Willmar tribune. [volume], December 09, 1908, Image 2

About Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931

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Willmar Tribune.
BT THB I NK PBUfTIKCt CO.
WILLMAR. MINN.
OF II WEEK
Latest News Told
in Briefest and
Best Form.
PERSONAL.
Representative Theodore Burton of
Cleveland, O., has been offered by
President-elect Taft the portfolio of
secretary of the treasury.
Robert F. Maddox was elected may
or of Atlanta, Ga., by a majority of
3,000 votes over James G. Woodward,
regular Democratic nominee and
twice mayor of the city.
President Roosevelt apponted Daniel
J. Keefe of Detroit, Mich., commission
er-general of immigration to succeed
the late Frank P. Sargent.
Herbert L. Satterlee of New York,
«on-in-law of J. Pierpont Morgan, was
offered the position of assistant secre
tary of the navy.
Ned W. Barton, former assistant
examiner in the patent office, pleaded,
guilty to four indictments against him
charging fraud in electric light pat
ents and was sentenced to three years
in the penitentiary.
Samuel B. Donnelly of New York,
the newly-appointed public printer,
took the oath of office and filed his
bond.
Timothy L. Woodruff, chairman of
the New York Republican state com
mittee, eliminated himself from the
senatorial race in favor of Secretary
of State Elihu Root, after a conference
with President-elect Taft.
President-elect Taft always ab
stemious, declares he has become a
teetotaler.
William Jennings Bryan had a nar
row escape from a death hug from a
bear which he was trying to kill in the
mountains about 60 miles from Chi
huahua, Mex.
Frank H. Hitchcock has been of
fered and has accepted the position of
postmaster general in the Taft cabinet
that is to be.
John Gardner Coolidge, the Ameri
can minister to Nicaragua, resigned
from the diplomatic service.
GENERAL NEWS.
Nord Alexis, president of Hayti, was
deposed by the people of Port au
Prince, attacked insulted and cursed,
and took refuge on a French vessel.
Gen. Legitime va proclaimed his suc
cessor.
Burglars blew open the safe of the
First National bank of Pepperell,
Mass., took |14,000, and escaped in an
automobile.
The Federal Council of the Church
of Christ in America was formally
opened in the Academy of Music at
Philadelphia with impressive ceremo
nies.
A prepossessing and richly-gowned
young woman, who had registered at a
Brooklyn hotel as Mrs. S. H. Falconer
of Sioux Falls, S. D., committed sui
cide by shooting.
Fire destroyed the clothing and jew
elry store of Anthony Shapiro at Dick
son City, Pa., and Mr. Shapiro, a son
and daughter and Mrs. Shapiro's par
ents lost their lives.
Lystia Wahoo Winnebago, a girl stu
dent at Carlisle Indian school, eloped
with Joseph Twin, an Indian from the
west.
British officers working among the
Sikhs and Hindus of the Pacific coast,
a the details of a proposed
uprising against British rule in India,
to take place in April.
Pu-Yi, the three-year-old son of
Prince Chun, ascended the Dragon
throne and was crowned emperor of
China under the name of Hsuan Tung.
The business section of Beckville,
Tex., was burned, the loss being
$200,000.
The will of the late Delos Blodgett
of Giand Rapids left an estate valued
at $12,000,000 to his three children.
News was received of the sinking
of the Japanese steamer Ginsei Maru,
70 lives being lost.
The Stearns Salt & Lumber Company
of Ludington, Mich., was fined $10,000
for accepting rebates from the Pere
Marquette
Martial law was proclaimed in
Prague because of the riots between
Czechs and Germans.
While out hunting rabbits, Will
Hough, aged 18 years, shot and killed
his brother Guy, aged 25 years, near
Mason City, la.
The Atlantic battleship fleet sailed
from Manila for Colombo, Ceylon.
In his annual report for the fiscal
year Postmaster General Meyer gave
the total receipts for the year as
$208,351,886. thereby showing a deficit
of $16,875,222, the largest in the his
tory of the department.
Chief of Police Biggey of San Fran
cisco was drowned off Alcatraz island.
The department of agriculture or
dered a quarantine against the entire
state of Maryland so far as cattle and
sheep, etc., are concerned, on account
of the appearance of foot and mouth
disease.
Canada will be represented at the
Seattle exhibition next spring, the
government having decided to make
an appropriation.
Wright and Alexander, American
tennis players, were defeated in Mel
bourne. Australia, in the contest for
the Davis cup.
Four armed men held up a street car
in New York and robbed the passen
gers.
At least 138 men were killed by a
terrific explosion in the Pittsburg-Buf
falo Coal Company mine at Marlanna,
Pa. Nearly all the bodies recovered
were shockingly mutilated.
The rule of Nord Alexis, president
of Hayti, is nearly ended, for he can
not stop the steady advance of the
revolutionists. Gen. Antoine Simon la
about to attack Jacmel, and will then
resume his march on the capital.
Mrs. Nicholas P. Errington of Chi
cago killed her 11-year-old daughter
Theresa and herself in a Memphis ho
tel by means of poison. Her husband
could give no explanation of his wife's
deed.
The government refused to let tbe
citizens of Pine Bluff, Ark., cut
through a levee to save the town, and
every available man was put to work
strengthening the river banks.
The celebration of the diamond jubi
lee of Emperor Francis Joseph began
with an illumination of Vienna more
gorgeous than anything ever before
seen. The crowd was so dense that
two persons were killed and many
others injured.
Race riots in Prague became so
serious that it seemed probable mar
tial law would be declared.
John Alan White, 20 years old, of
Walton, N. Y., a student in the Yale
graduate school, committed suicide by
jumping from the top of West Rock
to the ground below, a distance of 100
feet.
Dr .Randolph F. Hass of New York
committed suicide on the grave of his
wife.
A plot to overthrow the government
of President Figueroa of Salvador was
discovered and frustrated. Martial law
was proclaimed.
Lee Levy and Adolph S. Asher, li
quor dealers, were found guilty in the
federal court at St. Louis of sending
improper advertisements through the
mails and of sending liquors bearing
improper labels by express. The case
is the celebrated gin-label affair that
played a prominent part in the Prohi
bition campaign in Tennessee.
All fourth-class postmasters in the
states east of the Mississippi river and
north of the Ohio river were placed
in the classified service by an execu
tive order of the president.
The will of Mrs. William Astor of
New York, filed for probate, disposes
of real estate worth "as much as $50,
000 and personal property as much as
$100,000." Two daughters—Mrs. Wil
son and Mrs. Haig—are the chief
beneficiaries.
So expensive has been the campaign
of the department of agriculture
against the foot and mouth disease,
prevalent among herds of cattle in
New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan
and Maryland, that Secretary Wilson
will ask congress for an emergency
appropriation of $500,000 for this
work.
Two Japanese steamships collided
and sank off the port of Chefoo, China,
and it was reported that 700 persons,
including many Americans and Eu
peans, were drowned.
The duke of the Abruzzi cabled to
Miss Elkins that he was unable to
overcome the objections to their mar
riage.
Citizens of Pine Bluff, Ark., held a
mass meeting to devise measures to
save the city, which was threatened
with flood. It was determined that
the channel of the Arkansas river
should be diverted by cutting through
a strip of land a few miles to the
north where a horse-shoe bend begins.
Citizens of Port au Prince, Hayti,
were thrown into a panic by the steady
advance of Gen. Simon and his army
of revolutionsts.
The supreme court of the United
States reversed the decision of the
United States circuit court for the
eastern district of Virginia, holding to
be unconstitutional the order of the
state railroad commission fixing a two
cent passenger rate on state business,
the effect being to uphold the order.
Edward Ward Vanderbilt of Brook
lyn, husband of the "spiritualistic
bishop," Mary Ann Scannell-Pepper
Vanderbilt, was declared sane by a
sheriff's jury.
Three thousand persons were ren
dered homeless and hundreds of houses
inundated in West Guthrie, Okla., as a
result of the overflowing of the Cot
tonwood river and its tributaries. The
flood was caused by a heavy rain that
lasted two days.
Twenty-one out of 116 Chinese held
at the Pacific Mail dock in San Fran
cisco pending the decision of the Im
migration officers as to whether or
not they were entitled to enter the
United States, escaped from the deten
tion shed.
All the new light thrown on the mur
der of Adolphe Steinheil and Mme.
Japy, which occurred in Paris on the
night of May 31 at the home of the,
artist, only strengthens the convic
tion that Mme. Steinheil either stran
gled the victims alone after adminis
tering a narcotic or poison, subse
quently binding herself to the bed, or
had an accomplice in the person of a
professional criminal.
The Philippines coasting steamer
Ponting. carrying a large number of
laborers from Narvacan to the rice
fields in Pangasinan province, struck
a rock and sank during a storm off
the town of San Fernando and about
100 persons were drowned.
Nellie Morton of Belleville, 111., con
fessed that she watched her sweet*
heart, Sydney Baker, chloroform aged
Peter Waeltz, who was found with his
skull crushed.
President William A. Shanklin ol
Upper Iowa university received a
check from Andrew Carnegie for $30,
000, in payment of his pledge to give
that amount when $150,000 had been
raised.
William Montgomery, former cashier
of the Allegheny National bank of
Pittsburg, which failed for over $1,000,
000, was sentenced to 15 years in the
Western Pennsylvania penitentiary.
The Iron and Steel Trades Journal
of London states that English and
American tin plate manufacturers
have formed a combine which will con
trol the industry throughout the world.
OBITUARY.
Mrs. J. C. Wardwell, the leper wife
of Gen. Wardwell, whose case created
such a stir in California and Arizona,
died of leprosy in the county hospitai
at Los Angeles.
J. George McGannon, millionaire
president of the Central National bank
of Tulsa, Okla., died of ptomaine poi
soning contracted while dining in a
hotel.
Maj. Gen. J. Franklin Bell was ap
pointed grand marshal of the Taft In
augural parade.
PRESIDENT
TO CONGRESS
Message Read to Both
Houses of National
Assembly
LEGISLATION CALLED FOR
Financial Standing of the Nation De
clared Excellent—Control of Cor
porations, the President Thinks,
Should Be Left to the National
Government—Labcr Leaders Come
in for Criticism—Respect for Law
Vital to the Well-Belng of Country.
Washington.—The message of Presi
dent Roosevelt was read in both
houses of congress Tuesday. In sub
stance the document was as follows:
To the Senate and House of Represen
tatives: The financial standing of the
nation at the piesent time Is excellent,
and the financial management of the na
tion's interests by the government dur
ing the last seven years has shown the
most satisfactory results. But our cur
rency system is Imperfect, and It Is ear
nestly to be hoped that the currency
commission will be able to propose a
thoroughly good system which will do
away with the existing defects.
During the period from July 1, 1901, to
September 30, 1908, there was an increase
in the amount of money in circulation of
$902,991,399. The increase in the per capita
during this period was $7.06. Within this
time there were several occasions when
it was necessary for the treasury de
partment to come to the relief of the
money market by purchases or redemp
tions of United States bonds by increas
ing deposits in national banks by stim
ulating additional issues of national bank
notes, and by facilitating importations
from abroad of gold. Our Imperfect cur
rency system has made these proceedings
necessary, and they were effective until
the monetary disturbance in the fall of
1907 immensely increased the difficulty of
ordinary methods of relief. By the mid
dle of November the available working
balance in the treasury had been reduced
to approximately $5,000,000. Clearing
house associations throughout the coun
try had been obliged to resort to the
expedient of Issuing clearing house cer
tificates, to be used as money. In this
emergency it was determined to invite
subscriptions for $50,000,000 Panam a canal
bonds, and $100,000,000 three per cent,
certificates of indebtedness authorized by
the act of June 13. 1898. It was proposed
to redeposit in the national banks the
proceeds of these issues, and to permit
their use as a basis for additional circu
lating notes of national banks. The
moral effect of this procedure was so
great that it was necessary to issue only
$24,631,980 of the Panam a bonds and $15.
436,500 of the certificates of indebtedness.
During the period from July 1, 1901. to
September 30, 1908, the balance between
the net ordinary receipts and the net
ordinary expenses of the government
showed a surplus in the four years 1902.
1903. 1906, and 1907. and a deficit in the
years 1904, 1905, 1908 and a fractional part
of the fiscal year 1909. The net result
was a surplus of $99,283,413.54. The finan
cial operations of the government during
this period, based upon these differences
between receipts and expenditures, re
sulted in a net reduction of the interest
bearing debt of the United States from
$987,141,040 to $897,253,990, notwithstanding
that there had been two sales of Panam a
canal bonds amounting in the aggregate
to $54,631,980, and an issue of three per
cent, certificates of indebtedness under
the act of June 13. 1S98, amounting to
$15,436,500. Refunding operations of the
treasury department under the act of
March 14, 1900, resulted in the conver
sion into two per cent, consols of 1930 of
$200,309,400 bonds bearing higher rates of
interest. A decrease of $8,687,956 in the
annual interest charge resulted from
these operations.
In short, during the seven years and
three months there lias been a net sur
plus of nearly one hundred millions of
receipts over expenditures, a reduction
of the interest-bearing debt by ninety
millions, in spite of the extraordinary ex
pense of the Panama canal, and a saving
of nearly nine millions on the annual
interest charge.
Control of Corporations.
As regards the great corporations en
gaged in interstate business, and espe
cially the railroads, I can only repeat
what I have already again and again said
in my messages to the congress. I be
lieve that under the interstate clause of
the constitution the United States has
complete and paj amount right to con
trol all agencies of interstate commerce,
and I believe that the national govern
ment alone can exercise this right with
wisdom and effectiveness so as both to
secure justice from, and to do justice to,
the great corporations which are the
most important factors in modern busi
ness. I believe that it is worse than
folly to attempt to prohibit all com
binations as is done by the Sherman
anti-trust law, because such a law can
be enforced only imperfectly and un
equally, and its enforcement works al
most as much hardship as good. I
strongly advocate that instead of an un
wise effort to prohibit all combinations
there shall be substituted a "law which
shall expressly permit combinations
which are in the interest of the public,
but shall at the same time give to some
agency in the national government full
power of control and supervision over
them. One of the chief features of this
control should be securing entire pub
licity In all matters which the public
has a right to know, and furthermore,
the power, not by judicial but by execu
tive action, to prevent or put a stop to
every form of improper favoiitism or
other wrongdoing.
The railways of the country should be
put completely under the interstate com
merce commission and removed from
the domain of the anti-trust law. The
power of the commission should be made
thoroughgoing, so that it could exercise
complete supervision and control over
the issue of securities as well as over
the raising and lowering of rates. As
regards rates, at least, this power should
be summary. Rates must be made
as low as is compatible with giving prop
er returns to all the employes of the rail
road, from the highest to the lowest,
and proper returns to the shareholders,
but they must not, for instance, be re
duced in such fashion as to necessitate
a cut in the wages of the employes or
the abolition of the proper and legitimate
profits of honest shareholders.
Telegraph and telephone companies en
gaged in interstate business should be
put under the jurisdiction of the inter
state commerce commission.
It is very earnestly to be wished that
our people, through their representatives,
should act in this matter. It is to
the interest of all of us that
there should be a premium put upon in
dividual initiative and individual ca
pacity, and an ample reward for the
great directing intelligences alone com
petent to manage the great business op
erations of to-day. It is well to keep in
mind that exactly as the anarchist is the
worst enemy of liberty and the reaction
ary the worst enemy of order, so the
rosa who defend the rights of property
have most to fear from the wrongdoers
of great wealth, and the men who are
championing popular rights have most
to fear from the demagogues who in the
name of popular rights would do wrong
to and oppress honest business men,
honest men of wealth for the success of
either type of wrongdoer necessarily in
vites a violent reaction against the cause
the wrongdoer nominally upholds.
Need of Centralization.
The proposal to make the na
tional government supreme over, and
therefore to give It complete control over,
the railroads and other Instruments of
interstate commerce is merely a propos
al to carry out .to the letter one of the
prime purposes, if not the prime purpose,
for which the constitution was founded.
It does not represent centralization. It
represents merely the acknowledgment
of the patent fact that centralization has
already come in business. If this irre
sponsible outside business power is to be
controlled in the interest of the general
public it can only be controlled in one
way by giving adequate power of con
trol to the one sovereignty capable of ex
ercising such power—the national govern
ment. To abandon the effort for national
control means to abandon the effort for
all adequate control and yet to render like
ly continual bursts of action by state leg
islatures, which cannot achieve the pur
pose sought for, but which can do a
great deal of damage to the corporation
without conferring any real benefit on
the public.
Corporations Learning Wisdom.
I believe that the more farslglited cor
porations are themselves coming to rec
ognize the unwisdom of the violent hos
tility they have displayed during the last
few years to regulation and control by
the national government of combinations
engaged in interstate business. The
tiuth is that we who believe in this
movement of asserting and exercising
a genuine control, in the public interest,
over these great corporations have to
contend against two sets of enemies,
who, though nominally opposed to one
another, are really allies in preventing
a proper solution of the problem. There
are, first, the big corporation men, and
the extreme individualists among busi
ness men, who genuinely believe In ut
terly unregulated business—that Is, In
the reign of plutocracy and, second,
the men who. being blind to the econom
ic movements of the day, believe in a
movement of repression rather than of
regulation of corporations, and who de
nounce both the power of the railroads
and the exercise of the federal power
which alone can really control the rail
roads. Those who believe in efficient na
tional control, on the other hand, do not
in the least object to combinations do
not in the least object to concentration
in business administration. On the con
trary, they favor both, with the all-Impor
tant proviso that there shall be such pub
licity about their workings, and such
thoroughgoing control over them, as to
insure their being In the interest, and
not against the interest, of the general
public. W do not object to the concen
tration 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 ad
ministration there can come both the
advantage of a larger owneship and of a
mere equitable distribution of profits,
and at the same time a better service to
the commonwealth. W believe that the
administration should be for the benefit
of the many and that greed and ras
cality, practiced on a large scale,
should be punished as relentlessly as if
practiced on a small scale.
We do not for a moment believe that
the problem will be solved by any short
and easy method. The solution will
come only by pressing various concurrent
remedies. Some of these remedies must
lie outside the domain of all government.
Some must lie outside the domain of the
federal government. But there is leg
islation which the federal government
alone can enact and which is absolutely
vital in order to secure the attainment
of our purpose. Many laws are needed.
There should be regulation by the na
tional 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
including the corporations which get
power from water rights. There should
be national as well as state guardianship
of mines and forests. The labor legisla
tion hereinafter referred to should con
currently be enacted into law.
To accomplish this, means a certain in
crease in the use of—not the creation of
—power, by the central government. The
power already exists it does not have
to be created the only question is
whether it shall be used or left idle—
and meanwhile the torporations over
which the power ought to be exercised
will not remain idle. The danger to Amer
ican democracy lies not in the least In the
concentration of administrative power in
responsible and accountable hands. It
lies in having the power insufficiently
concentrated, so that no one can be held
responsible to the people for its use.
Concentrated power is palpable, visible,
responsible, easily reached, quickly held
to account. Democracy is in peril
wherever the administration of po
litical power is scattered among
a variety of men who work in
secret, whose very names are un
known to the common people. It is not
in peril from any man who derives au
thority from the people, who exercises
it in sight of the people, and who is
from time to time compelled to give an
account of its exercise to the people.
Legislation for Wageworker.
There are many matters affecting labor
and the status of the wageworker to
which I should like to draw your atten
tion, but an exhaustive discussion of the
problem in all its aspects is not now nec
essary. I believe in a steady ef
fort, or perhaps it would be more
accurate to say In steady efforts
in many different directions, to bring
about a condition of affairs under which
the men who work with hand or with
brain, the laborers, the superintendents,
the men who produce the market and the
men who find a market for the articles
produced, shall own a far greater share
than at present of the wealth they pro
duce, and be enabled to invest it in the
tools and instruments by which all work
is carried on. As far as possible I hope
to see a frank recognition of the advan
tages conferred by machinery, organiza
tion and division of labor, accompanied
by an effoi to bring about a larger share
in the ownership by wage-worker of rail
way, mill and factory.
Postal Savings banks will make it
easy for the poorest to keep their sav
ings 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 la
bor, u.minution of women labor, short
ening of hours of all mechanical labor
stock watering should be prohibited,
and stock gambling so far as is possi
ble discouraged. There should be a
progressive inheritance tax on large
fortunes. Industrial education should
be encouraged. As far as possible we
should lighten the burden of taxation
on the small man. W should put a
premium upon thrift, hard work and
business energy but these qualities
cease to be the main factors in accu
mulatin a fortune long before that
fortune reaches a point where it would
be seriously affected by any inheri
tance tax such as I propose. It is emi
nently right at the nation should fix
the terms upon which the great for
tunes are inherited. They rarely do
good and they often do harm to those
who inherit them in their entirety.
There should no longer be any palter
ing with the question of a in care of
the wageworker who. under our pres
ent industrial system, become killed.
crippled, or worn out as part of the
regular incidents of a given busi
ness. As far as concerns those
who have been worn out. I call your
attention to the fact that definite
steps toward providing old-age pen
sions have been taken in many of our
private industries. These may be in
definitely extended through voluntary
association and contributory schemes,
or through the agency of savings
banks, as under the Massachusetts
plan.
Urgent Need of Reform.
Our present system, or rather no sys
tern, dreadful wrong, and Is of
benefit to only one class of people the
lawyers. Whe a an is injured
at he needs is not an expensive and
doubtful lawsuit, but the certainty of
relief through Immediate administra
tive action. N academic theory
about "freedom of contract" or "consti
tutional liberty to contract" should be
permitted to interfere with this and
similar movements.
Pendin a thoroughgoing investiga
tion and action there is certain legis
lation which should be enacted at once
The law passed at the last session of
the congress .grantin compensation to
certain classes of employes of the gov
ernmen .should be extended to include
all employes of the government and
should be made more liberal in its
terms. Ther is no good ground for
the distinction made in the law be
tween those engaged in hazardous oc
cupations and those not so en
gaged. The terms of the act pro
viding compensation should be made
more liberal than in the present
act. A year's compensation is not ade
quate for a wage-earner' family in the
event of his death by accident in the
course of his employment. And in the
event of death occurring, say, ten or
eleven months after the accident, the
family would only receive as compen
sation the equivalent of one or two
months earnings. In this respect the
generosity of the United States towards
its employes compares most unfavora
bly with that of every country in Eu
rope—even the poorest.
The terms of the act are also a hard
ship in prohibiting payment in casea
where the accident is in any way due
to the negligence of the employe. I is
inevitable that daily familiarity with
danger will lead men to take chances
at can be construed into negligence.
So well is this recognized at in prac
tically all countries in the civilized
world, except the United States, only a
re at degree of negligence acts as a
bar to securing compensation. Proba
bly in no other respect is our legisla
tion, both state and national, so far be
hind practically the entire civilized
world as in the matter of liability and
compensation for accidents in industry.
I is humiliating at at Europea in
ternational congresses on accidents the
United States should be singled out as
the most belated a the nations In
respect to employers' liability legisla
tion. This government is itself a large
employer of labor .and in its dealings
with its employes it should set a stan
dard in this country which would place
it on a a with the most progressive
countries in Europe. Th laws of the
United States in this respect and the
laws of Europea countries have been
summarized in a recent bulletin of the
bureau of labor, and no American who
reads this summary can fail to be
struck by the great contrast between
our practices and theirs—a contrast not
in any sense to our credit.
I renew my recommendation made in
a previous message at half-holidays
be granted during summer to all a
in government employ
I also renew my recommendation that
the principle of the eight-hour day
should as rapidly and as far as practi
cable be extended to the entire
being carried on by the government
the present law should be amended to
embrace contracts on those public
which the present wording of
the ae seems to exclude.
Would Double Salaries of Judges.
I most earnestly urge upon the con
gress the duty of increasing the totally
inadequate salaries now given to our
judges. On the whole there is no body
of public servants who do as valuable
work, nor whose moneyed reward is so
inadequate compared to their work. Be
ginnin with the supreme court the
judges should have their salaries dou
bled. I is not befitting the dignity of
the nation that its most honored public
servants should be paid sums so small
compared to at they would earn in
private life that the performance of
public service by them implies an ex
ceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice.
It is earnestly to be desired at some
method should be devised for doing
a a with the long delays which now
obtain in the administration of justice,
and which operate with peculiar sever
ity against persons of small means, and
favor only the very criminals whom it
is most desirable to punish. These
long delays in the final decisions of
cases a in the a re a a crying
evil and a remedy shou be devised.
Much of this intolerable delay is due
to improper regard paid to technicali
ties which are a mere hinderance to
justice. I some noted recent cases this
over-regar for technicalities has re
sulted in a striking denial of justice,
and flagrant to the body politic.
Labor Leaders Criticised.
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.
Last ear, before the house com
mittee on judiciary. these same
labor leaders formulatod their de
mands, specifying the bill that
contained them, refusing all compro
mise, stating they wished the principle
of at bill or nothing. They insisted
on a provision that In a labor dispute
no injunction should issue except to
protect a property right, and specifical
ly provided that the right to carry on
business should not be construed as a
property right and in a second provis
ion their bill made legal in a labor dis
pute any act or agreement by or be
tween two or more persons at would
not have been unlawful if done by a
single person. In other words, this bill
legalized blacklisting and boycotting
in every form, legalizing, for instance,
those forms of the secondary boycott
which the anthracite coal strike com
mission so unreservedly condemned
while the right to carry on a business
as explicitly taken out from under
at protection which the law throws
over property. Th demand as made
that there should be trial by jury in
contempt cases, thereby most seriously
impairing the authority of the courts.
All this represented a course of policy
which, if carried out. would mean the
enthronemen of class privilege in its
crudest and most brutal form, and the
destruction of one of the most essen
tial functions of the judiicary in all civ
ilized lands.
The violence of the crusade forthis
legislation, and its complete failure,
illustrate two truths which it is essen
tial our people should learn. In the
first place, they ought to teach the
workingman the laborer, the wage
worker, that by demanding what is im
proper and impossible he plays into the
hands of his foes. Such a crude and
vicious attack upon the courts, even if
it were temporarily successful, would
inevitably in the end cause a violent
reaction and would band the great
mass of citizens together, forcing them
to stand by all the judges, competent
and incompetent alike, rather than to
see the wheels of justice stopped.
The wageworkers the workingmen
the laboring men of the country by the
way in which they repudiated the ef
fort to get them to cast their votes in
response to an appeal to class hatred,
have emphasized their sound patriotism
and Americanism. Such an attitude
is an object lesson in good citizenship to
the entire nation.
Judicial System Sound.
Our judicial system is sound and
effective at core, and it remains,
and must ever be maintained, as
the safeguard of those principles of lib
erty and justice which stand at the
foundation of American institutions for.
as Burke finely said, when liberty and
justice are separated, neither is safe.
There are, however, some members of
the judicial body who have lagged be
hind in their understanding of these
great and vital changes in the body
politic, whose minds have never been
opened to the new applications of the old
principles made necessary by the new
conditions. Judges of this stamp do last
ing harm by their decisions, because they
convince poor men in need of protection
that the courts of the land are pro
foundly ignorant of and out of sympathy
with their needs, and profoundly ignorant
or hostile to any proposed remedy. To
such men it seems a cruel mockery to
have any court decide against them on
the ground that it desires to preserve
"liberty" In a purely technical form, by
withholding liberty in any real and con
structive sense.
There are certain decisions by various
courts which have been exceedingly det
rimental to the rights of wage-workers.
This is true of *H decisions that decide
that men are, by the constitution, "guar
anteed their liberty" to contract to enter
a dangerous occupation, or to work an
undesirable or improper number of hours,
or to work in unhealthy surroundings
and therefore cannot recover damages
when maimed in that occupation, and
cannot be forbidden to work what the
legislature decides is an excessive num
ber of hours, or to carry on the work
under conditions which the legislature
decides to be unhealthy. Decisfons
such as those nullify the legislative
effort to protect the wage-workers who
most need protection from those employ
ers who take advantage of their grind
ing need. They halt or hamper the move
ment for securing better and more equi
table conditions of labor.
There is also, I think, ground for the
belief that substantial injustice is often
suffered by employes In consequence of
the custom of courts issuing temporary
injunctions without notice to them, and
punishing them for contempt of court in
instances where, as a matter of fact,
they have no knowledge of any proceed
ings. Organized labor is chafing
under the unjust restraint which
comes from repeated resort to this
plan of procedure. Its discontent
has been unwisely expressed, and
often improperly expressed, but there
is a sound basis for it, and the or
derly and law-abiding people of a com
munity would be in a far stronger posi
tion for upholding the courts if the un
doubtedly existing abuses could be pro
vided against.
Matters for Thought for Labor.
Such proposals as those mentioned
above as advocated by the extreme labor
leaders, contain the vital error of being
class legislation of the most offensive
kind, and even if enacted into law I be
lieve that the law would rightly be held
unconstitutional. Moreover, the labor
people are themselves now beginning to
invoke the use of the power of injunc
tion. During the last ten years, and
within my own knowledge, at least fifty
Injunctions have been obtained by labor
unions in New York city alone, most of
them being to protect the union label (a
"property right"), but some being ob
tained for other reasons against employ
ers.
Injunction Must Remain.
The power of injunction is a great
equitable remedy, which should on no
account be destroyed. But safeguards
should be erected against its abuse.
In substance, provision should be made
that no injunction or temporary re
straining order issue otherwise than on
notice, except where irreparable injury
would otherwise result and in such case
a hearing on the merits of the order
should be had within a short fixed pe
riod, and, if not then continued after
hearing, it should forthwith lapse. De
cisions should be rendered immediately,
and the chance of delay minimized in
every way. Moreover, I believe that the
procedure should be sharply defined, and
the judge required minutely to state the
particulars both of his action and of his
reasons therefor, so that the congress
can if it desires examine and investigate
the same.
Fo 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. I is discreditable to us as a
people that there should be difficulty in
convicting murderers, or in bringing to
justice men who as public servants
have been guilty of corruption, or who
have profited by the corruption of
public servants. The result is equally
unfortunate, whether due to hairsplit
tin technicalities in the interpretation
of law by judges, to sentimentality and
class consciousness on the part of
juries, or to hysteria and sensational
ism in the daily press. Fo much of
this failure of justice no responsibility
whatever lies on rich men as such. W
who a up the mass of the people
cannot shift the responsibility from our
own shoulders. Bu there is an impor
tan a of the failure winch has spe
cially to do with inability to hold
to proper account men of wealth who
behave badly.
The Modern Corporation.
The huge wealth at has been accu
mulated by a few individuals of recent
years, in what has amounted to a so
cial and industrial revolution, has been
as regards some of these individuals
made possible only by the improper use
of the modern corporation. A certain
type of modern corporation, with its
officers and agents, its many issues of
securities, and its constant consolida
tion with allied undertakings finally
become? an instrument so complex as
to contain a greater number of ele
ment that, under various judicial de
cisions, lend themselves to fraud and
oppression than any device yet evolved
in the human brain. Corporations are
necessary instruments of modern busi
ness. They have been permitted to
become a menace largely because the
governmental representatives of the
people have worked slowly in provid
in for adequate control over them.
Our great clusters of corpora
tions, huge trusts and fabulously
wealthy multimillionaires, employ the
very best lawyers thev can obtain to
pick flaws in statutes after their
passage but they also employ a class
of secret agents who seek, under the
advice of experts, to render hostile
legislation innocuous by making it un
constitutional, often through the inser
tion of what appear on their face to be
drastic and sweeping provisions against
the interests of the parties inspiring
them while the demagogues, the cor
rup creatures who introduce black
mailing schemes to "strike corpora
tions, and all who demand extreme,
and undesirably radical, measures,
show themselves to be the worst ene
mies of the very public whose loud
mouthed champions they profess to be.
Real damage has been done by the
manifold and conflicting interpretations
ol the interstate commerce law. Con
trol over the great corporations doing
interstate business can be effective only
if it is vested with full power in an
administrative department, a branch of
the federal executive, carrying out a
federal law it can never be effective if
a divided responsibility is left in both
the states and the nation it can never
be effective if left in the hands of the
courts to be decided by lawsuits.
Respect for Law Must Be Upheld.
The courts hold a piace of peculiar and
deserved sanctity under our form of gov
ernment. Respect for the law is essen
tial to the permanence of our institu
tions and respect for the law is largely
conditioned upon respect for the courts.
It is an offense against the republic to
say anything which can weaken this re
spect, save for the gravest reason and in
the most carefully guarded manner. 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 nec
essary is that the courts as a whole
should exercise this power with the far
sighted wisdom already shown by those
judges who scan the future while they
act in the present. Let them exercise
this great power not only honestly and
bravely, but with wise insight into the
needs and fixed purposes of the people,
so that they may do justice, and work
equity, so that they may protect all per
sons in their rights, and yet break down
the barriers of privilege, which is the foe
of right.
Forest Preservation.
If there is any one duty which more
than another we owe it to our children
to perform at once, it is to save the for
ests of this country, for they constitute
the first and most important element in
the conservation of the natural re
sources of the country. Just as
a farmer, after all his life making his
living from his farm, will, if he is an ex
pert farmer, leave it as an asset of in
creased value to his son, so we should
leave our national domain to our chil
dren, increased in value and not worn
out. There are small sections of our own
country, in the east and in the west, in
the Adirondacks, the White mountains
and the Appalachians, and in the Rocky
mountains, where we can already see for
ourselves the damage In the shape of
permanent injury to the soil and the
river systems which comes from reckless
deforestation. It matters not whether
this deforestation is due to the actual
reckless cutting of Umber, to the fires
that inevitably follow such reckless cut
ting of timber, or to reckless and uncon
trolled grazing, especially by the great
migratory bands of sheep, the un
checked wandering of which over the
country means destruction to forests and
disaster to the small home-makers, the
settlers of limited means.
Thanks to our own recklessness
In the use of our splendid forests,
we have already crossed the verge of a
timber famine in this country, and no
measures that we now take can, at least
for many years, undo the mischief that
has already been done. But we can pre
vent further mischief being done and it
would be in the highest degree reprehen
sible to let any consideration of tem
porary convenience or temporary cost
interfere with such action, especially as
regards the national forests which the
nation can now, at this very moment,
control.
The lesson of deforestation in China
is a lesson which mankind should have
learned many times already from at
has occurred in other places. Denuda
tion leaves naked soil then gullying
cuts down to the bare rock and mean
while the rock-wast buries the bottom
lands. Whe the soil is gone, men
must go and the process does not take
long.
Plea for Inland Waterways.
Action should be begun forthwith, dur
ing the present session of the congress,
for the improvement of our inland water
ways—action which will result in giving
us not only navigable but na\igated
rivers.
Until the work of river improvement is
undertaken in a modern way it can not
have results that will meet the needs of
this modern nation. The plan
which promises the best and quick
est results is that of a per
manent commission authorized to co-or
dinate the work of all the government
departments relating to waterways, and
to frame and supervise the execution of
a comprehensive plan. Under such a
commission the actual work of construc
tion might be entrusted to the reclama
tion service or to the military engineers
acting with a sufficient number of civili
ans to continue the work in time of war
or it might be divided between the rec
lamation service and the corps of en
gineers. Funds should be provided from
current revenues If it is deemed wise—
otherwise from the sale of bonds. The
essential thing is that the work should
go forward under the best possible plan,
and with the least possible delay. The
time for playing with our waterways is
past. The country demands results.
The president urges that national
parks adjacent to national forests be
placed under the control of the forest
service of the agricultural depart
ment he also points out the benefits
derived from pure food legislation.
The message continues:
Needs of the Secret Service.
Last year an amendment was incor
porated in the measure providing for the
secret service, which provided that there
should be no detail from the secret serv
ice and no transfer therefrom. The
amendment in question was of benefit to
no one excepting to criminals, and
it seriously hampers the government in
the detection of crime and the securing
of justice. The chief argument in
favor of the provision was that
the congressmen did not them
selves wish to be investigated by the
secret service men. Very little of such
investigation has been done in the past
but it is true that the work of the secret
service agents was partly responsible for
the indictment and conviction of a sen
ator and a congressman for land frauds
in Oregon. I do not believe that it is
in the public Interest to protect criminals
in any branch of the public service, and
exactly as we have again and again dur
ing the past seven years prosecuted and
convicted such criminals who were in
the executive branch of the government,
so in my belief we should be given ample
means to prosecute them if found in the
legislative branch. But if this is not
considered desirable a special exception
could be made in the law prohibiting the
use of the secret service force in inves
tigating members of the congress.
Postal Savings Banks.
I again renew my recommendation
for postal savings banks, for deposit
ing savings with the security of the
government behind them. Th object
is to encourage thrift and economy in
the wage-earne and person of mod
erate means. It is believed that in the
aggregate vast sums of money would be
brought into circulation through the in
strumentality of the postal savings
banks.
Parcel Post.
In my last annual message I com
mended the postmaster-general's
recommendation for an extension of the
parcel post on the rural routes. Th
establishment of a local parcel post on
rural routes would be to the mutual
benefit of the farmer and the country
storekeeper, and it is desirable that the
routes, serving more than 15,000.000
people, should be utilized to the fullest
practicable extent.
Education.
Wit the limited means hitherto pro
vided, the bureau of ducation has
rendered efficient service, but the con
gress has neglected to adequately sup
ply the bureau with means to meet the
educational growth of the country.
I earnestly recommend ttiat this un
fortunate state of affairs as regards
the national educational office be reme
died by adequate appropriations. This
recommendation is urged by the repre
sentatives of our common schools and
great state universities and the leading
educators, who all unite in requesting
favorable consideration and action by
the congress upon this subject.
The president points out the neces
sity of better organization of the vari
ous bureaus responsible for the public
health, and urges the placing of all
soldiers' homes under the jurisdiction
of the war department.
Statehood.
On the question of statehood the
president says:
I advocate the immediate admission of
New Mexico and Arizona as states. This
should be done at the present session of
the congress. The people of the two ter
ritories have made it evident by their
votes that they will not come in as one
state. The only alternative is to admit
them as two, and I trust that this will be
done without delay.
Interstate Fisheries.
I call the attention of the congress to
the importance of the problem of the
fisheries in the interstate waters. On the
Great Lakes we are now, under the very
wise treaty of April 11 of this year, en
deavoring to come to an international
agreement for the preservation and sat
isfactory use of the fisheries of these wa
ters which ean not otherwise be achieved.
Lake Erie, for example, has the richest
fresh water fisheries in the world but it
is now controlled by the statutes of two
nations, four states, and one province,
and this province by two different ordi
nances in different counties. All these
political divisions work at cross pur
poses, and in no case can they achieve
protection to the fisheries, on the one
hand, and justice to the localities and in
dividuals on the other.
Foreign Affairs.
This nation's foreign policy is based
on the theory that right must be done
between nations precisely as between
individuals, and in our actions for the
last ten years we have in this a
proven our faith by our deeds. W
have behaved, and are behaving, to
wards other nations, as in private life
an honorable man would behave to
a his fellows.
Latin-American Republics.
The commercial and material prog
ress of the 20 Latin-American republics
is worthy of the careful attention of
the congress.- Th Internationa Bureau
of the American Republics is doing a
useful work in a in these nations
and their resources better known to
us,' and in acquainting them not only
with us as a people and with our
poses towards them, but with at we
have to exchange for their goods.
Panama Canal.
The work on the a a a canal is be
ing done with a speed, efficiency and
entire devotion to duty, which a It
a model for all work of the kind. Th
men on the Isthmus, from Col. Goethals
and his fellow commissioners through
the. entire list of employes who are
faithfully doing their, duty, haye wo
their right to the ungrudging respect
•ad gratitude ef the American people*
again recommend the extension
the ocean mail act of 1891 so at satis
factory American ocean mail lines to
South America, Asia, the Philippines, y
and Australasia a be established.
Hawaii.
I call particular attention to the Ter
ritory of Hawaii. Th importance of
those islands is apparent, and the need
of improving their condition and
veloping their resources is urgent
The Philippines.
Real progress toward self-government
is being made in the Philippine islands.
I trust that within a generation
the time will arrive when the Philippines
can decide for themselves whether it is
well for them to become independent, or
to continue under the protection of a
strong and disinterested power, able to
guarantee to the islands order at home
and protection from foreign invasion.
Porto Rico. ,,
I again recommend that American cit
izenship be conferred upon the people of
Porto Rico.
Cuba.
In Cuba our occupancy will cease in
about two months' time, the Cubans
have in orderly manner elected their own
governmental authoiities, and the island
will be turned over to them. Our occu
pation on this occasion has lasted a lit
tle over two years, and Cuba has thriv
en and prospered under it. Our earnest
hope and one desire is that the people
of the island shall now govern them
selves with justice, so that peace and or
der may be secure.
Japanese Exposition.
The Japanese government has post
poned until 1917 the date of the re at
international exposition, the action
ing taken so as to insure ample time
in which to prepare to a the expo
sition all that it should be made.
American commissioners have visited
Japa and the postponement will re
ly give ampler opportunity for Ameri
ca to be represented at the exposition.
Not since the first international expo
sition has there been one of greater
importance than this will be. marking
as it does, the fiftieth anniversary of
the ascension to the throne of the
peror of Japan. The extraordinary
leap to the foremost place a the
nations of the world made by a an
during this half century is so in
unparalleled in all previous history.
I take this opportunity publicly to
state my appreciation of the a in
which in Japan, in Australia, in N
Zealand, and in all the states of South
America, the battle fleet has been
ceived on Its practice voyage around
the world Th American government
can not too strongly express its a re
ciation of the abounding and generous
hospitality shown our bhips in every
port they visited.
The Army.
As regards the army I call attention
to the fact at while our junior offi
cers and enlisted men stand very high,
the present system of promotion by
seniority results in bringing into the
higher grades many men of mediocre
capacity who have but a short time to
serve. No man should regard It as his
vested right to rise to the highest a
In the a my any more than in a
other profession. I is a curious and
by no means creditable fact that there
should be so often a failure on the
part of the public and its representa
tives to understand the great need,
from the standpoint of the service and
the nation, of refusing to promote re
spectable, elderly incompetents. Th
higher places should be given to the
most deserving men without regard to
seniority at least seniority should be
treated as only one consideration. I
the stress of modern industrial com
petition no business firm could succeed
if those responsible for its management
were chosen simply on the ground at
they were the oldest people in its em
ployment yet this is the course advo
cated as regards the army, and re
quired by law for all grades except
those of general officer. As a a
of fact all of the best officers in the
highest ranks of the army are those
who have attained their present posi
tion wholly or in part by a process of
selection.
The scope of retiring boards should
be extended so that they could con
sider general unfitness to command for
any cause, in order to secure a far more
rigid enforcement than at present in
the elimination of officers fer mental,
physical or temperamental disabilities.
But this plan is recommended only if
the congress does not see fit to provide
at in my judgmen is far better,
that is, for selection in promotion, and
for elimination for age. Officers who
fail to attain a certain rank by a cer
tain age. should be retired—for in
stance, if a man should not attain
field a by the time he is 45 he
should of course be placed on the re
tired list. General officers should be
selected as at present, and one-third
of the other promotions should be
made by selection, the selection to be
made by the president or secretary of
a from a list of at least two candi-'
dates proposed for each vacancy by a
board of officers from the a of the
service from which the promotion is
to be made. A bill is now before he
congress having for its object to se
cure the promotion of officers to vari
ous grades at reasonable ages through
a process of selection, by boards of of
ficers, of the least efficient for retire
men with a percentage of their pay
depending upon length of service. Th
bill, although not accomplishing all
that should be done, is a long step in
the right direction: and I earnestly
recommend its passage, or that of a
more completely effective measure.
National Guard.
Now at the organized militia, the
National Guard, has been incorporated
with the a my as a part oi the national
forces, it behooves the government to
do every reasonable thing in its power
to perfect its efficiency. I should be
assisted in its instruction and other
wise aided more liberally than hereto
fore. Th continuous services of a
well-trained regular officers will be
essential in this connection. A
bill is now pending before the
congress creating a number of extra
officers in the army, winch if passed,
as it ought to be, will enable more
officers to be trained as instructors of
National Guard and assigned to that
duty. In case of war it will be of the
utmost importance to have a large
number of trained officers to use for
in a levies into good troops.
The Navy.
I approve the recommendations of
the general board for the in
crease of the navy, calling especial
attention to the need of addi
tional destroyers and colliers, and above
all, of the four battleships. It is desir
able to complete as soon as possible a
squadron of eight battleships of the best
existing type.
I most earnestly recommend that the
general board be by law turned into a
general staff. There is literally no ex
cuse whatever for continuing the pres
ent bureau organization of the navy. Th
navy should be treated as a purely mili
tary organization, and everything should
be subordinated to the one object of se
curing military efficiency. A system
of promotion by merit, either by selec
tion or by exclusion, or by both
processes, should be introduced. I is out
of the question, if the present principle
of promotion by mere seniority is kept,
to expect to get the best results from the
higher officers. Our men come too old,
and stay for too short a time, in the high
command positions.
Nothing better for the navy from every
standpoint has ever occurred than the
cruise of the battle fleet around the
world. The improvement of the ships in
every way has been extraordinary, and
they have gained far more experience
in battle tactics than they would have
gained if they had stayed in the Atlantic
waters. The American people have cause
for profound gratification, both in view
of the excellent condition of the fleet as
shown by this cruise, and in view of the
improvement the cruise has worked in
this already high condition. I do not
believe that there is any other service In
the world in which the average of char
acter and efficiency In the enlisted men
la as high as is now the case In our own.
THEODOR E ROOSEVELT.
The White House, Tuesday, December
I, 1**.