Turkish Government remain friendly; our claims
founded 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
674 Presidential Addresses
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 ex-
tension 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 Govern-
ment 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 ad-
vance and development of our commerce in Man-
churia, China, by treaty with us, has opened to
foreign commerce the cities of Mukden, the capital
of the province of Manchuria, and Antung, an im-
portant port on the Yalu River, on the road to Korea.
The full measure of development which our com-
merce may rightfully expect can hardly be looked
for until the settlement of the present abnormal
And State Papers 675
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 main-
taining the consular service for the fiscal year end-
ing 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 show-
ing 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 car-
riers and clerks engaged in the postal service, espe-
cially 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
676 Presidential Addresses
governmental movement of recent years has resulted
in greater immediate benefit to the people of the
country districts. Rural free-delivery, taken in con-
nection with the telephone, the bicycle, and the
trolley, accomplishes much toward lessening the iso-
lation 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 ten-
dency toward the urban concentration of our pop-
ulation 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 Exposi-
tion. This Exposition commemorates the Louisiana
Purchase, which was the first great step in the ex-
pansion 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 ac-
And State Papers 677
quisition of the Oregon country, including the pres-
ent 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 expedi-
tion of Lewis and Clark is to be celebrated at Port-
land, 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 Nor-
way 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 imme-
diately begun. Coal-land laws should be provided
whereby the coal-land entryman may make his lo-
678 Presidential Addresses
cation and secure patent under methods kindred to
those now prescribed for homestead and mineral
entrymen. Sahnon 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 immediate-
ly 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 pos-
session 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 ap-
pointed by him, without submitting the matter to
the legislature.
And State Papers 679
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 Con-
gress should ever keep in mind that a peculiar ob-
ligation 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 O'f the islands to the high pitch of indus-
trial 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 develop-
ment has hitherto gone on so smoothly.
Scrupulous care has been taken in the choice
of governmental agents, and the entire elimina-
tion of partisan politics from the public service.
The condition of the islanders is in material things
far better than ever before, while their govern-
mental, 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,
68o Presidential Addresses
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 com-
paratively few cases has it been necessary to go into
court to accomplish this purpose. This work will
be vigorously prosecuted until all unlawful in-
closures 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. Tlie
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 hold-
ings public lands, especially timber and grazing lands,
and thereby to retard settlement. I renew and em-
phasize 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 home-
And State Papers 68 1
stead 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 sub-
jects ; 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, Com-
missioner of the General Land Office; Gifford Pin-
chot, Chief O'f the Bureau of Forestry of the De-
partment of Agriculture, and F. H. Newell, Chief
Hydrographer of the Geological Survey, to report
at the earliest practicable moment upon the condi-
tion, 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, reg-
ulations, 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 perma-
nence the fullest and most effective use of the re-
sources 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
682 Presidential Addresses
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 engi-
neers 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 efificient men. Surveys and exam-
inations are progressing throughout the arid States
and Territories, plans for reclaiming works being
prepared and passed upon by boards of engineers be-
fore 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 pro-
jects are well advanced toward 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 communi-
ties 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, ap-
And State Papers 683
pears 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 effec-
tively protected and the reservoirs guarded by the
preservation of the forests at the headwaters of the
streams. The engineers making the preliminary ex-
aminations continually emphasize this need and urge
that the remaining public lands at the headwaters of
the important streams of the West be reserved to in-
sure 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 rec-
ognized 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 in-
terests are awakening to the need of forest preserva-
tion as a business matter. The Government's forest
work should receive from the Congress hearty sup-
port, and especially support adequate for the pro-
tection of the forest reserves against fire. The for-
est-reserve policy of the Government has passed
beyond the experimental stage and has reached a
684 Presidential Addresses
condition where scientific methods are essential to its
successful prosecution. The administration features
of forest reserves are at present unsatisfactory, being
divided between three Bureaus O'f two Departments.
It is therefore recommended that all matters per-
taining 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 in-
vaded by a weevil that has done much damage and
threatens the entire cotton industry. I suggest to
the Congress the prompt enactment of such rem-
edial legislation as its judgment may approve.
In granting patents to foreigners the proper course
for this country to follow is to give the same advan-
tages to foreigners here that the countries in which
these foreigners dwell extend in return to our citi-
zens; 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 corre-
sponding patent in such countries.
The Indian agents should not be dependent for
their appointment or tenure of of^ce upon considera-
tions of partisan politics ; the practice of appointing,
when possible, ex-army of^cers or bonded superin-
tendents to the vacancies that occur is working well.
And State Papers 685
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 educa-
tion 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 re-
newed 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 protec-
tive 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 O'f 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 genera-
tions 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
686 Presidential Addresses
control of the Congress the needed safety and uni-
formity 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 Pen-
sion Bureau in expediting and disposing of pension
claims. During the fiscal year ending July i, 1903,
the Bureau settled 251,982 claims, an average of 825
claims for each working day of the year. The num-
ber of settlements since July i, 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 larg-ely occasioned by the extension of
classification to the rural free-delivery service and
the appointment last year of over 9,000 rural car-
riers.
A revision of the civil-service rules took efifect
on April 15 last, which has greatly improved their
operation. The completion of the reform of the
civil service is recognized by good citizens every-
where as a matter O'f the highest public importance,
And State Papers 687
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 De-
partments 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 \\'ashington 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, physi-
cal ability, moral character, industry, and adapta-
bility for manual labor; except that in case of vet-
erans of the Civil War the element of age is omitted.
This system of ap^wintment is distinct from the clas-
sified service and does not classify positions of mere
laborer under the civil-service act and rules. Regu-
lations 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 unneces-
sary positions and by increasing the efficiency of the
employees remaining.
The Congress, as the result of a thorough inves-
688 Presidential Addresses
tigation of the charities and reformator}^ institutions
in the District of Cohimbia, by a joint select com-
mittee 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 Co-
lumbia, 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 com-
pensation. President McKinley appointed five men
who had been active and prominent in the public
charities of Washington, all of whom' upon taking
office July I, 1900, resigned from the different chari-
ties with which they had been connected. The mem-
bers 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 an-
nual reports to the Congress through the Commis-
sions of the District of Columbia "for the economical
and efficient administration of the charities and re-
formatories O'f the District of Columbia," as re-
quired by the act creating it, have been based upon
the principles commended by the joint select com-
mittee of the Congress in its report of March, 1898,
and approved by the best administrators of pubhc
charities, and make for the desired systematization
and improvement of the affairs under its supervision.
And State Papers 689
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 improve-
ment 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 institu-
tion of fall manoeuvre work accomplish satisfactory
results. The good effect of these manoeuvres upon
the National Guard is marked, and ample appro-
priation should be made to enable the guardsmen
of the several States to share in the benefit. The
Government should as soon as possible secure suit-
able permanent camp sites for military manoeuvres
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 sat-
isfied with what has been done, however. The
only people who are contented with a system of pro-
motion by mere seniority are those who are con-
tented with the triumph of mediocrity over excel-
lence. On the other hand a system which encour-