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J.J. MINER, Mgr. BREVARD, TRANSYLVANIA CO., N. C., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11,1908. VOL. XIII. NO. 50.
Washington, D. C.—The President’s
Message vcaa read before both the
Senate and the House, following the
opening of Congress. It is, in part,
as follows;
To the Senate and House of Repre^
sentativesL
The financial standing of the Na
tion at the present time is excellent,
and the financial management of the
Nation’s interests by the Government
during the last seven years has shown
the most satisfactory results. But
our currency system Is Imperfect, and
it Is earnestly to be hoped that the
Currency Commission will be able to
propose a thoroughly good system
which will do away with the existing
defects.
The President’s Message then
states that during the past seven years
and three months there has been a
net surplus of nearly one hundred
millions of receipts over expenditures,
a reduction of the interest bearing
debt by ninety millions, in spite of
the extraordinary expense of the Pan
ama Canal, and a saving of nearly
nine millions on the annual interest
charge. This is an exceedingly satis
factory showing, especially In view of
the fact that during this period the
Nation has never hesitated to under
take any expenditure that It regarded
as necessary. There have been no
new tates and no increases of taxes;
on the contrary some taxes have been
taken oft', there has been a reduction
of taxation.
As regards the great corporations
engaged in interstate business, and
especially the railroads, I can only
repeat what I have already again and
again said in my messages to the Con
gress, I believe that under the inter
state clause of the Constitution the
United States has complete and para
mount right to control all agencies cf
interstate comniprce, and I believe
that the National Governraent alone
can exercise this right with wisdom
and effectiveness so ps both to secure
jiistice from, and to do justice to, the
great corporations which are the most
important factors in modern business,
T believe that it is worse than folly
to nttempt to prohibit all combina
tions as is done by the Sherman anti
trust law, because such a law can be
enforced only imperfectly and nne-
ciually. and its enforcement works al
most as much hardship as good, 1
strongly advocate that instead of an
■unwise effort to prohibit all combina
tions. there shall be substituted a law
which shnll expressly permit combin
ations which are in the interest of the
public, but shall at the same time
give to some agency of the National
Government full power of control and
Eunervision over them. One of the
chief features of this control should
be securin.a: entire publicity In all
matters which the public has a right
to know, snd furthermore, the power,
not by .iudlcial but by executive ac
tion, to prevent or put a stop to every
form of improper favoritism or other
wrongdoing.
The railways of the country should
be pat completely under the Inter
state Commerce Commission and re
moved from ^he domain of the anti
trust law. The power of the Com
mission should be made thorough
going, so that it could exercise com-
pleis supervision and control over the
isFue of securities as Vv’ell as over the
raising and lowering of rates. As re
gards rates, at least, this power
should be summary. The power to
inv3stigf?te the financial operations
and accotmts of the railv/ays has been
one of the most valuable features in
recent If'gislation. Power to make
combinations and trafiic agreements
should be explicitly conferred upon
the railroads, the permission of the
CoTnmissicn being first gained and
the combination or agreement being
published in all its details. In the
interest of the public the representa
tives of the public should have com
plete pG"”er to see that the railroads
do their diity by the public, and as a
matter of course this pov/er should
also be c~ercised so as to see that no
Injustice is done to the railroads. The
shareholders, the employes and the
shl]ipers a.11 have interests that must
be guarded. It is to the interest of
all of them that no swindling stock
SDeculation should be allowed, and
that there should be no improper
issi’.nnce o? securities. The guiding
intelligences necessary for the ■suc
cessful building and successful man
agement of railroads should receive
ample remuneration, but no man
should be allowed to make money in
connection with railroads out of frau-
rulent over-capitalization and kin
dred stock gambling performances;
there must be no defrauding of in
vestors, oppression of the farmers
and business men wno ship freight,
or callous disregard of the rights and
needs of the employes. In addition
to this the interests of the sharehold
ers, of the employes, and of the ship-
l)ers should all be guarded as against
one another. To give any one of them
undue and improper consideration is
to do injustice to the others. R?tes
mu.st be made as low as is compatible
with giving proper returns to all the
employes of the railroad, from the
highest to the lowest, and proper re
turns to the shareholders, but they
must not, for instance, be reduced in
such fashion as to necessitate cut in
the v.'ages of the employes or the abo
lition of the proper and legitimate
profits of honest shareholders.
Telegraph and telephone companies
engaged in interstate business should
be put under the jurisdiction of the
Interstate Commerce Commission.
It is very earnestly to be wished
that our people, through their rej>re-
sentatives, should act in this matter.
It is hard to say whether most dam
age to the country at large would
come from entire failure on the part
cf the public to supervise and control
the actions of the great corp^aUojis,
or from the exercise of the necessary
governmental power In a way which
would do injustice and wrong to the
corporations. Both the preachers ”6f
an unrestricted individualism and the
preachers of an oppression which
would deny to able men of business
the just reward of their initiative and
business sagacity, are advocating pol
icies that would be fraught with t'le
gravest harm to the whole country.
It is to the interest of all of us that
there should be a premium put upon
individual initiative and individual
capacity, and an ample rev/ard for
the great directing intelligences alone
competent to manage the great busi
ness operations of to-day. It is well
to keep In mind that exactly as the
anarchist is the worst enemy of lib
erty and the reactionary the worst
enemy of order, so the men who de
fend the rights of property have most
to fear from the wrongdoers of great
wealth, and the men who are cham
pioning popular rights have most to
fear from the damagogues who in the
name of popular rights would do
wrong to oppress honest business
men, honest men of wealth; for the
success of either type of wrongdoer
necessarily Invites a violent reaction
against the cause the wrongdoer nom
inally upholds. In point of danger to
the Nation there is nothing to choose
between on the one hand the corrup
tionist, the bribe-giver, the bribe-tak
er, the man who employs his great
talent to swindle his fellow-citizens
on a large scale, and, on the other
hand, the preacher of class hatred,
the man who, whether from ignor
ance or from w’illingness to sacrifice
his country to his ambition, persuades
well meaning but wrong-headed men
to try to destroy the instruments
upon which our prosperity mainly
rests. Let each group of men beware
of and guard against the shortcom
ings to which that group is itself
most liable.
The opposition to Government con
trol of these great corporations makes
its most effective effort in the shape
of an appeal to the old doctrine of
States’ rights. Of course there are
many sincere men who now believe
In unresTricted individualism In busi
ness, just as there were formerly
many sincere men who believed in
slavery—that is, in the unrestricted
right of an individual to own another
individual. These men do not by
themselves have great weight, how
ever, The effective fight against ade
quate Government control and super
vision of individual, and especially of
corporate, wealth engaged In inter
state business is chiefly done under
cover, and esnecially under cover of
an appeal to States' rights. It Is not
at all infrequent to read in. the same
speech a denunciation of predatory
wealth fostered by special privilege
and defiant of both the public welfare
and law of the land, and a denuncia
tion of centralization In the Central
Government of the power to deal with
this centralized and organized wealth.
Of course the policy set forth In such
twin denunciations amounts to abso
lutely nothing, for the first half Is
nullified by the second half. The
chief reason, among the many sound
and compelling reasons, that led to
the formation of the National Govern
raent. w'as the absolute need that Ihe
Union, and not the several State?,
should deal with interstate and for
eign commerce; and the power to deal
with interstate commerce was granted
absolutely and plenarily to the Cen
tral Government, and was exercised
completely as regards the only in
struments of interstate commerce
known in those days—the waterways,
the highroads, as well as the partner
ships of individuals who then con
ducted all of what business there was.
Interstate commerce is now chiefly
conducted by railroads, and the great
corporation has supplanted the mass
of small partnerships or individuals.
The proposal to m*ake the National
Government supreme over, and there
fore to give it, complete control over,
the railroads and other instruments
of interstate commerce is merely a
proposal to carry out to the letter
one of the prime purposes, if not the
prime purpose, for which the Consti
tution was founded.
We do not object to .the concentra
tion of wealth and administration;
but we do believe in the distribution
of the wealth in profits to the real
owners, and in securing to the public
the full benefit of the concentrated
administration. We believe that with
concentration in administration there
can come both the advantage of a
larger ownership and of a more equit
able distribution of profits, and at the
same time a better service to the
commonwealth.
Many laws are needed. There
should be regulation by the National
Government of the great interstate
corporations, including a simple
method of account keeping, publicity,
supervision of the issue of securities,
abolition of rebates and of special
privileges. There should be short
time franchises for all corporations
engaged in public business; includ
ing the corporations which get power
from water rights. There should be
National as well as State guardian
ship of mines and forests.
There are many matters affecting
labor and the status of the wage
worker to which I should like to draw
your attention, but an exhaustive dis
cussion of the problem in all its as
pects is not now necessary. This
administration is nearing its end;
and, moreover, under our form of
government the solution of the prob
lem depends upon the action of the
States as much as upon the action of
the Nation. Nevertheless, there are
certain considerations which I wish
to set before you, because I hope
that our people will more and more
keep them in mind. A blind and ig
norant resistance to every effort for
the reform of abuses and for the^ read
justment of society to modern indus
trial conditions represents ncft true
conservatism but an incitement to the
in hand, one bent on progress, the
other bent on seeing that no change
is made unless in the right, direction.
I believe in a steady effort, or per
haps it would be more accurate to say
in steady efforts in many different
directions, to bring about a condition
of affairs under which the men who
work with hand or brain, the labor
ers, the superintendents, the men
who produce for the market and the
men who find a market for the arti
cles produced, shall own a far great
er share than at present of the wealth
they produce, and be enabled to in
vest it in the tools and instruments
by which all work is carried on. As
far as possible I hope to see a frank
recognition of the advantages con
ferred by machinery, organization,
and division of labor, accompanied
by an effort to bring about a larger
share in the ownership by wage-work
er of railway, mill, and factory. In
farming, this simply means that we
wish to see the farmer own his own
land; we do not wish to see the farms
so large that they become the prop
erty of absentee landlords who farm
them by tenants, nor yet so small
that the farmer liecomes like a Eu
ropean peasant. Again, the deposit
ors in our savings banks now number
over one-tenth of our entire popula
tion, These are all capitalists, who
carry on a business was explicitly
taken out from under that protection
which the law throws over property.
The demand was made that there
should be trial by jury in contempt
cases, thereby most seriously impair
ing the authority of the courts. All
this represented a course of policy
which, if carried out, would mean the
enthronement of class privilege in its
crudest and most brutal form, and the
destruction of one of the most essen
tial function of the judiciary in ail
civilized lands.
The wageworkers, the workingmen,
the laboring men of the country by
the way in which they repudiated the
effort to get them to cast their votes
in response to an appeal to claf^s ha
tred, have emphasized their sound
pa'criotism and Americanism. Tire
whole country has cause to feel pride
in this attitude of sturdy independ
ence, in this uncompromising insist
ence upon acting simply as good citi
zens, as good Americans, without re
gard to fancied—and improper—class
interests. Such an attitude is an ob
ject lesson in good citizenship to the
entire nation. "
But the extreme reactionaries, the
persons who blind themselves to the
wrongs now and then committed by
the courts on laboring men, should
The chief breakdown Is in dealing i from the atmosphere of political ae*
with the new relations that arise tivity and the ground cleared for
from the mutualism, the interdepen- larger constructive work to prepare
dence of our time. Every new social the Indians for responsible citizen-
relation begets a new type of wrong- ship.
doing of sin, to use an old-fash- President regrets that an
ioned word—and many years always I incorporated in the
elapse before society is ^^1® to turn measure providing for the Secret Sar-
thift sm into pJ'l®® which can be ef- forbidding details and transfers
fectiyely punished at law. During ^jjerefrom. He declares it Is of ben«
the lifeUme of the older men Jiow 1 only to the criminal classes. He
alive the social relations have ) jjjg recommendations for pos*
changed far more rapidly than in the
preceding two centuries. The im
mense growth of corporations, of
tal savings banks and urges an exten-
tion of the parcel post on the rural
routes. He declares that the nnfor-
through the savings banks loan their | portends. The !
monov tn iha wnrtrf^rs that IS. in I . . . , ^ , !
money to the v.^orkers—that is, in
many cases to themselves—to carry
on their various industries. The more
we increase their number, the more
we introduce the principles of co-op
eration into our industry. Every in
crease in the number of small stock
holders in corporations is a good
thing, for the same reasons; and
where the employes are the stockhol
ders the result is particularly good.
Very much of this movement must
be outside of anything that can be
accomplished by legislation; but leg
islation can do a good deal. Postal
savings banks will make it easy for
the poorest to keep their savings in
absolute safety. The regulation of
the national highways must be such
that they shall serve all people with
equal justice. Corporate finances
must be supervised so as to make it
far safer than at present for the man
of small means to invest his money in
stocks. There must be prohibition of
child labor, diminution of woman
labor, shortening of hours of all me
chanical labor; stock watering should
be prohibited, and stock gambling so
far as possible discouraged. There
should be a progressive inheritance
tax on large fortunes. Industrial ed
ucation should be encouraged. As
far as possible we should Jlghten the
burden of taxation on the small man.
We should put a premium upon thrift,
hard work and business energy, but
these qualities cease to be the main
factors in accumulating a fortune
long before that fortune reaches a
point where It would be seriously af
fected by any inheritance tax such as
I propose. It is eminently right that
the Nation should fix the terms upon
which the great fortunes are inherit
ed. They rarely do good and they of
ten do harm to those who Inherit
them in their entirety.
The President then devotes a chap
ter to “protection for wagework
ers,” He says there should be no pal
tering with the question of taking
care of those who become crippled or
worn out in our industrial system.
He urges proper employers” liability
laws. He also calls attention to th®
steps toward providing old-age pen
sions that have been taken by niany
private industries. He urges Con
gress to pass a comprehensive em
ployers’ liability law for the District
of Columbia.
The President devotes much npace
to the subject of the courts. First he
urges increased pay for our judges
and then says:
It is earnestly to be desired that
some method should be devised for
doing away with the long delays
which now obtain in the administra
tion of justice, and which operate
with peculiar severity against persons
of small means, and favor only the
very criminals whom It is most desir
able to punish. These long delays in
the final decisions of cases make ?n
the aggregate a crying evil, and a.
remedy should be devised. Much of
this intolerable delay is due to im
proper regard paid to technicalities
which are a mere hindrance to jus
tice. In some noted recent cases this
over-regard for technicalities has re
sulted in a striking denial of justice,
and flagrant wrong to the body poli
tic.
At the last election certain leaders
of organized labor made a violent and
sweeping attack upon the entire judi
ciary of the country, an attack
couched in such terms as to Include
the most upright, honest and broad
minded judges, no less than those of
narrower mind and more restricted
outlook. It was the kind of attack
admirably fitted to prevent any suc
cessful attempt to reform abuses of
the judiciary, because it gave the
champions of the unjust judge their
eagerly desired opportunity to shift
their ground into a championship of
just judges who were unjustly as
sailed. Last year, before the House
Committee on the Judiciary, these
same labor leaders formulated their
demands, specifying the bill that con
tained them, refusing all compromise,
stating they wished the principle of
that bill or nothing. They insisted
on a provision that in a labor dispute
no injunction should issue except to
protect a property right, and specific
cally provided that the right to carry
on business should not be construed
as a property right, and in a second^
provision their bill made legal In a la
bor dispute any act or agreement by
or between two or more persons that
would not have been unlawful if done
by a single person. In other words,
this bill legalized blacklisting and
boycotting in every form, legalizing,
for Instance, those forms of the sec
ondary boycott which the anthracite
coal strike commission so unreserv-
takings, finally becomes an instru-
of our people, so that the dweller in «^ent so complex as to contain a
the tenement houses, the man who 1 f eater number of eementstha^
practices a dangerous trade, the inaii * vaiious judicial decisions, lend
businei:s done by associations, and the ^.y^ate state of affairs as regards the
extreme strain and pressure of mod- National educational office be reme-
ern life, have produced conditions ^ j^ppj.opriations. He
which render the public confused as g^rongiy urges that the superrlsora
to who its really d^gerous foes are, j enumerators for the approaching
and amoiig the public servants who ^^j^g^g appointed under the
have not only shared this confusion, Qjyjj Service law, but that appoint-
but by some of their apts ments to the force be done under that
crsascd It, ar© C6rtain judgBS. MEriieQ | geographical requireni6nts
inefficiency has been shown In dealing I waived The President main*
with corporations and in re-settling should be intelligent
the proper attitude to be taken by the action on the question of preserving
public not only toward corpor^ions, health of the country and sug-
but toward labor, and toward the so- ^ redistribution of the healtK
clal questions arising out of the fac- gyreaus He recommends the plao
tory system, and the enormous ^ Government Printing Office
growth of our great cities. I u^der the Department of Commerce
The huge wealth that has been ac- and Labor and the various SoldieraT
cumulated by a few individuals of re- j Homes under the War Department!
aun Tyi'ink *?Prio‘nsl'v 'as^ tfT whar*such cent years, in what has amounted to He advocates the immediate admls-
aiso tninK seriousiy as to wiraL suca , ^ industrial revolution, has gion of New Mexico and Arizona ae
been as regards some of these indl- separate States, Mr. Roosevelt then
viduals made possible only by the im- j writes of the Interstate fisheries prob-
proper use of the modern corporation, lena, saying that those matters which
A certain type of modern corpora- no particular State can control Con«
tion, with its officers and agents, its gress ought to control. The statute
many issues of securities, and its con- regarding game should include flsh»
stant consolidation with allied under- | and the fur-seal service should be
judges who have shown them.seUes
able and willing effectively to check
the dishonest activity of the very rich
man who works iniquity by the mis
management of corporations, who
have shown themselves alert to do
justice to the wageworker, and sym
pathetic with the needs of the mass
vested in the Bureau of Fisheries.
In regard to our foreign policy he
announces that it is based on the
theory that right must prevail be-
wildest radicalism; for wise ^^-^^cal-i the ri£ht to l>adly.
ism and wise conservatism go hand edlj condemned, while tne
who is crushed by excessive hours of
labor, feel that their needs are under
stood by the courts—these judges are
the real bulwark of the courts; these
judges, the 'judges of the stamp of
the President-elect, who have been
fearless in opposing labor when it has
gone wrong, but fearless also in hold
ing to strict account corporations that
work iniquity, and far sighted iu see
ing that the w'orkin gman gets his rights,
are the men of all others to whom
we owe it that the appeal for such
violent and mistaken legislation has
fallen on deaf ears, that the agitation
for its passage proved to be without
substantial basis The courts are
jeoparded primarily by the action of
these Federal and State judges who
show inability or unwillingness to
put a stop to the wrongdoing or very
rich men under riiodern industrial
conditions, and inability or unwilling
ness to give relief to men of small
means or wageworkers who are
crushed down by these modern indus
trial conditions; who, in other words,
fail to understand and apply the
needed remedies for the new wrongs
produced by the new and highly com
plex social and industrial civilization
which has grown up in the last half
century.
There are certain decisions by va
rious courts which hs^ve been exceed
ingly detrimental to the rights of
wageworkers. This is true of all the
decisions that decide that men and
women are, by the Constitution,
“guaranteed their liberty,” to con
tract to enter a dangerous occupation,
or to work an undesirable or impro
per number of hours, or to work in
unhealthy surroundings, and there
fore can-not recover damages when
maimed Jn that occupation, and can
not be forbidden to work what
the Legislature decides is an excessive
number of hours, or to carry on the
work under conditions which the
Legislature decides to be unhealthy.
There is also, I think, ground for
the belief that substantial injustice is
often suffered by employes in conse
quence of the custom of courts issu
ing temporary injunctions without
notice to them, and punishing them
for contempt of court in instances
where, as a matter of fact, they have
no knowledge of any proceedings.
Outside of organized labor there is a
widespread feeling that this system
often works great injustice to wage
workers when their efforts to better
their working condition results In in
dustrial disputes. A temporary in
junction procured ex parte may as a
matter of fact have all the eitect of a
permanent injunction in causing dis
aster to the wageworkers’ side in
such a dispute. Organized labor Is
chafing under the unjust restraint
which comes from repeated resort to
this plan of procedure. Its discontent
has been unwisely expressed, and of
ten improperly expressed, but there
is a sound basis for it, and the orderly
and law abiding people of a commu
nity would be in a far stronger posi
tion for upholding the courts if the
undoubtedly existing abuses could be
provided against.
The power of injunction is a great
equitable remedy, which should on no
account be destroyed* But safeguards
should be erected against its abuse.
For many of the shortcomings of
Justice in our country our people as a
whole are themselves to blame, and
the judges and juries merely bear
their share together with the public
as a whole. It is discreditable to us
as a people that there should be diffi
culty in convicting murderers, or in
bringing to justice men who as pub
lic servants have been guilty of cor
ruption, or who have profited by the
corruption of public servants. The
result is equally unfortunate, whether
due to hair-splitting technicalities in
the interpretation of law by judges,
to sentimentality and class conscious
ness on the part of juries, or to hys
teria and sensationalism in the daily
press. For much of this failure of
justice no responsibility whatever lies
on rich men as such. We who make
up the mass of the people can not
shift the responsibility from our own
shoulders. But there is an important
part of the failure which has specially
to do with inability to hold to proper
account men of wealth who behave
themselves to fraud and oppression nations as between Individuals
than any device yet evolved in the hu- urges the special claims of
man brain. Corporations are neces- Latin-Amerlcan Republics to our at-
sary instruments of modern business. Mention The Message states that the
They have been permitted to become Canal is being dug with
a menace largely because the govern- and efficiency and then recom-
mental representatives of the people mends the extension of ocean mail
have worked._slowly in providing for South America, Asia, the
adequate control over them. Philippines and Australasia. Atten-
The chief offender in any given jg called to the admirable condl-
case may be an executive, a Legislat- Hawaii, where coolie labor
ure or a judge. Every executive head ] practically ceased and Pearl Har-
who advises violent, instead of grad
ual, action, or who advocates Ill-con
sidered and sweeping measures of re
form (especially if they are tainted
bor is being made a naval base with
the necessary military fortficatlons.
Real progress, the President contin
ues, toward self-government is being
with vindictiveness, and disregard for Philippines, buc it would
the rights of the minority) is particu- I worse than folly to prophesy the
larly blameworthy. The several leg- g^act date when it will be wise to
islatures are responsible for the fact consider independence as a fixed and
that our laws are often prepa»ed with ^ggnj^-g policy. It is recommended that
slovenly haste and,lack of considera- ^.merican citizenship be conferred
tion. Moreover, they are often pre- ^p^^^ ^j^g people of Porto Rico and
pared, and still more frequently announcement is made that our occtt-
ac'ended during passage, at the sug- ^an^y of Cuba will end in about two
gestion of the very parties against months’ time. The Cubans are
whom they are afterward enforced, earned that they must govern then^-
Our great clusters of corporations, geives within in order to avoid gof-
huge trusts and fabulously wealthy gmment from without. The Preal-
multlmillionaires, employ the very hopes Americans will do what
best lawyers they can obtain to pick jg possible to make the Japanese B»-
fiaws in these statutes after their position of 1917 a success and then
passage, but they also employ a class thanks Japan, Australia, New Zealand
of secret agents who seek, under the ^j^g states of South America for
advice of experts, to render hostfle their hospitality to the battle fleet,
legislation innocuous by making it Roosevelt urges the passage of
unconstitutional, often through the ^he bill to promote army officers at
insertion of what appear on their face reasonable ages through a process of
to be drastic and sweeping provisions selection and declares the cavalry arm
against the interests of the parties g^ould be reorganized upon modern
inspiring them; while the unes. We have not enough Infantiry
gogues, the corrupt creatures who in- artillery and attention should be
troduce blackmailing schemes to centred on the machine gun. A gen-
“strike” corporations, and all who de- gj.g^j service corps should be estab*
mand extreme, and undesirably radi- lig^ed. It behooves the Government
cal, measures, show themselves to be pekect the efficiency of the Ne»»
the worst enemies of the very public tional Guard as a part of the National
whose loud mouthed champions they forces and Congressional aid should
profess to be. ^g extended to those who are pro-
Real damage has been done by the motlng rifle practice—teaching out
manifold and conflicting interpreta- men to shoot.
tions of the interstate commerce law. regards to the navy, the Presl-
Control over the great corporations ^g^^ recommends the increase sug-
doing interstate business can be ef- ggsted by the General Board and
fective only if it is vested with full thinks the General Board should b«
power in an administrative depart- turned into a General Staff. He urgei
ment, a branch of the Federal execu- that two hosnital ships be provided
tive, carrying out a Federal law; it
can never be effective if a divided re
sponsibility is left in both the States
and the Nation; it can never be ef
fective if left in the hands of the
courts to be decided by lawsuits.
In no other nation in the world do
the courts wield such vast and far-
reaching power as in the United
States. All that is necessary is that
the courts as a whole should exercise
this power with the far sighted wis
dom already shown by those judges
who scan the future while they act in
the present. Let them exercise this
great power not only honestly and
bravely, but with wise insight into
the needs and fixed purposes of the
people, so that they may do justice,
and work equity, so that they^ may
protect all persons in their rights,
and yet break down the barriers of
privilege, which is the foe of right.
The President devotes a long chap
ter to the subject of forests, declaring
that if there is one duty which more
than another we owe to our children
and our children’s children, it is to
save the forests of this country, for
they constitute the first and most im
portant element in the conservation
of our natural resources.
The Message then turns to inland
waterways and maintains that action
for their improvement should begin
forthwith. It is also urged that all
our National parks adjacent to Na
tional forests be placed under the con
trol of the forest service of the Agri
cultural Department. I am happy to
say, continues Mr. Roosevelt, that I
have been able to set aside in various
parts of the country small, well-
chosen tracts of ground to serve as
sanctuaries and nurseries for wild
creatures.
The Message announces that the
use in the arts and industries of de
natured alcohol is making fair
progress and the law making it pos
sible is entitled to further support
from the Congress. According to the
President, the pure food legislation
has already worked a benefit difficult
to overestimate. In the paragraph on
the Indian service the Message tells
how it has been compl^ly removed
and. then concludes his Message ai
follows:
Nothing better for the Navy from
every standpoint has ever occurred
than the cruise of the battle flee!
around the world. The improvemeni
of the ships in every way has been
extraordinary, and they have gained
far more experience in battle tacti<»
than they would have gained if thej
had stayed in the Atlantic waterSi
The American people have cause foi
profound gratification, both in vle^
of the excellent condition of the fleet
as shown by this cruise, and in view
of the improvement the cruise haa
worked in this already high condi
tion. I do not believe that there 1|
any other service in the world In
which the average of character and
efficiency in the enlisted men is at
high as is now the case in our own.
I believe that the same statement can
be made as to our officers, taken as a
whole; but there must be a reserva
tion made in regard to those in th<
highest ranks—as to which I have
already spoken—and in regard to
those who have just entered the ser
vice; because we do not now get full
benefit from our excellent naval
school at Annapolis. It is absurd not
to graduate the midshipmen as en
signs; to keep them for two years ia
such an anomalous position as M
present the law requires is det^
mental to them and to the service. le
the academy itself, every first class*
man should be required in turn te
serve as petty officer and officer, hM
ability to discharge his duties as such
should be a prerequisite to his going
into the line, and his success in coi^
manding should largely determine Im
standing at graduation. The
of Visitors should be appointed is
January, and each member should b«
required to give at least six da^^
service, only from one to three dayir
to be performed during June weelt*
which is the least desirable tinie
the board to be at Annapolis so far aa
benefiting the navy by their observ»i*
tions Is concerned. i
THEODORE ROOSEVELT. ^
The White House, ^ -1