Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, December 6, 1904, Page 4

- (Continued from first page.) each other, better understand the man as well as his business, when meeting face to face, exchanging views and realizing from personal contact we serve but one interest, that of our mu- tual prosperity. “Serious misunderstandings cannot occur where personal good will exists and opportunity for personal-explana- tlon is present. “In my early business life I had ex- perience with men of affairs of a char- acter to make me desire to avoid cre- ating a like feeling of resentment to myself and the interests in my charge ghould fortune ever place me in author- ity, and I am solicitous of a measure of confidence on the part of the public and our employees that I shall hope may be warranted by the fairness and good fellowship I intend shall prevall 1n our relationship. “But do not feel I am -disposed to grant unreasonable requests, spend the money of our company unnecessarily or without value recelved nor expect the days of mistakes are disappearing or that cause for complaint will not continually occur. Simply to correct such abuses as may be discovered, to better conditlons as fast as reasonably may be expected, constantly striving, with varying success, for that improve- ment we all desire to convince you there is a force at work in the right di- rection, all the time making progress, is the disposition with which I have come among you, asking your good will and encouragement. “The day has gone by when a corpo- ration can be handled successfully in deflance of the public will, even though that will be unreasonable and wrong. A public may be led, but not driven, and 1 prefer to go with it and shape or mod- ify in a measure its opinion rather than be swept from my bearings, with loss to myself and the interests in my charge. “Violent prejudice exists toward cor- porate activity and capital today, much of it founded in reason, more in appre- hension, and a large measure is due to the personal tralts of arbitrary, unrea- sonable, incompetent and offensive men in positions of authority. The ac- complishment of results by indirection, the endeavor to thwart the intention if not the expressed letter of the law*"(the will of the people), a disregard of the rights of others, a disposition to with- hold what is due, to forge by main strength or inactivity a reS¥it not jus- tified, depending upon the wenkness of the claimant and his indisposition to become involved in litigation, has cre- ated a sentiment harmTul in the ex- treme and a disposition to consider any- thing fair that gives gain to the indi- vidual at the expense of the company. “If corporations are to continue to do the world’s work, as they are best fitted to, these qualitles in their rep- resentatives that have resulted in the present prejudice against them must be relegated to the background. The corporations must come out into the open and see and be seen. They must take the public into their confldence and ask for what they want, and no more, and be prepared to explain satls- factorily what advantage will accrue to the public if they are given their desires, for they are permitted to exist not that they may make money solely, but thut they may effectively serve those from whom they derive their power. “Publicity and not secrecy will win hereafter and laws be construed by their intent and not by their letter; otherwise public utllities will be own- ed and operated by the public which created them, even thougn the service be less efficient and the result less sat- isfactory from a financial standpoint.” Bureau of Corporations. The bureau of corporations has made careful preliminary investigation of many important corporations. It will make a special report on the beef in- dustry. The policy of the bureau is to ac- complish the purposes of its creation by co-operation, not antagonism; by making constructive legislation, not destructive prosecution, the immediate object of its inquiries; by conservative investigation of law and fact and by refusal to issue incomplete and hence necessarily inaccurate reports. Its pol- icy being thus one of open inquiry into and not attack upon business, the bureau has been able to gain not only the con- fidence, but, better still, the co-operation, of men engaged in legitimate business. The bureaa offers to the congress the means of getting at the cost of pro- duction of our various great staples of commerce. Of necessity the careful investigation of special corporations will afford the commissioner knowledge of certain business facts, the publication of which might be an improper infringement of private rights, The method of malking public the results of these investiga- tions affords under the law a means for the protection of private rights. The congress will have all facts ex- cept such as would give to another corporation information which would injure the legitimate business of a competitor and destroy the incentive for indlvidual superiority and thrift. The bureau has also made exhaustive examinations into the legal condition under which corporate business is car- rled on in the various states, into all Judicial decisions on the subject and into the varlous systems df corporate taxation in use. I call special atten- tion to the report of the chief of the bureau, and T earnestly ask that the congress carefully consider the report and recommendations of the commis- sioner on this subject. Insurance. ‘The business of insurance vitally af- fects the great mass of the people of the United States and is national and not local in its application. It involves a multitude of transactlons among the people of the different states and be- tween American companies and foreign governments. I urge that the congress carefully consider whether the power of the bureau of corporations cannot constitutionally be extended to cover interstate transactions in insurance, Rebates. Above all else we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to all on equal terms, and to do this it 18 nec- essary to put a complete stop to all re- bates. Whether the shipper or the rail- road 1s to blame makes no difference. The rebate must be stopped, the abuses of the private car and private terminai track and sidetrack systems must-be stopped, and the legislation of the Fif- 1y-eighth congress which declares it to be unlawful for any person o tlon to offer, grant, give, sollcit, aceept or receive any rebate, concession or discrimination in respect of the trans- portation of any property in interstate or forelgn commerce whereby such property shall by any device whatever be transported at a less rate than that named in the tariffs published by the carrler must be enforced. For some time after the enactment of the act to regulate commerce it remained a moot- ed question whether that act conferred upon the Interstate commerce commis- slon the power after it had found a challenged rats to be unreasonable tc declare what thereafter should prima facle be the reasonable maximum rate for the transportation in dispute. The supreme court finally resolved that question in the negative, so that as the law now stands the commission simply possesses the bare power to denounce a particular rate as unreasonable. While I am of the opinion that at present it would be undesirable if it were not fm- practicable finally to clothe the com- mission with general authority to fix railroad rates, I do believe that as a falr security to shippers the commis- sfon should be vested with the power where a given rate has been challenged and after full hearing found to be un- reasonable to declde, subject to judi- cial review, what shall be a reasonable rate to take its place, the ruling of the commission to take effect immediately and to obtaln unless and until it is re- versel by the court of review. The government must in increasing degree supervise and regulate the workings of the raflways engaged in interstate commerce, and such inereased supervi- sfon is the only alternative to an in- crease of the present evils on the one hand or a still more radical policy on the other. In my judgment the most important legislative act now needed as regards the regulation of corpora- tlons is this act to confer on the inter- state commerce commission the power to revise rates and regulations, the re- vised rate to at once go into effect and to stay in effect unless and until the court of review reverses it. Steamship companies engaged in in- terstate commerce and protected in our coastwise trade should be held to a strict observance of the interstate com- merce act. City of Washington. In pursuing the set plan to make the clty of Washington an example to oth- er American municipalities several points should be kept in mind by the legislators. In the first place, the peo- ple of this country should clearly un- derstand that no amount of industrial prosperity and, above all, no leadership In international industrial competition can in any way atone for the sapping of the vitality of those who are usually spoken of as the working classes. The farmers, the mechanics, the skilled and unskilled laborers, the small shopkeep- ers, make up the bulk of the popula- tlon of any country, and upon their well being, generation after generation, the well being of the country and the race depends. Rapid development in wealth and industrial leadership is a good thing, but only if it goes hand in hand with improvement and not de- terloration, physical and moral. The overcrowding of cities and the draining of country districts are unbealthy and even dangerous symptoms in our mod- ern life. We should not permit over- crowding in cities, In certaln Euro- pean cities it is provided by law that the population of towns shall not be allowed to exceed a very limited den- sity for a given area, so that the in- crease in density must be continually pushed back into a broad zone around the center of the town, this zone having great avenues or parks within it. The death rate statistics show a terrible in- crease in mortality, and especially in infant mortality, in overcrowded tene- ments. The poorest families in tenement louses live in one room, and it appears that in these one room tenements the average death rate for a number of glven citles at home and abroad is about twice what it i3 in a two room tenement, four times what it is in a three room tenement and eight times ‘what it is in a tenement consisting of four rooms or over. These figures vary somewhat for different cities, but they approximate in each ecity those given above; and in all cases the increase of mortality, and especially of infant mortality, with the decrease in the number of rooms used by the family and with the consequent overcrowding, is startling. The slum exacts a heavy total of death from those who dwell therein, and this is the case not merely in the great crowded slums of high buildings in New York and Chicago, but in the alley slums of Washington. In Washington people cannot afford to ignore the harm that this causes. No Christian and clvilized community can afford to show a happy go lucky lack of concern for the youth of today, for if so the community will have to pay a terrible penalty of financial burden and social degradation in the tomor- row. There should be severe child la- bor and factory inspection laws. It 1s very desirable that married women should not work in factorfes. The prime duty of the man is to work, to be the breadwinner. The prime duty of the woman is to be the mother, the housewife. All questions of tariff and finance sink into utter insignificance when compared with the tremendous, the vital importance of trying to shape conditions so that these two. duties of the man and of the woman can be fulfilled under reasonably favorable circumstances. If a race does not have plenty of children, or if the children do not grow up, or if when they grow up they are unhealthy in body and stunt- ed or viclous in mind, then that race is decadent, and no heaping up of ‘wealth, no splendor of momentary ma- terial prosperity, can avail in any de- gree as offsets. The congress has the samie power of legislation for the District of Colum- bia which the state legislatures have: for the various states. The problems! Incident to our highly complex modern industrial civilization, with its mani-' fold and perplexing tendencies both, for good and for evil, are far less sharply accentuated in the city of! ‘Washington than in most other c‘lties.‘ For this very reason it is easier to deal with the various phases of these prob- lems in Washington, and the District| of Columbia government should be a model for the other municipal govern-| ments of the nation in all such matters| as supervision of the housing of the poor, the creation of small parks in the districts inhabited by the poor, in for the taki ‘ave”of tile childrén, in truant laws and in providiug schools. In the vital matter of taking care of children much advantage could be gain- ed by a careful study of what has been accomplished in such states as Illinois and Colorado by the juvenile courts. The work of the juvenile court is real- ly a work of character building. It is now generally recognized that young boys and young girls who go wrong should not be treated as criminals, not even necessarlly as needing reforma- tlon, but rather as needing to have their characters formed, and for this end to have them tested and developed by a system of probation. Much ad- mirable work has been done in many of our commonwealths by earnest men and women who have made a special study of the needs of those classes of children which furnish the greatest number of juvenile offenders and there- fore the greatest number of adult of- fenders, and by their aid and by profit- ing by the experiences of the different states and citles in these matters it would be easy to provide a good code for the District of Columbia. Several considerations suggest the need for a systematic investigation in- to and improvement of housing condi- tions in Washington. The hidden resi- dentlal alleys are breeding grounds of vice and disease and should be opened into minor streets. For a number of years influential citizens have joined ‘with the District commissioners in the vain endeavor to secure laws permit- ting the condemnation of insanitary dwellings. The local death rates, espe- clally from preventable -diseases, are so unduly high as to suggest that the exceptional wholesomeness of Wash- ington’s Dbetter sections is offset by bad conditlons in her poorer neighbor- hoods. A speclal ‘“commissioner on housing and health conditions in the national capital” would not only bring about the reformation of existing evils, but would also formulate an appro- priate building code to protect the clty from mammoth brick tenements and other evils which threaten to de- velop here as they have in other cities. That the natlon’s capital should be made a mode] for other municipalities i8 an ideal which appeals to all pa- triotic citizens everywhere, and such a special commission might map out and organize the city’s future devel- opment in lines of civic soclal service, Just as Major L’Enfant and the recent park commission planned the arrange- ment of her streets and parks. It is mortifying to remember that ‘Washington has no compulsory school attendance law and that careful inqui- ries indicate the habitual absence from school of some 20 per cent of all chil- dren between the ages of eight and fourteen. It must be evident to all whe consider the problems of neglected child life or the benefits of compulsory education in other cities that one of the most urgent needs of the national capital is a law requiring the school attendance of all children, this law to be enforced by attendance agents di- rected by the board of education. Public playgrounds are necessary means for the development of whole- some citizenship in modern cities. It is important that the work inaugurated here through voluntary efforts should be taken up and extended through con- gressional appropriation of funds suffi- clent to equip and maintain numerous gonvenient small playgrounds upon fand which can be secured without hase or rental. It is also desirable t small vacant places be purchased and reserved as small park play- grounds in densely settled sections of the city which now have no public open spaces and are destined soon to be built up solidly. All these needs should be met immediately. To meet them would entail expenses, but a cor- responding saving could be made by stopping the building of streets and leveling of ground for purposes largely speculative in outlying parts of the city. There are certain offenders whose criminality takes the shape of brutal- ity and cruelty toward the weak who need a special type of punishment. The wife beater, for example, is inade- quately punished by imprisonment, for imprisonment may often mean nothing to him, while it may cause hunger and want to the wife and children who have been the victims of his brutality. Probably some form of corporal pun- ishment would be the most adequate ‘way of meeting this kind of crime. Agriculture. The department of agriculture has grown into an educational institution with a faculty of 2,000 specialists making research into all the sciences of production. The congress appropri- ates, directly and indirectly, $6,000,000 annually to carry on this work. It reaches every state and territory in the Unlon and the islands of the sea lately come under our flag. Co-operation is had with the state experiment stations and with many other institutions and individuals. The world is carefully gearched for new varieties of grains, fruits, grasses, vegetables, trees and shrubs suitable to various localities in our country, and marked benefit to our producers has resulted. The activities of our age in lines of research have reached the tillers of the soll and inspired them with ambition to know more of the principles that govern the forces of nature with which they have to deal. Nearly half of the 'people of this country devote their en- ergles to growing things from the soil. Until a recent date little has been done to prepare these millions for their life ‘work. In most lines of human actlvity college trained men are the leaders. The farmer had no opportunity for special training until the congress ‘made provision for it forty years ago. During these years progress has been made and teachers have been prepared. Over 5,000 students are in attendance| at our state agricultural colleges. The federal government expends $10,000,- 000 annually toward this education .| and for research in Washington and in the several states and territories. The department of agriculture has glven facilities for postgraduate work to 500 young men during the last seven years, preparing them for advanced lines of work in the department and in the state institutions. The facts concerning meteorology and its relations to plant and animal life are being systematically inquired into. emperature and moisture are control- ling factors in all agricultural opera- tions. The seasons of the cyclones of. the' Oaribbean sea and their paths are being forecasted _with increasing accu- the north. are antlcipated and thelr times and. intensity told to farmers, gardeners and fruiterers in all south- ern localities. ‘We sell $250,000,000 worth of ani- mals and animal products to foreign countries every year in addition to supplying our own people more cheap- ly and abundantly than any other na- tlon is able to provide for its people. Buccessful manufacturing depends pri- marily on cheap food, which accounts to a considerable extent for our growth in this direction. The depart- ment of agriculture, by careful inspec- tlon of meats, guards the health of our people ‘and gives clean bills of health to deserving exports. It i8 prepared to deal promptly ‘with imported diseases of animals and maintain the excellence of our flocks and herds in this respect. There should be an annual census of the live stock of the nation. We sell abroad about $600,000,000 worth of plants and their products ev- ery year. Strenuous efforts are being made to import from foreign countries such grains as are suitable to our vary- ing localities. Seven years ago we bought three-fourths of our rice. By helping the rice growers on the gulf const to secure seeds from the orient sulted to their conditions and by giv- ing them adequate protection they now supply home demand and export to the Islands of the Caribbean sea and to other rice growing countries. Wheat and other grains have been imported from light rainfall countries to our lands in the west and southwest that have not grown crops because of light precipitation, resulting in an extensive addition to our cropping area and our homemaking territory that cannot be Irrigated. Ten million bushels of first class macaroni wheat were grown from these experimental importations last year. Fruits suitable to our soils and climates are being imported from all the countries of the old world—the fig from Turkey, the almond from Spain, the date from Algeria, the mango from India. We are helping our fruit grow- ers to get their crops into Huropean markets by studying methods of pres. ervation through refrigeration, packing and handling which have been quite successful. We are helping our hop growers by importing varietles that ripen earller and later than the kinds they have been raising, thereby length- ening the harvesting season. The cot- ton crop of the country is threatened with root rot, the bollworm and the boll weevil. Our pathologists will find immune varieties that will resist the root disease, and the bollworm can be dealt with, but the boll weevil is a se- rious menace to the cotton crop. It is a Central American insect that has be- come acclimated in Texas and has done great damage. A scientist of the department of agriculture has found the weevil at home in Guatemala being kept in check by an ant, which has been brought to our cotton fields for observation. It is hoped that it may serve a good purpose. The soils of the country are getting attention from the farmer's standpoint, and Interesting results are following. We have duplicates of the soils that grow the wrapper- tobacco in Sumatra and the filler tobacco in Cuba. It will be only a question of time when the large amounts paid to these countrles will be paid to our own people. The reclamation of alkali lands s progress- Ing, to give object lessons to our peo- ple in methods by which worthless lands may be made productive. The insect friends and enemies of the farmer are getting attention. The enemy of the San Jose scale was found near the great wall of China and is now cleaning up all our orchards. The fig fertllizing insect imported from Turkey has helped to establish an in- dustry in California that amounts to from 50 to 100 tons of dried figs an- nually and is extending over the Pa- cific coast. A parasitic fly from South Africa Is keeping in subjection the Dblack seale, the worst pest of the or- ange and lemon industry in California. Careful " preliminary work is being done toward producing our own silk. The mulberry is being distributed in large numbers, eggs are being imported and distributed, improved reels were Imported from Burope last year, and two expert reelers were brought to Washington to reel the erop of cocoons and teach the art to our own people. The ‘crop reporting system of the de- partment of agriculture 1is being brought closer to accuracy every year. It has 250,000 reporters, selected from people in eight vocations in life. It has arrangements with most European coun- tries for interchangeof estimates, sothat our people may know as nearly as pos- sible with what they must compete. Irrigation. Durlng the two and a half years that have elapsed since the passage of the eclamation act rapid progress has een made in the surveys and exami- nations of the opportunities for rec- lamation in the thirteen states and three territories of the arid west. Con- struction has already been begun on the largest and most important of the Irrigation works, and plans are being completed for works which will utilize the funds now available. “The opera- tions are being carried on by the rec- lamation service, a corps of engineers selected through competitive civil serv- lce examinations. This corps includes experienced consulting and construct- Ing engineers as well as various ex- perts in mechanical and legal matters and is composed largely of men who have spent most of their lives in prac- tical affairs connected with irrigation. The larger problems have been solved, and it now remains to execute with care, economy and thoroughness the work which has been laid out. All im- portant details are being carefully con- sidered by boards of consulting en- glneers, selected for their thorough knowledge and practical experlence. Each project is taken up on the ground by competent men and viewed from the standpolnt of the creation of pros- perous homes and of prompily refund- ing to the treasury the cost of construc- tion. The reclamation act has been found to be remarkably complete and effective and so broad in its provisions that a wide range of undertakings has been possible under it. ‘At the same time economy. is guaranteed by the fact that the funds must ultimately be returned to be used over again. It is the cardinal ptinl:lple of the forest reserve poliey of this admlnts- thelr rescurces is to be avolded by ev- ery possible means.- But these re- resources must be used in such a way as to make them permanent." The forest pollcy of the government i8 just now a subject of vivid public {nterest throughout the west and to the people of the United States in general. ‘The forest reserves themselves are of extreme value to the present as well as to the future welfare of all the west- ern public land states, They powerful-, ly affect the use and disposal of the public lands. They are of special im- portance because they preserve the water supply and the supply of timber for domestic purposes and 8o promote settlement under the reclamation act. Indeed they are essential to the wel- fare of every one of the great interests of the west. Forest reserves are created for two principal purposes. The first is to pre- serve the water supply. This is their most important use. The principal users of the water thus preserved are irrigation ranchers and settlers, cities and towns to whom their municipal ‘water supplies are of the very first im- portance, users and furnishers of wa- ter power and the users of water for domestie, manufacturing, mining and other purposes. All these are directly dependent upon the forest reserves." The second reason for which forest reserves are created is to preserve the timber supply for various classes of wood users. Among the more impor- tant of these are settlers under the reclamation act and other acts, for whom a cheap and accessible supply of timber for domestic uses is absolute- ly necessary; miners and prospectors, who are in serfous danger of losing their timber supply by fire or through export by lumber companies when tim- ber lands adjacent to their mines pass into private ownership; lumbermen, transportation companies, builders and commerclal interests in general. Although the wisdom of creating for- est reserves is nearly everywhere heartily recognized, yet in a few locall- ties there has been misunderstanding and complaint. The following state- ment 18 therefore desirable: The forest reserve policy can be suc- cessful only when it has the full sup- port of the people of the west. It can- not safely and should not in any case be imposed upon them against their will. But neither can we accept the views of those whose only interest in the forest is. temporary, who are anx- lous to reap what they have not sown and then move away, leaving desola- tion behind them. On the contrary, it is everywhere and always the interest of the permanent settler and the per- manent business man, the man with a stake in the country, which .must be considered and which must decide. The making of forest reserves within railroad and wagon road land grant limits will hereafier, as for the past three years, be so managed as to pre- vent the issue under the act of June 4, 1897, of base for exchange or lieu se- lection (usually called scrip). In all cases where forest reserves within areas covered by land grants appear to be essential to the prosperity of set- tlers, miners or others the government lands within such proposed forest re- serves will, as in the recent past, be withdrawn from sale or entry pending the completlon of such negotiations ‘with the owners of the land grants as will prevent the creation of so called scrip. Tt was formerly the custom to make forest reserves without first getting definite and detailed information as to the character of land and timber with- in thelr boundaries. This method of action often resulted in badly thosen boundaries and consequent injustice to settlers and others. Therefore this ad- ministration adopted the present meth- od of first withdrawing the land from disposal, followed by careful examina- tlon on the ground and the preparation of detailed maps and descriptions, be- fore any forest reserve is created. I have repeatedly called attention to the confusion which exists in govern- ment forest matters because the work 18 scattered among three independent organizations. The United States is the only one of the great nations in which the forest work of the government is not concentrated under one department in consonance with the plainest diec- tates of good administration and com- mon sense. The present arrangement 18 bad from every point of view. Merely to mention it is to prove that it should be terminated at once.. As I have re- peatedly recommended, all the forest work of the government should be con- centrated in the department of agricul- ture, where the larger part of that work is already done, where practical- ly all of the trained foresters of the government are employed, where chief- ly in Washington there is comprehen- sive first hand knowledge of the prob- lems of the reserves acquired on the ground, where all problems relating to growth from the soil are already gath- ered and where all the sclences auxil- iary to forestry are at hand for prompt and effective co-operation. These rea- 'sons are declsive in themselves, but it should be added that the great organi- zatlons of citizens whose interests are affected by the forest reserves, such as the National Live Stock association, the National Wool Growers’ associa- tion, the Amerlcan Mining congress, the National Irrigation congress and the National Board of Trade, have uni- formly, emphatically and most of them repeatedly expressed themselves in fa- ‘vor of placing all government forest ‘work in the department of agriculture because of the peculiar adaptation of that department for it. It is true also that the forest services of mearly all the great nations of the world are un- der the respective dcpartments of ag- riculture, while in but two of the smaller nations and in one colony are they under the department of the inte- rior. This is the result of long and va- ried experience, and it agrees fully with the requirements of good adiiin- istration in our own case. The creation of a forest service in the department of agriculture will have for its important results: First.—A better handling of all forest ‘work, because it will be under a sin- gle head and beeause the vast and in- dispensable experience of the depart- ment in all matters pertaining to the for- est reserves, to forestry in general and to other forms of production from the soil, will be easily and rapidly accessible.. - Becond.—The reseryes themselyes, be- i the office, Wwill be more easily and more widely useful to the people of the west than has been the case hith- erto. Third —Within a comparatively short time the reserves will become self sup- porting, This is important, because continually and rapidly increasing ap- propriations will be necessary for the proper care of this exceedingly impor- tant interest of the nation, and they can and-should be offset by returns from the natlonal forests. Under sim- dlar circumstances the forest posses- slons of other great nations form an important source of revenue to their Bovernments, Every administrative officer concern- ed is convinced of the necessity for the proposed consolidation of forest work in the department of agriculture, and I myself have urged it more than once in former messages. Again I com- mend it to the early and favorable con- sideration of the congress. The inter- ests of the natlon at large apd of the west in particular have suffered great- 1y because of the delay. Public Lands. _ I call the attention of the congress again to the report and recommenda- tion of the commission on the public lands forwarded by me to the second session of the present congress. The commission has prosecuted its investi- gations actively during the past sea- 8on, and a second report i8 now in an advanced stage of preparation. Game Preserves. In connection with the work of the forest reserves I desire again to urge upon the congress the importance of authorizing the president to set aside certain portions of these reserves, or oth- er public lands, as game refuges for the preservation of the bison, the wapiti and other large beasts once so abun- dant in our woods and mountains and on our great plaing and now tending toward extinction. Every support should be .given to the authorities of the Yellowstone park in their success- ful efforts at preserving the large crea- tures therein, and at very little ex- pense portions of the public domain in other regions which are wholly unsuit- ed to agricultural settlement could be similarly utilized. We owe it to fu- ture generations to keep alive the no- ble and beautiful creatures which by thelr presence add such distinctive character to the American wilderness. The limits of the Yellowstone park should be extended southward. The Canyon of the Colorado should be made a national park, and the national park gystem should include the Yosemite and as many as possible of the groves of glant trees in California. Pensions. The veterans of the civil war have a claim upon the nation such as no other body of our citizens possess. The pen- slon bureau has never in its history been managed in a more satisfactory manner than is now the case. Indians. The progress of the Indians toward civilization, though not rapid, is per- haps _all that could be hoped for in vlew of the circumstances., Within the ast year many tribes have shown in a egree greater than ever before an ap- preciation of the necessity of work. This changed attitude is in part due to the policy recently pursued of reduc- ing the amount of subsistence to the Indians and thus forcing them through sheer necessity to work for a livell- hood. The policy, though severe, is a useful one, but it is to be exercised only with judgment and with a full understanding of the conditions which exist in each community for which it in intended. On or near the Indian res- ervations there is usually very little demand for labor, and if the Indians are to earn their living and when work cannot be furnished from outside, which is always preferable, then it must be furnished by the government. Practical instruction of this kind would In a few years result in the forming of habits of regular industry, which would render the Indian a pro- ducer and would effect a great reduc- tion in the cost of his maintenance. It s commonly declared that the slow advance of the Indians is due to the unsatisfactory character of the men appointed to take immediate charge of them, and to som. extent this is true.. While the standard of the employees in the Indian service shows great improvement over that of bygone years, and, while actual corruption or flagrant dishonesty is now the rare ex- ception, it is nevertheless the fact that the salaries paid Indian-agents are not large enough to attract the best men to that field of work. To achieve satisfac- tory results the official in charge of an Indian tribe should possess the high qualifications which are required in the manager of a large business, but only in exceptional cases is it possible to secure men of such a type for these positions. Much better service, how- ever, might be obtained from those now holding the places were it practi- cable to get out of them the best that Is in them, and this should be done by bringing them constantly into closer touch with their superior officers. An agent who has been content to draw his salary, giving in return the least possible equivalent in effort and sery- ice, may by proper treatment, by sug- gestion and encouragement or persist- ent urging be stimulated to greater ef- fort and induced to take a more active personal interest in his work. Under existing conditions an Indian agent in the distant west may be whol- ly out of touch with the ofiice of the Indian bureau. He may very weil feel that no one takes a personal interest in him or his efforts. Certain routine du- ties in the way of reports and accounts are required of him, but there is no one with whom he may intelligently con- sult on matters vital to his work ex- cept. after long delay. Such a man would be greatly encouraged and aid- ed by personal contact with some one whose interest in Indian affalrs and ‘whose authority in the Indian bureau were greater than his own, and such contact would be certain to arouse and constantly increase the interest he takes in his work, The distance which separates the agents—the workers in the field—from the Indian office in Washihgton is a chief ‘obstacle to Indian progress. Whatever shall - more closely unite these two branches of the Indian sery- ice and shall enable them to co-operate | m ore heartily and ‘more effectively will fol for whose improvement the Indian bu- reau was established. The appoint- ment of a fleld assistant to the commis- sloner of Indian affairs would be cer- | tain to insure this good end. Such an official 1f possessed of the requisite en- ergy and deep interest in the work would be a most efficient factor in bringing into closer relationship and a more direct union of effort the bureau in Washington and its agents in the fleld, and with the co-operation of its branches thus secured the Indian bu- reau would in measure fuller than ever before lift up the savage toward that Belf help and self rellance which con- stitute the man, Jamestown Tricentennial. In 1907 there will be held at Hamp~ ton Roads the tricentennial celebratiom of the settlement at Jamestown, Va., with which the history of what has now become the United States really begins. I commend this to your favor- able consideration. It is an event of prime historic significance, in which all: the people of the United States should feel and should show great and general interest. Postal 8ervice. In the postoffice department the serv~ ice has increased in efficiency, and con- ditlons as to revenue and expenditure continue satisfactory. The increase of revenue during the year was $9,358,~ 181.10, or 6.9 per cent, the total re- celpts amounting to $143,382,624.34. The expenditures were $152,362,116.70, 4 an increuse of about 9 per cent over the previous year, being thus $8979,- 492.30 In excess of the current revenue. Included in these expenditures was a total appropriation of $12,956,637.85 for the continuation and extension of the rural free delivery service, which was an increase of $4,802,237.85 over the amount expended for this purpose in the preeeding fiscal year. Large as this: expenditure has been, the beneficent: results attained in extending the free. distribution of mails to the residents of rural districts have justified the wis-. dom of the outlay. Statistics brought- down to the 1st of October, 1904, show - that on that date there were 27,138 ru-- ral routes established, serving approx-. imately 12,000,000 of people in rural: districts remote from postoffices, and: that there were pending at that time. 8,859 petitions for the establishment of: new rural routes. Unquestionably- some part of the general increase im, receipts s due to the increased postal: facilities which the rural service has; afforded. The revenues have also been; alded greatly by amendments in the. classification of mail matter and the curtallment of abuses of the second class mailing privilege. The average increase in the volume of mail matter for the period beginning with 1902 and ending June, 1905 (that portion for 1005 being estimated), is 40.47 per cent as compared with 25.46 per cent for the period immediately preceding and 1592 for the four year perfod imme- diately preceding that. Consular Service. Our consular system needs improve- ment. Balaries should be substituted for fees, and the proper classification, grading and transfer of consular offi- cers should be provided. I am not pre- pared to say that a competitive system of examinations for appointment would work well, but by law it should be provided that eonsuls should be fa- millar, according to places for which they apply, with the French, German er Spanish language and should pos- sess acqualntance with the resources of the United States. National Gallery of Art. The collection of objects of art con~ templated In section 5586 of the Re- vised Statutes should be designated and-established as a national gallery of art, and the Smithsonian institution should be authorized to accept any ad- ditions to said collection that may be recelved by gift, bequest or devise. National Quarantine Law. It is desirable to enact a proper na- tlonal quarantine law. It is most un- desirable that a state should on its own initiative enforce quarantine regu- lations which are in effect a restric- tlon upon interstate and international commerce. The question should prop- erly be assumed by the government alone. The surgeon general of the na- tlonal public health and marine hos- pital service has repeatedly and con- vincingly set forth the need for such legislation. Extravagance In Printing. I call your attention to the great ex~ travagance in printing and binding government publications and especially to the fact that altogether too many of these publications are printed. There 18 a constant tendency to increase their number and their volume. It is an wn- derstatement to say that no appreeia- ble harm would be caused by, and sub- stantial benefit would accrue frow, de- creasing the amount of printlng now done by at least one-half. Probably the great majority of the government reports and the like now printed are never read at all, and, furthermore, the printing of much of the material con- tained in many of the remaining ones serves no useful purpose whatever. Currency. The attentlon of the congress showdi be especially given to the currency question and that the standing commit- tees on the matter in the two houses: charged with the duty take up the mat- - ter of aur currency and see whether it - 18 not possible to secure an agreement= in the business world for bettering the- system. The committees should con- sider the question of the retirement of: the greenbacks and the problem of ‘se-. curing in our currency such elasticigas: 18 consistent with safety. Every silver dollar should be made by law redeem- able in gold at the option of the holder. Merchant Marine. I especially commend to your imme-. diate attentlon the encouragement of - our merchant marine by appropriate. legislation, Qriental Markets,® The growing importance of the orient; a8 a fleld for American exports drew:- from my predecessor, President M-’ Kinley, an urgent request for its spe- clal consideration by the congress. In his message of 1898 he stated: < ~ “In this relation, as showing the pe- culiar yolume and value of our trade ble conditions which exist for their exmnslon in the normal course of trade, with China and the peculiarly favora- By TR