fully enough bind Porto Rico and the Hawaiian Islands to ourselves by ties of justice and interest and affection, but the performance of our duty toward the Philippines is a more difficult and debatable matter. We can satisfy the obligations of generous justice toward the people of Porto Rico by giving them the ample and familiar rights and privileges accorded our own citizens in our own territories, and our obligations toward the people of Hawaii by perfecting the provisions for self-government already granted them; but in the Philippines we must go further. We must hold steadily in view their ultimate independence, and we must move toward the time of that independence as steadily as the way can be cleared and the foundations thoughtfully and permanently laid. Acting under the authority conferred upon the President by Congress, I have already accorded the people of the islands a majority in both houses of their legislative body by appointing five instead of four native citizens to the membership of the commission. I believe that in this way we shall make proof of their capacity in counsel and their sense of responsibility in the exercise of political power, and that the success of this step will be sure to clear our view for the steps which are to follow. Step by step we should extend and perfect the system of self-government in the islands, making test of them and modifying them as experience discloses their successes and their failures; that we should more and more put under the control of the native citizens of the archipelago the essential instruments of their life, their local instrumentalities of government, their schools, all the common interests of their communities, and so by counsel and experience set up a government which all the world will see to be suitable to a people whose affairs are under their own control. At last, I hope and believe, we are beginning to gain the confidence of the Filipino peoples. By their counsel and experience, rather than by our own, we shall learn how best to serve them and how soon it will be possible and wise to withdraw our supervision. Let us once find the path and set out with firm and confident tread upon it and we shall not wander from it or linger upon it. A duty faces us with regard to Alaska which seems to me very pressing and very imperative; perhaps I should say a double duty, for it concerns both the political and the material development of the Territory. The people of Alaska should be given the full territorial form of government, and Alaska, as a storehouse, should be unlocked. One key to it is a system of railways. These the Government should itself build and administer, and the ports and terminals it should itself control in the interest of all who wish to use them for the service and development of the country and its people. But the construction of railways is only the first step; is only thrusting in the key to the storehouse and throwing back the lock and opening the door. How the tempting resources of the country are to be exploited is another matter, to which I shall take the liberty of from time to time calling your attention, for it is a policy which must be worked out by well-considered stages, not upon theory, but upon lines of practical expediency. It is part of our general problem of conservation. We have a freer hand in working out the problem in Alaska than in the States of the Union; and yet the principle and object are the same, wherever we touch it. We must use the resources of the country, not lock them up. There need be no conflict or jealousy as between State and Federal authorities, for there can be no essential difference of purpose between them. The resources in question must be used, but not destroyed or wasted; used, but not monopolized upon any narrow idea of individual rights as against the abiding interests of communities. That a policy can be worked out by conference and concession which will release these resources and yet not jeopard or dissipate them, I for one have no doubt; and it can be done on lines of regulation which need be no less acceptable to the people and governments of the States concerned than to the people and Government of the Nation at large, whose heritage these resources are. We must bend our counsels to this end. A common purpose ought to make agreement easy. Three or four matters of special importance and significance I beg that you will permit me to mention in closing. Our Bureau of Mines ought to be equipped and empowered to render even more effectual service than it renders now in improving the conditions of mine labor and making the mines more economically productive as well as more safe. This is an all-important part of the work of conservation; and the conservation of human life and energy lies even nearer to our interest than the preservation from waste of our material resources. We owe it, in mere justice to the railway employees of the country, to provide for them a fair and effective employers' liability act; and a law that we can stand by in this matter will be no less to the advantage of those who administer the railroads of the country than to the advantage of those whom they employ. The experience of a large number of the States abundantly proves that. We ought to devote ourselves to meeting pressing demands of plain justice like this as earnestly as to the accomplishment of political and economic reforms. Social justice comes first. Law is the machinery for its realization and is vital only as it expresses and embodies it. An international congress for the discussion of all questions that affect safety at sea is now sitting in London at the suggestion of our own Government. So soon as the conclusions of that congress can be learned and considered we ought to address ourselves, among other things, to the prompt alleviation of the very unsafe, unjust, and burdensome conditions which now surround the employment of sailors and render it extremely difficult to obtain the services of spirited and competent men such as every ship needs if it is to be safely handled and brought to port. May I not express the very real pleasure I have experienced in cooperating with this Congress and sharing with it the labors of common service to which it has devoted itself so unreservedly during the past seven months of uncomplaining concentration upon the business of legislation? Surely it is a proper and pertinent part of my report on "the state of the Union" to express my admiration for the diligence, the good temper, and the full comprehension of public duty which has already been manifested by both the Houses; and I hope that it may not be deemed an impertinent intrusion of myself into the picture if I say with how much and how constant satisfaction I have availed myself of the privilege of putting my time and energy at their disposal alike in counsel and in action. Certificates of inspection of nursery stock. Incloses Statement by Senator Root Nov. 25, 1912, repudiat- Plant Quarantine Act. Refers to the above circular Declaration of policy with regard to Latin America. Speech of Senator Root in the Senate, Jan. 16, 1913, Peace Plan of the President. Statement made by Peace Plan of the President. Instruction to urge Peace Plan of the President. Incloses copies of the ARGENTINA. 1 1 2 9 11 13 11 12 127 21 17 Arrest and imprisonment of naturalized American citizens on the charge of evasion of military service. Incloses information concerning the arrest of Julius Reich, a naturalized citizen of the United States, the retention of his naturalization certificate and other valuables: instructs him to request that local officials be instructed to respect the naturalization of such citizens in the future and to restore the liberty and property of Julius Reich. Same subject. In view of Department's No. 305 of July 16, and of the frequent arrests and imprisonment in Austria-Hungary of naturalized American citizens on the charge of evasion of military service, the Chargé d'Affaires has addressed the Foreign Office on the subject; his note inclosed. Same subject. His note to the Foreign Office, inclosed with his despatch No. 514, approved. Same subject. Julius Reich was set at liberty and his certificate of naturalization and money were returned to him on July 16. BRAZIL. Valorization of coffee. Requests that the vice Consul General at Rio de Janeiro be instructed to furnish information on this subject to the Department of Justice. Same subject. Instructs him to comply with the above request. Termination of Extradition Treaty of 1897, and protocols of 1898 and 1903, between the United States and Brazil. By the passage of the Act of June 28, 1911, the Government is required to denounce all existing treaties of extradition but no action will be taken until the Supreme Court shall have decided on the constitutionality of the statute. Incloses the text of the statute. Coffee valorization. Detailed report. Same subject. Advises that he has learned of the institution of a suit against the coffee valorization committee and requests that steps be taken for its discontinuance. Same subject. The Department of State had no official information in regard to the coffee suit until advised by the Brazilian Embassy. 46 Same subject. Incloses extracts of the annual message of the President of the State of São Paulo to the State Congress. 55 Same to same (telegram)... Sept. 3 Same to same..... Sept. 16 Same to same (telegram).... Oct. 17 Same subject. The Brazilian minister of foreign affairs regrets to learn that the investigation of the legal status of valorized coffee is to be revived. Same subject. Gives his impressions of public opinion in Brazil on this subject. Same subject. At its annual meeting next January the valorization committee will vote to dispose of its entire stock of coffee now in New York. The Minister for foreign affairs desires to know whether the suit against the committee, in view of the above assurance, can be discontinued. 57 58 58 |