of the
entire civilized world by securing the immediate opportunity for
the building of the interoceanic canal. It would be well for those
who are pessimistic as to our action in peacefully recognizing the
Republic of Panama, while we lawfully protected the transit from
invasion and disturbance, to recall what has been done in Cuba, where
we intervened even by force on general grounds of national interest
and duty. When we interfered it was freely prophesied that we intended
to keep Cuba and administer it for our own interests. The result has
demonstrated in singularly conclusive fashion the falsity of these
prophecies. Cuba is now an independent republic. We governed it in its
own interests for a few years, till it was able to stand alone, and
then started it upon its career of self-government and independence,
granting it all necessary aid. We have received from Cuba a grant of
two naval stations, so situated that they in no possible way menace
the liberty of the island, and yet serve as important defences for
the Cuban people, as well as for our own people, against possible
foreign attack. The people of Cuba have been immeasurably benefited
by our interference in their behalf, and our own gain has been great.
So will it be with Panama. The people of the Isthmus, and as I firmly
believe of the adjacent parts of Central and South America, will be
greatly benefited by the building of the canal and the guarantee of
peace and order along its line; and hand in hand with the benefit
to them will go the benefit to us and to mankind. By our prompt and
decisive action, not only have our interests and those of the world
at large been conserved, but we have forestalled complications which
were likely to be fruitful in loss to ourselves, and in bloodshed and
suffering to the people of the Isthmus.
Instead of using our forces, as we were invited by Colombia to do, for
the twofold purpose of defeating our own rights and interests and the
interests of the civilized world, and of compelling the submission of
the people of the Isthmus to those whom they regarded as oppressors,
we shall, as in duty bound, keep the transit open and prevent its
invasion. Meanwhile, the only question now before us is that of the
ratification of the treaty. For it is to be remembered that a failure
to ratify the treaty will not undo what has been done, will not
restore Panama to Colombia, and will not alter our obligation to keep
the transit open across the Isthmus, and to prevent any outside power
from menacing this transit.
It seems to have been assumed in certain quarters that the proposition
that the obligations of article 35 of the treaty of 1846 are to
be considered as adhering to and following the sovereignty of the
Isthmus, so long as that sovereignty is not absorbed by the United
States, rests upon some novel theory. No assumption could be further
from the fact. It is by no means true that a state in declaring its
independence rids itself of all the treaty obligations entered into
by the parent government. It is a mere coincidence that this question
was once raised in a case involving the obligations of Colombia as an
independent state under a treaty which Spain had made with the United
States many years before Spanish-American independence. In that case
Mr. John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, in an instruction to Mr.
Anderson, our minister to Colombia, of May 27, 1823, said:
By a treaty between the United States and Spain concluded at a time
when Colombia was a part of the Spanish dominions ... the principle
that free ships make free goods was expressly recognized and
established. It is asserted that by her declaration of independence
Colombia has been entirely released from all the obligations by
which, as a part of the Spanish nation, she was bound to other
nations. This principle is not tenable. To all the engagements of
Spain with other nations, affecting their rights and interests,
Colombia, so far as she was affected by them, remains bound in
honor and in justice. The stipulation now referred to is of that
character.
The principle thus asserted by Mr. Adams was afterward sustained by
an international commission in respect to the precise stipulation to
which he referred; and a similar position was taken by the United
States with regard to the binding obligation upon the independent
State of Texas of commercial stipulations embodied in prior treaties
between the United States and Mexico when Texas formed a part of
the latter country. But in the present case it is unnecessary to go
so far. Even if it be admitted that prior treaties of a political
and commercial complexion generally do not bind a new state formed
by separation, it is undeniable that stipulations having a local
application to the territory embraced in the new state continue in
force and are binding upon the new sovereign. Thus it is on all
hands conceded that treaties relating to boundaries and to rights of
navigation continue in force without regard to changes in government
or in sovereignty. This principle obviously applies to that part of
the treaty of 1846 which relates to the Isthmus of Panama.
In conclusion let me repeat that the question actually before this
Government is not that of the recognition of Panama as an independent
republic. That is already an accomplished fact. The question, and the
only question, is whether or not we shall build an Isthmian Canal.
I transmit herewith copies of the latest notes from the minister of
the Republic of Panama to this Government, and of certain notes which
have passed between the special envoy of the Republic of Colombia and
this Government.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
WHITE HOUSE,
_January 4, 1904_
EXTRACTS FROM THE MESSAGES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT AS GOVERNOR OF THE
STATE OF NEW YORK
MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK TO THE LEGISLATURE, JANUARY 2, 1899
STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
ALBANY, _January 2, 1899_
_To the Legislature_:
The people of New York, like the people of every other State in the
Union, are to be congratulated, because during the past year the
Nation has carried to a brilliant triumph one of the most righteous
wars of modern times. When last spring it became evident that the
interests of humanity and of national honor alike demanded that we
should drive Spain from the Western Hemisphere and free from her
tyranny the subject peoples of the islands of the sea, New York
responded with eager zeal to the call for volunteers, and in the
Cabinet, in Congress and in camp, her representatives did all they
could to insure the success of the American policy. We are not merely
New Yorkers. We are Americans; and the interests of all Americans,
whether from the North, the South, the East or the great West, are
equally dear to the men of the Empire State. As we grow into a mighty
nation, which, whether it will or not, must inevitably play a great
part for good or for evil in the affairs of the world at large,
the people of New York wish it understood that they look at all
questions of American foreign policy from the most thoroughly national
standpoint. The tropic islands we have taken must neither be allowed
to lapse into anarchy nor to return under the sway of tyranny. War
is a grim thing at best, but the war through which we have passed
has left us not merely memories of glory won on land and sea, but
an even more blessed heritage, the knowledge that it was waged from
the highest motives, for the good of others as well as for our own
national honor. Above all, we are thankful that it brought home to all
of us the fact that the country was indeed one when serious danger
confronted it. The men from the East and the West, from the North and
the South, the sons of those who wore the blue and of those who wore
the gray, the men of means and the men who all their lives long had
possessed only what day by day they toiled to earn, stood shoulder to
shoulder in the fight, met the same dangers, shared the same hardships
and won the same ultimate triumph.
In our domestic affairs, the State is to be congratulated on the
gradual return of prosperity. Though temporarily checked by the
war this return has been on the whole steady. The capitalist finds
constantly greater business opportunities; the wage-worker, in
consequence, is more steadily employed; the farmer has a better
market.
TAXATION
No other question is of such permanent importance in the domestic
economy of our State as the question of taxation. At present our
system of taxation is in utter confusion, full of injustices and of
queer anomalies. It is an exceedingly difficult subject, one well
worthy the attention of our best men, the men with most highly trained
minds and the broadest practical experience; men who are able to
approach the subject from the standpoints alike of the farmer, the
merchant, and the manufacturer. Not only is it necessary to consider
whether any kind of tax ought, if practicable, to be levied, but
whether it is in fact practicable to levy it. We should discourage the
building up of non-taxable interests, and yet we should discourage
driving property out of the State by unwise taxation, or levying a
tax which is in effect largely a tax upon honesty. I most earnestly
commend the whole matter to your special attention.
* * * * *
MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK TO THE LEGISLATURE, MAY 22, 1899
STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
ALBANY, _May 22, 1899_
_To the Legislature_:
I have called you together in extraordinary session for the purpose of
considering the subject of the taxation of franchises.
My message to the Legislature of March 27, 1899, ran in part as
follows:
“At present the farmers, the market gardeners, and the mechanics and
tradesmen having small holdings are paying an improper and excessive
portion of the general taxes, while at the same time many of the
efforts to remedy this state of affairs, notably in the direction of
taxing securities, are not only unwise, but inefficient, and often
serve merely to put a premium upon dishonesty.”
* * * * *
“There is evident injustice in the light taxation of corporations. I
have not the slightest sympathy with the outcry against corporations
as such, or against prosperous men of business. Most of the great
material works by which the entire country benefits have been due to
the action of individual men, or of aggregates of men, who made money
for themselves by doing that which was in the interest of the people
as a whole. From an armor plant to a street railway no work which is
really beneficial to the public can be performed to the best advantage
of the public save by men of such business capacity that they will not
do the work unless they themselves receive ample reward for doing it.
The effort to deprive them of an ample reward, merely means that they
will turn their energies in some other direction; and the public will
be by just so much the loser. Moreover, to tax corporations or men
of means in such a way as to drive them out of the State works great
damage to the State. To drive out of a community the men of means
and the men who take the lead in business enterprises would probably
entail, as one of its first results, the starvation of a considerable
portion of the remainder of the population.
“But while I freely admit all this, it yet remains true that a
corporation which derives its powers from the State should pay to the
State a just percentage of its earnings as a return for the privileges
it enjoys. This should be especially true for the franchises bestowed
upon gas companies, street railroads and the like. The question of
the municipal ownership of these franchises can not be raised with
propriety until the governments of all municipalities show greater
wisdom and virtue than has been recently shown, for instance, in
New York City; and the question of laying and assessing the tax for
franchises of every kind throughout the State should in my opinion be
determined by the State itself. I need not point out to you that in
foreign communities a very large percentage of the taxes comes from
corporations which use the public domain for pipes, tracks and the
like.”
I stated that the power of assessing the tax on franchises should be
left with the State authorities—not the local authorities—because in
my view this was desirable both for the sake of providing against
improper favoritism of or discrimination against corporations by
the local authorities, for the sake of working equity as between
the franchises in different localities, and finally for the sake of
providing for the cases where a railroad or telephone or telegraph
line runs through several different communities.
Many representatives of corporations owning franchises heartily
approve of having them properly taxed; and I am confident that, in the
end, this will be of positive benefit to the franchise owners, and in
no way oppressive to them, save as all taxes are oppressive to all
owners of property.
The line of cleavage between good and bad citizenship does not
follow the line dividing the men who represent corporate interests
from the men who do not; it runs at right angles to it. We are bound
to recognize this fact, to remember that we should stand for good
citizenship in every form, and should neither yield to demagogic
influence on the one hand, nor to improper corporate influence on
the other. There is no intention of oppressing people who have put
their money into franchises. We recognize that, as in the case of
all legitimate business, they benefit not only themselves but the
community at large. If a franchise is worth very little, it should
be taxed very little; but where the franchise is of great value, it
certainly should be heavily taxed; and the value is of course based
upon the use of the city’s or State’s real estate. Such use of the
public real estate should not be given without substantial returns;
returns not only in the way of service to the public, which of course
a street railway or a gas company gives, precisely as the proprietor
of a grocery or dry goods store gives it, but also in the way of
bearing a just share of the burden of taxation; again, precisely
as the owner of the grocery or dry goods store bears his share,
the difference being that a railroad company, for instance, owes
infinitely more than the proprietor of a big business establishment
does, to the real estate itself. Of course, this value differs greatly
in different places. Where population is dense, as in New York City,
the real estate along which the tracks are laid on Broadway may be
worth an immense amount for every lineal foot, exactly as the real
estate fronting this portion of Broadway is worth an immense amount
for every lineal foot. In sparsely settled districts, however, the
value of the real estate of the railroad will diminish greatly, just
as the value of the realty through which it runs diminishes.
I am perfectly well aware that as Chief Justice Marshall says: “The
power of taxation is the power of destruction.” But this applies to
every species of property. If demagogues or ignorant enthusiasts who
are misled by demagogues could succeed in destroying wealth, they
would of course simply work the ruin of the entire community; and
first of all, of the unfortunates for whom they profess to feel an
especial interest. But the very existence of unreasoning hostility to
wealth should make us all the more careful in seeing that wealth does
nothing to justify such hostility. We are the true friends of the men
of means, we are the true friends of the lawful corporate interests
which do good work for the community, when we insist that the man of
means and the great corporation shall pay their full share of taxes
and bear their full share of the public burdens. If this is done,
then sooner or later will follow public recognition of the fact that
it is done; and when there is no legitimate basis for discontent, the
American public is sure sooner or later to cease to feel discontent.
The Legislature passed, and there is now before me, a bill for the
taxation of franchises by treating them as realty. After watching the
progress of this bill I became convinced that the opposition to it
was less to its particular features than to the general principle of
taxing franchises in any way; in other words, I became convinced that
any really effective measure of taxation aimed at franchises would
be vigorously opposed. It therefore became of the utmost importance
to secure this year some statutory enactment which would distinctly
recognize the principle which we seek to establish. Toward the end
of the session it became evident that the influences against the
taxation of franchises would be content with nothing save the defeat
of any measure of substantial relief; and a measure of less than
substantial relief I would not accept. Finally it became evident that
the Legislature could pass only one bill and that without amendment.
I therefore sent in a special message asking for the passage of this
bill. It was passed on the last day of the session. It represents a
long stride in the right direction, and one from which there must be
no retrogression.
Nevertheless, it can be greatly bettered if amended in two important
particulars. In its essential principle, that of taxing franchises
as realty, it is right and proper. After much study of the question,
I am convinced that in this way we can come nearer to doing justice
than in any other which has as yet been proposed. It is no new thing
to treat franchises as realty. They are so treated in Washburn’s
work on real property, and by Chancellor Kent; but under the laws
of New York as they are now a franchise can not be taxed except by
special statute, and as a matter of fact this extremely valuable
species of property is in very many, if not in most, cases untaxed
or taxed far below its value in comparison with other kinds of real
estate. Local franchises are granted for various purposes and under
varying conditions; sometimes by special statute and sometimes by
the municipal authorities under a general statute. The value of the
franchise of course varies widely in different localities, depending
upon a variety of circumstances; but a great part of its value is
dependent upon the same causes which operate to make other kinds
of real estate more valuable in one locality than in another. The
franchise is inseparable from the property of the corporation in the
street, whether this property consists of poles, pipes, or tracks,
above the ground, under the ground, or on the ground. The right to
lay a railroad track and operate a railroad in a public street can
not be separated or dissociated from the railroad itself. This is
equally true of the right to lay water and gas mains and the like.
The franchise is a necessary and inevitable element of value and is
a proper subject of consideration in determining the taxable value of
the real property of the corporation enjoying it. The right to occupy
a street should not be classed as an intangible something, distinct
from the other property of the company, but should be treated as a
necessary incident to the tangible property and one to be considered
in measuring the value of the whole property. The Nichols law in Ohio
which provides for the taxation of certain kinds of corporations such
as telegraph and telephone companies and the like, doing business in
the public streets, proceeds along these lines, and has in practice
been found to work admirably. It is possible that further experience
may enable us to find some better method of taxing franchises, but
with our present knowledge it is certainly wisest to tax them as
realty.
Under the bill before me the assessment will be levied by the local
authorities. This would result in many cases in a dozen different
sets of local authorities assessing the value of different parts
of the same franchise. It is on every account far better that this
assessment should be delegated to the State authorities who will
necessarily ascertain all the conditions affecting the franchise and
obtain information which will enable them to judge of the value of
the franchise in the different localities in which it is exercised.
The Board of State Tax Commissioners can collate the facts, compare
conditions and determine values as a result of a wider range of
observation and experience than can be obtained by local officers,
and under them the system of assessment will tend to produce justice,
harmony and uniformity. This is the system adopted under the Nichols
law and it has worked well in practice.
Furthermore, the bill before me fails to take account of the fact
that, in a very unequal and irregular way, many corporations do
already pay a certain, though usually an utterly inadequate sum in
taxes. Some pay nothing at all to the local municipalities, but others
pay sums varying from one to five per cent on their gross earnings.
The amounts have been determined in the most haphazard manner and bear
no proportion whatever to the value of the franchises or to their
earning capacity. It is obviously unjust, when introducing a system
under which we believe that these franchises will for the first time
be fully and fairly taxed according to their respective values, not
to allow for this existing and inequitable taxation. Accordingly it
should be provided that from the sum assessed by the State authorities
as the tax which a corporation must pay because of its local
franchise, there shall be deducted the amount already annually paid by
it to the locality for such franchise. In no other way is it possible
to tax these corporations with uniformity and equity. It is contended
by the advocates of the bill that in reaching the value of the
franchise under the new law the amount thus paid away in taxes must
be allowed for and deducted anyhow; but it is not certain that this
would be done, and in any event the principal should be definitely
established by the law itself. There can be no possible opposition to
putting it in the law by any man who is anxious to tax corporations
as other property is taxed, and who believes that this end can be
attained by taxing them as realty. Either by taxing them as realty we
shall tax them at their full value, or we shall not; if, as we hold,
the former is the case, it would be unjust to tax them for more than
their full value, and this would happen were not these existing taxes
deducted.
If it is claimed that the particular method of assessment by the
State Tax Commission may be improper or unjust, provision can be made
for the same appeal to the courts that now lies in the case of any
assessment on other kinds of property.
Accordingly, I recommend the enactment of a law which shall tax all
these franchises as realty, which shall provide for the assessment
of the tax by the Board of State Tax Commissioners, and which shall
further provide that from the tax thus levied for the benefit of each
locality there shall be deducted the taxes now paid by the corporation
in question. Furthermore, as the time for assessing the largest and
wealthiest corporations, those of New York and Buffalo, has passed for
this year, and as it will be preferable not to have the small country
corporations taxed before the larger corporations of the cities are
taxed, I suggest that the operations of the law be deferred until
October first, of this year.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK TO THE LEGISLATURE, JANUARY 3, 1900
STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
ALBANY, _January 3, 1900_
_To the Legislature_:
It is a very genuine pleasure to congratulate the Legislature upon
the substantial sum of achievement in legislation and administration
of the past year. Laws of the utmost usefulness to the community
have been enacted, and there has been a steady betterment throughout
the year in the methods and results of the administration of the
government.
* * * * *
The whole problem of taxation is now, as it has been at almost all
times and in almost all places, one of extreme difficulty. It has
become more and more evident in recent years that existing methods
of taxation, which worked well enough in a simpler state of society,
are not adequate to secure justice when applied to the conditions of
our complex and highly specialized modern industrial development.
At present the real estate owner is certainly bearing an excessive
proportion of the tax burden. Men who have made a special study of
the theory of taxation and men who have had long experience in its
practical application are alike in conflict among themselves as to the
best general system. Absolute equality, absolute justice in matters of
taxation will probably never be realized; but we can approximate it
much more closely than at present. The last Legislature most wisely
appointed a committee to consider the feasibility of a thorough and
far-reaching change in our tax laws; and there is good reason to
believe that their forthcoming report will present a scheme which will
receive the support of substantially all classes of taxpayers, and
which will be of such a character as to commend itself to the most
careful consideration of your body upon broad lines.
The law must not only be correct in the abstract; it must work well
in the concrete. Experience shows that certain classes or symbols of
property which in theory ought to be taxed can not under the present
practice be reached. Some kinds of taxes are so fertile in tempting
to perjury and sharp dealing that they amount to taxes on honesty—the
last quality on which we should impose a needless burden. Moreover,
where the conditions and complexity of life vary widely as between
different communities, the desirability and possibility of certain
taxes may seem or be so different that it is hard to devise a common
system that will work. If possible the State tax should be levied on
classes of property, and in a manner which will render it collectible
with entire fairness in all sections of the community, as for instance
the corporation or collateral inheritance tax is now collected. So far
as possible we should divorce the State and municipal taxes, so as
to render unnecessary the annual equalization of values between the
several counties which has proved so fertile a source of friction
between the city and the country.
There is a constant influx into New York State of capital ofttimes
previously incorporated under the laws of other States, and an
increasing number of men of means from other parts of the country,
non-residents of New York, come into this State to sojourn and to
conduct and be at the head of various business enterprises which are
drawn to New York as the financial centre of the whole country. This
calls for legislation which shall provide, in a broad and fair spirit,
for taxing foreign capital in this State, whether in corporate or
individual form, exactly as we tax domestic capital doing business
along the same lines.
I call your attention to the fact that the great burden of taxation
is local, not State. In the large cities the heavy local charges are
mainly due to the action of the local authorities themselves. For
this the local authorities are of course responsible. But sometimes
taxation is added to by legislative enactment.
On certain points the failure of the tax laws has become so evident
that it is possible to provide more or less complete remedies without
waiting for a general scheme of reorganization. Again and again
in recent years this has been recognized, and through legislative
enactment certain species of property which had escaped taxation
have been made to pay their proper share of the public burdens. The
collateral inheritance tax offers a case in point. The corporation
tax offers another. In all these matters of taxation, however, it is
necessary to proceed with extreme caution, the path never being so
simple and clear as the advocates of any particular measure invariably
believe. Every wealthy corporation that perpetrates or is allowed to
perpetrate a wrong helps to produce or inflame a condition of angry
excitement against all corporations, which in its turn may in the end
harm alike the honest and the dishonest agents of public service and
thereby do far-reaching damage to the whole body politic. Much of the
outcry against wealth, against the men who acquire wealth, and against
the means by which it is acquired, is blind, unreasoning and unjust;
but in too many cases it has a basis in real abuses; and we must
remember that every act of misconduct which affords any justification
for this clamor is not only bad because of the wrong done but also
because the justification thus given inevitably strengthens movements
which are in reality profoundly anti-social and anti-civic. Our laws
should be so drawn as to protect and encourage corporations which do
their honest duty by the public; and to discriminate sharply against
those organized in a spirit of mere greed, or for improper speculative
purposes.
There is plenty of misconduct, plenty of selfish disregard of the
rights of others, and especially of the weak. There is also plenty of
honorable and disinterested effort to prevent such misconduct or to
minimize its effects. Any rational attempt to prevent or counteract
the evils, by legislation or otherwise, is deserving of hearty
support; but it can not be too deeply impressed upon us that such
attempts can result in permanent good only in proportion as they are
made in a sane and wholesome spirit, as far removed as possible from
whatever is hysterical or revolutionary. It is infinitely better when
needed social and civic changes can be brought about as the result
of natural and healthy growth than when they come with the violent
dislocation and widespread wreck and damage inevitably attendant upon
any movement which is revolutionary in its nature.
At the same time a change should never be shirked on the ground of
its being radical, when the abuse has become flagrant and no other
remedy appears possible. This was the case with the taxation of local
franchises in this State. For years most of these franchises escaped
paying their proper share of the public burdens. The last Legislature
placed on the statute book a law requiring them to be treated as
real estate for the purposes of taxation, the tax to be assessed and
collected by the State Assessors for the benefit of the localities
concerned. This marks an immense stride in advance. Of course at first
serious difficulties are sure to arise in enforcing it. The means for
carrying it into effect are very inadequate. There may be delay before
we get from it the substantial additions to the revenue which will
finally accrue, and there may be disappointment to the enthusiasts
who are so apt to hope too much from such legislation. But it will
undoubtedly add largely to the public revenues as soon as it is fairly
in operation, and the amount thus added will increase steadily year
by year. The principle which this law establishes has come to stay.
There will doubtless have to be additional legislation from time
to time to perfect the system as its shortcomings are made evident
in actual practice. But the corporations owning valuable public
franchises must pay their full and proper share of the public burdens.
The franchise tax law is framed with the intent of securing exact and
equal justice, no more and no less. It is not in any way intended as a
means for persecuting or oppressing corporations. It is not intended
to cut down legitimate dividends; still less to cut down wages or
to prevent a just return for the far-sighted business skill of some
captain of industry who has been able to establish a public service
greatly to the advantage of the localities concerned, where before his
time men of less business capacity had failed. But it is intended that
property which derives its value from the grant of a privilege by the
public, shall be taxed proportionately to the value of the privilege
granted. In enforcing this law, much tact, patience, resolution and
judgment will be needed. All these qualities the State Board of Tax
Commissioners have thus far shown. Their salaries are altogether
inadequate, for the new law has immensely increased not only their
responsibilities, but their work. They should be given not only the
needed increase for themselves, but also an appropriation for an
additional number of clerks and experts.
During the year 1899 not a single corporation has received at the
hands of the State of New York one privilege of any kind, sort or
description, by law or otherwise, to which it was not entitled, and
which was not in the public interest; nor has corporate influence
availed against any measure which was in the public interest. At
certain times, and in certain places, corporations have undoubtedly
exerted a corrupting influence in political life; but in this State
for this year it is absolutely true, as shown by the history of every
measure that has come before the Legislature from the franchise tax
down, that no corporate influence has been able to prevail against the
interests of the public.
It has become more and more evident of late years that the State
will have to act in its collective capacity as regards certain
subjects which we have been accustomed to treat as matters affecting
the private citizen only, and that furthermore, it must exercise an
increasing and more rigorous control over other matters which it is
not desirable that it should directly manage. It is neither possible
nor desirable to lay down a general hard and fast rule as to what
this control should be in all cases. There is no possible reason in
pure logic why a city, for instance, should supply its inhabitants
with water, and allow private companies to supply them with gas, any
more than there is why the general government should take charge of
the delivery of letters but not of telegrams. On the other hand, pure
logic has a very restricted application to actual social and civic
life, and there is no possible reason for changing from one system
to the other simply because the change would make our political
system in theory more symmetrical. Obviously it is undesirable that
the government should do anything that private individuals could
do with better results to the community. Everything that tends to
deaden individual initiative is to be avoided, and unless in a given
case there is some very evident gain which will flow from State or
municipal ownership, it should not be adopted. On the other hand,
when private ownership entails grave abuses, and where the work is
of a kind that can be performed with efficiency by the State or
municipality acting in its collective capacity, no theory or tradition
should interfere with our making the change. There is grave danger
in attempting to establish invariable rules; indeed it may be that
each case will have to be determined upon its own merits. In one
instance a private corporation may be able to do the work best. In
another the State or city may do it best. In yet a third, it may be
to the advantage of everybody to give free scope to the power of some
individual captain of industry.
On one point there must be no step backward. There is a consensus of
opinion that New York must own its own water supply. Any legislation
permitting private ownership should be annulled.
Nothing needs closer attention, nothing deserves to be treated with
more courage, caution and sanity, than the relations of the State to
corporate wealth, and indeed to vast individual wealth. For almost
every gain there is a penalty, and the great strides in the industrial
upbuilding of the country, which have on the whole been attended
with marked benefit, have also been attended by no little evil.
Great fortunes are usually made under very complex conditions both
of effort and of surrounding, and the mere fact of the complexity
makes it difficult to deal with the new conditions thus created. The
contrast offered in a highly specialized industrial community between
the very rich and the very poor is exceedingly distressing, and while
under normal conditions the acquirement of wealth by an individual is
necessarily of great incidental benefit to the community as a whole,
yet this is by no means always the case. In our great cities there is
plainly in evidence much wealth contrasted with much poverty, and some
of the wealth has been acquired, or is used, in a manner for which
there is no moral justification.
A profound political and social thinker has recently written: “Wealth
which is expended in multiplying and elaborating real comforts, or
even in pleasures which produce enjoyment at all proportionate to
their cost, will never excite serious indignation. It is the colossal
waste of the means of human happiness in the most selfish and most
vulgar forms of social advertisement and competition that gives a
force to passions which menace the whole future of our civilization.”
But in continuance this writer points out that the only effectual
check lies in the law of public opinion. Any attempt to interfere by
statute in moral questions of this kind, by fettering the freedom of
individual action, would be injurious to a degree far greater than
is the evil aimed at. Probably the large majority of the fortunes
that now exist in this country have been amassed, not by injuring
mankind, but as an incident to the conferring of great benefits on the
community—whatever the conscious purpose of those amassing them may
have been. The occasional wrongs committed or injuries endured are
on the whole far outweighed by the mass of good which has resulted.
The true questions to be asked are: Has any given individual been
injured by the acquisition of wealth by any man? Were the rights of
that individual, if they have been violated, insufficiently protected
by law? If so, these rights, and all similar rights, ought to be
guaranteed by additional legislation. The point to be aimed at is the
protection of the individual against wrong, not the attempt to limit
and hamper the acquisition and output of wealth.
It is almost equally dangerous either to blink evils and refuse to
acknowledge their existence or to strike at them in a spirit of
ignorant revenge, thereby doing far more harm than is remedied. The
need can be met only by careful study of conditions, and by action
which, while taken boldly and without hesitation, is neither heedless
nor reckless. It is well to remember on the one hand that the adoption
of what is reasonable in the demands of reformers is the surest way to
prevent the adoption of what is unreasonable; and on the other hand
that many of the worst and most dangerous laws which have been put
upon the statute books have been put there by zealous reformers with
excellent intentions.
This problem has a hundred phases. The relation of the capitalist and
the wage-worker makes one; the proper attitude of the State toward
extreme poverty another; the proper attitude of the State toward
the questions of the ownership and running of so-called “public
utilities,” a third. But among all these phases, the one which at this
time has the greatest prominence is the question of what are commonly
termed “trusts,” meaning by the name those vast combinations of
capital, usually flourishing by virtue of some monopolistic element,
which have become so startlingly common a feature in the industrial
revolution which has progressed so rapidly during recent years.
Every new feature of this industrial revolution produces hardship
because in its later stages it has been literally a revolution
instead of an evolution. The new inventions and discoveries and the
new methods of taking advantage of the business facilities afforded
by the extraordinary development of our material civilization have
caused the changes to proceed with such marvelous rapidity, that at
each stage some body of workers finds itself unable to accommodate
itself to the new conditions with sufficient speed to escape
hardship. In the end the accommodation of the class takes place; at
times too late for the well-being of many individuals. The change
which would be unaccompanied by hardship if it came slowly, may
be fraught with severe suffering if it comes too fast, even when
it is in the end beneficial. Occasionally, moreover, the change
is positively deleterious, and very often, even when it is on the
whole beneficial, it has features which are the reverse. In some
cases, while recognizing the evil, it is impossible with our present
knowledge to discover any remedy. In others, a remedy can be applied,
but as yet only at a cost that would make it worse than the trouble
itself. In yet others it is possible, by acting with wisdom, coolness
and fearlessness, to apply a remedy which will wholly or in great
part remove the evil while leaving the good behind. We do not wish to
discourage enterprise. We do not desire to destroy corporations; we do
desire to put them fully at the service of the State and the people.
The machinery of modern business is so vast and complicated that great
caution must be exercised in introducing radical changes for fear
the unforeseen effects may take the shape of widespread disaster.
Moreover, much that is complained about is not really the abuse so
much as the inevitable development of our modern industrial life.
We have moved far away from the old simple days when each community
transacted almost all its work for itself and relied upon outsiders
for but a fraction of the necessaries, and for not a very large
portion even of the luxuries, of life. Very many of the anti-trust
laws which have made their appearance on the statute books of recent
years have been almost or absolutely ineffective because they have
blinked the all-important fact that much of what they thought to do
away with was incidental to modern industrial conditions, and could
not be eliminated unless we were willing to turn back the wheels of
modern progress by also eliminating the forces which had brought
about these industrial conditions. Not only trusts, but the immense
importance of machinery, the congestion of city life, the capacity
to make large fortunes by speculative enterprises, and many other
features of modern existence could be thoroughly changed by doing away
with steam and electricity; but the most ardent denouncer of trusts
would hesitate to advocate so drastic a remedy. What remains for us
to do, as practical men, is to look the conditions squarely in the
face and not to permit the emotional side of the question, which has
its proper place, to blind us to the fact that there are other sides.
We must set about finding out what the real abuses are, with their
causes, and to what extent remedies can be applied.
That abuses exist, and that they are of a very grave character, it
is worse than idle to deny. Just so long as in the business world
unscrupulous cunning is allowed the free rein which, thanks to
the growth of humanity during the past centuries, we now deny to
unscrupulous physical force, then just so long there will be a field
for the best effort of every honest social and civic reformer who
is capable of feeling an impulse of generous indignation and who is
far-sighted enough to appreciate where the real danger to the country
lies. The effects are bad enough when the unscrupulous individual
works by himself. They are much worse when he works in conjunction
with his fellows through a giant corporation or trust. Law is largely
crystallized custom, largely a mass of remedies which have been slowly
evolved to meet the wrongs with which humanity has become thoroughly
familiar. In a simple society only simple forms of wrong can be
committed. There is neither the ability nor the opportunity to inflict
others. A primitive people provides for the punishment of theft,
assault and murder, because the conditions of the existing society
allow the development of thieves and murderers and the commission
of deeds of violence; but it does not provide for the punishment of
forgery because there is nothing to forge, and therefore, no forgers.
The gradual growth of humanitarian sentiment, often unconscious or but
semi-conscious, combined with other causes, step by step emancipated
the serf from bodily subjection to his over-lord; he was then
protected in his freedom by statute; but when he became a factory hand
the conditions were new and there were no laws which prevented the
use of unguarded machinery in the factories, or the abuses of child
labor, forced upon the conscientious employers by the unscrupulous
until legislation put them on an equality. When new evils appear there
is always at first difficulty in finding the proper remedy; and as the
evils grow more complex, the remedies become increasingly difficult
of application. There is no use whatever in seeking to apply a remedy
blindly; yet this is just what has been done in reference to trusts.
Much of the legislation not only proposed but enacted against trusts
is not one whit more intelligent than the mediæval bull against the
comet, and has not been one particle more effective. Yet there can and
must be courageous and effective remedial legislation.
To say that the present system of haphazard license and lack of
supervision and regulation, is the best possible, is absurd. The
men who endeavor to prevent the remedying of real abuses, not only
show callous disregard for the suffering of others, but also weaken
those who are anxious to prevent the adoption of indiscriminate
would-be remedies which would subvert our whole industrial fabric.
The chicanery and the dishonest, even though not technically illegal,
methods through which some great fortunes have been made, are scandals
to our civilization. The man who by swindling or wrongdoing acquires
great wealth for himself at the expense of his fellow, stands as low
morally as any predatory mediæval nobleman and is a more dangerous
member of society. Any law, and any method of construing the law which
will enable the community to punish him, either by taking away his
wealth or by imprisonment, should be welcomed. Of course, such laws
are even more needed in dealing with great corporations or trusts
than with individuals. They are needed quite as much for the sake of
honest corporations as for the sake of the public. The corporation
that manages its affairs honestly has a right to demand protection
against the dishonest corporation. We do not wish to put any burden on
honest corporations. Neither do we wish to put an unnecessary burden
of responsibility on enterprising men for acts which are immaterial;
they should be relieved from such burdens, but held to a rigid
financial accountability for acts that mislead the upright investor or
stockholder, or defraud the public.
The first essential is knowledge of the facts, publicity. Much can be
done at once by amendment of the corporation laws so as to provide for
such publicity as will not work injustice as between business rivals.
The chief abuses alleged to arise from trusts are probably the
following: Misrepresentation or concealment regarding material facts
connected with the organization of an enterprise; the evils connected
with unscrupulous promotion; overcapitalization; unfair competition,
resulting in the crushing out of competitors who themselves do not
act improperly; raising of prices above fair competitive rates; the
wielding of increased power over the wage-earners. Of course none of
these abuses may exist in a particular trust, but in many trusts, as
well as in many corporations not ordinarily called trusts, one or more
of them are evident. Some of these evils could be partially remedied
by a modification of our corporation laws; here we can safely go along
the lines of the more conservative New England States, and probably
not a little farther. Such laws will themselves provide the needed
publicity, and the needed circumstantiality of statement. We should
know authoritatively whether stock represents actual value of plants,
or whether it represents brands or good will; or if not, what it does
represent, if anything. It is desirable to know how much was actually
bought, how much was issued free; and to whom; and, if possible,
for what reason. In the first place, this would be invaluable in
preventing harm being done as among the stockholders, for many of
the grossest wrongs that are perpetrated are those of promoters and
organizers at the expense of the general public who are invited to
take shares in business organizations. In the next place, this would
enable us to see just what the public have a right to expect in the
way of service and taxation. There is no reason whatever for refusing
to tax a corporation because by its own acts it has created a burden
of charges under which it staggers. The extravagant man who builds a
needlessly large house nevertheless pays taxes on the house; and the
corporation which has to pay great sums of interest owing to juggling
transactions in the issue of stocks and bonds has just as little right
to consideration. But very great hardship may result to innocent
purchasers; and publicity by lessening the possibility of this would
also serve the purpose of the State.
Where a trust becomes a monopoly the State has an immediate right to
interfere. Care should be taken not to stifle enterprise or disclose
any facts of a business that are essentially private; but the State
for the protection of the public should exercise the right to inspect,
to examine thoroughly all the workings of great corporations just
as is now done with banks; and wherever the interests of the public
demand it, it should publish the results of its examination. Then, if
there are inordinate profits, competition or public sentiment will
give the public the benefit in lowered prices; and if not, the power
of taxation remains. It is therefore evident that publicity is the one
sure and adequate remedy which we can now invoke. There may be other
remedies, but what these others are we can only find out by publicity,
as the result of investigation. The first requisite is knowledge, full
and complete.
* * * * *
FIRST ADMINISTRATION
INDEX
FIRST ADMINISTRATION
INDEX
A
Achievement, cost of, 92
Adams, John Quincy, President, 12, 87, 745
quoted, 755
William, Rev., 45
Administration, qualities needed for, 352
requirements for a good, 5
Admiral of the Navy, 631
Agencies, Indian, reduction of, 595
Aggression by United States, no, 624
Agitation, ignorant, dangers of, 140
Agitators assist their own enemies, 541
Agricultural Association, New York State, 466
experiment stations, 128
prosperity, 251
questions, 438
Agriculture, Alaskan, 424
competition in, 563
Department of, 127, 249, 303, 305, 440, 557, 559, 681, 684
mining and, 437
work of, 303, 304, 557
work in, great, 557
Aguinaldian oligarchy, 65
Aguinaldo, Emilio, 317
Alabama, 511, 517
Alaska, 204, 243, 326, 328, 338, 393, 421, 638-639, 677-678
agriculture in, 424
boundaries of, 664-667
cable to, 678
coal-land laws in, 677
Congressional Committee in, 639
Delegate from, 639
Delegate from, a, 423
development of, 424-425, 677
Farming lands in, 677
fisheries in, 424, 677
Fisheries Commission in, 678
forests of, 638, 677
future of, 422, 428
gateway to, 428
hatcheries, salmon, 678
importance of, great, 426
Indians in, 678
interest in, 428
land laws of, 638, 677
land patents in, 678
laws on, 423, 638
light-houses in, 678
lumbering in, 424
mineral wealth of, 677
mines of, 424
mining interests in, 665
population of, future, 428
provisional boundary of, 665
purchase of, 422
railroads in, 678
resources of, 429, 638
revenue questions in, 665
roads and trails in, 678
salmon industry in, 424, 638, 678
settlers in, 425
stock-raising in, 677
transportation in, 425
Tribunal, appropriation for, 667
Alaskan Boundary Convention, 665
Boundary Tribunal, 665-666
Treaty, 1867, 664
Albany, New York, 758, 760, 770
Albuquerque, N. M., 368
Alcibiades, galleys of, the, 579
Alfalfa, cultivation of, 305
Alleghany Mountains, 202, 243, 338, 425, 453
Allotment Act, General, 594
Alma Mater, debt to one’s, 458
Alverstone, Lord, 665
America, business position of, 540
debt of, to soldiers, 14
debt of, to Virginia, 453
destiny of, 220
for all Americans, 18
future of, 186, 360, 471
glorious past of, 330
headship of, 297
importance of, growing, 86, 268
mercantile growth of, 393
not aggressive, 578
pre-eminence of, 213, 239
prosperity conditions in, 577
race strains in, 450
true ideals of, 380
united, proofs of, 19
unity of interests in, 373
American, the average, 157, 358, 472
blend of races, an, 450
character of average, 297
creed of the, 607
duty of each, 502
educational advantages, 406
fighting edge of, 487
Federation of Labor, 521
good, the, 136
government, genius of, 430, 434
heritage of valor, 452
humorist, an, quoted, 496
industries, market for, 297
influence, growth of, 395
Nation, founding of, 345
no physical defect in, 510
officer, typical, 589
primacy, 257
Republic, success of the, 287
seamen, 463
shipping, superiority of, 554
ships, need of, 554
spirit, 200, 487-488
steamship line, contract with, 656
true, ideals of the, 409
typical, McKinley a, 398
typical virtues of an, 398
Revolution, Sons of the, 36-39
Americanism, example of, 166
genuine, 124
meaning of, 38
Americans, union of, 168
Amnesty in Philippines, 96
Amusement, true ideal of, 453
Anarchists, Congress and, 535
dangerous criminals, 533
defenders of, 530
exclusion of, 549
Federal Courts and, 535
immigration of, 535
murderers and, 534
protected by law, 536
suppression of, 534
Anarchy, arguments for, foolish, 530
crime against humanity, 535
danger of, in Philippines, 569
despotism and, 534
encouraged by lynching, 527
forerunner of tyranny, 524
freedom and, 529-530
governmental, 17
mob violence a form of, 523
not social discontent, 533
triumph of, 534
war against, 17
Animosity, class and sectional, 619
Annapolis, Md., 38, 120, 412, 633
Naval Academy at, 581
Antagonism to industrial conditions, 538
Anthracite on the free list, 296, 617
Antietam, Md., 482
battle of, 482-488
battlefield of, 507
Antilles, Queen of the, 567
Anti-Rebate Law, 280
Anti-Trust Laws, 322, 649
Anti-Trust Laws, actions under, 283
appropriations for, 612, 660
enforcements of, 282, 284, 612
funds for enforcing, 280
ineffective, 781, 784
(See also Trusts, Corporations, Combinations, etc.)
Antung, China, 674
Appalachian Mountains, 255
Appointments, Civil Service, 680
fixed policy in, 518
merit system in, 591, 644
negro, defended, 516
negro, in South, 516
negro, fewness of, 512
policy in making, 514, 518
whites and negroes in, 511-512
Appomattox, battle of, 486
Appropriation Act (Feb. 25, 1903), 660
Appropriations, Anti-Trust Law, 612, 660
economy in, 654
fraud, 660-662
Arbitration, growth of, 662
international, triumph of, 669
International, Union, 672, 673
international, union for, 672
labor troubles and, 308
peace and, 622-623
The Hague Court of, 669
Architecture of the White House, 644
Arctic Brotherhood, the, 421
Arid lands, reclamation of, 679, 682
reservoirs in, 561
surveys in, 682
Western, 438
Arizona, 158, 362, 369
irrigation in, 370
land-reclamation in, 682
Arlington, D. C., 40, 56
Cemetery, 40
soldiers’ monument at, 53
Armaments, object of, 266
Armies as fighting machines, 492
Army, United States, the, 312, 487, 505, 584-590, 629-631
attacks on the, 313
attention deserved by, 10
camp sites for, 689
capacity demanded in, 587
commands in the, 629
constructive force, a, 590
criticisms of the, 61
debt to, public, 588
details in, four-year, 588
efficiency of the, 584, 588, 689
efforts for efficiency in, 587
elimination in, grade, 586
favorite subject of attack, 9
general staff law in, 689
grade elimination in, 586
increase of, not needed, 584
legislation on the, 319, 589
limits of, maximum and minimum, 588
manœuvre work in the, 629, 689
marksmanship in, 630
material in the, good, 629
merit sole rule in the, 586
minimum of the, 629
officers in, senior, 629
pay in, increased, 588
peace, an instrument of, 590
political influence in, 689
preference and seniority in, 586
promotions in, suggestions on, 689-690
reforms in, three prime, 588
regular, the, 319, 320, 492
Reorganization Act, 588
reorganization, benefits of, 589
senior grades in, men for, 586
seniority promotions in, 689
small size of the, 631-632
source of pride, a, 10
staff divisions in the, 588
staff of the, general, 585
standard of, high, 584
traducers of the, 313
training in the, 584, 587, 629
units of the, 584
volunteer, the, 492
wrongdoers in the, 494
Y. M. C. A. in the, 228
(See also under Soldiers, War, Philippines, etc.)
Army and Navy, the, 463
no politics in the, 209
pride in the, 492
value of the, 48-49
Arrogance, evils of, 472
Arthur, Chester A., President, 119
Artillery, chief of, 588
corps of, 588
Artificial powers, regulation of, 609
(See also under Trusts, Corporations, etc.)
Asia, cable to, need of, 573
trade with, 563
Asiatic barbarism in Philippines, 238
peoples and the Filipinos, 410
Associations, benefit of, 69
German, debt to, 452
good due to, 340
Athens, Ga., postmaster of, 515
Atlanta, Ga., surveyorship of, 515
“Constitution,” 518
Atlantic Ocean, 338, 372, 393
interests in, our, 97
line, coast, 393
Attorney-General, United States, 279, 281, 283, 331, 612, 623, 660,
662
report of the, 660
Auditor, United States, report of, 675
Augusta, Me., 124
Aycock, Charles B., Governor, 27
Aylesworth, A. B., 666
B
Babylon, 113, 151, 170
Baltimore, Maryland, 449
mingling of races in, 450
saved to the Union, 451
Turn Verein, 451
Bangor, Maine, 126
Banking Law, National, 554
Banks, circulation and the, 617
servants of commerce, 617
Savings, as corporations, 174
deposits in, 608
Barstow, California, 372
Battleships, crews for new, 583
need of more, 581
use for good, 582
Bayard, Thomas F., Secretary, 705
Beaupré, Arthur M., Consul, 699, 747
Beef Trust, injunction against, 282-283
investigation of, 283
Beirut, Syria, troubles at, 673
Belgium, 668, 669
Berkeley, California, 404
Betterment, progressive, 466
Blaine, James G., Secretary, 124, 622
Blake, Homer C., Admiral, 579
Blumenberg, General, 451
Board of Trade, National, 225
Body, strength in the, 30, 393
Bogota, American Minister at, 715 718
Colombian gunboat, 730
government, the, 721
insurrection at (1853), 700
Bookbinders, Brotherhood of, 519
Boston, Massachusetts, 108, 401
United States ship, 727
Boundaries, National, 676
Boxer uprising in China, 10, 601-602
Boynton, General, 165
Brakes, locomotive, law on, 310
Bravery expected, not praised, 463
Breckinridge, General, 39, 505
Bremerton, Washington, 420
Brest, France, cable from, 626
Bribery, corruption and, 662-664
enormity of, 663
extradition for, 662
popular government and, 663
treaties touching, 662
Briesen, Arthur von, 657
British Ambassador, the, 261
Empire, sympathy in the, 605
steamships, 656
Brooklyn, Borough of, N. Y., 29
Brotherhood, example of, an, 486
civil and military, 14
feeling of, decline in, 101
human, cause of, 449
international, 50
lesson of, 357
military and civil, 14
right of, the, 491
rule of, indispensable, 548
Brotherhood of Bookbinders, 519
“Brother Jonathan,” a descendant of, 37
Buchanan, James, President, 2
Buffalo, New York, 597
Bull Run, battle of, 141
Burden-bearing, blessing of,
need of, 498
Burleigh, Edwin C., Governor, 124
Burr, Aaron, 6
Business, changing needs of, 301
confidence, return of, 537
corporate, aids to, 650
cunning in, unscrupulous, 782
danger of upsetting, 614
delicate mechanism of, 105, 541
disasters, wide effects of, 540
energies, paralysis of, 614
interests at law, 477
interests in Washington, 225
interests, wise laws for, 541
interstate, corporations in, 609
interstate, regulation of, 611
machinery of, complicated, 781
mechanism of, delicate, 105, 541
supremacy in, 539
world, natural forces in, 538
Butler, Nicholas Murray, 27
Butte, Montana, 432
Byzantium, 337
C
Cabinet, 79, 503
advisory function of, 4
corruption rare in, 7
how chosen, 4
moral obliquity in, 7
Cable, China-Philippines, 626
Company, Commercial Pacific, 625
French, the, 626
lines, Oceanic, 393
Manila-Hongkong, 626
Cable, Pacific, 393
Congressional power in, 626
franchise for, 625
laying of, 98, 626
need of a, 573
practicable route for, 625
soundings for, 625
California, 97, 372, 373, 374, 375, 377, 383, 390, 393, 395, 397,
399, 401, 403, 404, 413, 426
beauties of, 383, 404
forest preservation in, 385
trees, preservation of, 385
University of, 404
Canal, Isthmian, 22
Company, French Panama, 623, 711
Company, new Panama, 749, 750
Isthmian, negotiations with
Colombia, 623
opinion of jurists on, 718
Panama, Act of 1902 on, 709
Panama, treaty on, 692
route, Panama, preferred, 693
route settled, 716
treaties, United States good faith in, 696
United States responsibilities in, 712
treaty, Colombian offer on, 703-704
treaty, New Granada, 693-700, 755, 756
treaty with Panama, 707
Canticle, dedication, 446
Canton, Ohio, 231
Capacity, individual, essential, 537
Cape Cod, cable station at, 626
Capital, combinations of, 26
combinations of, controlling, 610
fair treatment for, 618
good use of, 433
how beneficial, 433
organized, duty of, 619
ranges, invested in, 438
Capital and labor, community of, 651
equal treatment of, 652
foreign, taxing, in New York, 772
situation on, 618-619
unity of, 475
Capitalists, encouragement of, proper, 610
good done by, 651
greater opportunities for, 759
relations of, to workers, 780
services of, 103, 610, 761, 762
Capron, Allyn, 165
Caracas, United States representatives at, 668
“Carpet-bag” rule, 511
Carson City, Nevada, 414
_Cartagena_, United States ship, 730, 734, 737
Cartwright, Peter, 244
Cass, Lewis, Secretary, 698, 710, 711
quoted, 694-695, 710, 711
Cavalry horses, worn out, 631
Cavalry, increase in, 585
Cavalryman, ideal, the, 585
Census Office, administration of, 599
Chaffee, Adna, General, 67
Chagres, outbreak at (1851), 700
Chamber of Commerce, New York, 196-202
Character, defects in our, 510
in college graduates, 29
importance of, prime, 436
national, and laws, 487
national, standard of, 16
need of, supreme, 102
prime test for office, 515
type of, needed, 488
Charity and love, sermon on, 355
Charleston, South Carolina, 401, 596
Collector of port of, 516
colonial days in, 18
Exposition, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 596-597
in the Revolution, 18
outpost against Spain, 18
port of, 510
typical Southern city, 18
Charlottesville, Virginia, 453
Charybdis, Scylla and, 288
Chattanooga, Tennessee, 104, 156
Cheap labor in Hawaii, 566
Chicago, Illinois, 257
Chickmauga, 165, 166
Child labor, prohibition of, 307
Children, happiness in rearing, 509
training of, 290, 291
Chilean trouble, the (1892), 10
Chilkoot Pass, Alaska, 667
China, 391, 392
anti-foreign uprisings in, 601
attitude toward United States, 197, 603
Boxer murderers punished in, 602
Boxer uprising in, 10
cable connection with, 626
commercial relations with, 674
commercial treaty with, 673
defences in, dismantling of, 602
duties in, ad valorem, 603
Emperor of, edict by, 603
free imports in, 603
importation of arms in, forbidden, 603
indemnities paid by, 603
interior of, access to, 604
joint note from, 655
joint note to, 601
measures against disorder in, 602
military expeditions in, 603
mining enterprises in, 674
missionaries in, rights of, 674
“open door” in, 98, 604
relations of, with the powers, 604
reparations made by, 602
situation in, present, 601-604
tariff on imports in, 603
trade relations with, 604
trade with, foreign, 603
treaties on commerce with, 603
troubles in, settlement of, 601
United States attitude in, 197, 603
United States officials in, 674
United States plenipotentiary in, 602
United States soldiers in, 604
water approaches in, 603
China-Philippines cable, the, 626
Chinese Government, the, 603, 674
Exclusion Act, need of, 546
Christendom, nations of, 97
Christian associations, need of, 227
missions, importance of, 46
Christianity, applied, 499
cause of, 448
civilization and, 244
Church, leadership in the, 501
Churches, American, 242-243
immigrants and the, 442
mission of the, 449
work before the, 52
Cincinnati, Ohio, 169, 170, 275
Cinnabar, Montana, 324
Circuit Court, United States, 283
Circulation, great size of the, 476
and the banks, 617
Cities, growth of, unequal, 538
Citizen, American, duty of, 431
birthright of the, 451
character of average, 487
duties of the, 495
good, a good man, 459
good and bad, the, 473, 763
good, the, 473
good essentials of the, 487
good, qualities of the, 129
honesty of the, 499
qualities of the, 488, 493
requisite of a, first, 200
responsibilities of the, 493
rights of the, 446
that counts, 395
training of the, 381
useful, the most, 103
Citizenship an “inestimable heritage,” 661
best in, the, 494
decent, 481
duty of good, first, 109
education for, 289
essentials of, 135
good, the duty of, 406
high average of, 608
productive, 378
qualities of, 164
sermon on, a, 459
tests of, 389, 468, 486
City and country, conditions in, 306
Civic betterment, strife for, 30
righteousness, need of, 499
Civil life, brotherhood in, 14
problems of, 138
Civil Service, the, 686-687
Act, observance of, 687
appointments, 686
Commission, 519, 521, 687
decision, a, 519
efficiency under, 687
laborers and, 687
Law, 519, 592
rules, revision of, 686
veterans and, 687
Civil War, the, 9, 17, 18, 19, 21, 32, 37, 40, 43, 55, 56, 61, 67,
72, 119, 141-142, 165, 186, 203, 205, 209, 211, 212, 217, 222,
223, 230, 232, 233, 308, 310, 311, 330, 377, 397, 433, 445,
451, 452, 478, 483, 486, 487, 489, 491, 492, 505, 507, 529, 607
abuses in the, 63
benefits of the, 491
difficulties of the, 489
generals of the, 489
heroes of the, 478
horrors of the, 452
importance of the, 72
issues of the, 483, 489
leaders of the, great, 491
memories of the, 591
men of the, 491, 607
passions produced by, 529
significance of the, 485
soldiers of the, 445
veterans of the, 489, 586, 590, 686
Civilians in the naval service, 582
Civilization, advance of, 113
Christianity and, 224
complexity of, 375
fundamental base of, 609
penalties of, 353
problems of, 375
weakening bonds of, 528
worth of, the, 133
Clark, George Rogers, 343, 454, 676, 677
Lewis and, memorial, 419
Class and nation, good for, 476
Class antagonism, foolish, 471
Class-distinctions, harmful, 473
wrong, 468-469
Class-government, 468-471
Classified service, 686
Clay, Henry, 87, 223
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 574, 751
Clearing House of Information, 650
Cleveland, Grover, President, 3, 10, 119
Coal, duty on, removal of, 616
Coal-land laws in Alaska, 677
Coal Strike Commission, 308, 322, 332-333, 521
benefits of, 309
College education, meaning of, 79-80
graduates, services of, 408
men and the State, 78-84
training, advantages of, 407
Colleges, duty of the, 32
preparing for service, 32
Collegians, duty of, 382
Collins, Patrick A., Mayor, 108
Colombia, United States of, 260, 693, 699, 705, 717
attitude of, on Panama, 707
canal negotiations with, 623
canal treaty with, 692
concessions to, 697
government of, 713
inefficiency of, in Panama, 703
Legislature of, 717
sovereignty of, over canal, 714
superseded in Panama, 694
treaty repudiated by, 697, 713
treaty with, 259, 697
United States recommendations to, 699
virtual war of, against United States, 731
Colombian revolutions, United States neutral in, 695
offer on canal treaty, 703, 716
Colon, capture of (1901), 702
United States control in, 708
Colonial Dames, Society of, 53
Colonization, Grecian, 345-346
Colorado, 361, 362, 364
River, Grand Canyon of, 326
Color no bar to office, 512, 515
Colored appointments in South, 516
Colored men, appointments of, 511
as office-holders, 510-514
in offices, 510-518
in United States offices, 511
opportunity for, 512
victims of lynching, 524
population, duty of the, 525
troops at Santiago, 446
Columbia, District of. See District of Columbia
Columbia University, 27-33
Columbus, Christopher, 151
Combination in restraint of trade, a, 282
Combinations, abuse of, unwarranted, 102
against evils, 100
benefit of, 26
labor, 26
necessity of, 542
need of regulating, 26
of capital, 26
controlling, 610
power of acting in, 548
reason for, 618
urban population and, 100
Commerce, American, development of, 656
Commission, Interstate, 649
currency and, 555
damage to, in war, 670
destruction of, in war, 672
farm products in, 557
foreign, growth of, 651
growing, in East, 98
in ancient times, 391-392
Interstate, Commission, 556
interstate, safety in, 685
interstate, situation on, 611-612
Commerce Law, Interstate, 545, 556
decisions on, 279
enforced, 660
ineffective, 279
strengthened, 280
Commerce, modern means in, 152, 170
Monroe Doctrine and, 576
needs of our, 617
old methods in, 113, 151
supervision of, 651
Commerce and Labor, Department of, 277, 476, 649-652
act establishing, 545
duties of, 620, 650
employees of, 649
importance of, 545
need for, 620
plea for, 620
Secretary of, 277, 519, 520, 545, 656, 658, 678
work of, 649
Commission, Coal Strike, 308
Fish and Fisheries, 639
International Exchange, 655
Land, recommended, 638
Land-Law, 681
Tariff, proposed, 616
Common school system, 591
Common-sense, 488
and honesty, 493
policy, a, 271
value of, 30
Communication, means of, 337
Community of welfare, 472
Commutation Clause, Homestead Law, 680
Competition, unjust and destructive, 556
Competitive examinations, written, 592
Complexity, present, of life, 101
Comradeship of soldiers, 14, 365
Concentration of population, 274
of wealth, 274
Conciliation in labor troubles, 308
Concord bridge, 83
Conditions, duty of facing, 111
irregularities in worldly, 101
present, superiority of, 101
Confederacy, the, 203
independence of, 484
Confederate armies, 42
navy, 209, 223
resolution of 1862, 63
soldiers, 19, 20, 21
soldiers, sons of, 512
Confidence, business, return of, 537
Congress, anarchists and, 535
Continental, 152, 243, 350
Cuban, 295
Library of, 598
neglect of War Department by, 9
power of, in interstate business, 611
Reed’s service to, 123
Treasury report to, 555
Washington City and, 225
Connecticut, 37, 44
Conscience, need of, 136
Constitution, United States, 2, 4, 57, 118, 141, 281, 344
amendments to, 276, 612
defects in, 544
limits set by, 611
operation of, 104
“Constitution,” Atlanta, the, 518
Consular service, cost of, reduced, 675
official tenure in, 593
promotions in, 593
reorganization of, 593
Consuls, United States, and commerce, 594
and foreign relations, 594
high standard for, 594
Continent, American, 606
Continental troops, 487
Contraband of war, 671
Control of corporations, object of, 610-611
Convict labor, competition of, 547
Co-operation, popular, 441
State and national, 363
Corporate fortunes, large, 538
misconduct, restraint of, 653
ownership and war problems, 672
wealth and the State, 777
wealth, natural causes of, 538
wealth not due to tariff, 538
Corporation control, lines of, 545
laws in Massachusetts, 116
sentiment on taxation, 763
taxation law recommended, 769
Corporations, 26
bureau of, 649
bureau of, work of, 650
caution in handling, 539
Commissioner of, 277
conditions on, changed, 545
Constitution on, United States, 544-545
control of, 272, 545
creatures of the State, 103, 275, 543
encouragement of, by law, 773
franchises to, 609
friendly attitude on, 651
growth of, 100
harm in checking, 140
honest, 650
honest, protection of, 785
honest, publicity and, 610
hostility to, improper, 610
independent of tariff, 613
inevitable development, an, 610
interstate control of, 543
laws on, benefit of, 784
national control of, 543
national control of, necessary, 544
national regulation of, 609
necessity of, 102
need of, 618
not to be destroyed, 610
publicity for, 476, 650, 785
publicity for, need of, 543
regulation of, 103, 609, 660
situation on, 609-617
State laws on, disagreement of, 544
subject to law, 543
supervision of, 103, 649
supervision of, extent of, 544
taxation of, 761-769
taxation of, difficulty in, 768
taxation of, percentage in, 768
taxation, share of, 765
taxed as realty, 769
taxes on, in foreign lands, 762
taxing, 786
troubles with, 147
variety of laws on, 153
violating the law, 280
wide field of, 153
wrongdoing by, 773
Corruption, 7
bribery and, 662-664
enormity of, 663
in public life, 502
no refuge for, 662
punishment of, 663
rare in Cabinets, 7
unknown with Presidents, 7
Cortelyou, George B., Secretary, 520
Costa Rica, Republic of, 707
Cotton, transportation of, 283
Cotton-growers, Southern, 364
Cotton-growing States, 684
Country, greatness of our, 484
and city, conditions in, 306
life, permanence of, 127
Couplings, car, law on, 310
Courage and resolution, 508
Courage, honesty, common-sense, 488
necessity of, 470, 500
value of, 30
Court of Appeals, New York, 476
Court, Supreme, United States, 505
Courtiers and demagogues, 472
Cowardice and dishonesty, 494
Crane, W. Murray, Governor, 108, 144
“Cranks,” letters from, 11
Crawford, George, 517
Creed of Americans, 607
of our forefathers, 480
Crime, apologies for, 533
law adequate to treat, 526
Crimes punished by lynching, 524
Criminals, no sentimentality for, 524
rights of, to fair trial, 526
Crises, great, of our history, 169
of American history, the, 57-58
produce leaders, 232
Crisis, need in a great, 288
Cromer, Lord, 80
Cromwell, Oliver, 499
Cruelties in the Philippines, 205
Cruelty, most destructive form of, 61
Cruisers, need of new, 581
Crum, Dr. W. A., 510
Cuba, 81, 185, 237, 294, 295, 408, 580, 590
administration of, 409
advantages of treaty to, 295
attitude toward, 197
before the Spanish War, 236
benefits brought to, 89-90
bonds to, our, 647
commercial treaty with, 645
constitution of, 568
dealings with, 265
difficulties of work in, 89, 411
duties toward, our, 621
faith with, 23
financial policy of, 646
governmental progress in, 567
independence of, 238, 567
interference in, United States, 753
liberation of, 22, 409, 621
market in, American, 647
Monroe Doctrine in, 576
Platt amendments on, 23
progress in, rapid, 646
protection of, 646
reciprocal relations with, 91
reciprocity with, 567, 647
Reciprocity Treaty with, 621-622
relations of, with United States, 568, 646
relations with, peculiar, 23, 24, 646
relations with, our, 87, 621
Republic of, 23, 47, 50, 54, 295
Spanish rule in, 23
strategic use of, 646
United States naval stations in, 646, 753
United States occupation of, 48, 238
Wood’s services to, 81, 411
work in, our, 408
wrongdoing in, 97
Cuban congress, 295
Government, 645
market, control of the, 622
market, greatness of, 647
policy, critics of the, 296
Reciprocity Treaty, 294, 296
treaty, advantages of, 647
war, Virginians in the, 457
Cumberland, army of the, 40, 42
Currency and domestic trade, 555
Currency, honest, advantages of, 190
integrity of the, 655
laws, 335
legislation, good, 477
sound, benefit of, 477
system, national, 476
values, permanent, 335-336
Customs, receipts from, 654
D
Da Gama, Vasco, 151
Dalton, Mass., 144
Danish Islands, 22
Danville, Va., 107
Dead, great, respect for the, 490
Deal, square, for all, 481
Debtor, poor, former hard lot of, 502
Decency, cause of, 497
spirit of, how applied, 482
strength and, 461
Declaration of Independence, 243, 349, 627
Dedication canticle, 446
Deeds and words, homage in, 491
Deficit, how to avoid, 555
Delivery, rural free, 600
benefits of, to farmers, 635
increased, 635
land values and, 635
Demagogic influence, 763
Demagogues, 9
courtiers and, 472
danger of, 25, 175
evil influence of, 533
reckless talk of, 533
Democratic office-holders, 517
Democrats, Gold, 512
Denver, Col., 361
Depression, periods of, 606
Deroux, Señor, speech of, 723
Desert-land law, 636, 680
Desert reclaimed in Utah, 436
Despotic monarchies, independence of, 65
Despotism,” “Gloomy Night of, 534
Despotism and republics, 257
Details, four-year, in Army, 588
Detroit, Mich., 185
Development, industrial, recent, 100
material, conditions of, 539
Dewey, George, Admiral, 401, 402, 465
fame of, 465
ships under, 402
Disaster, national, sure road to, 584
prophets of, false, 217
Disappointment of office-seekers, 11
Discontent, aimless, 533
righteous, 500
Discrimination, railroad, laws on, 322
un-American, 273
Dishonesty and cowardice, 494
Dissatisfaction, causes for, 9
District of Columbia, 511, 642
charities in, 688-689
classified service in, 592
commissioners of, 688
factory law in, 547
merit system in, 644
Disunion, spirit of, 17
Divisions, staff, in the Army, 588
_Dixie_, United States ship, 727, 734
Doane, William C., Bishop, 495
Domination, equal, of law, 481
Door,” “Open, in China, 98
Douglas, Stephen A., 505
Doves and serpents, 496
Duke, Basil, 517
Duncan, James, 522
Dutch Reformed Church, 44, 447, 505
Dues, “liken” and transit, in China, 674
Durbin, Winfield T., Governor, 523-528
Duties, Christian, 495
common, importance of, 412
earnest performance of, 412
Everyday, 493
home, vital, 493
importance of common, 55
life, 493
national and personal, 86
national, urgency of, 408
tariff, unnecessary, 552
to family and friends, 498
Duty, aim of life, the, 478
ideal of, 16
imperative, 31-32
infractions of, 59-60
national, our, 269
of the present, 43
responsibility of, 498
service and, 447
Duque, B. G., quoted, 721
E
East, growing commerce with the, 98
Economic conditions, complaints on, 214
conditions, facing, 111
evils, civilization and, 100
evils, treatment of, 101
evils, wisdom needed in treatment of, 100
forces in our affairs, 608
policy, stability in, 99, 193, 550, 613, 616
problems, 85-86
questions, 25
system, stability of, 302
Economy in expenditures, 555
Education, American, meaning of, 405
false ideals of, 290
importance of, 368
private benefaction in, 405
responsibilities of, 407
twofold, 289
twofold work in, 293
Educational body, significance of an, 287
Edward VII., King, 78
Edwards, Harry Stillwell, 516
Efficiency and honesty, public, 488
Efficiency in Army, efforts for, 587
Egean Sea, the, 391
Egypt, 374
war in, 80
Egyptians, the, 384
Ehrman, Consul, 698
Eight-hour law, enforcement of, 547
Electricity, “Centrifugal effect” of, 339
factor in civilization, a, 170
steam and, 339
Elimination, process of, in Army, 586
Eliot, Charles W., 78
Elk, senseless slaughter of, 636
Employer’s Liability Act, 643
Energy and prosperity, 99
England, 78, 260, 365
Lord Chief-Justice of, 666
Prime Minister of, 2
Sovereign of, 1
Enterprise, individual, benefits of, 539
successful, benefits of, 538-539
Enjoyment, benefits of, 452
capacity for, 452
Envy, evils of, 103, 173, 472
excited at prosperity, 98
foolishness of, 434
meanest form of admiration, 407
spirit of, 99
Euphrates, the, 391
valley of the, 384
Everett, Edward, quoted, 704
Everett, Washington, 426
Evil, forces of, 226
warfare against, 496
Evils, appearance of, 783
combinations against, 100
dealing with, wise, 608
economic, and civilization, 100
economic, treatment of, 101
social and economic, 99
Evolution _vs._ revolution, 148, 172, 611, 653, 780
Examinations, written competitive, 592
Example, force of, 461
Exchange, International, Commission, 655
Executive action and economic evils, 101
Expansion, critics of, 347, 422
destiny of United States, 422
first step in, our, 344, 676
greatest instance of, 596
immense, our, 393
national, 51
Roman, 346, 396
Expansionist, reasons for being, 390-391
Expansions, United States territorial, 454
Expenditures, dissatisfaction at, 8
economy in, 555, 655
management of, 7
national policy on, 555
purposes of, 8
revenue and, equal, 654
Export trade, great growth of, 647
with Cuba, 552
Extradition for bribery, 662
treaty with Mexico, 662
F
Factory laws, wise, 307
Faith and works, 448
Family, the, and the Nation, 493
Fargo, North Dakota, 310
Farmer, American, education of the, 305
Government help for the, 305
qualities of the, 128, 306, 466
Farmers, aid to, scientific, 641
standard of living of, 467
wage-workers and, 466-467
welfare of, important, 641
Farm life and rural free-delivery, 676
plants and cereals, new, 641
products, 303-304
in commerce, 557
Farm-owners, prosperity of, 608
Farming, advances in, 127
as an applied science, 128
lands in Alaska, 677
Farms, wealth invested in, 467
Farragut, David G., Admiral, 37, 203, 223, 230, 465
Federal Courts and anarchists, 535
Government, 141
grand jury, New York, 660
interference, instance of, 416
Library, 598
office-holders, 515-517
service departments, 3
service, high standard of, 518
Federal Salt Company, case against, 284
Federation and combination, era of, 652
Federation of Labor, American, 521
Federations of capital and labor, 618
Federations, reason for, 618
Fellowship, human, 355
Fighting and talking, 269
edge of Americans, 487
ship, use of a, 672
Filipino insurrectos, 571
ladrones, 571
insurrection condemned, 318
officials in Philippines, 95
Filipinos, advances among the, 96
beneficent government of, 96
Constitutional rights for, 207
co-operation of, 629
cruel wrong to the, 312
disadvantages to, some, 569
duty to the, our, 312
insurrection of the, 217
legislation favorable to, 315
measures used with, 571
officials among the, 314
prosperity of the, 218
rights of, 627
self-government for, 207
training of the, 679
treatment of, 60-62
unfit for independence, 204
war methods of the, 62
welfare of the, 314
Financial integrity preserved, 236
laws, suggestions on, 617
policy of Cuba, 646
situation, needs of, 655
system, reconstruction of, 617
Finland, 677
Fire claims, Hawaiian, 623
protection in forest reserves, 560
Fish and Fisheries, Commission of, 424, 639
Fish, Hamilton, Secretary, 705
Fisheries Commission, Alaskan, 678
Fisheries of Alaska, 424, 677
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 137
Flag, American, 21, 22, 36, 37, 42, 49, 59, 93, 94, 167, 205, 222,
230, 454, 464, 488, 495, 571, 572, 577, 588, 591
duties to the, 22
Flanders, Republic of, 471
Floods, prevention of, 251
Fools, virtuous, harmful, 290
Forage crops, new, introducing, 641
Foreigners and the patent laws, 684
Foreign nations, our trade with, 552
powers, friendship of, 270
Forest policy, United States, 249, 256
Forest preservation and land-reclamation, 683
duty of, 390
importance of, 441
need of, 327
object of, 387
scientific, 636
Forest problem, the, 251
Forest protection in Alaska, 638
not an end in itself, 558
wise policy of, 558
Forest reserves, additions to the, 558
as recreation camps, 560
as game preserves, 560
fire protection in, 560
for popular use, 560
injured by grazing, 560
lands for, 559
object of, 441
policy on, 440
situation on, 557-562
usefulness of, 558
Forest resources, need of preserving, 683
Foresters, Society of American, 249
Forestry, 426
aim of, 251
and lumbering, 253
and mining, 252
and water supply, 426
benefits of, 384
Bureau of, 559, 681, 684
practical, advance of, 559
progress in, 683
question of, 438
training in, need of, 254
work, division of, 684
Forestry work, Government, 683
Forests, Alaskan, 677
depletion of, 253
fire protection in, 683
Government and the, 250
injury to, by grazing, 439
natural reservoirs, 561
preservation of, necessary, 558
preservation of the, 305, 371
preserving, importance of, 250
public sentiment on, 558
rapid growth of, 427
value of, realized, 558
water supply and, 327, 418, 444, 559, 561
Forethought and preparation, need of, 580
Fort Leavenworth, school at, 689
Riley, War School at, 689
Fortune, good and bad, 98
success wrested from, 607
Fortunes, great, benefit of, 608
great, making of, 608
growth of corporate, 100
Founders of the Republic, spirit of, 396
France, 342, 668, 669
President of, 1
Franchises, corporate, 609
in the Philippines, 572
perpetual, evil of, 565
realty, treated as, 765
taxation of, 760-769
value of some great, 764
value of, varying, 766-767
Franchise taxation, bill on, 765-768
great advance in, 774
State right of, 762
Franchise Tax Law, 476
New York, object of, 775
Frankel, Lee K., 657
Franklin, Benjamin, 57
Frauds, appropriations on, 660-662
Frederick, Empress Dowager, 605
Freedom, 483
anarchy and, 529
and greatness combined, 287
has no discriminations, 528
Free government, requirements for, 488
Free list, anthracite on the, 296, 617
Freeport, Illinois, 444
Free trade, effects of, 180
Freight rates, discriminations in, 278
French cable lines, 626
Panama Canal Company, 623, 711
Friendship of foreign powers, 270
Fundamentals, Cromwell’s, 499
Future, confidence in the, 423
facing the, 607
G
Gamaliel, 29, 442
Gambling, danger of, 537
Game preserves, grazing and, 560
preserves, national, 636
protection, legislation for, 636
Gardiner, Montana, 324
Garfield, assassination of, 529
_Gemüthlichkeit_, capacity for, 452
General Allotment Act, the, 594
General Staff Law, 319
Generals, Civil War, 489
types of, 489
Generations, allotted tasks of, 502
Genius and all-around development, 288
Genoa, Italy, 151, 391
Geological Survey, United States, 559, 681
Georgia, 18, 164, 515, 516
appointments in, 517
Federal officers in, 517
German Ambassador, the, 261
-American citizens, 507
associations, debt to, 452
element, the, 506
Emperor, 262, 263
government, the, 262
immigration, 507
Reformed Church, 447
societies, 506-508
steamships, 656
strains, importance of, 506
Germany, 260, 365, 667, 669
Empress Dowager of, 605
first immigrants from, 450
Glacier Creek, Alaska, 667
Glory, ideal of, 16
God, fatherhood of, 449
service of, 447, 495, 497
Gold Democrats, 512
Gold standard, the, 476
advantages of the, 554
assured, 215
established, 554
vindicated, 236
Gompers, Samuel, 521, 522
Good, forces of, 226
Good roads, advantages of, 676
Convention, International, 336
question of, 305
Government, administration of, 26
American, genius of, 430, 434
and its employees, the, 522
and the people, 494
bonds, price of our, 554
by the mob, 470
by the people, 663
Chinese, the, 603, 674
class, 470
Constitutional powers of, 620
difficulties under our, 104
employees, standard of, 546
for all men, 434
free, 469
functions, how separated, 2
good, conditions of, 620
industries, reforms in, 547
National, the, 118, 309, 319, 493
nature of, 145
needed changes in, 152
of liberty, a, 474
popular, and bribery, 663
printing, limiting, 643
printing office, 518, 520
publications, useless, 643
receipts of the, 654
self, art of, 224
stability of the, 468
successful, 493
United States, the, 671
what the, can do, 443
what the, can not do, 145-146
what to expect of, 145
Governmental unit, the real, 109
Governors and State treasuries, 8
Graduate, college, prime quality in the, 29
Grain-raising communities, 335
Grand Army of the Republic, 14, 377, 482, 484
debt to the, 485
principles of the, 16
Grand Canyon, Arizona, 369
jury, Federal, on frauds, 660
Grant, Ulysses S., President, 18, 19, 137, 142, 166, 230, 232, 289,
329, 331, 399, 446, 452, 487, 489, 492
and the French cable, 626
messages of (1875, 1879), 626
soldiers of, 58, 487
Grass crop, the, 384
on ranges, the, 438
Grazing, forest reserves and, 558, 560
industry, importance of the, 366
injuries of, to game preserves, 560
injuries of, to forests, 439
injuries of, to water supply, 560
lands, large holdings in, 680
lands, question of using, 637
Great Britain, 78, 259, 667, 669
and Alaska, 664
canal negotiations with, 574
convention with, 622
friendliness with, 574
Greatness and freedom combined, 287
essentials of, 350, 354
lesson of true, 492
of the Nation’s destiny, 422
penalty of, 220
virtues of, 492
Great Northern Railroad, 281
Grecian colonization, 345-346
Greece, 151, 345
ancient, republics of, 471
Greed, cunning and violent, 307
Greek,” “The Americanized, 379
Greeks, ancient, 406
Greene, Francis V., 484
Growth of good and evil, 608
Guard, National, 319
Guard, National, training for the, 589
Gulf of Mexico, 202, 243, 257, 304, 351
Gun practice in the Navy, 631
Guns, men behind the, 464
H
Hague, The, Court of Arbitration, 264, 623, 669, 670, 673
Arbitration Union and, 673
Mexico and, 623
Peace Conference, 575
United States and, 623
Hamilcar, galleys of, 579
Hamilton, Alexander, 57
College, 80
Hancock, W. S., 489
Hanson, Major, 516
Happiness and usefulness, 478
and work, 356
Harlan, John M., Justice, 221, 505
Harmlessness not a great quality, 496
Harrison, Benjamin, President, 10, 119
Hartford, Connecticut, 85
frigate, 465
Harvard men, services of, 78-79
University, 78
Hatred, class and sectional, 334
Haverhill, Massachusetts, 118
Hawaii, 393
American community in, 566
an American Territory, 566
cable to, need of a, 573
cheap labor in, 566
large estates in, 566
legislation needed in, 566
light-houses in, 678
situation in, 566-567
Hawaiian cable, 625-627
fire claims, 623
Hay, John, Secretary, 79, 261, 263, 503, 504
Hay-Herran Treaty, the, 709, 712, 714, 715, 746,
-Pauncefote Treaty, the, 87, 259, 712, 714
Help, grudging, 497
to self-help, 549
true kind of, the, 130
Helpfulness, value of, 146
Henderson, D. B., Speaker, 40
Herbert, Sir Michael, 263
Herkimer, Nicholas, General, 507
Heroic qualities, need of, 68
Heroism and common duties, 412
nature of, 54
Herrera, Benjamin, General, 720
Historic associations, charm of, 455
History, great examples in, 408
great crises of our, 119
Hitt, Robert R., Congressman, 444
Hoar George F., Senator, 79
Holidays, significance of, 57
Holleben, Baron von, 261
Holy Name Society, 458-462
work of, 459
Homage in deeds and words, 491
Home-builders, public lands and, 680
Home life, highest joys of, 509
Home-making, importance of, 436
national upbuilding, 563
Homes, creation of, 441
Homestead Law, the, 567
and prosperity, 637
commutation clause, 636, 680
Homestead laws, good from, 389
Homesteads and ranges, 439
Honesty, common-sense, 138
common-sense and, 493
courage, common-sense, and, 488
efficiency and public, 488
importance of, 499-500
militant, 500
Honor, deserving, those, 479
National and personal, 396
rugged ways to, 395
Honor roll of our fathers, 492
of the Nation, 479
Horses, cavalry, worn-out, 631
in the arid region, 438
Household affairs, importance of, 648
Households, National and private, 648
Houston, Samuel, General, 203
Howell, Clark, 514-518
Hubbard, John, Commander, 724, 734
letters from, 731-740
services of, 740-744
Humbert, King, assassination of, 535
Humorist, an American, 496
Humphrey, C. B., Captain, 724
Hynes, Thomas W., 657
I
Idaho, 113, 324, 326, 327
Ideal, devotion to an, 230
striving for the, 478
Ideals for labor and capital, 619
Idler, no room for the, 478
Idlers useless in life, 356
Illinois, 113, 223, 335, 343, 444, 446
region, the, 343
Immigrants, anarchistic, exclusion of, 549
churches, the, and, 447
distribution of, 657
duty to, our, 448
educational test for, 549
good, need of, 549
immoral, exclusion of, 549
industrial test for, 550
need of caring for, 448
Immigration, committee on, 657
contract-labor, 546
German, 507
Law, 618
laws, defects in, 549
limiting, 657
recommendations on, 658
report on, 658
service, New York, 657
Importance, new, of United States, 268
Impossible, insistence on the, 611
Independence, cause of, 507
Day, 57, 96, 288, 380, 627
Declaration of, 243, 349, 627
desire for, 508
ideal of, true, 65
struggle for, 18
Indiana, 343
Indian absorption, first step in, 640
agencies, reduction of, 595
agents, bonded superintendents as, 684
agents, ex-Army officers as, 684
agents, non-partisan, 684
allotments, leasing of, 594
question, the, 594-596
schools, work in, 639
Indian Territory, education in, 639, 685
illiteracy in, 685
mixing races in, 639
Indian tribal funds, 594
tribal lands, 594
tribes, civilization of, 639
wars, 571
Indianola, 516
Indians, absorption of the, 639
agriculture among, 595
Alaskan, 678
aptitude of, natural, 640
as citizens, 594
dealings with the, 639-641
difficulties in dealing with, 640
education of, higher, 595
equality for, 369
hostile, in United States, 571
industrial education for, 595
industries among, 639, 640
in the Spanish War, 371
liquor traffic and the, 595
marriage laws of, 595
progress of, 368-369
progress of the, slow, 639
ration system for, 595
recognition of the, 594
reservation system for, 595
schools for, 595
stock-raising by, 595
teaching English to, 640
Indifference, Government, 306
Individual and Nation compared, 291
energy, need of, 609
initiative, 26
the, and the State, 107
Individual merit, standard of, 620
Industrial centres, upbuilding of, 538
Industrial conditions, 198, 435
antagonism to, 538
complaints on, 214
present, 351
Industrial convulsions, 10
abuses, 783
changes, recent, 274, 538
development, 100, 339, 537, 608
enterprises in Philippines, 572
expositions, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25
growth, 219
growth, use of, 359
laws, State and Federal, 548
peace, 198
problems, 143, 159, 274, 302, 332, 778-784
prosperity, 22, 147
prosperity, period of, 24
remedies, applying, 781
remedies, impossible, 541
solutions, 148-149, 175
system, present, 159
world, leadership in the, 611
Industrialism, modern, conditions of, 610
Industries, American, market for, 297
home, and reciprocity, 551
needs of our, 617
Industry, captains of, 539
leaders of, 298
Inequalities in worldly condition, 101
Influence, increasing, our, 393
political, in offices, 586
Influences, good and evil, 52
Information, clearing house of, 650
Inheritance, great, our, 480
Iniquity and high words, 449
Injunction, perpetual, a, 283
Inspection, Naval Board of, 692
Institutions of learning, 293
Instruction in the Navy, 582
progressive, in the Navy, 583
Insular possessions and politics, 593
our, 679
Insular possessions, duties to our, 759
Insurrectos, Filipino, 571
Interest, community of, 468
rates, equalization of, 617
Interference, benefits of our, 754
Federal, instance of, 416
Government, 306
invoking, time for, 307
Interior, Department of the, 249
Secretary of the, 416, 682
International attitude, normal, 197
Interstate business, corporations in, 609
regulation of, 611
Interstate commerce, 649
control of, 310
safety in, 685
Commission, 556, 649
Interstate Commerce Law, 545, 546, 556
amendments for, 556
decisions, 279
defects of, 556
enforced, 660
illegal practices under, 556
strengthened, 280
violations of, 556
wisdom of, 556
Iowa, 223, 335
Ireland, 365
Irrigation Act, the, 303, 361, 362, 370, 415
care in enforcing, 443
importance of, 442
National, 680
Irrigation, applying, 371
arid land (Western), 636
benefits of, 387
defective laws on, 564
development and the States, 561
development by, 367
effects of, 370
experience in, beneficent, 566
Federal aid of, 562
forest reserves and, 558
good beginnings in, 636
land-reclamation and, 682-684
mining and, 563
National aid in, demanded, 565
Nationally aided, 636
policy in, 418
private capital in, 564
question of, 441
reservoirs as public works, 562
reservoirs in Utah, 444
reservoirs, United States, control of, 561
saving waters for, 559
situation on, 562-566
State laws and, 682
Utah, 442-443
work of, 367, 415-416
works, control of, 443
works, ownership of, 363, 564
Isthmian Canal, 22, 87, 125, 258-260, 264, 393, 426, 577
benefits of, 573, 624
building, work of, 91
control of, 704
demand for, 577
feat, a great, 624
importance of, 91, 573, 696
Navy and the, 632
negotiations on, 574
neutrality of, 705
old project, an, 696
Panama, at, 623
policy in building, 624
question settled, 693
rights in, our, 694
situation on, 573-574, 623-624
treaties on the, 574, 693-700
United States attitude on, 711
Isthmus transit trade, protection of, 695
Italy, 260, 337, 535, 668, 669, 705
republics of, 471
J
Jackson, Andrew, President, 2, 13, 203, 232
Japan, 410
Japanese Government, the, 627
Jay, John, Secretary, 343, 391, 392
Jefferson, Thomas, President, 13, 232, 419, 454, 455
statesmanship of, 419
Jenkins, Micah, 20, 165
Jeshurun, days of, 99
Jetté, Louis Amable, Sir, 666
Johnson, Walter, 516
Jones, Judge, of Alabama, 517
Jordan, David Starr, 377, 380
Judas-like infamy, 531
Justice, bar of, 494
delayed, evils of, 526
Department of, 612, 660
National policy of, 396
speedy, _vs._ lynching, 525
Just man armed, the, 578
K
Kansas, 353
_Kearsarge_, battleship, 459, 463-464
Kent, James, Chancellor, 766
Kentucky, 37, 166, 222, 223, 506, 508, 517
founding of, 453
loyalty of, 222
Kitchener, Lord, 80
Knox, Philander C., Attorney-General, 117, 219, 281, 331
Korea, 674
L
La Abra award against Mexico, 605
Labor, American Federation of, 521
and capital, common ground of, 651
situation on, 618-619
cheap, influx of, 550
in Hawaii, 566
combinations of, 26
convict, competition of, 547
cost here and abroad, 615
fair treatment for, 618
harmed by violence, 475
interference with, no, 521
laws, model, 309
legislation, 321
organized, duty of, 619
problems, 332
protected by the tariff, 546
unions, 520-521
unions, great importance of, 652
Laborers and the Civil Service, 687
contract, importation of, 546
Ladrones, Filipino, 94, 207, 571
Land, arid, fund for reclaiming, 679
commission recommended, 638
frauds, public, 661
Land Law Commission, 681
revision in the West, 680
Land laws, Alaskan, 638, 677
changes in, 681
defects in, 389
effect of, 680-681
misuse of, 388
operation of, 680-681
perversion of, 636
public disagreements on, 681
State and National, 562
Land office, general, 558, 681
receipts of, 679
Land policy, clear government, a, 563
in Hawaii, 567
United States, 441
Land, President’s power on public, 559
Land-reclamation and forests, 638
and irrigation, 682-684
conduct of, 683
Lands, arid, reclamation of, 682
arid, surveys in, 682
farming, in Alaska, 677
grazing, large holdings in, 680
Indian tribal, 594
public, Alaskan, 677
extent of, 415
fences on, 637, 680
laws on, 661
proceeds from, 682
settlement in, retarded, 680
timber, large holdings in, 680
Lansdowne, Marquis of, 263
Law, administration of, proper, 433
advantages of enforcing, 112
asks no permissions, 474
caution in executing, 443
critics of the, 431
development of, 783
enforcement of, 26
equal domination of, 481
franchise tax, 476
majesty of, vindicated, 523
might of the, 536
obedience to, 474
obedience to a right, 653
obedience to, liberty and, 528
orderly liberty under, 523
work of, in securing fairness, 335
Laws, adjustable, need for, 99
ambiguity in, 117
anti-trust, 117
corporation, in Mass., 116
existing, enforcement of, 107
fair, beneficial to all, 476
fearless administration of, 323
fixity of, undesirable, 99
for political effect, 115
impartiality of, 522
interstate commerce, needed, 611
limitations of, 99
and national character, 487
inclusive, necessary, 114
old, insufficiency of, 538
perversion of, 636
good, significance of, 487
wise, benefit of, 99
Leaders born on occasion, 232
great American, 232
great, qualities of, 493
in peace and war, 289
Learning, institutions of, 293
Lee, Robert E., General, 19, 166, 483
Legal procedure, needs in, 525
Legislation, additional, needed, 118
Army, need of new, 589
betterment by, 330
currency, good, 477
equal opportunity by, 323
limits of, 213, 323, 331
nature of good, 323
revolutionary, bad, 477
unwise, effect of, 606
Legislative action and economic evils, 101
Legislature, the, symbol of free government, 287
Leisler, Jacob, 506
Leland Stanford, Jr., University, 377
Lesson of great lives, 492
Letters, personal, 508-528
to President, 11
Levees on Mississippi River, 154
Lewis and Clark, 454
centennial of, 677
memorial to, 419
Lewis, Meriwether, 676, 677
Liberty, civil, in Philippines, 96
crimes in name of, 449
despotism and, 469
devotion to, 213
guaranteed to all, 653
in deed, not word, 469
loss of, 471
love for, 15
obedience to law and, 528
order and, 488
orderly, 17, 523
orderly, in United States, 288
orderly, under law, 523
seeming, 470
spirit of, 41
strength and, in United States, 288
through law, 433
unfitness for, 470
union and, cause of, 507
Libraries, public, 598-599
in United States, 598
work of, 598
Library, Federal, 598
movement, the public, 598
of Congress, 598
work of, 599
Library, resources of, 599
Life, aim of, duty the, 478
American distinctions in, 486
complexity of, present, 101
duties of, 493
duty the aim of, 478
essentials of a true, 508-509
of hard work, 459
old conditions of, 100-101
-saving service, the, 685
seeing, 460
work, readiness for, 497
worthiness of, 493
worth living, the, 459
worthy sort of, 459
Light-houses in Alaska, 678
in Hawaii, 678
“Liken” dues in China, 674
Lincoln, Abraham, President, 11, 15, 18, 39, 57, 61, 63, 137, 211,
230, 232, 288, 290, 329, 331, 398, 399, 445, 451, 452, 470,
483, 488, 503, 506
and Washington, 445
assassination of, 529
birthday of, 19
birth State of, 506
days of, 607
-Douglas debates, 505
friend of the people, 531
greatness of, 445
guard at tomb of, 446
honoring memory of, 445
-like phrase, a, 504
magnanimity of, 505
martyrdom of, 17
monument to, 445
nobility of, 504
pew of, 503
piety of, 504
power of, 504
principles of, 212
private secretary of, 503
speech of, a, 504
statesmanship of, 58
war rules of, 62
words of, 444-445
“Lincoln’s hirelings,” 63
Line, where drawn in America, 431
Liquor traffic and the Indians, 595
Literature, Poe in world, 456
Lives, great, lesson of, 492
Locomotive brakes, law on, 310
Locomotive Firemen, Brotherhood of, 156-167
Lodge, Henry Cabot, Senator, 79, 665
Logan, John A., General, 489
Logansport, Indiana, 187
Logic, pure, restricted application of, 776-777
London, England, 666
Long, John D., Secretary, 79
Loomis, Francis B., Assistant Secretary, 729, 730
Loose tongue, evil of a, 271
Louisiana, 112, 304, 517
rice in, 641
Purchase, 341-353, 454, 596, 676
importance of, 342
Purchase Exposition, 341, 676
Territory of, 343
Louisville, Kentucky, 508
Love and charity, 355
and work, 356
for liberty and union, 15
need of a broad, 355
Low, Seth, 29
Loyalty and patriotism, 493
that counts, the, 44
Lumbering, 426
capital invested in, 427
conservative, 417
destructive, 417
forestry and, 426
importance of, 427
in Alaska, 425
mining and, 252
progressive, 683
railroads and, the, 252
Lutheran Church, 447, 507
Luxury, vicious and frivolous, 509
Lynching, 60, 61
action on, 523
alarm at, 524
anarchy encouraged by, 527
crimes punished by, 524
discouragement of, 528
duty of denouncing, 528
evil effects of, 526
growth of, in United States, 524
horror at, 526
letter on, 523-528
real objections to, 524
speedy justice and, 525
Lynn Canal, Alaska, 665, 666
M
Macabebes, Government aid for, 571
loyalty of the, 571
Macaroni wheat, introduction of, 641
Machinery, development of, 306
Madison, James, President, 455
Mail carriers, compensation for, 675
Mail delivery, extent of, 600
free, appropriations for, 635
free, benefits of, 676
free, extension of, 675
free, rural, 634, 675, 686
Mail matter, second-class, 600
Maine, 112
“Maladversion,” accusation of, 80
Malefactors, treatment of, 494
Malmros, Oscar, Consul, 729
Man, essentials of a true, 482
that counts, the, 395
value of the, in civilization, 133
worth of a, 481
Manchuria, capital of, 674
Manila, 119, 267, 421
battle of, 401, 463, 579, 580
Manila-Hongkong cable, British, 626
success at, reasons for, 403
Mankind, advance of, 106
Manliness, value of true, 134
Manœuvres, camp sites for, 689
Marine, merchant, condition of, 553
Market for American industries, 297
Markets, strengthening of, 651
wider, 553
Marksmanship, attention to, 630
in the Navy, 404
Marriage, avoidance of, 509
laws of Indians, 595
Marroquin, J. M., President, 722
Marshall, John, Chief Justice, 57
quoted, 764
Maryland, 504, 507
Germans in, 507-508
Massachusetts, 223
corporation laws of, 116, 544
Material prosperity, 50-51
Mathematics at West Point, 589
McClellan, George B., General, 489
McCook, Colonel, 353, 354
McCormick, Robert S., Ambassador, 457
McIlhenny, John, 517
McKinley, William, President, 39, 78, 119, 211, 213, 215, 231-242,
311, 397, 410, 515, 688
American, a typical, 398
and Lincoln, 398
anxiety of, for right, 531
appointees of, 515
assassin of, 532
assassination of, 529-533, 597
birthday of, 231
candidate for Presidency, 235
champion of workers, 531
choice of the people, 531
Civil War, in the, 233
Congress, in, 234
death of, 531, 605-606
desire of, for peace, 236
devotion of, to ideals, 234
elections of, 213, 214
Governor of Ohio, 234
grandeur of, 531
greatness of, 240-242
heroism of, 531
leadership of, 233
martyrdom of, 17, 240
memorial, 39
memory of, 400
message of (1898), 670
monument to, 397-400
national debt to, 409
nobility of, 530
Pan-American Congress and, 605
people, friend of the, 531
policy of, vindicated, 239
power of leadership of, 234
President of United States, 234
principles of, 212
quoted, 216, 311, 670
soldier, as a, 397-398, 530, 531
standard-bearer, popular, 531
triumph of, 240
wide love for, 530
McMaster, John Bach, 501
Medora, North Dakota, 320
Meade, George G., General, 489
Mediation in labor troubles, 308
Mediterranean, commerce on the, 391
Memorial Day, 56
Memphis, Egypt, 151
Tennessee, 202
Merchant Marine, building up, 651
condition of, 553
development of, 656
importance of, 553
Merchant princes, Phœnician, 201
Merit, individual, standard of, 620
sole rule in the Army, 586
Merit system, appointments under, 591, 644
benefits of the, 592
examinations and, 592
in Philippines, 593
in Porto Rico, 593
success of the, 687
Mesopotamia, 151, 374
Mesopotamian Valley, 113
Methodism in America, 242-248
Methodist Church, growth of the, 243
work of the, 243-246
Methodists, work of, 39
Mexican War, 10, 72, 222, 454, 746
Mexico, 668, 669
capital of, 604
extradition treaty with, 662
funds due to, 605
Gulf of, 202, 243, 257, 304, 351
joint note from, 655
Pan-American Congress in, 604
President of, 747
Republic of, 264
The Hague Tribunal and, 623
Weil and La Abra Awards in, 605
Michigan, 186
Midshipman, the title, 581
Military Academy, United States, 70
education, need of, 589
life, brotherhood in, 14
Surgeons’ Association, 68-70
training, value of, 77
Militia, action on, needed, 589
law, 319
law, new, 320
law, present, worthless, 589
laws, obsolete, 630
Naval, State, 583-584
system, reorganizing, 630
volunteer forces and, 630
Millennium, the, not yet come, 435
Miller, William A., 518, 520
case of, 518-523
Mills, Colonel, 70, 73, 74
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 272
Mind, strength of, 30
Mining, agriculture and, 437
conditions of, 252
enterprises in China, 674
forest reserves and, 558
forestry and, 252
interests in Alaska, 665
in Utah, 437
irrigation and, 563
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 292, 294
Minnesota, 286, 292, 311
Legislature of, 286
University of, 289, 292
Volunteers, 13th, 311
Misconduct and wealth, 610
Missionaries in China, rights of, 674
pioneer work of, 342
Missionary service, 495
work, 45-50
Mississippi, 343, 511, 517
River, 51, 148, 154, 281, 284,
341, 351, 419, 422, 425, 426,
454
Valley, 202, 364, 563
Missouri, 223, 336, 341, 451, 596
German loyalty in, 507
Germans in, 451
Mitchell, John, 522
Mob violence, consequences of, 528
evil of, 475
form of anarchy, 523
Modern life, good and evil in, 292
Mohammedans in Philippines, 96
Monetary system, elasticity of the, 617
Monopolies founded on railroad rates, 279
restraining trade, 612
Monopoly, tendency to, 609
Monroe Doctrine, the, 125, 257-268, 270, 575-577
affirmed, 575
benefits of, 576
commerce and, 576
defined, 261-262, 575
enunciation of, 690
in Cuba, 576
limits of the, 576
loyalty to the, 578
no hostile manifesto, 576
not international law, 265
our policy, 632
peace, a means of, 578
Monroe, James, President, 87, 455, 575
messages of, 575, 690
on the Monroe Doctrine, 575
quotation on Navy, 690
Montana, 324, 326, 327, 362, 432
Moody, Dwight L., 134
Moody, William H., Secretary, 118, 122, 728
Morality, social, a lesson of, 309
Moro campaign, 690
Moros, troubles with the, 96, 627
Morrison, Frank, 522
Mosquera, General, 701
Mounted rifleman, the, 585
Mount St. Alban, District of Columbia, 495
St. Elias, 664, 666
Vernon, 41
Vernon, preservation of, 644
Mohawk Valley, New York, 507
Muhlenburg, F. A., Representative, 450
Mukden, China, 674
Municipal ownership discussed, 776
Munsterberg, Hugo, Professor, 28
Murders of foreigners in China, 602
Murphy, Governor, 482, 483
Murphy, G. Mallet-Prevost, Lieut., 724
Museum, National, need of a, 598
proposed, 642
Music, enjoyment of, 453
N
Napoleon Bonaparte, 50
Napoleonic struggles, 489
_Nashville_, United States steamship, 727, 732, 734, 737
Nation, aggregate of families, 493
debt of, to Germans, 508
duty as a, our, 269
first thing for a, to do, 50
glory of the, 491
honor roll of the, 479
individual and, compared, 291
making a great, 480
opportunities for the, 396
peace as a, our, 396
preservation of the, 489
stock range of the, 438
strength of our, cramping the, 540
National Banking Law, 554
Board of Trade, 225
boundaries, our, 676
character, laws and the, 487
character, standard of, 16
expansion, 51
Fish Commission, 424
Government, the, 118, 309
National Guard, the, 319
appropriations for, 590
in war times, 590
manœuvres of, 689
organization of, 589
Regular Army and, 590
reorganizing, 630
training the, 77, 589
use of, 689
National life, cause of true, 448
museum, need of a, 598
powers, State and, 276
supervision, need for, 610
Naturalization offences, 661
Nature, beauties of, 376
Naval Academy, United States, 33-36, 581, 584
enlargement, needed, 633
graduates of the, 583
Naval base in Philippines, 691
cadet, the title, 581
efficiency, standard of, 583
gun-practice, funds for, 631
intelligence, office of, 692
manœuvres in peace, 582
militia, State, 583-584
militia, object of the, 583
officers, duties of, 34-36
Reserve, National, 584
Reserve, demand for, 584
shore duties, civilians in, 582
stations in Cuba, 646
vessels, need of new, 581
War College, 692
Navigation, Bureau of, 692
Navy, United States, the, 203, 401, 465
activity of, in peace, 121-122
admiral of the, 631
and Army, 463
auxiliary, 584
builders of the, 580
completing, no cessation in, 581
commercial importance of, 394
condition of, in 1882, 402, 579
Confederate, 209, 223
Congressional action on, late, 403
credit for the, 580
Department, 34, 266, 295, 559, 584, 691, 692
efficiency in the, 582, 691
efficient, need of an, 266, 394, 577
enlisted men of the, 465
first-class, need of a, 632
excellence of the, 34
General Board of the, 583, 592
General Staff in, 692
gunnery in the, 631
history of the, present, 579
importance of the, 577
improvised, impossible, 578, 632
inadequate, dangers of an, 632
instruction in the, 582, 583
Isthmian Canal and, 632
manœuvres in, extensive, 631
marksmanship in the, 691
memorial monument, 401-404
men for, need of good, 583, 632
men of the, 120
men of the, credit to, 421
men of the, training for, 403
mercantile, our, 394
military, our, 394
necessity of a good, 584
necessity of maintaining, 198
no politics in, 209
officers, additional, needed in, 633
officers and men for the, 581
officers in, credit due, 633
officers in, scarcity of, 633
officers of, work of, 691
peace, guarantee of, 267, 577, 578, 632
plea for the, 404
plea for, by President Monroe, 690
policy on, National, 402
preparation in, need of, 401, 578
pride in, 492
progressive instruction in the, 583
promotion in, fostering, 633
public debt to, 588
recruits in, raw, 633
retirement from, facility in, 633
Secretaries of the, 403
Secretary of, Advisory Board to, 692
Secretary of the, 79, 309, 579, 580, 581, 583, 656
services of the, great, 119
ships and crews in the, 632
ships for, providing new, 631
situation on the, 577-584
skill in the, need of, 120-121
Spanish, 580
standard of the, high, 465
Surgeon-General of, 457
target practice in the, 582
the new, 402
training in the, 119, 579-580
upbuilding of the, 402, 631, 691
war, not a provocation to, 578
Yard, Bremerton, Wash., 420
Nebraska, 329
Needs, National, laws for, 99
Negro appointments, attitude on, 513
defended, 516
fewness of, 512
Negro criminals, 524
“domination,” 511, 513, 516
office-holding, 510-518
rights of the, 446
Negroes appointed in South, 516
appointments of, 511
victims of lynching, 524
_Nero_, United States ship, soundings by, 625
Netherlands, the, 151, 668, 669
Nevada, 362, 414, 416
agriculture in, 417
development of, 417
irrigation in, 415-416
Land-reclamation in, 682
laws of, irrigation, 417
mineral products of, 417
public lands in, 415
stock-raising in, 417
water supply of, 415
Newell, F. H., 681
New England, 97, 113
town meeting, 533
Newfoundland, reciprocity with, 622
New Granada, 717
passing away of, 694
sovereignty guaranteed to, 696
New Jersey, 281, 482
veterans of, 482
New Mexico, 364, 365, 366, 368
New Orleans, La., 401, 511
Newspapers, reckless talk in, 533
sensational, 9
New York City, 29, 31, 196, 242, 401
America’s entry-port, 196
Chamber of Commerce, 196-202
government of, 506
“Herald,” quoted, 722, 723
National importance of, 196
“Times,” quoted, 722
New York State, 97, 113, 223, 466, 507, 518
Agricultural Association, 466
Federal Grand Jury, 660
negro office-holders in, 513
Nicaragua Canal route, 692, 710
Republic of, 707
Nichols law in Ohio, 767
Nile, River, 151, 391
Nineteenth Century, progress in, 537
Nineveh, 113, 151
North Carolina, 167
North Dakota, 310, 311, 320
Northern Pacific Railroad, 281
Northern Securities Company, 281
suit against, 282
Northfield, Mass., 134
Norway, 668, 669, 677
O
Obaldía, Governor, of Panama, 722
Obedience to law, 474
Ocean Mail Act of 1891, 656
O’Connell, James, 522
Office, character prime test for, 515
Office-holders, Democratic, 517
political influence in, 586
typical American, 589
Office-seekers disappointed, 11
Ohio River, 454
Valley, 563
_Olympia_, cruiser, 463, 465
Omaha, Neb., 329, 333
O’Neill, Bucky, 369
“Open door” in China, 98, 604
Opportunities, National, 396
present, 87
Opportunity for colored men, 512
Orderly liberty, 523
and virtue, 481
Oregon, 97, 112, 393, 419, 426, 677
country, acquisition of, 677
men in the Philippines, 419
pioneers of, 419
Organization, law of, 189
benefits of, 159
Organizations, labor, need of, 102
opposition to, 618
the public and, 619
Orient, the, 304
awakening of the, 97
duties in the, 92, 95
growing commerce in, 98
Oriental trade, 429
Over-capitalization, evils of, 172, 542
fraudulent, 612
Over-grazing, evils of, 439-441
Ownership, corporate, and war problems, 672
State and private, 777
Oyster Bay, N. Y., 458, 520, 523
P
Pacific cable, 393
action on the, 625
Congressional power in, 626
laying of, 98
need of a, 573
Pacific Coast, 51, 364, 385 line, 393
Pacific Ocean, the, 203, 243, 257, 281, 338, 343, 372, 393, 401, 419,
422, 454, 676
domination of, our, 393, 429
commerce in the, 392
importance of, future, 400
our interests in the, 97
power on, United States, 601
seaboard, 677
Pacific Slope, the, 205, 372, 373, 395, 420, 421, 423
Page, Thomas Nelson, 457, 517
Palma, Tomas Estrada, President, 295
Palmetto State, the, 20
Palo Alto, Cal., 377
Panama, arms imported into, 720,
attitude of United States in, explained, 698-707
Bay of, 708
bombardment of, 730
Canal Act of 1902, 709
Canal Company, French, 623, 711
Canal Company, New, 710, 749, 780
Canal, treaty on, 692-693
City of, and Colon, feeling in, 720
City of, United States control of, 708
continual revolutions in, 700
dissatisfaction in, cause of, 725
Government of, recognized, 699
guaranteed from invasion, 696
Hubbard’s work in, 731-744
independence of, guaranteed, 708
independence movement in, 719
independence newspapers on, 720-724
interference in, by United States, 707, 727
Isthmian Canal at, 623
Railway, 709
railway and canal rights in, 708
Railroad, disturbance on (1887), 702
revolutions, United States neutrality in, 695
route preferred by Congress, 259, 693
right of way in, 693
sentiment in, 715
sovereignty guaranteed in, 696
sovereignty in, 695
treaty with, 707
United States fortifications in, 709
United States grants in, 708
United States interventions in, frequent, 745
United States neutrality in, 694
United States warships at, 740
United States forces in, 703
Panama, Republic of, 693, 717
message on, 709-757
status of, 694
recognition of, justified, 750
recognized by the Powers, 752
unanimity in, 698
Panama Revolution of 1903, 698, 719-728
bloodless, 698, 743
despatches on, 727-729
duty of United States in, 698
interference of United States in, 698
occasion of the, 698
Pan-American Congress, 604-605, 751
United States Delegates to, 605
Pan-American Exposition, 529
Panics, 10
safeguards against, 555
Paralysis of business energies, 614
Parents, wishes of true, 395
Party system, true aim of, 191
Past, forgetfulness of the, 63
reverence for historic, 503
Pasturage, need of providing, 439
question of, 438
Patents, land, in Alaska, 678
Patents to foreigners, 684
Patience and resolution, 488
Patriotic societies, thoughts on, 55
value of, 36
Patriotism, spirit of, 492
variant of loyalty, 493
Peace, anxiety for, our, 578
and arbitration, 622-623
conditions of maintaining, 575
Conference, The Hague, 575
duties of, 492
effective plea for, 198
forces tending toward, 673
for the just man armed, 394
industrial, 198
naval manœuvres in, 582
safeguards for present, 634
situation on, 574-575
steady trend toward, 197
surest way of obtaining, 394
true conditions of, 578
war and, leaders in, 289
war and, spirit in, 488
work of, 22
world-wide, present, 606
Pearse Inlet, 666
Peckham, Rufus W., Justice, 671
quotation from, 671
Pekin, foreign quarter in, exclusive, 602
guards in, permanent military, 602
representatives in, safety of, 602
Pennsylvania, 205, 219, 333, 512
Germans in, 507
Pension Bureau, work of the, 686
People and the Government, 494
government by the, 663
plain, prosperity of, 608
responsibility of the, 441
right of the, to water, 418
Performance and Promise, 413-414
Pershing, Captain, services of, 690
Perez y Sotos, proposal by, 722
Peru, 705
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 211
Philbin, Eugene A., 657
Philippine cable, 625-627
Commission, 81
independence impossible, 93
policy, critics of the, 296, 318
Philippine War, 21, 39, 59, 85, 92, 217-218, 399, 488
aim of the, 314
conduct of, 59-67
difficulties of, 628
end of, 207, 316
hardships of, 313
justified, 98
McKinley on, 311
necessity of, 92, 204
object of, 64
outcry against, 311
veterans of, 591
Philippines, the, 59, 60, 82, 83, 185, 203, 204, 206, 210, 211, 223,
237, 311, 312, 313, 393, 394, 408, 410, 577, 580, 590
aims in the, our, 568
Americanism in the, 628
amnesty declared in, 96, 627
anarchy in, danger of, 569
appointments in the, 569
appropriation for the, 315
armies in the, 63
arms in, triumph of, 628
army in, praise for, 628
army in, reduction of, 94
banditti in the, 571
benefits from, 98
benefits of United States rule in, 92, 93
brigandage in the, 313, 315
business in the, 572
cable to, need of a, 573
cattle disease in the, 315
-China cable, 626
civil government in the, 95, 207, 314, 409, 569, 627
conditions in the, 568
constructive statesmanship in, 629
course in, our, unexampled, 569
cruelties in the, 64, 205, 217-218, 313, 628
development of the, 572
difficulties in the, 568
difficulties of war in, 93-94
duty in, our, 238, 569
“errors” in the, our, 570
fear in, our only, 570
Filipino officials in, 95
franchises in the, 572
freedom withdrawn in, 570
freest Asiatic country, 208
good government in, 210
Governors of, 21
holding the, 628
improved conditions in, 589
industrial enterprises in, 572
insurrection in the, 571
interests of, 67
ladrones in, 94, 207
laws made in the, 96
laws in, triumph of, 628
legislation for the, 571
liberty in the, 315
merit system in, 593
military rule in the, 314
mission, our, in the, 394
naval base, in, 691
new era in the, 627
officials in, choosing, 679
Oregon men in, 419
peace in the, 218
perplexing problems in, 238
policy in, proper, 318, 627
progress in, 679
prosperity in, 410, 568, 679
representative government, 96
results of “liberating,” 66, 92
restoring peace in, 312
retention of, necessary, 569
self-government in the, 93, 206, 570
situation in the, 567-573, 627
soldiers in the, 206, 628
statesmanship in the, 97
Taft’s services to, 410
tariff arrangements with, 679
tariff reduction to the, 296, 315
wealth of, natural, 572
wrongdoing in the, 97, 313, 628
Phœnician merchant-princes, 201
Phœnicians, 151
Physical development, need of, 293
Pilgrims, the, 365
Pinchot, Gifford, Bureau Chief, 249, 681
Pinckney, Charles, Secretary, 343
Pioneer preachers, work of, 245-246
settlers, watercourses and, 562
Pioneers, achievement of, 420
descendants of, 606
German, in America, 450
Western, 419
Western, work of, 414
Piracy, 535
Plagues, quarantine against, 641
Plain people, prosperity of, 608
Platt Amendment, 23, 295, 621, 645
Platt, Orville H., Senator, 85
Play and work, 379
relation of, 294
Plenipotentiaries, 601-602
Plutocracy, 470
Poe, Edgar Allan, 456
Policies, effect of continuous, 608
Policing, international, growing
need of, 624
Policy, common-sense, a, 271
economic, stability of, 190, 550
enforcing a, 441
fixity of, 113
foreign, a sound, 272
land, United States, 388, 441
Monroe Doctrine, our, 632
National, justice as the, 396
National, on the Navy, 402
public land, wise, 681
United States forest, 249
Political influence in offices, 586
Politicians, “bread-and-butter,” 9
Politics in insular possessions, 593
Polk, James K., President, 748
Poor and rich, legal equality of the, 620
Popular government and bribery, 663
Population, concentration of, 274
urban, evils in, 100
urban, growth of, 100
Porcupine River, Alaska, 667
Portland Canal, 664, 666
Portland, Me., 122
Portland, Ore., 419
exposition at, 677
Porto Rico, 22, 87, 185, 237, 577, 590
appropriation for, 315
difficulties in, 88
free trade with, 567
government of, 88-89, 567, 627
merit system in, 593
progress in, 679
prosperity in, 567, 627
public lands in, 567
situation in, 567
United States rule in, 237
Possible, achievement of the, delaying, 611
Postage, pound rate of, 600
Postal abuses, 601
crimes, 661
progress, recent, 600
service, 599-601
service, deficit of, 599
service, growth of, 599
Postmaster-General, 656
Post-office Department, 601
revenues, 634
frauds in, 661
Potomac, River, 483
Pound rate, postal, limiting the, 601
Preaching and practicing, 461-462, 481
Precepts, unintelligent, harmful, 289
Preferences in rates forbidden, 280
Preparation and forethought, need of, 580
Presbyterian Church, 44, 501
Present conditions, superiority of, 101
rejoicing in the, 607
Presidency, difficulties of, 5, 13
President accountable to Nation, 7
appointments by, 8
burden of the, 10-11
demand for capacity in, 9
dissatisfaction with, 9
duties of, on revenue, 7
duty of, to enforce laws, 281
Federal departments and, 3
friends, his difficulty with, 11
great tasks before, 7
importance of, 1
“ingratitude” of, 12
legislative functions of, 2
mail of, immense, 11
personality of, 2
policy of, criticising, 5-6
power of, 2, 5, 12
power of, to stop legislation, 3
protection of, proper, 535
recommending legislation, 2
reconciling interests, 9
requests made to, 11
respect due to, 6
responsibilities of, 5, 8
requisites for a good, 5
retired, the, 12, 13
Senate and, harmony of, 4
Treasury and the, 8
unable to answer letters, 11
veto power of, 2
work of, constant, 10
Presidents of United States, defects in, 6
high character of, 6
Tennesseean, 203
Pressure for promotions, 586
Principles, American, fundamental, 499, 620
Printer, public, 518, 519, 520
Printing, Government, great cost of, 643
Office, Government, 518
public, unnecessary, 643
Private property, exemption of, 671
in war time, 671-672
Prizes for naval gunnery, 631
Problem, forest, the, 251
Problems, attitude toward, 397
dealing with, 331
economic, solution of, 106
false remedies for, 274
industrial, 143, 159, 274, 302
industrial and economic, 292
industrial, how not solved, 199
industrial, solutions of, 175
industrial, treatment of, 307
in 20th century, 607
nature of, 173
present day, 137-144
qualities in solving, 334
social and economic, 85-86
social, solution of, 25
solving, certainty of, 607
temper in treating, 149-150
true spirit in meeting, 274
trust-control, 110
Procedure, legal, needs in, 525
“Productive scholarship,” 28, 456
Progress, conditions of, 357
sudden advance of, 152
universal, joy at, 271
Progressive regulation, 609
Promise and performance, 108, 413-414, 432
Promises, public and private, 414
Promotions, Army, on merit, 587
pressure for, 586
Property guaranteed to all, 653
inviolability of, 609
misuse of, 132
private, in war time, 671-672
rights conserved by law, 112
true use of, 476
Prosperity, advent of, 236
agricultural, 251
all share in, 467
American, conditions of, 577
attacks on, evil, 273
average of, 467
commercial, 98
common interest in, 286
conditions of, 98
continuance of, 201
defined, 418
destruction of, 99
energy and, 99
envy at, 98
evils in times of, 99, 214, 608
general, 613
high level of present, 552
Homestead Law and, 637
industrial, 147
industrial period of, 24
in Porto Rico, 567, 627
in the Philippines, 568
Prosperity, laws in, influence of, 606
material, 50-51, 352
material, necessary, 188
not created by law, 25, 214, 537, 606
of wage-workers, present, 538
present, abounding, marvelous, 302, 537
present, unbounded, 606
present, unique, 219
present, unparalleled, 296
protective tariff and, 614
requisite of, first, 550
return of, 215, 759
ruined by law, 25
source of envy, a, 24
times of, inequalities in, 540
under the tariff, 297
Protection, reciprocity and, 553
right of, for all, 477
Protective tariff and prosperity, 614
Protocol, Chinese, 601
Providence, Rhode Island, 98
Psalmist, the, 103
Public, the, and organizations, 619
Public honesty and efficiency, 488
land laws, disagreements on,
land policy, wise, 681
Public lands, Alaskan, 677
extent of, 415
fences on, 637, 680
for home-makers, 636
laws on, 661
President’s power on, 559
proceeds from, 682
reclamation of arid, 562
settlement on, retarded, 680
Public life, requisites for, 288
responsibilities of, 493
Public man, duty of, to tell truth, 288
qualities of the, 488
Public opinion in the United States, 557
printer, 518, 519, 520
ranges, best uses of, 440
servant, honesty of, 499
servants, attacks on, 6
service, how to regard, 412
works for public good, 563
Publicity and honest corporations, 610
in corporation affairs, 105-106, 116, 650
remedy for trust evils, 543
Puget Sound, 427, 428, 429
Punishment and reformation, 494
Puritans, the, 365
Q
Qualities, essential, of character, 493
great, need of, 509
Quebec, Supreme Court of, 666
Quincy, Illinois, 335
R
Race discriminations wrong, 512
no bar to office, 512
strains in America, 450
-suicide, question of, 508
Railroad discrimination, laws on, 322
Branch, Y. M. C. A., 353
employees, safety of, 685
men as soldiers, 157
men, bravery of, 157
men, heroism of, 229
men, qualities needed by, 163
men used to risks, 157
men, Y. M. C. A. work for, 229
problems, 332
systems, great, 429
Railroading, qualities needed in, 353
Railroads, Alaskan, 678
as developers, 338
as means of travel, 338
benefits of, 430
blocking frogs of, 643
Interstate, regulation of, 555
law regarding, 310
the, and lumbering, 252
rates on, 556
safety appliances on, 685
safety on, laws for, 643
Railway, a public servant, 556
foolish interference with, 557
Ranges as invested capital, 438
grazing, old system of, 438
homesteads and the, 439
public, best uses of, 440
public, exhaustion of, 637
moving cattle on, 439
stock, of the Nation, 438
summer and winter, 439
wise use of the, 439
Rapp, General, 451
Rates, preferences in, forbidden, 280
Readiness for life work, 497
Rebates, secret, granted, 282
Reciprocity, development of, natural, 553
field of, natural, 553
handmaid of protection, 551
home industries and, 551
tariff law and, 551, 615
treaties, need of, 615
Treaty, Cuban, 567, 622-623, 647
with Newfoundland, 622
Reclamation Law, the, 415, 682
Redwood manufacturers, 385
Reed, Thomas B., 123
Reformation and punishment, 494
Reformed Church, Dutch, 44, 447, 505
First, New York, 44
German, 447
Grace, D. C., 446
Churches, duty of, 447
Reforms in Army, three prime, 588
conditions of efficient, 565
unreasonable demand for, 110
Regulation and tariff, separation of, 613
of artificial powers, 609
progressive, 609
transportation, 280
Religion, crimes in name of, 449
Religious liberty in Philippines, 96
Reno, Nev., 416
Reorganization Act, Army, 588
Representative government in Philippines, 96
Representatives of the people, 7
Republic, American, 380, 484
destiny of the, 125, 353
greatest need of the, 56
needs of our, 481, 523
problems before, 14
ruin of the, 469
savers of the, 399
spirit of its founders, 396
success of United States as a, 287
Republics and despotism, 287
fate of old, 287, 470-471
ruin of, 471
Reserves, Naval, demand for, 584
Naval, National, 584
Reservoirs in arid regions, 561
irrigation, in Utah, 444
Resolution and patience, 488
Resources, National, developing, 188-190
Responsibility of duty, 498
personal, 501
Restraint of the unscrupulous man,
652
Retirements, privileges in, 586
Reunion, proofs of our, 203
Revenue and expenditure, equal, 654
Revenues not to be reduced, 555
to be adjusted, 555
Revolution, American, 18, 37, 41, 57, 212, 232, 233, 243, 343, 451,
454, 485, 487, 507
American, Germans in the, 507
American, Sons of the, 36-39
American, events of, in Charleston, 18
Revolution, industrial hardships in a, 780
Revolutionary legislation, evil of, 477
Rhine, river, 151
Rhode Island, growth of, 100
Rich and poor, contrast between, 778
legal equality of, 620
Rich man, the unscrupulous, 472
Richards, W. A., Commissioner, Land, 681
Richmond, Va., 141
Richmond Hill, N. Y., 481
Rifleman, mounted, the, 585
Righteousness and strength, 37
civic, need of, 499
the only test, 437
warfare for, 496
Rights of others, regard for, 575
Riis, Jacob A., 481
Rio Grande, 243
Rizal, José, 317, 318
quoted, 317
Road-building and civilization, 337
Roads and trails in Alaska, 678
good, advantages of, 340
Good, International Convention, 336
good, new interest in, 338
Rockhill, William Woodville, 602
Rocky Mountain region, 303
Rocky Mountain States, 372
Rocky Mountains, 205, 255, 327, 338, 351, 373, 415
Roman Empire, effects of the, 336
growth of the, 346
expansion, 346, 396
power, traces of, 396
roads, 336-337
Rome, 151, 336, 337, 345
fall of, 391
Roosevelt, Nicholas, Alderman, 506
Root, Elihu, Secretary, 80, 83, 84, 316, 665
services of, 84
Rosecrans, William S., General, 40-44
Rough-Rider Regiment, 365
Rough-Riders in Spanish War, 77
typically American, 365-366
Rural free mail delivery, 675
Rural carriers, Civil Service, 686
(See Mail, free-delivery of)
Ruskin, John, 31
Russia, Ambassador to, 457
S
Sacramento Valley, 387
Saengerfest Association, Baltimore, 450
Safety-Appliance Law, the, 643, 685
Safety appliances, inspection of, 685
St. Louis, Missouri, 336, 341, 596
arbitration union at, 672
bribe givers extradited, 663
corruption in, 662
Exposition, 596
loyal Germans in, 508
University of, 341
St. Paul, Minnesota, 286
Salmon hatcheries in Alaska, 678
industry in Alaska, 424
industry, protecting, 678
Salt Lake City, Utah, 435
Salt Trust, case against the, 284
San Bernardino, California, 373
San Francisco, California, 283, 385,
390, 397, 401, 403, 413
San Gabriel Valley, California, 387
San Juan, battle of, 73
Santa Fé, New Mexico, 364, 368
Santa Cruz, California, 375
Santiago, Cuba, 20, 65, 119, 166, 267, 421
battle of, 579, 580
colored troops at, 446
Satterlee, Henry Y., Bishop, 495
Savannah, collector of port of, 516
Savings Banks as corporations, 174
deposits in, 608
Scandinavia, 365, 421-422, 429
Schedules, tariff, examination of, 616
Scholarly achievement, 28
Scholarship and the Library of Congress, 599
productive, 28, 378, 456
productive, achievement in, 293
services to Nation, 28
true, 379
School system, common, 591
Scientific bureaus, control of, 559
study, importance of, 69
Scott, Nathan B., Senator, 146
Scott, Winfield, General, 203, 454
Scylla and Charybdis, 288
Sea habit, the, 35
Seamen, additional, demand for, 581
American, high type of, 632
American, praise due to, 632
training of, necessary, 581
Seattle, Washington, 421, 428
Second-class mail, abuses of, 601
mail matter, 600
Self-government, art of, 224
capacity for, 414
developing capacity for, 568
first requisite of, 664
qualities for, 470
success in, our, 568
taught to Filipinos, 96
Senate, advisory function of, 3, 4
executive functions of, 2
power of, to reject nominations, 3, 4
Senators, advisory privilege of, 3-4
Sequoias of California, 386
Servant, a faithful, 501
Service and duty, 447
Service, classified, in District of Columbia, 592
conditions of good, 31-32
Government, rules of, 522
the honor of true, 408
Services of scholarship to Nation, 28
Settlement in public lands retarded, 680
Settler, development of the, 439
Seward, William H., Secretary, 698
quoted, 695
Shanghai, China, 673
improvements at, 603
Sheridan, Philip, General, 142, 399, 489
Sherman Anti-Trust Law, 105, 280, 282
Sherman, William T., General, 142, 157, 158, 165, 230, 399, 489, 490,
492
high worth of, 495
homage to, 490
mighty feats of, 490
monument to, 489-495
Sincerity, proofs of, 447
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 302, 354
Sitka, Alaska, cable to, 678
Slave, emancipation of the, 483
trade, the, 536
Slavery, abolition of, 398
Slocum, Henry W., 483
“Smartness,” deification of, 135
Smithsonian Institution, the, 597
plans of, 642
Ship, fighting, use of a, 672
Shipper, large, favors to the, 556
Shipping, action needed on, 554
American, 656-657
American, commission on, 656
American, superiority of, 554
interests, upbuilding of, 553
lines, benefit of, 553
requirements in, 656-657
subsidized, a, 554
Ships, American, cost of, 554
American, standards on, 554
and National interests, 553
Shore duties, naval, civilians in, 582
Sigel, General Franz, 451
Siloam, Tower of, 98, 435
Social betterment, 227
conditions, 435
conditions, betterment of, 548
convulsions, 10
discontent, 533
equality, 516
morality, a lesson of, 309
order, inequalities in the, 533
problems, 85-86
problems, present, 538
questions, 25
Societies, mutual benefit, 608
patriotic, value of, 36
Society, right of, to regulate, 609
Soldier, American, high standard of, 588
best type of, the, 585
Confederate, the, 19, 21
essentials and non-essentials for, 77
hardships of the, 15, 137
ideals of the, 15
increased pay of, question of, 588
motives of the, 15
qualities of a good, 54-55
Soldierly qualities, development of, 630
Soldiers, American, men of iron, 19
Confederate, sons of, 512
debt to the, our, 491
example of American, 486
ex-Confederate, 516
in the Philippines, 206, 218, 628
of the Civil War, 445
of Grant, 487
of Washington, 487
railroad men as, 157
capacity of, scrutinized, 630
Solutions, industrial, unwise, 148-149
Sound currency, benefit of, 477
South, appointments in, 517
cotton interests of, 283
glory of the, 19
National pride in the, 27
South Africa, war in, 80
South Atlantic States, 97
South Carolina, 18, 113, 516
negro domination in, 511
negro officials in, 512
South Dakota, 302
Southern States, 311
Sovereignty, limitations on, in Panama, 695
Spain, 342, 668, 669, 705
Navy of, 119
Spanish Navy, 580
Spanish rule in Cuba, 23
Spanish War, 10, 14, 15, 54, 72, 84, 87, 92, 98, 119, 125, 203, 204,
215, 236, 239, 310, 320, 377, 397, 398, 399, 484, 579, 580, 646
college men in, 377
effects of, 646
lesson of, 54
naval victories in, 421
our success in, 402
problems after, 398
“Rough Riders” in, 77
ships in the, 579
veterans, 185
veterans of, 591
West Pointers in, 72-74
Speaker of the House, 450
Speculation, dangers of, 99, 438
Speculative frenzies, 468
Speech, cleanness of, 459
Speed, James, Attorney-General, 696
Spirit, American, 487-488
Spokane, Washington, 429
growth of, 430
Springfield, Illinois, 446
Stability, value of, 99
Staff divisions in Army, 588
Staff, general, law, 319
Standards of judging men, 468
State and private ownership, 777
State, college men and the, 78-84
Department of, 261, 662, 663, 675, 705, 727
individual and the, 107
intrusion of the, 200
laws, National and, 548
Naval Militia, 583-584
saving the, 498
service to, conditions of, 31
Secretary of, 124, 261, 503, 605, 622
supervision, limits of, 610
welfare of the, 499
States, border, debt to the, 223
States compared to Nation, 8
States, formation of new, 348
Statesman, ideal for the, 438
Washington as a, 232
Statesmanship, constructive, 545
constructive, in Philippines, 629
in the Philippines, 97
Steam, centripetal effect of, 339
electricity and, compared, 339
as a factor in prosperity, 100
factor in civilization, 170
Steamship companies, supervision of, 550
lines, service of, 430
Steamships, American, 393
German and British, 656
Stikine River, Alaska, 665, 667
Stock-raisers and the forests, 440
raising in arid region, 438
range of the Nation, 438
Streams, division of, laws on, 564
Government control of, 443
ownership of, abuses in, 565
private ownership of, 564
regulating the flow of, 562
Strength, decency and, 461
importance of physical, 30
prime need of, 136
righteousness and, 37
sweetness and, 482
Stump, reckless talk on the, 533
Subig Bay as a naval base, 691
Success, beneficent, conditions of, 539
chief factor in, 548
conditions of real, 106, 107
essentials of, 146
individual effort and, 55
National, spirit of, 247
personal equation in, 539
rugged ways to, 395
secret of, 479
varieties of, 200
wrested from fortune, 607
wrong kind of, 268-269
Sultan, Turkish, and Beirut troubles, 673
Sumter, Fort, bombardment of, 141
Supervision, corporation, 650
State and National, 610
Surgeons, Army, bravery of the
United States, 68-69
Supreme Bench, qualities for the, 223
Supreme Court, United States, 82, 224, 505, 671
importance of, 221
judges of, 221
Sweden, 668, 669, 677
Switzerland, President of, 1
Syracuse, New York, 466
T
Taft, William H., Governor, 80, 81, 83, 95, 207, 210, 314, 316, 317,
408, 409, 410, 412, 569
services of, to Philippines, 410
Talents, responsibility for, 501
Talking and fighting, 269
Target practice in the Navy, 582
Tariff Bill, Wilson-Gorman, 3
business proposition, a, 298
radical changes in, evil of, 551
commission, proposed, 616
conditions, 615
danger in radical changes of, 191-192
duties, broad significance of, 300
duties, unnecessary, 552
experts, practical, 616
good effects of, 299
high, where not needed, 553
imports, in China, 603
law, reciprocity and, 551, 615
on coal, removal of, 616
policy on the, 190-191, 297
prosperity under the, 297
protection for capital and labor, 297
protection of labor by the, 546
protective, benefits of, 194-195
protective, necessary, 193
protective, perpetual, 299
protective, prosperity and, 614
radical readjustments ruinous, 298
reduction, 177
reduction difficulties, 178
reduction, evils in, 613
reduction, futility of, 613
reduction in Philippines, 296
reduction, trusts and, 613
regulation and, apart, 613
remodeled, 215
revision of the, best course in, 193-194
radical revision disastrous to workers, 301
radical revision, hostile to business, 300
revision, low wages and, 301
revision, trusts and, 300
radical revision undesirable, 285
schedules, examination of, 616
situation on the, 612-617
system, acquiescence in, 550
theory of, American, 615
true way of treating, 191-192
wealth and growth of, 538
Tasks, allotted, of a generation, 502
Tax Commissioners, State Board of, N. Y., 769, 775
inheritance, collateral, 772
laws, failures in, 772
system, N. Y., confusion of, 760
Taxation, burden of, just shares in, 764
equality and justice in, absolute, 770
foreign capital, in N. Y., 772
great burden of, where it is, 772
problem of, difficult, 770
situation on, 760
Taxes, State and municipal, 771
Taylor, Zachary, President, 203, 454
Telephone, the, benefits of, 340
Tenant tracts undesirable, 388
Tennessee, 21, 67, 167, 202, 517
Tennesseean Presidents, 203
pioneers of, 202
Territorial development of Hawaii, 566
Territories, formation of, 347
Territory, United States, 631
United States, desire for, 576
Texas, 304
rice in, 641
Thanksgiving Day, 57
Thebes, Egypt, 151
Thomas, Geo. H., General, 142, 223, 230, 399, 489
Threats, bad policy of, 399
Thrift and energy, need of, 537
Tien-tsin, China, improvements at, 603
Tigris, River, 391
Timber and Stone Law, 636, 680
lands, large holdings in, 680
Tongass Inlet, 666
Topeka, Kansas, 353
Torpedo boats, exercise of, 582
Torture, degradation in using, 526-527
Town meeting, New England, 113, 533
Trade, combination in restraint of, 282
damage to, in war, 670
domestic, and currency, 555
export, with Cuba, 647
National Board of, 225
Oriental, 429
restrictions, petty, 552
with foreign nations, our, 552
Transportation facilities, perfecting, 651
in Alaska, 425
regulation of, 280
Trautmann, Ralph, 658
Treasury, United States, condition of, 476
report to Congress, 555
Secretary of the, 335, 555, 655
Treaties, canal, important, 260
reciprocity, need of, 615
touching bribery, 662
Treaty, Alaskan, of 1867, 664
Treaty, Canal, Colombian offer on, 703-704
frequent use of, 705
Treaty, Canal, Colombian, interpretations
of the, 694
perpetuity of, 694
repudiated by Colombia, 697
with Panama, 707
Treaty, Colombia, of 1903, 697
Commercial, with China, 673
New Granada, of 1846, 693-700
New Granada, rights given by, 694
Russo-British, of 1825, 664
with Mexico, extradition, 662
Trees, preservation of the, 376
Tribunal, The Hague, 264
Triumph of 1898; how it was secured, 580
Trolley lines, benefits of, 340
Tromp, Admiral, 579
Truckee River, 416
Trust, Beef, case against, 282-283
laws, enforcement of, 660
legislation, 321, 322
organizations, evils of, 612
problem, difficulties of, 301
problem, efforts to solve, 284
problems, 332
question, difficulties of, 106
Trusts, abuses of, chief, 785-787
attitude toward, 272-273
control of, 272
dealing with, 142
definition of, 169
difficulties of treating, 114-115
Department of Commerce and, 278
expensive way to restrain, 285-286
foolish zeal against, 139
hatred and fear of, 541
ignorant dealing with, 139
importance of issues on, 170
laws against, enforced, 154
legislation upon, 275-276
legislation on, mischievous, 541
machinery and the, 782
National control of, 104-105, 153, 154, 155, 173, 181-183
National legislation on, 141
nature of, 103-105
necessary elements in, 542
need of wise dealing with, 171
problem of, difficult, 172
problems of controlling, 110, 142, 147
publicity for, 155, 183, 476
question of, 219
rational treatment of, 183-185
sovereignty over, need of, 115
spirit in dealing with, 173
supervision of, 103, 172
treatment of, 108
unaffected by tariff, 179, 300, 613
wise treatment of, 175, 541
Truth telling in public men and critics, 288
Turkish Government, relations with, 673
Turner, George, ex-Senator, 665
Turn Verein, Baltimore, 451
Tyranny, anarchy forerunner of, 524
U
Unclassified laborers, 687
Union and liberty, cause of, 507
Union armies, 42
Union, crises of the, great, 233
establishment of the, 488
love for the, 15
preservation of the, 398, 483
restoration of, 234
salvation of the, 488
soldiers of the, 19, 20
struggle for the, 491
Unions, labor, 26
in Government Printing Office, 520
great importance of, 652
rules of, and United States laws, 520
when not recognized, 522
Union League Club, Philadelphia, 211
San Francisco, 413
United America, proofs of, 19
United States, 668, 669
affairs in, 29
and China, 602-603
Army, 43
Bench, 82
Circuit Court, 283
Courts, 660
critics of, 217
future of, 607
grants in Panama, 708
historian of, 502
land policy, 388
Military Academy, 70
Naval Academy, 33-36
Navy, 33
public opinion in, 557
Supreme Court, 82
The Hague Tribunal and, 623
Universities, duty of, 28
University, true object of a, 378
Unscrupulous man, restraint of the, 652
Urban population, the growth of our, 100
Usefulness and happiness, 478
Utah, 435, 442
cultivated area of, 443
development of, 436-444
“Gamaliel,” 442
Government help for, 442
irrigated region, first, 442
irrigation in, 442
irrigation reservoirs in, 444
mining in, 437
pioneers of, 436, 442
V
Valor, American heritage of, 452
Van Dyke, Henry, 50
Van Vorst, Mrs. Bessie, 508-510
Vasco da Gama, 151
Venezuela, 669
blockade in, 260, 667-668
claims against, 668
Monroe Doctrine and, 260-263
Venezuelan Government, 262
trouble, 10, 260
Venice, 151, 391
Veteran soldiers, increased value of, 588
Veterans to the Civil Service, relation of, 687
Veterans, Civil War, 489, 586, 590, 686
debt to, National, 591
justice to the, 586
New Jersey, 482
tribute to the, 15
Veto power, when not exercised, 3
Victoria, Queen, death of, 605
Victory, secret of, 142
Vienna, international arbitration
union at, 672
Violence, ignorant, dangers of, 540
Virginia, 167, 169, 223, 453, 517
great sons of, 454
in American history, 453
University founded, 454
University in history, 453-456
University of, 453-458, 644
Virginians, great deeds of, 453
in public life, 454
in statecraft, 454
Virtue and orderly liberty, 481
and strength, 460
public and private, 413
Virtues, commonplace, value of, 289
of greatness, 492
no substitutes for, 508
softer and stronger, 480
value of, to State, 134
Volunteer forces, United States, 93
militia and, 630
provisions for, 599
raising of, 590
Volunteer soldiers, reliance on, 591
Voting, difficulties of, in Philippines, 95
Filipino method of, 95
W
Wages, the American standard of, 615
high rate of, present, 546
Wage-workers, interests of, 85
prosperity of, 475, 608
qualities of the, 466
well-being of, 615
Wagner, Charles, his philosophy, 131
Wales Island, 666
War and peace, leaders in, 289
spirit in, 488
War, character required in, 585
Civil, 10, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 32, 37, 40, 43, 55, 61, 67, 72, 119,
141-142, 145, 165, 186, 203, 205, 209, 211, 212, 217, 222, 223,
230, 232, 233, 308, 310, 311, 330, 344, 377, 397, 433, 451,
452, 478, 483, 486, 487, 489, 491, 492, 505, 507, 529, 591,
607, 686
Civil, abuses in, 63
College, Naval, 692
comradeship in, 365
conducting, lesson in, 399
contraband of, 671
decline of, 575, 622, 670
demands of, on men, 585
Department of, 9, 61, 316, 319, 559, 586, 589
duties of, 492
fleet, great, true meaning of, 583
hardships of, 62
individual in, the, 75, 630
Mexican, 10, 72, 222, 454, 746
modern conditions of, 74-75, 585, 630
moral and material interests in, 50
of 1812, 10, 119
Philippine, 92, 98, 185, 399
readiness for, 394
reasons for going to, 14
Revolutionary, 18
Secretary of, 10, 83, 571, 630, 631, 665
Spanish, 10, 54, 72, 84, 87, 92, 98, 119, 125, 203, 204, 215, 236,
239, 310, 320, 377, 397, 398, 399, 484, 579, 580, 646
Spanish, veterans of, 185
taxes, abolition of, 654
training in, value of, 585
United States Government on,
attitude of, 671
wicked folly of, 575
with uncivilized peoples, 622, 628
Warships, building of, 266
uses of, in peace, 582
Washington, District of Columbia, 39, 221-225, 226, 249, 261, 263,
309, 440, 446, 455, 489, 493, 495, 501, 649, 668
alleys in, 547
business interests of, 225
improvements in, 547
model city, a, 642
“Post” quoted, 720, 721
sanitary laws in, 642
Washington, George, President, 57, 70, 72, 138, 232, 289, 319, 329,
399, 470, 487, 488, 644
and Lincoln, 445
as a statesman, 232
days of, 607
soldiers of, 487
work of, 41
Washington, State of, 97, 393, 420, 421, 426, 427, 428, 429, 677
future of, 429
Water-craft inspection, 685
Water hoarding, laws against, 565
laws in Western States, 565
right of use to, 565
rights, perpetual, evil of, 565
rights to, in excess of use, 564
State ownership of, perpetual, 565
supply and the forests, 559
supply, evils of changing, 443
titles and court decisions, 564
titles to, stability in, 564
Waters, preservation of, 384
using, question of, 438
Watersheds and forests, 444
protecting the, 444
Waterways, Federal control of the, 561
Watson, John C, Rear-Admiral, 39
Waukesha, Wis., 268
Wealth, abuse of, 273
abuses of, 538
aggregate, increase of, 538
and misconduct, 610
cause of increased, 100
concentration of, 274
corporate, National causes of, 538
dangers of great, 102
expenditure of, proper, 778
legitimate, benefits of, 538
necessary reward of effort, 539
and Tariff Bill, 538
opportunities of, 51
outcry against, 275
outcry against, cause of, 773
regulation of, 538
United States, 631
unreasoning hostility to, 764
Weevil in cotton States, the, 684
Weil award against Mexico, 605
Welfare of community, 472
National, nature of, 537
of workers, vital moment of, 546
Well-being, causes of our, 608
of wage-workers, 615
our unique, 607
popular, 608
Wesley, John, 228, 242-248
secret of his power, 248
West, forestry sentiment in the, 558
land-law revision in the, 680
Methodists in the, 39
Western Hemisphere, 578, 597
colonies in, 450
peoples of, 597
Spain driven from, 758
Western States, water laws in, 565
West Indies, 22, 87
West Point, 70, 120, 412, 630
mathematics at, 589
men, services of, 71
promotions at, 690
training at, 589
training, value of, 76
unique character of, 71
Wheat, macaroni, introduction of, 641
Wheeler, Benjamin Ide, 404, 405, 408
Wheeler, Joseph, General, 20, 203
Wheeling, West Virginia, 146, 151
White House, the, 15, 203, 455, 504, 506, 606, 645, 648, 709
additions in, incongruous, 644
architecture of, 644
restoration of, 455, 644
Washington’s plans for, 644
White men, appointments of, 512, 516
White Pass, Alaska, 667
Wickedness not “smart,” 460
Wilson, Edgar S., 517
Wilson-Gorman tariff bill, 3
Wisconsin, 268, 272
Wisdom and strength, 496
Wisdom, human limits of, 537
true, nature of, 135
Wise treatment of trusts, 175, 541
Woman, the glory of a, 479
supreme duty of a, 510
who toils, article on the, 508
Wood, Leonard, General, 80, 81, 238, 408, 409, 412
criticisms of, undeserved, 411
sacrifices of, in Cuba, 411
services of, to Cuba, 81
work of, in Cuba, 411
Words and deeds, homage in, 491
Work, advantages of, 477
and love, 356
and play, 379
and play, relation of, 294
cost of any great, 91
duty and privilege in, 510
manner of doing, 478
necessity of, 356, 432
need of good, 355-356
value of good, 28
varieties of, 432
Workers, American, character of 547
welfare of, important, 546
well-being of, important, 551
Workingman defined, 432
Workingmen, American, conditions of, 298
and trusts, 178
World, part in, our large, 607
Worth of a man, 481
Wright, Luke E., 21, 67, 95, 202, 207, 208-211, 223
Wright, Luke E., efficient work of, 210
tribute to, 208
Wrong, condemnation of the, 500
Wyoming, 324, 326, 327, 362
Y
Yale University, 80, 81
Y. M. C. A. at, 229
Yalu River, 674
Yellowstone National Park, 324-328
game in the, 328
Yellowstone, wild life in the, 560
Yosemite Park, 326
Young, S. B. M., General, 724, 725
Young Men’s Christian Association, 226-231, 353-361
railroad branch of, 353
work of, 228
Young Women’s Christian Association, 227
Z
Zoölogical Park, National, 598
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page
references.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the
text and consultation of external sources.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, when a
predominant preference was found in the original book.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg 524: “crinimal” replaced by “criminal”
Pg 627: “foregn” replaced by “foreign”
Pg 640: “commertial” replaced by “commercial”
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