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President[ Theodore Roosevelt

         Date[ December 7, 1903

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

The country is to be congratulated on the amount of substantial

achievement which has marked the past year both as regards our foreign

and as regards our domestic policy.

With a nation as with a man the most important things are those of the

household, and therefore the country is especially to be congratulated

on what has been accomplished in the direction of providing for the

exercise of supervision over the great corporations and combinations of

corporations engaged in interstate commerce. The Congress has created

the Department of Commerce and Labor, including the Bureau of

Corporations, with for the first time authority to secure proper

publicity of such proceedings of these great corporations as the public

has the right to know. It has provided for the expediting of suits for

the enforcement of the Federal anti-trust law; and by another law it

has secured equal treatment to all producers in the transportation of

their goods, thus taking a long stride forward in making effective the

work of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor, with the

Bureau of Corporations thereunder, marks a real advance in the

direction of doing all that is possible for the solution of the

questions vitally affecting capitalists and wage-workers. The act

creating Department was approved on February 14, 1903, and two days

later the head of the Department was nominated and confirmed by the

Senate. Since then the work of organization has been pushed as rapidly

as the initial appropriations permitted, and with due regard to

thoroughness and the broad purposes which the Department is designed to

serve. After the transfer of the various bureaus and branches to the

Department at the beginning of the current fiscal year, as provided for

in the act, the personnel comprised 1,289 employees in Washington and

8,836 in the country at large. The scope of the Department's duty and

authority embraces the commercial and industrial interests of the

Nation. It is not designed to restrict or control the fullest liberty

of legitimate business action, but to secure exact and authentic

information which will aid the Executive in enforcing existing laws,

and which will enable the Congress to enact additional legislation, if

any should be found necessary, in order to prevent the few from

obtaining privileges at the expense of diminished opportunities for the

many.

The preliminary work of the Bureau of Corporations in the Department

has shown the wisdom of its creation. Publicity in corporate affairs

will tend to do away with ignorance, and will afford facts upon which

intelligent action may be taken. Systematic, intelligent investigation

is already developing facts the knowledge of which is essential to a

right understanding of the needs and duties of the business world. The

corporation which is honestly and fairly organized, whose managers in

the conduct of its business recognize their obligation to deal squarely

with their stockholders, their competitors, and the public, has nothing

to fear from such supervision. The purpose of this Bureau is not to

embarrass or assail legitimate business, but to aid in bringing about a

better industrial condition--a condition under which there shall be

obedience to law and recognition of public obligation by all

corporations, great or small. The Department of Commerce and Labor will

be not only the clearing house for information regarding the business

transactions of the Nation, but the executive arm of the Government to

aid in strengthening our domestic and foreign markets, in perfecting

our transportation facilities, in building up our merchant marine, in

preventing the entrance of undesirable immigrants, in improving

commercial and industrial conditions, and in bringing together on

common ground those necessary partners in industrial progress--capital

and labor. Commerce between the nations is steadily growing in volume,

and the tendency of the times is toward closer trade relations.

Constant watchfulness is needed to secure to Americans the chance to

participate to the best advantage in foreign trade; and we may

confidently expect that the new Department will justify the expectation

of its creators by the exercise of this watchfulness, as well as by the

businesslike administration of such laws relating to our internal

affairs as are intrusted to its care.

In enacting the laws above enumerated the Congress proceeded on sane

and conservative lines. Nothing revolutionary was attempted; but a

common-sense and successful effort was made in the direction of seeing

that corporations are so handled as to subserve the public good. The

legislation was moderate. It was characterized throughout by the idea

that we were not attacking corporations, but endeavoring to provide for

doing away with any evil in them; that we drew the line against

misconduct, not against wealth; gladly recognizing the great good done

by the capitalist who alone, or in conjunction with his fellows, does

his work along proper and legitimate lines. The purpose of the

legislation, which purpose will undoubtedly be fulfilled, was to favor

such a man when he does well, and to supervise his action only to

prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the honest

corporation. The only corporation that has cause to dread it is the

corporation which shrinks from the light, and about the welfare of such

corporations we need not be oversensitive. The work of the Department

of Commerce and Labor has been conditioned upon this theory, of

securing fair treatment alike for labor and for capital.

The consistent policy of the National Government, so far as it has the

power, is to hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or

employee; but to refuse to weaken individual initiative or to hamper or

cramp the industrial development of the country. We recognize that this

is an era of federation and combination, in which great capitalistic

corporations and labor unions have become factors of tremendous

importance in all industrial centers. Hearty recognition is given the

far-reaching, beneficent work which has been accomplished through both

corporations and unions, and the line as between different

corporations, as between different unions, is drawn as it is between

different individuals; that is, it is drawn on conduct, the effort

being to treat both organized capital and organized labor alike; asking

nothing save that the interest of each shall be brought into harmony

with the interest of the general public, and that the conduct of each

shall conform to the fundamental rules of obedience to law, of

individual freedom, and of justice and fair dealing towards all.

Whenever either corporation, labor union, or individual disregards the

law or acts in a spirit of arbitrary and tyrannous interference with

the rights of others, whether corporations or individuals, then where

the Federal Government has jurisdiction, it will see to it that the

misconduct is stopped, paying not the slightest heed to the position or

power of the corporation, the union or the individual, but only to one

vital fact--that is, the question whether or not the conduct of the

individual or aggregate of individuals is in accordance with the law of

the land. Every man must be guaranteed his liberty and his right to do

as he likes with his property or his labor, so long as he does not

infringe the rights of others. No man is above the law and no man is

below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to

obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a

favor.

We have cause as a nation to be thankful for the steps that have been

so successfully taken to put these principles into effect. The progress

has been by evolution, not by revolution. Nothing radical has been

done; the action has been both moderate and resolute. Therefore the

work will stand. There shall be no backward step. If in the working of

the laws it proves desirable that they shall at any point be expanded

or amplified, the amendment can be made as its desirability is shown.

Meanwhile they are being administered with judgment, but with

insistence upon obedience to them, and their need has been emphasized

in signal fashion by the events of the past year.

From all sources, exclusive of the postal service, the receipts of the

Government for the last fiscal year aggregated $560,396,674. The

expenditures for the same period were $506,099,007, the surplus for the

fiscal year being $54,297,667. The indications are that the surplus for

the present fiscal year will be very small, if indeed there be any

surplus. From July to November the receipts from customs were,

approximately, nine million dollars less than the receipts from the

same source for a corresponding portion of last year. Should this

decrease continue at the same ratio throughout the fiscal year, the

surplus would be reduced by, approximately, thirty million dollars.

Should the revenue from customs suffer much further decrease during the

fiscal year, the surplus would vanish. A large surplus is certainly

undesirable. Two years ago the war taxes were taken off with the

express intention of equalizing the governmental receipts and

expenditures, and though the first year thereafter still showed a

surplus, it now seems likely that a substantial equality of revenue and

expenditure will be attained. Such being the case it is of great moment

both to exercise care and economy in appropriations, and to scan

sharply any change in our fiscal revenue system which may reduce our

income. The need of strict economy in our expenditures is emphasized by

the fact that we can not afford to be parsimonious in providing for

what is essential to our national well-being. Careful economy wherever

possible will alone prevent our income from falling below the point

required in order to meet our genuine needs.

The integrity of our currency is beyond question, and under present

conditions it would be unwise and unnecessary to attempt a

reconstruction of our entire monetary system. The same liberty should

be granted the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit customs receipts as

is granted him in the deposit of receipts from other sources. In my

Message of December 2, 1902, I called attention to certain needs of the

financial situation, and I again ask the consideration of the Congress

for these questions.

During the last session of the Congress at the suggestion of a joint

note from the Republic of Mexico and the Imperial Government of China,

and in harmony with an act of the Congress appropriating $25,000 to pay

the expenses thereof, a commission was appointed to confer with the

principal European countries in the hope that some plan might be

devised whereby a fixed rate of exchange could be assured between the

gold-standard countries and the silver-standard countries. This

commission has filed its preliminary report, which has been made

public. I deem it important that the commission be continued, and that

a sum of money be appropriated sufficient to pay the expenses of its

further labors.

A majority of our people desire that steps be taken in the interests of

American shipping, so that we may once more resume our former position

in the ocean carrying trade. But hitherto the differences of opinion as

to the proper method of reaching this end have been so wide that it has

proved impossible to secure the adoption of any particular scheme.

Having in view these facts, I recommend that the Congress direct the

Secretary of the Navy, the Postmaster-General, and the Secretary of

Commerce and Labor, associated with such a representation from the

Senate and House of Representatives as the Congress in its wisdom may

designate, to serve as a commission for the purpose of investigating

and reporting to the Congress at its next session what legislation is

desirable or necessary for the development of the American merchant

marine and American commerce, and incidentally of a national ocean mail

service of adequate auxiliary naval crusiers and naval reserves. While

such a measure is desirable in any event, it is especially desirable at

this time, in view of the fact that our present governmental contract

for ocean mail with the American Line will expire in 1905. Our ocean

mail act was passed in 1891. In 1895 our 20-knot transatlantic mail

line was equal to any foreign line. Since then the Germans have put on

23-knot, steamers, and the British have contracted for 24-knot

steamers. Our service should equal the best. If it does not, the

commercial public will abandon it. If we are to stay in the business it

ought to be with a full understanding of the advantages to the country

on one hand, and on the other with exact knowledge of the cost and

proper methods of carrying it on. Moreover, lines of cargo ships are of

even more importance than fast mail lines; save so far as the latter

can be depended upon to furnish swift auxiliary cruisers in time of

war. The establishment of new lines of cargo ships to South America, to

Asia, and elsewhere would be much in the interest of our commercial

expansion.

We can not have too much immigration of the right kind, and we should

have none at all of the wrong kind. The need is to devise some system

by which undesirable immigrants shall be kept out entirely, while

desirable immigrants are properly distributed throughout the country.

At present some districts which need immigrants have none; and in

others, where the population is already congested, immigrants come in

such numbers as to depress the conditions of life for those already

there. During the last two years the immigration service at New York

has been greatly improved, and the corruption and inefficiency which

formerly obtained there have been eradicated. This service has just

been investigated by a committee of New York citizens of high standing,

Messrs. Arthur V. Briesen, Lee K. Frankel, Eugene A. Philbin, Thomas W.

Hynes, and Ralph Trautman. Their report deals with the whole situation

at length, and concludes with certain recommendations for

administrative and legislative action. It is now receiving the

attention of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

The special investigation of the subject of naturalization under the

direction of the Attorney-General, and the consequent prosecutions

reveal a condition of affairs calling for the immediate attention of

the Congress. Forgeries and perjuries of shameless and flagrant

character have been perpetrated, not only in the dense centers of

population, but throughout the country; and it is established beyond

doubt that very many so-called citizens of the United States have no

title whatever to that right, and are asserting and enjoying the

benefits of the same through the grossest frauds. It is never to be

forgotten that citizenship is, to quote the words recently used by the

Supreme Court of the United States, an "inestimable heritage," whether

it proceeds from birth within the country or is obtained by

naturalization; and we poison the sources of our national character and

strength at the fountain, if the privilege is claimed and exercised

without right, and by means of fraud and corruption. The body politic

can not be sound and healthy if many of its constituent members claim

their standing through the prostitution of the high right and calling

of citizenship. It should mean something to become a citizen of the

United States; and in the process no loophole whatever should be left

open to fraud.

The methods by which these frauds--now under full investigation with a

view to meting out punishment and providing adequate remedies--are

perpetrated, include many variations of procedure by which false

certificates of citizenship are forged in their entirety; or genuine

certificates fraudulently or collusively obtained in blank are filled

in by the criminal conspirators; or certificates are obtained on

fraudulent statements as to the time of arrival and residence in this

country; or imposition and substitution of another party for the real

petitioner occur in court; or certificates are made the subject of

barter and sale and transferred from the rightful holder to those not

entitled to them; or certificates are forged by erasure of the original

names and the insertion of the names of other persons not entitled to

the same.

It is not necessary for me to refer here at large to the causes leading

to this state of affairs. The desire for naturalization is heartily to

be commended where it springs from a sincere and permanent intention to

become citizens, and a real appreciation of the privilege. But it is a

source of untold evil and trouble where it is traceable to selfish and

dishonest motives, such as the effort by artificial and improper means,

in wholesale fashion to create voters who are ready-made tools of

corrupt politicians, or the desire to evade certain labor laws creating

discriminations against alien labor. All good citizens, whether

naturalized or native born, are equally interested in protecting our

citizenship against fraud in any form, and, on the other hand, in

affording every facility for naturalization to those who in good faith

desire to share alike our privileges and our responsibilities.

The Federal grand jury lately in session in New York City dealt with

this subject and made a presentment which states the situation briefly

and forcibly and contains important suggestions for the consideration

of the Congress. This presentment is included as an appendix to the

report of the Attorney-General.

In my last annual Message, in connection with the subject of the due

regulation of combinations of capital which are or may become injurious

to the public, I recommend a special appropriation for the better

enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands, to be extended under

the direction of the Attorney-General. Accordingly (by the legislative,

executive, and judicial appropriation act of February 25, 1903, 32

Stat., 854, 904), the Congress appropriated, for the purpose of

enforcing the various Federal trust and interstate-commerce laws, the

sum of five hundred thousand dollars, to be expended under the

direction of the Attorney-General in the employment of special counsel

and agents in the Department of Justice to conduct proceedings and

prosecutions under said laws in the courts of the United States. I now

recommend, as a matter of the utmost importance and urgency, the

extension of the purposes of this appropriation, so that it may be

available, under the direction of the Attorney-General, and until used,

for the due enforcement of the laws of the United States in general and

especially of the civil and criminal laws relating to public lands and

the laws relating to postal crimes and offenses and the subject of

naturalization. Recent investigations have shown a deplorable state of

affairs in these three matters of vital concern. By various frauds and

by forgeries and perjuries, thousands of acres of the public domain,

embracing lands of different character and extending through various

sections of the country, have been dishonestly acquired. It is hardly

necessary to urge the importance of recovering these dishonest

acquisitions, stolen from the people, and of promptly and duly

punishing the offenders. I speak in another part of this Message of the

widespread crimes by which the sacred right of citizenship is falsely

asserted and that "inestimable heritage" perverted to base ends. By

similar means--that is, through frauds, forgeries, and perjuries, and

by shameless briberies--the laws relating to the proper conduct of the

public service in general and to the due administration of the

Post-Office Department have been notoriously violated, and many

indictments have been found, and the consequent prosecutions are in

course of hearing or on the eve thereof. For the reasons thus

indicated, and so that the Government may be prepared to enforce

promptly and with the greatest effect the due penalties for such

violations of law, and to this end may be furnished with sufficient

instrumentalities and competent legal assistance for the investigations

and trials which will be necessary at many different points of the

country, I urge upon the Congress the necessity of making the said

appropriation available for immediate use for all such purposes, to be

expended under the direction of the Attorney-General.

Steps have been taken by the State Department looking to the making of

bribery an extraditable offense with foreign powers. The need of more

effective treaties covering this crime is manifest. The exposures and

prosecutions of official corruption in St. Louis, Mo., and other cities

and States have resulted in a number of givers and takers of bribes

becoming fugitives in foreign lands. Bribery has not been included in

extradition treaties heretofore, as the necessity for it has not

arisen. While there may have been as much official corruption in former

years, there has been more developed and brought to light in the

immediate past than in the preceding century of our country's history.

It should be the policy of the United States to leave no place on earth

where a corrupt man fleeing from this country can rest in peace. There

is no reason why bribery should not be included in all treaties as

extraditable. The recent amended treaty with Mexico, whereby this crime

was put in the list of extraditable offenses, has established a

salutary precedent in this regard. Under this treaty the State

Department has asked, and Mexico has granted, the extradition of one of

the St. Louis bribe givers.

There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate

one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law. Under

our form of Government all authority is vested in the people and by

them delegated to those who represent them in official capacity. There

can be no offense heavier than that of him in whom such a sacred trust

has been reposed, who sells it for his own gain and enrichment; and no

less heavy is the offense of the bribe giver. He is worse than the

thief, for the thief robs the individual, while the corrupt official

plunders an entire city or State. He is as wicked as the murderer, for

the murderer may only take one life against the law, while the corrupt

official and the man who corrupts the official alike aim at the

assassination of the commonwealth itself. Government of the people, by

the people, for the people will perish from the face of the earth if

bribery is tolerated. The givers and takers of bribes stand on an evil

pre-eminence of infamy. The exposure and punishment of public

corruption is an honor to a nation, not a disgrace. The shame lies in

toleration, not in correction. No city or State, still less the Nation,

can be injured by the enforcement of law. As long as public plunderers

when detected can find a haven of refuge in any foreign land and avoid

punishment, just so long encouragement is given them to continue their

practices. If we fail to do all that in us lies to stamp out corruption

we can not escape our share of responsibility for the guilt. The first

requisite of successful self-government is unflinching enforcement of

the law and the cutting out of corruption.

For several years past the rapid development of Alaska and the

establishment of growing American interests in regions theretofore

unsurveyed and imperfectly known brought into prominence the urgent

necessity of a practical demarcation of the boundaries between the

jurisdictions of the United States and Great Britain. Although the

treaty of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, the provisions of

which were copied in the treaty of 1867, whereby Russia conveyed Alaska

to the United States, was positive as to the control, first by Russia

and later by the United States, of a strip of territory along the

continental mainland from the western shore of Portland Canal to Mount

St. Elias, following and surrounding the indentations of the coast and

including the islands to the westward, its description of the landward

margin of the strip was indefinite, resting on the supposed existence

of a continuous ridge or range of mountains skirting the coast, as

figured in the charts of the early navigators. It had at no time been

possible for either party in interest to lay down, under the authority

of the treaty, a line so obviously exact according to its provisions as

to command the assent of the other. For nearly three-fourths of a

century the absence of tangible local interests demanding the exercise

of positive jurisdiction on either side of the border left the question

dormant. In 1878 questions of revenue administration on the Stikine

River led to the establishment of a provisional demarcation, crossing

the channel between two high peaks on either side about twenty-four

miles above the river mouth. In 1899 similar questions growing out of

the extraordinary development of mining interests in the region about

the head of Lynn Canal brought about a temporary modus vivendi, by

which a convenient separation was made at the watershed divides of the

White and Chilkoot passes and to the north of Klukwan, on the Klehini

River. These partial and tentative adjustments could not, in the very

nature of things, be satisfactory or lasting. A permanent disposition

of the matter became imperative.

After unavailing attempts to reach an understanding through a Joint

High Commission, followed by prolonged negotiations, conducted in an

amicable spirit, a convention between the United States and Great

Britain was signed, January 24, 1903, providing for an examination of

the subject by a mixed tribunal of six members, three on a side, with a

view to its final disposition. Ratifications were exchanged on March 3

last, whereupon the two Governments appointed their respective members.

Those on behalf of the United States were Elihu Root, Secretary of War,

Henry Cabot Lodge, a Senator of the United States, and George Turner,

an ex-Senator of the United States, while Great Britain named the Right

Honourable Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Louis

Amable Jette, K. C. M. G., retired judge of the Supreme Court of

Quebec, and A. B. Aylesworth, K. C., of Toronto. This Tribunal met in

London on September 3, under the Presidency of Lord Alverstone. The

proceedings were expeditious, and marked by a friendly and

conscientious spirit. The respective cases, counter cases, and

arguments presented the issues clearly and fully. On the 20th of

October a majority of the Tribunal reached and signed an agreement on

all the questions submitted by the terms of the Convention. By this

award the right of the United States to the control of a continuous

strip or border of the mainland shore, skirting all the tide-water

inlets and sinuosities of the coast, is confirmed; the entrance to

Portland Canal (concerning which legitimate doubt appeared) is defined

as passing by Tongass Inlet and to the northwestward of Wales and

Pearse islands; a line is drawn from the head of Portland Canal to the

fifty-sixth degree of north latitude; and the interior border line of

the strip is fixed by lines connecting certain mountain summits lying

between Portland Canal and Mount St. Elias, and running along the crest

of the divide separating the coast slope from the inland watershed at

the only part of the frontier where the drainage ridge approaches the

coast within the distance of ten marine leagues stipulated by the

treaty as the extreme width of the strip around the heads of Lynn Canal

and its branches.

While the line so traced follows the provisional demarcation of 1878 at

the crossing of the Stikine River, and that of 1899 at the summits of

the White and Chilkoot passes, it runs much farther inland from the

Klehini than the temporary line of the later modus vivendi, and leaves

the entire mining district of the Porcupine River and Glacier Creek

within the jurisdiction of the United States.

The result is satisfactory in every way. It is of great material

advantage to our people in the Far Northwest. It has removed from the

field of discussion and possible danger a question liable to become

more acutely accentuated with each passing year. Finally, it has

furnished a signal proof of the fairness and good will with which two

friendly nations can approach and determine issues involving national

sovereignty and by their nature incapable of submission to a third

power for adjudication.

The award is self-executing on the vital points. To make it effective

as regards the others it only remains for the two Governments to

appoint, each on its own behalf, one or more scientific experts, who

shall, with all convenient speed, proceed together to lay down the

boundary line in accordance with the decision of the majority of the

Tribunal. I recommend that the Congress make adequate provision for the

appointment, compensation, and expenses of the members to serve on this

joint boundary commission on the part of the United States.

It will be remembered that during the second session of the last

Congress Great Britain, Germany, and Italy formed an alliance for the

purpose of blockading the ports of Venezuela and using such other means

of pressure as would secure a settlement of claims due, as they

alleged, to certain of their subjects. Their employment of force for

the collection of these claims was terminated by an agreement brought

about through the offices of the diplomatic representatives of the

United States at Caracas and the Government at Washington, thereby

ending a situation which was bound to cause increasing friction, and

which jeoparded the peace of the continent. Under this agreement

Venezuela agreed to set apart a certain percentage of the customs

receipts of two of her ports to be applied to the payment of whatever

obligations might be ascertained by mixed commissions appointed for

that purpose to be due from her, not only to the three powers already

mentioned, whose proceedings against her had resulted in a state of

war, but also to the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, the

Netherland Sweden and Norway, and Mexico, who had not employed force

for the collection of the claims alleged to be due to certain of their

citizens.

A demand was then made by the so-called blockading powers that the sums

ascertained to be due to their citizens by such mixed commissions

should be accorded payment in full before anything was paid upon the

claims of any of the so-called peace powers. Venezuela, on the other

hand, insisted that all her creditors should be paid upon a basis of

exact equality. During the efforts to adjust this dispute it was

suggested by the powers in interest that it should be referred to me

for decision, but I was clearly of the opinion that a far wiser course

would be to submit the question to the Permanent Court of Arbitration

at The Hague. It seemed to me to offer an admirable opportunity to

advance the practice of the peaceful settlement of disputes between

nations and to secure for the Hague Tribunal a memorable increase of

its practical importance. The nations interested in the controversy

were so numerous and in many instances so powerful as to make it

evident that beneficent results would follow from their appearance at

the same time before the bar of that august tribunal of peace.

Our hopes in that regard have been realized. Russia and Austria are

represented in the persons of the learned and distinguished jurists who

compose the Tribunal, while Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain,

Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Mexico, the United

States, and Venezuela are represented by their respective agents and

counsel. Such an imposing concourse of nations presenting their

arguments to and invoking the decision of that high court of

international justice and international peace can hardly fail to secure

a like submission of many future controversies. The nations now

appearing there will find it far easier to appear there a second time,

while no nation can imagine its just pride will be lessened by

following the example now presented. This triumph of the principle of

international arbitration is a subject of warm congratulation and

offers a happy augury for the peace of the world.

There seems good ground for the belief that there has been a real

growth among the civilized nations of a sentiment which will permit a

gradual substitution of other methods than the method of war in the

settlement of disputes. It is not pretended that as yet we are near a

position in which it will be possible wholly to prevent war, or that a

just regard for national interest and honor will in all cases permit of

the settlement of international disputes by arbitration; but by a

mixture of prudence and firmness with wisdom we think it is possible to

do away with much of the provocation and excuse for war, and at least

in many cases to substitute some other and more rational method for the

settlement of disputes. The Hague Court offers so good an example of

what can be done in the direction of such settlement that it should be

encouraged in every way.

Further steps should be taken. In President McKinley's annual Message

of December 5, 1898, he made the following recommendation:

"The experiences of the last year bring forcibly home to us a sense of

the burdens and the waste of war. We desire in common with most

civilized nations, to reduce to the lowest possible point the damage

sustained in time of war by peaceable trade and commerce. It is true we

may suffer in such cases less than other communities, but all nations

are damaged more or less by the state of uneasiness and apprehension

into which an outbreak of hostilities throws the entire commercial

world. It should be our object, therefore, to minimize, so far as

practicable, this inevitable loss and disturbance. This purpose can

probably best be accomplished by an international agreement to regard

all private property at sea as exempt from capture or destruction by

the forces of belligerent powers. The United States Government has for

many years advocated this humane and beneficent principle, and is now

in a position to recommend it to other powers without the imputation of

selfish motives. I therefore suggest for your consideration that the

Executive be authorized to correspond with the governments of the

principal maritime powers with a view of incorporating into the

permanent law of civilized nations the principle of the exemption of

all private property at sea, not contraband of war, from capture or

destruction by belligerent powers."

I cordially renew this recommendation.

The Supreme Court, speaking on December 11. 1899, through Peckham, J.,

said:

"It is, we think, historically accurate to say that this Government has

always been, in its views, among the most advanced of the governments

of the world in favor of mitigating, as to all non-combatants, the

hardships and horrors of war. To accomplish that object it has always

advocated those rules which would in most cases do away with the right

to capture the private property of an enemy on the high seas."

I advocate this as a matter of humanity and morals. It is anachronistic

when private property is respected on land that it should not be

respected at sea. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that shipping

represents, internationally speaking, a much more generalized species

of private property than is the case with ordinary property on

land--that is, property found at sea is much less apt than is the case

with property found on land really to belong to any one nation. Under

the modern system of corporate ownership the flag of a vessel often

differs from the flag which would mark the nationality of the real

ownership and money control of the vessel; and the cargo may belong to

individuals of yet a different nationality. Much American capital is

now invested in foreign ships; and among foreign nations it often

happens that the capital of one is largely invested in the shipping of

another. Furthermore, as a practical matter, it may be mentioned that

while commerce destroying may cause serious loss and great annoyance,

it can never be more than a subsidiary factor in bringing to terms a

resolute foe. This is now well recognized by all of our naval experts.

The fighting ship, not the commerce destroyer, is the vessel whose

feats add renown to a nation's history, and establish her place among

the great powers of the world.

Last year the Interparliamentary Union for International Arbitration

met at Vienna, six hundred members of the different legislatures of

civilized countries attending. It was provided that the next meeting

should be in 1904 at St. Louis, subject to our Congress extending an

invitation. Like the Hague Tribunal, this Interparliamentary Union is

one of the forces tending towards peace among the nations of the earth,

and it is entitled to our support. I trust the invitation can be

extended.

Early in July, having received intelligence, which happily turned out

to be erroneous, of the assassination of our vice-consul at Beirut, I

dispatched a small squadron to that port for such service as might be

found necessary on arrival. Although the attempt on the life of our

vice-consul had not been successful, yet the outrage was symptomatic of

a state of excitement and disorder which demanded immediate attention.

The arrival of the vessels had the happiest result. A feeling of

security at once took the place of the former alarm and disquiet; our

officers were cordially welcomed by the consular body and the leading

merchants, and ordinary business resumed its activity. The Government

of the Sultan gave a considerate hearing to the representations of our

minister; the official who was regarded as responsible for the

disturbed condition of affairs was removed. Our relations with the

Turkish Government remain friendly; our claims rounded on inequitable

treatment of some of our schools and missions appear to be in process

of amicable adjustment.

The signing of a new commercial treaty with China, which took place at

Shanghai on the 8th of October, is a cause for satisfaction. This act,

the result of long discussion and negotiation, places our commercial

relations with the great Oriental Empire on a more satisfactory footing

than they have ever heretofore enjoyed. It provides not only for the

ordinary rights and privileges of diplomatic and consular officers, but

also for an important extension of our commerce by increased facility

of access to Chinese ports, and for the relief of trade by the removal

of some of the obstacles which have embarrassed it in the past. The

Chinese Government engages, on fair and equitable conditions, which

will probably be accepted by the principal commercial nations, to

abandon the levy of "liken" and other transit dues throughout the

Empire, and to introduce other desirable administrative reforms. Larger

facilities are to be given to our citizens who desire to carry on

mining enterprises in China. We have secured for our missionaries a

valuable privilege, the recognition of their right to rent and lease in

perpetuity such property as their religious societies may need in all

parts of the Empire. And, what was an indispensable condition for the

advance and development of our commerce in Manchuria, China, by treaty

with us, has opened to foreign commerce the cities of Mukden, the

capital of the province of Manchuria, and An-tung, an important port on

the Yalu River, on the road to Korea. The full measure of development

which our commerce may rightfully expect can hardly be looked for until

the settlement of the present abnormal state of things in the Empire;

but the foundation for such development has at last been laid.

I call your attention to the reduced cost in maintaining the consular

service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, as shown in the

annual report of the Auditor for the State and other Departments, as

compared with the year previous. For the year under consideration the

excess of expenditures over receipts on account of the consular service

amounted to $26,125.12, as against $96,972.50 for the year ending June

30, 1902, and $147,040.16 for the year ending June 30, 1901. This is

the best showing in this respect for the consular service for the past

fourteen years, and the reduction in the cost of the service to the

Government has been made in spite of the fact that the expenditures for

the year in question were more than $20,000 greater than for the

previous year.

The rural free-delivery service has been steadily extended. The

attention of the Congress is asked to the question of the compensation

of the letter carriers and clerks engaged in the postal service,

especially on the new rural free-delivery routes. More routes have been

installed since the first of July last than in any like period in the

Department's history. While a due regard to economy must be kept in

mind in the establishment of new routes, yet the extension of the rural

free-delivery system must be continued, for reasons of sound public

policy. No governmental movement of recent years has resulted in

greater immediate benefit to the people of the country districts. Rural

free delivery, taken in connection with the telephone, the bicycle, and

the trolley, accomplishes much toward lessening the isolation of farm

life and making it brighter and more attractive. In the immediate past

the lack of just such facilities as these has driven many of the more

active and restless young men and women from the farms to the cities;

for they rebelled at loneliness and lack of mental companionship. It is

unhealthy and undesirable for the cities to grow at the expense of the

country; and rural free delivery is not only a good thing in itself,

but is good because it is one of the causes which check this

unwholesome tendency towards the urban concentration of our population

at the expense of the country districts. It is for the same reason that

we sympathize with and approve of the policy of building good roads.

The movement for good roads is one fraught with the greatest benefit to

the country districts.

I trust that the Congress will continue to favor in all proper ways the

Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This Exposition commemorates the

Louisiana purchase, which was the first great step in the expansion

which made us a continental nation. The expedition of Lewis and Clark

across the continent followed thereon, and marked the beginning of the

process of exploration and colonization which thrust our national

boundaries to the Pacific. The acquisition of the Oregon country,

including the present States of Oregon and Washington, was a fact of

immense importance in our history; first giving us our place on the

Pacific seaboard, and making ready the way for our ascendency in the

commerce of the greatest of the oceans. The centennial of our

establishment upon the western coast by the expedition of Lewis and

Clark is to be celebrated at Portland, Oregon, by an exposition in the

summer of 1905, and this event should receive recognition and support

from the National Government.

I call your special attention to the Territory of Alaska. The country

is developing rapidly, and it has an assured future. The mineral wealth

is great and has as yet hardly been tapped. The fisheries, if wisely

handled and kept under national control, will be a business as

permanent as any other, and of the utmost importance to the people. The

forests if properly guarded will form another great source of wealth.

Portions of Alaska are fitted for farming and stock raising, although

the methods must be adapted to the peculiar conditions of the country.

Alaska is situated in the far north; but so are Norway and Sweden and

Finland; and Alaska can prosper and play its part in the New World just

as those nations have prospered and played their parts in the Old

World. Proper land laws should be enacted; and the survey of the public

lands immediately begun. Coal-land laws should be provided whereby the

coal-land entryman may make his location and secure patent under

methods kindred to those now prescribed for homestead and mineral

entrymen. Salmon hatcheries, exclusively under Government control,

should be established. The cable should be extended from Sitka

westward. Wagon roads and trails should be built, and the building of

railroads promoted in all legitimate ways. Light-houses should be built

along the coast. Attention should be paid to the needs of the Alaska

Indians; provision should be made for an officer, with deputies, to

study their needs, relieve their immediate wants, and help them adapt

themselves to the new conditions.

The commission appointed to investigate, during the season of 1903, the

condition and needs of the Alaskan salmon fisheries, has finished its

work in the field, and is preparing a detailed report thereon. A

preliminary report reciting the measures immediately required for the

protection and preservation of the salmon industry has already been

submitted to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for his attention and

for the needed action.

I recommend that an appropriation be made for building light-houses in

Hawaii, and taking possession of those already built. The Territory

should be reimbursed for whatever amounts it has already expended for

light-houses. The governor should be empowered to suspend or remove any

official appointed by him, without submitting the matter to the

legislature.

Of our insular possessions the Philippines and Porto Rico it is

gratifying to say that their steady progress has been such as to make

it unnecessary to spend much time in discussing them. Yet the Congress

should ever keep in mind that a peculiar obligation rests upon us to

further in every way the welfare of these communities. The Philippines

should be knit closer to us by tariff arrangements. It would, of

course, be impossible suddenly to raise the people of the islands to

the high pitch of industrial prosperity and of governmental efficiency

to which they will in the end by degrees attain; and the caution and

moderation shown in developing them have been among the main reasons

why this development has hitherto gone on so smoothly. Scrupulous care

has been taken in the choice of governmental agents, and the entire

elimination of partisan politics from the public service. The condition

of the islanders is in material things far better than ever before,

while their governmental, intellectual, and moral advance has kept pace

with their material advance. No one people ever benefited another

people more than we have benefited the Filipinos by taking possession

of the islands.

The cash receipts of the General Land Office for the last fiscal year

were $11,024,743.65, an increase of $4,762,816.47 over the preceding

year. Of this sum, approximately, $8,461,493 will go to the credit of

the fund for the reclamation of arid land, making the total of this

fund, up to the 30th of June, 1903, approximately, $16,191,836.

A gratifying disposition has been evinced by those having unlawful

inclosures of public land to remove their fences. Nearly two million

acres so inclosed have been thrown open on demand. In but comparatively

few cases has it been necessary to go into court to accomplish this

purpose. This work will be vigorously prosecuted until all unlawful

inclosures have been removed.

Experience has shown that in the western States themselves, as well as

in the rest of the country, there is widespread conviction that certain

of the public-land laws and the resulting administrative practice no

longer meet the present needs. The character and uses of the remaining

public lands differ widely from those of the public lands which

Congress had especially in view when these laws were passed. The

rapidly increasing rate of disposal of the public lands is not followed

by a corresponding increase in home building. There is a tendency to

mass in large holdings public lands, especially timber and grazing

lands, and thereby to retard settlement. I renew and emphasize my

recommendation of last year that so far as they are available for

agriculture in its broadest sense, and to whatever extent they may be

reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining public lands

should be held rigidly for the home builder. The attention of the

Congress is especially directed to the timber and stone law, the

desert-land law, and the commutation clause of the homestead law, which

in their operation have in many respects conflicted with wise

public-land policy. The discussions in the Congress and elsewhere have

made it evident that there is a wide divergence of opinions between

those holding opposite views on these subjects; and that the opposing

sides have strong and convinced representatives of weight both within

and without the Congress; the differences being not only as to matters

of opinion but as to matters of fact. In order that definite

information may be available for the use of the Congress, I have

appointed a commission composed of W. A. Richards, Commissioner of the

General Land Office; Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the Bureau of Forestry

of the Department of Agriculture, and F. H. Newell, Chief Hydrographer

of the Geological Survey, to report at the earliest practicable moment

upon the condition, operation, and effect of the present land laws and

on the use, condition, disposal, and settlement of the public lands.

The commission will report especially what changes in organization,

laws, regulations, and practice affecting the public lands are needed

to effect the largest practicable disposition of the public lands to

actual settlers who will build permanent homes upon them, and to secure

in permanence the fullest and most effective use of the resources of

the public lands; and it will make such other reports and

recommendations as its study of these questions may suggest. The

commission is to report immediately upon those points concerning which

its judgment is clear; on any point upon which it has doubt it will

take the time necessary to make investigation and reach a final

judgment.

The work of reclamation of the arid lands of the West is progressing

steadily and satisfactorily under the terms of the law setting aside

the proceeds from the disposal of public lands. The corps of engineers

known as the Reclamation Service, which is conducting the surveys and

examinations, has been thoroughly organized, especial pains being taken

to secure under the civil-service rules a body of skilled, experienced,

and efficient men. Surveys and examinations are progressing throughout

the arid States and Territories, plans for reclaiming works being

prepared and passed upon by boards of engineers before approval by the

Secretary of the Interior. In Arizona and Nevada, in localities where

such work is pre-eminently needed, construction has already been begun.

In other parts of the arid West various projects are well advanced

towards the drawing up of contracts, these being delayed in part by

necessities of reaching agreements or understanding as regards rights

of way or acquisition of real estate. Most of the works contemplated

for construction are of national importance, involving interstate

questions or the securing of stable, self-supporting communities in the

midst of vast tracts of vacant land. The Nation as a whole is of course

the gainer by the creation of these homes, adding as they do to the

wealth and stability of the country, and furnishing a home market for

the products of the East and South. The reclamation law, while perhaps

not ideal, appears at present to answer the larger needs for which it

is designed. Further legislation is not recommended until the

necessities of change are more apparent.

The study of the opportunities of reclamation of the vast extent of

arid land shows that whether this reclamation is done by individuals,

corporations, or the State, the sources of water supply must be

effectively protected and the reservoirs guarded by the preservation of

the forests at the headwaters of the streams. The engineers making the

preliminary examinations continually emphasize this need and urge that

the remaining public lands at the headwaters of the important streams

of the West be reserved to insure permanency of water supply for

irrigation. Much progress in forestry has been made during the past

year. The necessity for perpetuating our forest resources, whether in

public or private hands, is recognized now as never before. The demand

for forest reserves has become insistent in the West, because the West

must use the water, wood, and summer range which only such reserves can

supply. Progressive lumbermen are striving, through forestry, to give

their business permanence. Other great business interests are awakening

to the need of forest preservation as a business matter. The

Government's forest work should receive from the Congress hearty

support, and especially support adequate for the protection of the

forest reserves against fire. The forest-reserve policy of the

Government has passed beyond the experimental stage and has reached a

condition where scientific methods are essential to its successful

prosecution. The administrative features of forest reserves are at

present unsatisfactory, being divided between three Bureaus of two

Departments. It is therefore recommended that all matters pertaining to

forest reserves, except those involving or pertaining to land titles,

be consolidated in the Bureau of Forestry of the Department of

Agriculture.

The cotton-growing States have recently been invaded by a weevil that

has done much damage and threatens the entire cotton industry. I

suggest to the Congress the prompt enactment of such remedial

legislation as its judgment may approve.

In granting patents to foreigners the proper course for this country to

follow is to give the same advantages to foreigners here that the

countries in which these foreigners dwell extend in return to our

citizens; that is, to extend the benefits of our patent laws on

inventions and the like where in return the articles would be

patentable in the foreign countries concerned--where an American could

get a corresponding patent in such countries.

The Indian agents should not be dependent for their appointment or

tenure of office upon considerations of partisan politics; the practice

of appointing, when possible, ex-army officers or bonded

superintendents to the vacancies that occur is working well. Attention

is invited to the widespread illiteracy due to lack of public schools

in the Indian Territory. Prompt heed should be paid to the need of

education for the children in this Territory.

In my last annual Message the attention of the Congress was called to

the necessity of enlarging the safety-appliance law, and it is

gratifying to note that this law was amended in important respects.

With the increasing railway mileage of the country, the greater number

of men employed, and the use of larger and heavier equipment, the

urgency for renewed effort to prevent the loss of life and limb upon

the railroads of the country, particularly to employees, is apparent.

For the inspection of water craft and the Life-Saving Service upon the

water the Congress has built up an elaborate body of protective

legislation and a thorough method of inspection and is annually

spending large sums of money. It is encouraging to observe that the

Congress is alive to the interests of those who are employed upon our

wonderful arteries of commerce--the railroads--who so safely transport

millions of passengers and billions of tons of freight. The Federal

inspection, of safety appliances, for which the Congress is now making

appropriations, is a service analogous to that which the Government has

upheld for generations in regard to vessels, and it is believed will

prove of great practical benefit, both to railroad employees and the

traveling public. As the greater part of commerce is interstate and

exclusively under the control of the Congress the needed safety and

uniformity must be secured by national legislation.

No other class of our citizens deserves so well of the Nation as those

to whom the Nation owes its very being, the veterans of the civil war.

Special attention is asked to the excellent work of the Pension Bureau

in expediting and disposing of pension claims. During the fiscal year

ending July 1, 1903, the Bureau settled 251,982 claims, an average of

825 claims for each working day of the year. The number of settlements

since July 1, 1903, has been in excess of last year's average,

approaching 1,000 claims for each working day, and it is believed that

the work of the Bureau will be current at the close of the present

fiscal year.

During the year ended June 30 last 25,566 persons were appointed

through competitive examinations under the civil-service rules. This

was 12,672 more than during the preceding year, and 40 per cent of

those who passed the examinations. This abnormal growth was largely

occasioned by the extension of classification to the rural

free-delivery service and the appointment last year of over 9,000 rural

carriers. A revision of the civil-service rules took effect on April 15

last, which has greatly improved their operation. The completion of the

reform of the civil service is recognized by good citizens everywhere

as a matter of the highest public importance, and the success of the

merit system largely depends upon the effectiveness of the rules and

the machinery provided for their enforcement. A very gratifying spirit

of friendly co-operation exists in all the Departments of the

Government in the enforcement and uniform observance of both the letter

and spirit of the civil-service act. Executive orders of July 3, 1902;

March 26, 1903, and July 8, 1903, require that appointments of all

unclassified laborers, both in the Departments at Washington and in the

field service, shall be made with the assistance of the United States

Civil Service Commission, under a system of registration to test the

relative fitness of applicants for appointment or employment. This

system is competitive, and is open to all citizens of the United States

qualified in respect to age, physical ability, moral character,

industry, and adaptability for manual labor; except that in case of

veterans of the Civil War the element of age is omitted. This system of

appointment is distinct from the classified service and does not

classify positions of mere laborer under the civil-service act and

rules. Regulations in aid thereof have been put in operation in several

of the Departments and are being gradually extended in other parts of

the service. The results have been very satisfactory, as extravagance

has been checked by decreasing the number of unnecessary positions and

by increasing the efficiency of the employees remaining.

The Congress, as the result of a thorough investigation of the

charities and reformatory institutions in the District of Columbia, by

a joint select committee of the two Houses which made its report in

March, 1898, created in the act approved June 6, 1900, a board of

charities for the District of Columbia, to consist of five residents of

the District, appointed by the President of the United States, by and

with the advice and consent of the Senate, each for a term of three

years, to serve without compensation. President McKinley appointed five

men who had been active and prominent in the public charities in

Washington, all of whom upon taking office July 1, 1900, resigned from

the different charities with which they had been connected. The members

of the board have been reappointed in successive years. The board

serves under the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The board

gave its first year to a careful and impartial study of the special

problems before it, and has continued that study every year in the

light of the best practice in public charities elsewhere. Its

recommendations in its annual reports to the Congress through the

Commissioners of the District of Columbia "for the economical and

efficient administration of the charities and reformatories of the

District of Columbia," as required by the act creating it, have been

based upon the principles commended by the joint select committee of

the Congress in its report of March, 1898, and approved by the best

administrators of public charities, and make for the desired

systematization and improvement of the affairs under its supervision.

They are worthy of favorable consideration by the Congress.

The effect of the laws providing a General Staff for the Army and for

the more effective use of the National Guard has been excellent. Great

improvement has been made in the efficiency of our Army in recent

years. Such schools as those erected at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley

and the institution of fall maneuver work accomplish satisfactory

results. The good effect of these maneuvers upon the National Guard is

marked, and ample appropriation should be made to enable the guardsmen

of the several States to share in the benefit. The Government should as

soon as possible secure suitable permanent camp sites for military

maneuvers in the various sections of the country. The service thereby

rendered not only to the Regular Army, but to the National Guard of the

several States, will be so great as to repay many times over the

relatively small expense. We should not rest satisfied with what has

been done, however. The only people who are contented with a system of

promotion by mere seniority are those who are contented with the

triumph of mediocrity over excellence. On the other hand, a system

which encouraged the exercise of social or political favoritism in

promotions would be even worse. But it would surely be easy to devise a

method of promotion from grade to grade in which the opinion of the

higher officers of the service upon the candidates should be decisive

upon the standing and promotion of the latter. Just such a system now

obtains at West Point. The quality of each year's work determines the

standing of that year's class, the man being dropped or graduated into

the next class in the relative position which his military superiors

decide to be warranted by his merit. In other words, ability, energy,

fidelity, and all other similar qualities determine the rank of a man

year after year in West Point, and his standing in the Army when he

graduates from West Point; but from that time on, all effort to find

which man is best or worst, and reward or punish him accordingly, is

abandoned; no brilliancy, no amount of hard work, no eagerness in the

performance of duty, can advance him, and no slackness or indifference

that falls short of a court-martial offense can retard him. Until this

system is changed we can not hope that our officers will be of as high

grade as we have a right to expect, considering the material upon which

we draw. Moreover, when a man renders such service as Captain Pershing

rendered last spring in the Moro campaign, it ought to be possible

to reward him without at once jumping him to the grade of

brigadier-general.

Shortly after the enunciation of that famous principle of American

foreign policy now known as the "Monroe Doctrine," President Monroe, in

a special Message to Congress on January 30, 1824, spoke as follows:

"The Navy is the arm from which our Government will always derive most

aid in support of our rights. Every power engaged in war will know the

strength of our naval power, the number of our ships of each class,

their condition, and the promptitude with which we may bring them into

service, and will pay due consideration to that argument."

I heartily congratulate the Congress upon the steady progress in

building up the American Navy. We can not afford a let-up in this great

work. To stand still means to go back. There should be no cessation in

adding to the effective units of the fighting strength of the fleet.

Meanwhile the Navy Department and the officers of the Navy are doing

well their part by providing constant service at sea under conditions

akin to those of actual warfare. Our officers and enlisted men are

learning to handle the battleships, cruisers, and torpedo boats with

high efficiency in fleet and squadron formations, and the standard of

marksmanship is being steadily raised. The best work ashore is

indispensable, but the highest duty of a naval officer is to exercise

command at sea.

The establishment of a naval base in the Philippines ought not to be

longer postponed. Such a base is desirable in time of peace; in time of

war it would be indispensable, and its lack would be ruinous. Without

it our fleet would be helpless. Our naval experts are agreed that Subig

Bay is the proper place for the purpose. The national interests require

that the work of fortification and development of a naval station at

Subig Bay be begun at an early date; for under the best conditions it

is a work which will consume much time.

It is eminently desirable, however, that there should be provided a

naval general staff on lines similar to those of the General Staff

lately created for the Army. Within the Navy Department itself the

needs of the service have brought about a system under which the duties

of a general staff are partially performed; for the Bureau of

Navigation has under its direction the War College, the Office of Naval

Intelligence, and the Board of Inspection, and has been in close touch

with the General Board of the Navy. But though under the excellent

officers at their head, these boards and bureaus do good work, they

have not the authority of a general staff, and have not sufficient

scope to insure a proper readiness for emergencies. We need the

establishment by law of a body of trained officers, who shall exercise

a systematic control of the military affairs of the Navy, and be

authorized advisers of the Secretary concerning it.

By the act of June 28, 1902, the Congress authorized the President to

enter into treaty with Colombia for the building of the canal across

the Isthmus of Panama; it being provided that in the event of failure

to secure such treaty after the lapse of a reasonable time, recourse

should be had to building a canal through Nicaragua. It has not been

necessary to consider this alternative, as I am enabled to lay before

the Senate a treaty providing for the building of the canal across the

Isthmus of Panama. This was the route which commended itself to the

deliberate judgment of the Congress, and we can now acquire by treaty

the right to construct the canal over this route. The question now,

therefore, is not by which route the isthmian canal shall be built, for

that question has been definitely and irrevocably decided. The question

is simply whether or not we shall have an isthmian canal.

When the Congress directed that we should take the Panama route under

treaty with Colombia, the essence of the condition, of course, referred

not to the Government which controlled that route, but to the route

itself; to the territory across which the route lay, not to the name

which for the moment the territory bore on the map. The purpose of the

law was to authorize the President to make a treaty with the power in

actual control of the Isthmus of Panama. This purpose has been

fulfilled.

In the year 1846 this Government entered into a treaty with New

Granada, the predecessor upon the Isthmus of the Republic of Colombia

and of the present Republic of Panama, by which treaty it was provided

that the Government and citizens of the United States should always

have free and open right of way or transit across the Isthmus of Panama

by any modes of communication that might be constructed, while in turn

our Government guaranteed the perfect neutrality of the above-mentioned

Isthmus with the view that the free transit from the one to the other

sea might not be interrupted or embarrassed. The treaty vested in the

United States a substantial property right carved out of the rights of

sovereignty and property which New Granada then had and possessed over

the said territory. The name of New Granada has passed away and its

territory has been divided. Its successor, the Government of Colombia,

has ceased to own any property in the Isthmus. A new Republic, that of

Panama, which was at one time a sovereign state, and at another time a

mere department of the successive confederations known as New Granada

and Columbia, has now succeeded to the rights which first one and then

the other formerly exercised over the Isthmus. But as long as the

Isthmus endures, the mere geographical fact of its existence, and the

peculiar interest therein which is required by our position, perpetuate

the solemn contract which binds the holders of the territory to respect

our right to freedom of transit across it, and binds us in return to

safeguard for the Isthmus and the world the exercise of that

inestimable privilege. The true interpretation of the obligations upon

which the United States entered in this treaty of 1846 has been given

repeatedly in the utterances of Presidents and Secretaries of State.

Secretary Cuss in 1858 officially stated the position of this

Government as follows:

"The progress of events has rendered the interoceanic route across the

narrow portion of Central America vastly important to the commercial

world, and especially to the United States, whose possessions extend

along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and demand the speediest and

easiest modes of communication. While the rights of sovereignty of the

states occupying this region should always be respected, we shall

expect that these rights be exercised in a spirit befitting the

occasion and the wants and circumstances that have arisen. Sovereignty

has its duties as well as its rights, and none of these local

governments, even if administered with more regard to the just demands

of other nations than they have been, would be permitted, in a spirit

of Eastern isolation, to close the gates of intercourse on the great

highways of the world, and justify the act by the pretension that these

avenues of trade and travel belong to them and that they choose to shut

them, or, what is almost equivalent, to encumber them with such unjust

relations as would prevent their general use."

Seven years later, in 1865, Mr. Seward in different communications took

the following position:

"The United States have taken and will take no interest in any question

of internal revolution in the State of Panama, or any State of the

United States of Colombia, but will maintain a perfect neutrality in

connection with such domestic altercations. The United States will,

nevertheless, hold themselves ready to protect the transit trade across

the Isthmus against invasion of either domestic or foreign disturbers

of the peace of the State of Panama. Neither the text nor the spirit of

the stipulation in that article by which the United States engages to

preserve the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama, imposes an obligation

on this Government to comply with the requisition of the President of

the United States of Colombia for a force to protect the Isthmus of

Panama from a body of insurgents of that country. The purpose of the

stipulation was to guarantee the Isthmus against seizure or invasion by

a foreign power only."

Attorney-General Speed, under date of November 7, 1865, advised

Secretary Seward as follows:

"From this treaty it can not be supposed that New Granada invited the

United States to become a party to the intestine troubles of that

Government, nor did the United States become bound to take sides in the

domestic broils of New Granada. The United States did guarantee New

Granada in the sovereignty and property over the territory. This was as

against other and foreign governments."

For four hundred years, ever since shortly after the discovery of this

hemisphere, the canal across the Isthmus has been planned. For two

score years it has been worked at. When made it is to last for the

ages. It is to alter the geography of a continent and the trade routes

of the world. We have shown by every treaty we have negotiated or

attempted to negotiate with the peoples in control of the Isthmus and

with foreign nations in reference thereto our consistent good faith in

observing our obligations; on the one hand to the peoples of the

Isthmus, and on the other hand to the civilized world whose commercial

rights we are safeguarding and guaranteeing by our action. We have done

our duty to others in letter and in spirit, and we have shown the

utmost forbearance in exacting our own rights.

Last spring, under the act above referred to, a treaty concluded

between the representatives of the Republic of Colombia and of our

Government was ratified by the Senate. This treaty was entered into at

the urgent solicitation of the people of Colombia and after a body of

experts appointed by our Government especially to go into the matter of

the routes across the Isthmus had pronounced unanimously in favor of

the Panama route. In drawing up this treaty every concession was made

to the people and to the Government of Colombia. We were more than just

in dealing with them. Our generosity was such as to make it a serious

question whether we had not gone too far in their interest at the

expense of our own; for in our scrupulous desire to pay all possible

heed, not merely to the real but even to the fancied rights of our

weaker neighbor, who already owed so much to our protection and

forbearance, we yielded in all possible ways to her desires in drawing

up the treaty. Nevertheless the Government of Colombia not merely

repudiated the treaty, but repudiated it in such manner as to make it

evident by the time the Colombian Congress adjourned that not the

scantiest hope remained of ever getting a satisfactory treaty from

them. The Government of Colombia made the treaty, and yet when the

Colombian Congress was called to ratify it the vote against

ratification was unanimous. It does not appear that the Government made

any real effort to secure ratification.

Immediately after the adjournment of the Congress a revolution broke

out in Panama. The people of Panama had long been discontented with the

Republic of Colombia, and they had been kept quiet only by the prospect

of the conclusion of the treaty, which was to them a matter of vital

concern. When it became evident that the treaty was hopelessly lost,

the people of Panama rose literally as one man. Not a shot was fired by

a single man on the Isthmus in the interest of the Colombian

Government. Not a life was lost in the accomplishment of the

revolution. The Colombian troops stationed on the Isthmus, who had long

been unpaid, made common cause with the people of Panama, and with

astonishing unanimity the new Republic was started. The duty of the

United States in the premises was clear. In strict accordance with the

principles laid down by Secretaries Cass and Seward in the official

documents above quoted, the United States gave notice that it would

permit the landing of no expeditionary force, the arrival of which

would mean chaos and destruction along the line of the railroad and of

the proposed Canal, and an interruption of transit as an inevitable

consequence. The de facto Government of Panama was recognized in the

following telegram to Mr. Ehrman:

"The people of Panama have, by apparently unanimous movement, dissolved

their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and resumed

their independence. When you are satisfied that a de facto government,

republican in form and without substantial opposition from its own

people, has been established in the State of Panama, you will enter

into relations with it as the responsible government of the territory

and look to it for all due action to protect the persons and property

of citizens of the United States and to keep open the isthmian transit,

in accordance with the obligations of existing treaties governing the

relations of the United States to that Territory."

The Government of Colombia was notified of our action by the following

telegram to Mr. Beaupre:

"The people of Panama having, by an apparently unanimous movement,

dissolved their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and

resumed their independence, and having adopted a Government of their

own, republican in form, with which the Government of the United States

of America has entered into relations, the President of the United

States, in accordance with the ties of friendship which have so long

and so happily existed between the respective nations, most earnestly

commends to the Governments of Colombia and of Panama the peaceful and

equitable settlement of all questions at issue between them. He holds

that he is bound not merely by treaty obligations, but by the interests

of civilization, to see that the peaceful traffic of the world across

the Isthmus of Panama shall not longer be disturbed by a constant

succession of unnecessary and wasteful civil wars."

When these events happened, fifty-seven years had elapsed since the

United States had entered into its treaty with New Granada. During that

time the Governments of New Granada and of its successor, Colombia,

have been in a constant state of flux. The following is a partial list

of the disturbances on the Isthmus of Panama during the period in

question as reported to us by our consuls. It is not possible to give a

complete list, and some of the reports that speak of "revolutions" must

mean unsuccessful revolutions. May 22, 1850.--Outbreak; two Americans

killed. War vessel demanded to quell outbreak. October,

1850.--Revolutionary plot to bring about independence of the Isthmus.

July 22, 1851.--Revolution in four southern provinces. November 14,

1851.--Outbreak at Chagres. Man-of-war requested for Chagres. June 27,

1853.--Insurrection at Bogota, and consequent disturbance on Isthmus.

War vessel demanded. May 23, 1854--Political disturbances; war vessel

requested. June 28, 1854.--Attempted revolution. October 24,

1854.--Independence of Isthmus demanded by provincial legislature.

April, 1856.--Riot, and massacre of Americans. May 4, 1856.--Riot. May

18, 1856.--Riot. June 3, 1856.--Riot. October 2, 1856.--Conflict

between two native parties. United States forces landed. December 18,

1858.--Attempted secession of Panama. April, 1859.--Riots. September,

1860.--Outbreak. October 4, 1860.--Landing of United States forces in

consequence. May 23, 1861.--Intervention of the United States forces

required by intendente. October 2, 1861.--Insurrection and civil war.

April 4, 1862.--Measures to prevent rebels crossing Isthmus. June 13,

1862.--Mosquera's troops refused admittance to Panama. March,

1865.--Revolution, and United States troops landed. August,

1865.--Riots; unsuccessful attempt to invade Panama. March,

1866.--Unsuccessful revolution. April, 1867.--Attempt to overthrow

Government. August, 1867.--Attempt at revolution. July 5,

1868.--Revolution; provisional government inaugurated. August 29,

1868.--Revolution; provisional government overthrown. April,

1871.--Revolution; followed apparently by counter revolution. April,

1873.--Revolution and civil war which lasted to October, 1875. August,

1876.--Civil war which lasted until April, 1877. July,

1878.--Rebellion. December, 1878.--Revolt. April, 1879.--Revolution.

June, 1879.--Revolution. March, 1883.--Riot. May, 1883.--Riot. June,

1884.--Revolutionary attempt. December, 1884.--Revolutionary attempt.

January, 1885.--Revolutionary disturbances. March, 1885.--Revolution.

April, 1887.--Disturbance on Panama Railroad. November,

1887.--Disturbance on line of canal. January, 1889.--Riot. January,

1895.--Revolution which lasted until April. March, 1895.--Incendiary

attempt. October, 1899.--Revolution. February, 1900, to July,

1900.--Revolution. January, 1901--Revolution. July,

1901.--Revolutionary disturbances. September, 1901.--City of Colon

taken by rebels. March, 1902.--Revolutionary disturbances. July,

1902.--Revolution. The above is only a partial list of the revolutions,

rebellions, insurrections, riots, and other outbreaks that have

occurred during the period in question; yet they number 53 for the 57

years. It will be noted that one of them lasted for nearly three years

before it was quelled; another for nearly a year. In short, the

experience of over half a century has shown Colombia to be utterly

incapable of keeping order on the Isthmus. Only the active interference

of the United States has enabled her to preserve so much as a semblance

of sovereignty. Had it not been for the exercise by the United States

of the police power in her interest, her connection with the Isthmus

would have been sundered long ago. In 1856, in 1860, in 1873, in 1885,

in 1901, and again in 1902, sailors and marines from United States war

ships were forced to land in order to patrol the Isthmus, to protect

life and property, and to see that the transit across the Isthmus was

kept open. In 1861, in 1862, in 1885, and in 1900, the Colombian

Government asked that the United States Government would land troops to

protect its interests and maintain order on the Isthmus. Perhaps the

most extraordinary request is that which has just been received and

which runs as follows:

"Knowing that revolution has already commenced in Panama [an eminent

Colombian] says that if the Government of the United States will land

troops to preserve Colombian sovereignty, and the transit, if requested

by Colombian charge d'affaires, this Government will declare martial

law; and, by virtue of vested constitutional authority, when public

order is disturbed, will approve by decree ratification of the canal

treaty as signed; or, if the Government of the United States prefers,

will call extra session of the Congress--with new and friendly

members--next May to approve the treaty. [An eminent Colombian] has the

perfect confidence of vice-president, he says, and if it became

necessary will go to the Isthmus or send representatives there to

adjust matters along above lines to the satisfaction of the people

there."

This dispatch is noteworthy from two standpoints. Its offer of

immediately guaranteeing the treaty to us is in sharp contrast with the

positive and contemptuous refusal of the Congress which has just closed

its sessions to consider favorably such a treaty; it shows that the

Government which made the treaty really had absolute control over the

situation, but did not choose to exercise this control. The dispatch

further calls on us to restore order and secure Colombian supremacy in

the Isthmus from which the Colombian Government has just by its action

decided to bar us by preventing the construction of the canal.

The control, in the interest of the commerce and traffic of the whole

civilized world, of the means of undisturbed transit across the Isthmus

of Panama has become of transcendent importance to the United States.

We have repeatedly exercised this control by intervening in the course

of domestic dissension, and by protecting the territory from foreign

invasion. In 1853 Mr. Everett assured the Peruvian minister that we

should not hesitate to maintain the neutrality of the Isthmus in the

case of war between Peru and Colombia. In 1864 Colombia, which has

always been vigilant to avail itself of its privileges conferred by the

treaty, expressed its expectation that in the event of war between Peru

and Spain the United States would carry into effect the guaranty of

neutrality. There have been few administrations of the State Department

in which this treaty has not, either by the one side or the other, been

used as a basis of more or less important demands. It was said by Mr.

Fish in 1871 that the Department of State had reason to believe that an

attack upon Colombian sovereignty on the Isthmus had, on several

occasions, been averted by warning from this Government. In 1886, when

Colombia was under the menace of hostilities from Italy in the Cerruti

case, Mr. Bayard expressed the serious concern that the United States

could not but feel, that a European power should resort to force

against a sister republic of this hemisphere, as to the sovereign and

uninterrupted use of a part of whose territory we are guarantors under

the solemn faith of a treaty.

The above recital of facts establishes beyond question: First, that the

United States has for over half a century patiently and in good faith

carried out its obligations under the treaty of 1846; second, that when

for the first time it became possible for Colombia to do anything in

requital of the services thus repeatedly rendered to it for fifty-seven

years by the United States, the Colombian Government peremptorily and

offensively refused thus to do its part, even though to do so would

have been to its advantage and immeasurably to the advantage of the

State of Panama, at that time under its jurisdiction; third, that

throughout this period revolutions, riots, and factional disturbances

of every kind have occurred one after the other in almost uninterrupted

succession, some of them lasting for months and even for years, while

the central government was unable to put them down or to make peace

with the rebels; fourth, that these disturbances instead of showing any

sign of abating have tended to grow more numerous and more serious in

the immediate past; fifth, that the control of Colombia over the

Isthmus of Panama could not be maintained without the armed

intervention and assistance of the United States. In other words, the

Government of Colombia, though wholly unable to maintain order on the

Isthmus, has nevertheless declined to ratify a treaty the conclusion of

which opened the only chance to secure its own stability and to

guarantee permanent peace on, and the construction of a canal across,

the Isthmus.

Under such circumstances the Government of the United States would have

been guilty of folly and weakness, amounting in their sum to a crime

against the Nation, had it acted otherwise than it did when the

revolution of November 3 last took place in Panama. This great

enterprise of building the interoceanic canal can not be held up to

gratify the whims, or out of respect to the governmental impotence, or

to the even more sinister and evil political peculiarities, of people

who, though they dwell afar off, yet, against the wish of the actual

dwellers on the Isthmus, assert an unreal supremacy over the territory.

The possession of a territory fraught with such peculiar capacities as

the Isthmus in question carries with it obligations to mankind. The

course of events has shown that this canal can not be built by private

enterprise, or by any other nation than our own; therefore it must be

built by the United States.

Every effort has been made by the Government of the United States to

persuade Colombia to follow a course which was essentially not only to

our interests and to the interests of the world, but to the interests

of Colombia itself. These efforts have failed; and Colombia, by her

persistence in repulsing the advances that have been made, has forced

us, for the sake of our own honor, and of the interest and well-being,

not merely of our own people, but of the people of the Isthmus of

Panama and the people of the civilized countries of the world, to take

decisive steps to bring to an end a condition of affairs which had

become intolerable. The new Republic of Panama immediately offered to

negotiate a treaty with us. This treaty I herewith submit. By it our

interests are better safeguarded than in the treaty with Colombia which

was ratified by the Senate at its last session. It is better in its

terms than the treaties offered to us by the Republics of Nicaragua and

Costa Rica. At last the right to begin this great undertaking is made

available. Panama has done her part. All that remains is for the

American Congress to do its part, and forthwith this Republic will

enter upon the execution of a project colossal in its size and of

well-nigh incalculable possibilities for the good of this country and

the nations of mankind.

By the provisions of the treaty the United States guarantees and will

maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama. There is granted

to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of

a strip ten miles wide and extending three nautical miles into the sea

at either terminal, with all lands lying outside of the zone necessary

for the construction of the canal or for its auxiliary works, and with

the islands in the Bay of Panama. The cities of Panama and Colon are

not embraced in the canal zone, but the United States assumes their

sanitation and, in case of need, the maintenance of order therein; the

United States enjoys within the granted limits all the rights, power,

and authority which it would possess were it the sovereign of the

territory to the exclusion of the exercise of sovereign rights by the

Republic. All railway and canal property rights belonging to Panama and

needed for the canal pass to the United States, including any property

of the respective companies in the cities of Panama and Colon; the

works, property, and personnel of the canal and railways are exempted

from taxation as well in the cities of Panama and Colon as in the canal

zone and its dependencies. Free immigration of the personnel and

importation of supplies for the construction and operation of the canal

are granted. Provision is made for the use of military force and the

building of fortifications by the United States for the protection of

the transit. In other details, particularly as to the acquisition of

the interests of the New Panama Canal Company and the Panama Railway by

the United States and the condemnation of private property for the uses

of the canal, the stipulations of the Hay-Herran treaty are closely

followed, while the compensation to be given for these enlarged grants

remains the same, being ten millions of dollars payable on exchange of

ratifications; and, beginning nine years from that date, an annual

payment of $250,000 during the life of the convention.

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