Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, December 3, 1907, Page 4

through the department of agriculture should do ali it can by joining with the state governmeuts and with inde- pendent associations of farmers to en- courage the growth in the open farm- ing country of such institutional and social movements as will meet the de- mand of the best type of farmers, both for the improvement of their farms and for the betterment of the life it- self. The department of agriculture Ras in many places, perhaps especially in certain distr of the south, ac- complished an extraordinary amount by co-operating with and teaching the farmers through their assoclations on their own soil how to increase their in- come by managing their farms better than they were hitherto managed. The farmer must not lose his independence, his initiative, his rugged self reliance, ¥yet he must learn to work in the he: fest co-operation with his rellows, s the business mav g R and he m 1 we to use to constantly Dbetter utage the knowledge that can be obtained from agricultural colleges, while he must insist upon a p 1 curriculum in the schools in which his children are taught. The department of agriculture and the department of commerce and labor both deal with the fundamental needs of our people in the production of raw material and its manufacture and distribution and therefore with the welfare of those whe produce it in | the raw state and of those who manu- facture and distribute it. The depart- ment of commerce and labor has but recently Leen founded, but has already Jjustified its existence, while the de- | partment of agriculture yields to no other in the government in the prac- tical benefits which it products in pro- portion to the public money expended. It must ¢ inue in the future to deal | with gro o crops as it has dealt in | the past, but it must still further cx-| tend its field of usefulness hereafter by dealing with live men through a far r 1g study and treatment uf‘ the problems of farm life alike from | the industrial and economic and so- cial standpoint. Farmers must co-op- erate with one another and with the government, and the government can best give its aid through associations of farmers, so as to deliver to the farmer the large body of agricultural knowledge which has been accumulat- ed by the national and state govern- ments and by the agricultural colleges and schools. The grain producing industry of the country, one of the most important in the United States, deserves special consideration at the hands of the con- gress. Our grain is sold almost exclu- sively by grades. To secure satisfac- tory results in our home markets and to facilitate our trade abroad these grades should approximate the highest degree of uniformity and certainty. | The present diverse methods of inspec- | tlon and grading throughout the coun- try under different laws and boards re- sult in confusion and lack of uniform- ity, destroying that confidence which s necessa for healthful trade. Com- plaints against the present methods have continued for years, and they are growing in volume and Intensity not only in this country, but abroad. I therefore suggest to the congress the advisability of a national system of in- spection and grading of grain entering into interstate and foreign commerce | as a remedy for the present evils. INLAND WATERWAYS. Great River Systems Should Be Made Into National Highways. The conservation of our natural re- sources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which under- lies almost every other problem of our natlonal life. We must maintain for our civilization the adequate material basis without which that civilization cannot exist; we must show foresight: we must look ahead. As a nation we not only enjoy a wonderful measure of present prosperity, but if this prosper- ity is used aright it is an earnest of future success such as no other nation will have. The reward of foresight for this nation is great and easily foretold. But there must be the look ahead:; there must be a realization of the fact that to waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land | instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and de- veloped.” For the last few years through several agencles the govern- ment has been endeavoring to get our people to look ahead and to substitute a planned and orderly development of our resources in place of a haphazard striving for immediate profit. Our great river systems should be develop- ed as national water highways, the Mississippl, with its tributaries, stand- ing first in importance and the Colum- bia second, although there are many others of importance on the Pacific, the Atlantic and the gulf slopes. The national government should undertake this work, and I hope a beginning wiil be made in the present congress, and the greatest of all our rivers, the Mis- sissippl, should recelve especial atten- tlon. Trom the great lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi there should be a desp waterway, with deep water- ways leading from it to the east and the west. Such a waterway would practically mean the extension of our coast line into the very heart of our country. It would be of incalculable benefit to our people. If begun at once it can be carried through in time ap- preciably to relieve the congestion of our great freight carrying lines of rail- roads. The work should be systematie- ally and continuously carried forward in accordance with some well conceiv- ed plan. The main streams should be improved to the highest point of effi- clency before the improvement of the should be kept free from every taint of recklessness or jobbery. The inland waterways which lie just back of the whole eastern and southern coasts should likewise be developed. More- over, the development of our water- ways involves many other important water problems, all of which should be considered as part of the same general scheme. The government dams should be used to produce hundreds of thou- sands of horsepower as an incident to improving navigation, for the annual value of the unused water power of the United States perhaps exceeds the annual value of the products of all our mines. As an incident to creating the deep waterway down the Mississippi the government should build along its whole lower length levees which, tak- en together with the control of the headwaters, will at once and forever put a complete stop to all threat of | floods in the immensely fertile delta region. to the The territory lyving adjacent Mississippi along its lower most prosperous and populous as it al- ready is one of the most fertile farm- ing regions in all the world. I have appointed an inland waterways com- mission to study and outline a compre- hensive scheme of development along all the lines. indicated. Later I shall lay its report before the congress. Reclamation Work. Irrigation should be far more exten- sively developed than at present, not only in the states of the great plains and the Rocky mountains, but in many | others—as, for instance, in large por- tions of the south Atlantic and gulf | states, where it should go hand in hand with the reclamation of swamp land. The federal government should seriously devote itself to this task, realizing that utilization of waterways { and water power, forestry, irrigation and the reclamation of lands threat- ened with overflow are all interde- pendent parts of the same problem. The work of the reclamation service in developing the larger opportunities of the western half of our country for frrigation s more important than al- most any other movement. The con- stant purpose of the government in connection with the reclamation serv- ice has been to use the water resources of the public lands for the ultimate greatest good of the greatest number— in other words, to put upon the land permanent homemakers, to use and develop it for themselves and for their children and chlldren’s children. There has been, of course, opposition to this ‘work—opposition from some interested men who desire to exhaust the land for their own immediate profit without regard to the welfare of the next gen- eration and opposition from honest and well meaning men who did not fully understand the subject or who did not look far enough ahead. This opposi- | tlon is, I think, dying away, and our people are understanding that it would Le utterly wrong to allow a few in- dividuals to exhaust for their own temporary personal profit the resources which ought to be developed through use so as to be conserved for the per- manent common advantage of the peo- ple as a whole. Public Lands. The effort of the government to deal with the public land has been based upon the same principle as that of the reclamation service. The land law sys- tem which was designed to meet the needs of the fertile and well watered regions of the middle west has largely broken down when applied to the drier regions of the great plains, the moun- tains and much of the Pacific slope, where a farm of 160 acres Is inade- quate for self support. In .these re- gions, the system lent itself to fraud, and much land passed out of the hands of the government without passing into the hands of the homemaker. The de- partment of the interior and the de- partment of justice joined:in, prosecut- ing the offenders against the law, and they have accomplished much; while where the administration of the law has been defective it has been changed. But the laws themselves are defective. Three years ago a public lands com- mission was appointed to scrutinize the law and defects and recommend a remedy. Thelr examination specific- ally showed the existence of great fraud upon the public domain, and their recommendations for changes in the layv were made with the design of conserving the natural resources of every part of the public lands by put- ting it to its best use. Especial atten- tlon was called to the prevention of settlcment by the passage of great areas of public land into the hands of a few men and to the enormous waste caused by unrestricted grazing upon the open range. The recommendations of the public lands commission are sound, for they are especially in the in- terest of the actual homemaker. and where the small homemaker cannot at present utilize the land they provide that the government shall keep contro! of it so ths* it may not be monopoliz- ed by a few men. The congress has not yet acted upon these recommenda- tlons, but they are so just and proper. so essential to our national welfare, that 1 feel confident if the congress will take time to consider them they ‘will ultimately be adopted. Some such legislation as that pro- posed is cssential In order to preserve the great stretches of public grazing land which are unfit for cultivation under present methods and are valu- able ouly for the forage which they tupply. These stretches amount in all | fo some 200.000,000 acres and are open fo the free grazing of cattle, sheep, horses and goats without restriction. Such a system, or, rather, such lack | of system, means that the range is not ro much used as wasted by abuse. As the svest settles the range becomes mote and more overgrazed. Much of {t cannot be used to advantage unless it 1s fenced. for fencing is the only way by which to keep in check the branches is attempted, and the’ work oswners of nomad flocks which roam course will thereby become one of the T hither and thither, utterly destroying the pastures and leaving a waste be- hind, so that their presence is Incom- patible with the presence of home- makers, The existing fences are ail illegal. Some of them represent the improper exclusion of actual settlers, actual homemakers, from terrvitory which i usumped by gredt cattle com- panies. Some of them represent what is in itself a proper effort to use the range for those upon the land and to prevent its use by nomadic outsiders. All these fences, those that are hurtful and those that are beneficial, are alike illegal and must come down. But it is an outrage that the law should neces- sitate such action on the part of the administration. The unlawful fencing of public lands for private grazing must Dbe stopped, but the necessity which occasioned it must be provided for., The federal government should have control of the range, whether by permit or lease, as local necessities may determine. Such control could se- cure the great benefit of legitimate fencing, while at the same time se- curing and promoting the settlement of the country. In some places it may be that the tracts of range adjacent to the homesteads of actual settlers should be allotted to them severally or in common for the summer grazing of their stock. Elsewhere it may be that a lease system would serve the pur- pose, the leases to be temporary and subject to the rights of settlement and the amount charged being large enough merely to permit of the efii- cient and beneficial control of the range by the government and of the payment to the county of the equiva- lent of what it would otherwise re- ceive in taxes. The destruction of the public range will continue until some such laws as these are enacted. Fully to prevent the fraud in the public lands which through the joint action of the interior department and the depart- ment of justice we have been endeav- oring to prevent there must be further legislation and especially a sufficient appropriation to permit the department of the Interior to examine certain class es of entries on the ground before they pass Into private ownership. The gov- ernment should part with fits title only to the actual homemaker, not to the profit maker who does not care to make a home. Our prime object is to secure the rights and guard the inter- ests of the small ranchman, the man who plows and pitches hay for him- self. It is this small ranchman. this actual settler and homemaker, who in the long run is most hurt by permit- ting thefts of the public land in what- ever form. FOREST RESERVATIONS. They Should Be Vastly Increased to Conserve Resources. Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess it becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inex- haustible. This is not so. The mineral wealth of the country, the coal, iron. ofl, gas and the like, does not repro- duce itself and therefore is certain to be exhausted ultimately, and wasteful- ness in dealing with it today means that our descendants will teel the ex- haustion a generation or two before they otherwise would. But there are certain other forms of waste which could be entirely stopped. The waste of soil by washing, for instance, which is among the most dangerous of all wastes now in progress in the United States, is easily preventablé, so that this present enormous loss of fertility is entirely unnecessary. The preserva- tion or replacement of the forests is one of the most important means of preventing this loss. We have made a beginning In forest preservation. but it ‘is only a beginning. At present-~lum- bering is"the.fourth greatest ‘induistry in the United States, and yet so rapid has been the rate of exhaustion of tim- ber in the United States in the past and o rapldly is the remainder being exhausted that the country is unques- tionably on the verge of a timber fam- ine which will be felt in every house- hold in the land. There has already been a rise in the price of lumber, but there is certain to be a more rapid and heavier rise in the future. The present annual consumption of lumber is cer- tainly three times as great as the an- nual outgrowth, and if the consump- tlon and growth continue unchanged practically all our lumber will be ex- hausted .in another gener:\flon..while long before the limit to complete ex- haustion is reached the growing scar- city will make itself feit in many blighting ways upon our national wel- fare. About 20 per cent of our forested territory is now reserved in national forests, but these do not include the most valuable timber lands, and in any event the proportion is too small to ex- pect that the reseives can accomplish more than a mitigation of the trouble which is ahead for the nation. Far more drastic action is needed. Forests can be lumbered so'as to give to the public the full use of their mercautile Umber without the slightest detriment to the forest, any more than it is a detriment to a farm to furnish a har- vest, so that there Is no parallel be- tween forests and mines, which can only be completely used by exhaustion. But forests. if used as all our forests bhave been used in the past.and as most of them are still used, will be elther wholly destroyed or so damaged that many decades have to pass before effective use can be made of them ngain, All these facts are so obvious that it I8 extraordinary that it should be nec- 2ssary to repeat them. Every business nan in the land. every writer in the aewspapers. every man or woman of an ordinary school edtcation. ought to be able to see that immense quantities of timber are used in the country, that (e forests which supply this timber ! the country when the forests are ex- aré"vapldly belng exhausted and if no change takes place exhaustion will come comparatively soon and that the effects of it will be felt severely in the everyday life of our people. Surely when these facts are 8o obvl- ous there should be no delay in taking preventive measures. Yet we seem s a nation to be wiiling to proceed In this matter with happy go lucky indif- ference even to the immediate future. It is this attitude which permits the self interest of a very few persons to weigh for inore than the ultimate in- terest of all our people. There are per- sons who find it to their immense pe- cuniary benefit to destroy the forests by lumbering. They are to be blamed for thus sacrificing the future of the nation as a whole to their own self in terest of the moment, but heavier blame attaches to the people at large for permiiting such action, whether in the White mountains, in the southern Alleghanies or in the Rockies and Sier- ras. A big lumbering company, impa- tlent for immedlate returns and not caring to lool: far enough ahead, will often deliberately destroy all the good timber in a region, hoping afterward to move on to some new country. The shiftless than of small means who does not care to become an actual home- maker, but would like immediate prof- it, will find it to his advantage to take up timber land simply to turn it over to such a big company and leave it valueless for future settlers. A big mine owner, anxious only to develop his mine at the moment, will care only to cut all the timber that he wishes without regard to the future, probably not looking ahead to the condition of hausted any more than he does to the condition when the mine is worked out. I do not blame these men nearly as much as 1 blame the supine public opinion, the indifferent public opinion. which permits their action to go un- checked. Of course to check the waste of timber means that there must be on the part of the public the accept- ance of a temporary restriction in the lavish use of the timber in order to prevent the total less of this use in the future. There are plenty of men in public and private life who actually advocate the continuance of the pres- ent system of unchecked and wasteful extravagance, using as an argument the fact that to check it will of course mean interference with the ease and comfort of certain people who now get lumber at less cost than they ought to pay at the expense of the future gen- erations. Some of these persons actu- ally demand that the present forest reserves be thrown open to destruc- tion because, forsooth, they think that thereby the price of lumber could be put down again for two or three or more years. Their attitude is precise- ly like that of an agitator protesting against the outlay of money by farm- ers on manure and in taking care of their farms generally. Undoubtedly if the average rarmer were content ab- solutely to ruin his farm he could for two or three years avoid spending any money on it and yet make a good deal of money out of it. But only a sav- age would in his private affairs show stuch reckless disregard of the future. yet it is precisely this reckless disre- gard of the future which the oppo- nents of the forestry system are now endeavorinz to get the people of the United States to show. The only trou- ble with the movement for the preser- vation of our forests is that it has not gone nearly far enough and was not begun soon enough. It is a most fortunate thing, however, that we be- gan it vhen we did. We should ac- quire in the Appalachian and White mountain regions all the forest lands that it is possible to acquire for the use of the nation. These lands be- cause they form a national asset are as emphatically ‘national as the rivers which ‘they feed and which flow through ‘80 many states before they reach the ocean. 5 REPEAL WOOD PULP DUTY. Abolition of Tariff on All Forest Pro- ducts Recommended. There should be no tariff on any for- est product grown in this country, and { in especial there should be no tariff on wood pulp, due notice of change being of course given to those engaged in the business so as to enable them to adjust themselves to the new conditions. The repeal of the duty on wood pulp should it possible be accompanied by an agree- ment with Canada that there shall be | no export duty on Canadian pulp wood. Mineral Lands. In the eastern United States the mineral fuels have already passed into the hands of large private owners, and those of the west are rapidly follow- ing. It is obvious that these fuels should be conserved and not wasted. | and it would be well to protect the peo- ple against unjust and extortionate prices so far as that can still be done. What has Dbeen acco:splished in the great oil flelds of the Indian Territory by the action of the administration of- fers a striking example of the good re- sults of such a policy. In my judg- ment, the government should have the right to keep the fee of the coal, oil and pmas fields in its own possession and to lease the rights to develop them under proper regulations or else, if the congress will not adopt this method, the coal deposits should be sold unders Hmitations to conserve them as pub- e utilitles, the right to mine coal be- Ing separated from the title to the soil. The regulations should permit coal lands to be worked in sufficient quan- tity Ly the several corporations. The present limitations have been absurd. excessive and serve no useful purpose and often render it necessary that there should be either fraud or else abandonment of the work of getting o%:t the coal. i received for doing the work of canal : be used advantageously, employees are Work on the Panama canal is pro- ceeding in a highly satisfactory man- ner. In March last John F. Steveus, chalrman of the commission and chief engineer, resigued, and the commis- sion wus reorganized and constituted as follows; Lieutenant Colonel George ‘W. Goethals, corps of engineers, Unit- ed States army, chairman and chief en- gineer; Major D. D. Gaillard, corps of engineers, United States army; Major William L. Sibert, corps of engineers, United States army; Civil Engineer H. H. Rousseau, United States navy; J. C. 8. Blackburn; Colonel W. C. Gorgas, United States army, and Jackson | Smith, commissioners. This change of authority and direction went into ef- fect on April 1 without causing a per- ceptible check to the progress of the work. In March the total excavation in the Culebra cut, where effort was chiefly concentrated, was 815,270 cubic yards. In April this was increased to 879,527 cubic yards. There was a con- slderable decrease in the output for May and June owing partly to the ad- vent of the rainy season and partly to temporary trouble with the steam shov- el men over the question of wages. This trouble was settled satisfactorily | to all parties, and in July the total ex- cavation advanced materially, and in August the grand total from all points in the canal prism by steam shovels and dredges exceeded all previous United States records, reaching 1,274,- 404 cubic yards. In September this record was eclipsed, and a total of 1,517,412 cubic yards was removed. Of this amount 1,481,307 cubic yards were from the canal prism and 36,105 .cubic yards were from accessory works. These results were achieved in the | rainy season with a rainfall in August of 11.89 inches and in September of 11.65 inches. Finally in October the | record was again eclipsed, the total ex- cavation being 1,868,729 cubic yards, a truly extraordinary record, especially in view of the heavy rainfall, which was 17.1 inches. In fact, experience | during the last two rainy seasons dem- | onstrates that the rains are a less seri- ous obstacle to progress than has hith- erto been supposed. Work on the locks and dams at Ga- tun, which began actively in March ! last, has advanced so far that it is thought that masonry work on the locks ean be begun within fifteen months. In order to remove all doubt as to the satisfactory character of the foundations for the locks of the canal the secretary of war requested three eminent civil engineers of special ex- perience in such construction, Alfred Noble, Frederic P. Stearns and John R. Freeman, to visit the isthmus and make thorough personal investigations of the sites. These gentlemen went to the isthmus in April and by means of test'pits which had been dug for the purpose they Inspected the x:n‘op(';ser]1 foundations and also examined the borings that had been made. In their report to the secretary of war under date of May 2, 1907, they said, “We found that all of the locks of the di- mensions now proposed will rest upon rock of such character that it will fur- nish a safe and stable foundation.” Subsequent new borings condected by the present commission have fully con- firmed this verdict. They show that the locks will rest on rock for their entire length. The cross section of the dam and method of construction will be such as to insure against any slip or sloughing off. Similar examinations of the foundations of the locks and dams on the Pacific side are in prog- ress. I believe that the locks should be made of a width of 120 feet. Last winter bids were requested and construction .by.. contract. None of them was found to be satisfactory. and all were rejected. It is the unanimous opinion of the present commission that the work can be done, better, more cheaply and more quickly by the gov- ernment than by private contractors. Fully 80 per cent of the entire plant needed for construction has been pur- chased or contracted for. Machine shops have been erected and equipped for making all needed repairs to the plant, many thousands of employees have been secured, an effective organ- ization has been perfected, a recruiting system is in operation whieh is capa- ble of furnishing more labor than can well sheltered and well fed, salaries paid are satisfactory and the work is not only goiyg forward smoothly. but it 1s producing results far in advance of the most sanguine anticipations. Under these favorable conditions a change in the method of prosecuting the work would be unwise and unjus- tifiable, for it would inevitably disor- ganize existing conditions, check prog- ress and increase the cost and lengthen the time of completing the canal. The chief engineer and all his pro- fessional associates are firmly con- vinced that the elghty-five.feet levél lock canal which they are constructing 13 the best that.could be desired. Some of them had doubts on this point when they went to the isthmus. As the plans have developed under their di- rection their doubts have been dis- pelled. While they may decide upon changes in detail as coastruction ad- vances, they are in hearty accord in approving the general plan. They be- lleve that it provides h canal not only adequate to all demands that will be made upon it, but superjor in every way to a sea level canal. I concur in this belief. . Postal Affairs. 1 commend to the favorable consid- eration of the congress a postal sav- ings bank system as recommended by the postmaster general. The primary object is to encourage among our peo- ple economy and thrift and by the use of postal savings banks to give them an opportunity to husband their re-| rources, particularly those who have not the facilities at hand for deposit- fng their mouney In savings banks. Viewed, however, from the experlence E) of the past few weeks it is evident that the advantages of such an institu- tion are still more far reaching. Tim- id depositors have withdrawn their savings for the time being from na- tional banks, trust companies and say- ings banks, individuals have hoarded their cash and the workingmen their earnings, all of which money has been withheld and kept in hiding or in the safe deposit box to the detriment of prosperity. Through the agency of the postal savings banks such money would be restored to the channels of trade, to the mutual benefit of capital and la- PARCELS POSTS. Extension of This Service ~Advisable, Especially in Rural Delivery. I further commend to the congress the consideration of the postmaster general’'s recommendation for an ex- tension of the parcel post, especially on the rural routes. There are now 88,215 rural routes, serving nearly 15,- 000,000 people who do not have the advantages of the inhabitants of cities in obtaining their supplies. These rec- ommendations have been drawn up to benefit the farmer and the country storekeeper. Otherwise I should not favor them, for I believe that it is good policy for our government to do everything possible to aid the small town and the country district. It is desirable that the country merchant shou!d not be- crushed out. The fourth class postmasters’ con- vention has passed a very strong reso- lution in favor of placing the fourth: class postmasters under the civil serv- ice law. The administration has al- ready put into effect the policy of re- fusing to remove any fourth class post- masters save for reasons connected with the good of the service, and it is endeavoring so far as possible to re- move them from the domain of parti- san politics. It would be a most de- sirable thing to put the fourth class postmasters in the classified service. It is possible that this might be done without congressional action; but, as the matter is debatable, I earnestly recommend that the congress enact x law .providing that they be included under the civil service law and put in the classified service: Oklahoma. Oklahoma has become a state; stand- ing on a full equality with her elder sisters, and her future is assured by her great natural resources. The duty of the national government to guard the personal and property rights of the- Indians within her borders remains of course unchanged. Alaska. I reiterate my recommendations of last ,year as regards Alaska. Some fortn of local self government should be provided, as simple and inexpensive as possible. It is impossible for the congress to devote the necessary time to all the little details of necessary Alaskan iegisiation. Road building and railway building should be encouraged. The governor of Alaska should be giv- en an ample appropriation wherewith to organize a force to preserve the public peace. Whisky selling to the natives should be made a felony. The coal land laws should be changed so as to meet the peculiar needs of the territory. This should be atiended to at once, for‘the present laws permit in- dividuals to locate large areas of the public domain for speculative pur- poses and cause an immense amount of trouble, fraud and litigation. There should be another judicial division es- tablished. As early as possible light- houses-and buoys should be establish- ed as aids to navigation, especially in and about Prince William sound, and the survey of the coast completed. There. is need of liberal appropriations for lighting and buoying the southern coast and improving the aids to navi- gation in southeastern Alaska. One of the great industries of Alaska, as of Puget sound and the Columbia, Is salmon fishing. Gradually, by reason of lack of proper laws, this industry is being ruined. It should now be tak- en in charge and effectively protected by the United States government, The courage and enterprise of the citizens of the far northwest in thelr projected Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exposi- tlon to be held in 1909 should receive llberal encouragement. This exposi- tion is not sentimental in its concep- tion, but seeks to exploit the natural resources of Alaska and to promote the commerce. trade and industry of the Pacific states with their neighboring states and with cur insular possessions and the neighboring countries of the Pacific. The exposition asks no loan from the congress, but seeks appropria- tlons for national exhibits and exhibits of the western dependencies of the general government. The state of Washington and the city of Seattle have shown the characteristic western enterprise in large donations for the conduct of the exposition. in which other states are lending generous as sistance. X Hawaii. The unfortunate failure of the ship- ping bill at the last session of the last congress was followed by the, taking off of certain Pacific steamships, which has greatly hampered the movement of passengers between Hawail and the mainland. Unless the congress is pre- pared by positive encouragement 'to secure proper facilities in the, way of shipping between Hawail and the mainland then the coastwise shipping laws should be so far relaxed as to prevent Hawali suffering as it is now suffering. I again call your ‘attention to the capital importance from every standpoint of making Pear! harber available for the largest deep water: vessels and of suitably fortifying the island.- * The secretary of war has gone to the Philippines. On his return I shall sub- it to you his report on the islands.