Chapter X: Part 10

I wish also to call the attention of the Congress to one question which affects our insular possessions, generally; namely, the need of an increased liberality in the treatment of the whole franchise question in these islands. In the proper desire to prevent the islands being exploited by speculators and to have them develop in the interest of their own people an error has been made in refusing to grant sufficiently liberal terms to induce the investment of American capital in the Philippines and in Porto Rico. Elsewhere in this Message I have spoken strongly against the jealousy of mere wealth, and especially of corporate wealth as such. But it is particularly regrettable to allow any such jealousy to be developed when we are dealing either with our insular or with foreign affairs. The big corporation has achieved its present position in the business world simply because it is the most effective instrument in business competition. In foreign affairs we can not afford to put our people at a disadvantage with their competitors by in any way discriminating against the efficiency of our business organizations. In the same way we can not afford to allow our insular possessions to lag behind in industrial development from any twisted jealousy of business success. It is, of course, a mere truism to say that the business interests of the islands will only be developed if it becomes the financial interest of somebody to develop them. Yet this development is one of the things most earnestly to be wished for in the interest of the islands themselves. We have been paying all possible heed to the political and educational interests of the islands, but, important though these objects are, it is not less important that we should favor their industrial development. The Government can in certain ways help this directly, as by building good roads; but the fundamental and vital help must be given through the development of the industries of the islands, and a most efficient means to this end is to encourage big American corporations to start industries in them, and this means to make it advantageous for them to do so. To limit the ownership of mining claims as has been done in the Philippines is absurd. In both the Philippines and Porto Rico the limit of holdings of land should be largely raised.

* * * * *

I earnestly ask that Alaska be given an elective Delegate. Some person should be chosen who can speak with authority of the needs of the Territory. The Government should aid in the construction of a railroad from the Gulf of Alaska to the Yukon River, in American territory. In my last two Messages I advocated certain additional action on behalf of Alaska. I shall not now repeat those recommendations, but I shall lay all my stress upon the one recommendation of giving to Alaska some one authorized to speak for it. I should prefer that the Delegate was made elective, but if this is not deemed wise, then make him appointive. At any rate, give Alaska some person whose business it shall be to speak with authority on her behalf to the Congress. The natural resources of Alaska are great. Some of the chief needs of the peculiarly energetic, self-reliant, and typically American white population of Alaska were set forth in my last Message. I also earnestly ask your attention to the needs of the Alaskan Indians. All Indians who are competent should receive the full rights of American citizenship. It is, for instance, a gross and indefensible wrong to deny to such hardworking, decent-living Indians as the Metlakahtlas the right to obtain licenses as captains, pilots, and engineers, the right to enter mining claims, and to profit by the homestead law. These particular Indians are civilized, and are competent and entitled to be put on the same basis with the white men round about them.

* * * * *

I recommend that Indian Territory and Oklahoma be admitted as one State and that New Mexico and Arizona be admitted as one State. There is no obligation upon us to treat territorial subdivisions, which are matters of convenience only, as binding us on the question of admission to Statehood. Nothing has taken up more time in the Congress during the past few years than the question as to the Statehood to be granted to the four Territories above mentioned, and after careful consideration of all that has been developed in the discussions of the question I recommend that they be immediately admitted as two States. There is no justification for further delay; and the advisability of making the four Territories into two States has been clearly established.

In some of the Territories the legislative assemblies issue licenses for gambling. The Congress should by law forbid this practice, the harmful results of which are obvious at a glance.

* * * * *

The treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama, under which the construction of the Panama Canal was made possible, went into effect with its ratification by the United States Senate on February 23, 1904. The canal properties of the French Canal Company were transferred to the United States on April 23, 1904, on payment of $40,000,000 to that company. On April 1, 1905, the Commission was reorganized, and it now consists of Theodore P. Shonts, chairman, Charles E. Magoon, Benjamin M. Harrod, Rear-Admiral Mordecai T. Endicott, Brig.-Gen. Peter C. Hains, and Col. Oswald H. Ernst. John F. Stevens was appointed chief engineer on July 1 last. Active work in canal construction, mainly preparatory, has been in progress for less than a year and a half. During that period two points about the canal have ceased to be open to debate. First, the question of route; the canal will be built on the Isthmus of Panama. Second, the question of feasibility; there are no physical obstacles on this route that American engineering skill will not be able to overcome without serious difficulty, or that will prevent the completion of the canal within a reasonable time and at a reasonable cost. This is virtually the unanimous testimony of the engineers who have investigated the matter for the Government.

The point which remains unsettled is the question of type, whether the canal shall be one of several locks above sea level, or at sea level with a single tide lock. On this point I hope to lay before the Congress at an early day the findings of the Advisory Board of American and European Engineers, that at my invitation have been considering the subject, together with the report of the Commission thereon; and such comments thereon or recommendations in reference thereto as may seem necessary.

The American people is pledged to the speediest possible construction of a canal adequate to meet the demands which the commerce of the world will make upon it, and I appeal most earnestly to the Congress to aid in the fulfilment of the pledge. Gratifying progress has been made during the past year and especially during the past four months. The greater part of the necessary preliminary work has been done. Actual work of excavation could be begun only on a limited scale till the Canal Zone was made a healthful place to live in and to work in. The Isthmus had to be sanitated first. This task has been so thoroughly accomplished that yellow fever has been virtually extirpated from the Isthmus and general health conditions vastly improved. The same methods which converted the island of Cuba from a pest hole which menaced the health of the world into a healthful place of abode have been applied on the Isthmus with satisfactory results. There is no reason to doubt that when the plans for water supply, paving, and sewerage of Panama and Colon and the large labor camps have been fully carried out, the Isthmus will be, for the Tropics, an unusually healthy place of abode. The work is so far advanced now that the health of all those employed in canal work is as well guarded as it is on similar work in this country and elsewhere.

In addition to sanitating the Isthmus, satisfactory quarters are being provided for employees and an adequate system of supplying them with wholesome food at reasonable prices has been created. Hospitals have been established and equipped that are without superiors of their kind anywhere. The country has thus been made fit to work in, and provision has been made for the welfare and comfort of those who are to do the work. During the past year a large portion of the plant with which the work is to be done has been ordered. It is confidently believed that by the middle of the approaching year a sufficient proportion of this plant will have been installed to enable us to resume the work of excavation on a large scale.

What is needed now and without delay is an appropriation by the Congress to meet the current and accruing expenses of the Commission. The first appropriation of $10,000,000, out of the $135,000,000 authorized by the Spooner Act, was made three years ago. It is nearly exhausted. There is barely enough of it remaining to carry the Commission to the end of the year. Unless the Congress shall appropriate before that time all work must cease. To arrest progress for any length of time now, when matters are advancing so satisfactorily, would be deplorable. There will be no money with which to meet pay-roll obligations and none with which to meet bills coming due for materials and supplies; and there will be demoralization of the forces, here and on the Isthmus, now working so harmoniously and effectively, if there is delay in granting an emergency appropriation. Estimates of the amount necessary will be found in the accompanying reports of the Secretary of War and the Commission.

* * * * *

I recommend more adequate provision than has been made heretofore for the work of the Department of State. Within a few years there has been a very great increase in the amount and importance of the work to be done by that Department, both in Washington and abroad. This has been caused by the great increase of our foreign trade, the increase of wealth among our people, which enables them to travel more generally than heretofore, the increase of American capital which is seeking investment in foreign countries, and the growth of our power and weight in the councils of the civilized world. There has been no corresponding increase of facilities for doing the work afforded to the Department having charge of our foreign relations.

Neither at home nor abroad is there a sufficient working force to do the business properly. In many respects the system which was adequate to the work of twenty-five, or even ten, years ago, is inadequate now, and should be changed. Our consular force should be classified, and appointments should be made to the several classes, with authority to the Executive to assign the members of each class to duty at such posts as the interests of the service require, instead of the appointments being made as at present to specified posts. There should be an adequate inspection service, so that the Department may be able to inform itself how the business of each consulate is being done, instead of depending upon casual private information or rumor. The fee system should be entirely abolished, and a due equivalent made in salary to the officers who now eke out their subsistence by means of fees. Sufficient provision should be made for a clerical force in every consulate, composed entirely of Americans, instead of the insufficient provision now made, which compels the employment of great numbers of citizens of foreign countries whose services can be obtained for less money. At a large part of our consulates the office quarters and the clerical force are inadequate to the performance of the onerous duties imposed by the recent provisions of our immigration laws as well as by our increasing trade. In many parts of the world the lack of suitable quarters for our embassies, legations, and consulates detracts from the respect in which our officers ought to be held, and seriously impairs their weight and influence.

Suitable provision should be made for the expense of keeping our diplomatic officers more fully informed of what is being done from day to day in the progress of our diplomatic affairs with other countries. The lack of such information, caused by insufficient appropriations available for cable tolls and for clerical and messenger service, frequently puts our officers at a great disadvantage and detracts from their usefulness. The salary list should be readjusted. It does not now correspond either to the importance of the service to be rendered and the degrees of ability and experience required in the different positions, or to the differences in the cost of living. In many cases the salaries are quite inadequate.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

THE WHITE HOUSE,
_December 5, 1905_.

“THE CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT”

[Included in this volume because, although not an address or a state paper, it was written by Mr. Roosevelt while President. It was published in a recent number of “The Outlook”]

The “twilight of the poets” has been especially gray in America; for poetry is of course one of those arts in which the smallest amount of work of the very highest class is worth an infinity of good work that is not of the highest class. The touch of the purple makes a poem out of verse, and if it is not there, there is no substitute. It is hard to account for the failure to produce in America of recent years a poet who in the world of letters will rank as high as certain American sculptors and painters rank in the world of art.

But true poems do appear from time to time, by Madison Cawein, by Clinton Scollard, by Maurice Egan, and others; such are the poems in Bliss Carman’s “Ballads of Lost Haven”; and such are the poems in Edward Arlington Robinson’s “The Children of the Night.”

It is rather curious that Mr. Robinson’s volume should not have attracted more attention. There is an undoubted touch of genius in the poems collected in this volume, and a curious simplicity and good faith, all of which qualities differentiate them sharply from ordinary collections of the kind. There is in them just a little of the light that never was on land or sea, and in such light the objects described often have nebulous outlines; but it is not always necessary in order to enjoy a poem that one should be able to translate it into terms of mathematical accuracy. Indeed, those who admire the coloring of Turner, those who like to read how—and to wonder why—Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came, do not wish always to have the ideas presented to them with cold, hard, definite outlines; and to a man with the poetic temperament it is inevitable that life should often appear clothed with a certain sad mysticism. In the present volume I am not sure that I understand “Luke Havergal”; but I am entirely sure that I like it.

Whoever has lived in country America knows the gray, empty houses from which life has gone. It is of one of these that “The House on the Hill” was written.

“They are all gone away,
The House is shut and still,
There is nothing more to say.

“Through broken walls and gray
The winds blow bleak and shrill:
They are all gone away.

“Nor is there one to-day
To speak them good or ill:
There is nothing more to say.

“Why is it then we stray
Around that sunken sill?
They are all gone away,

“And our poor fancy-play
For them is wasted skill:
There is nothing more to say.

“There is ruin and decay
In the House on the Hill:
They are all gone away,
There is nothing more to say.”

The next poem, “Richard Cory,” illustrates a very ancient but very profound philosophy of life with a curiously local touch which points its keen insight. Those who feel poetry in their marrow and fibre are the spiritual heirs of the ages; and so it is natural that this man from Maine, many of whose poems could have been written only by one to whom the most real of lives is the life of the American small town, should write his “Ballade of Broken Flutes”—where “A lonely surge of ancient spray told of an unforgetful sea”;—should write the poem beginning

“Since Persia fell at Marathon,
The yellow years have gathered fast:
Long centuries have come and gone”;

and the very original sonnet on Amaryllis, the last three lines of which are:

“But though the trumpets of the world were glad,
It made me lonely and it made me sad
To think that Amaryllis had grown old.”

Some of his images stay fixed in one’s mind, as in “The Pity of the Leaves,” the lines running:

“The brown, thin leaves that on the stones outside
Skipped with a freezing whisper.”

Sometimes he writes, as in “The Tavern,” of what most of us feel we have seen; and then again of what we have seen only with the soul’s eyes.

I shall close by quoting entire his poem on “The Wilderness,” which could have been written only by a man into whose heart there had entered deep the very spirit of the vast and melancholy Northern forests:

“Come away! come away! there’s a frost along the marshes,
And a frozen wind that skims the shoal where it shakes the dead black water;
There’s a moan across the lowland and a wailing through the woodland
Of a dirge that sings to send us back to the arms of those that love us.
There is nothing left but ashes now where the crimson chills of autumn
Put off the summer’s languor with a touch that made us glad
For the glory that is gone from us, with a flight we can not follow,
To the slopes of other valleys and the sounds of other shores.

“Come away! come away! you can hear them calling, calling,
Calling to us to come to them, and roam no more.
Over there beyond the ridges and the land that lies between us,
There’s an old song calling us to come!

“Come away! come away! for the scenes we leave behind us
Are barren for the lights of home and a flame that’s young forever;
And the lonely trees around us creak the warning of the night-wind,
That love and all the dreams of love are away beyond the mountains.
The songs that call for us to-night, they have called for men before us,
And the winds that blow the message, they have blown ten thousand years;
But this will end our wander-time, for we know the joy that waits us
In the strangeness of home-coming, and a faithful woman’s eyes.

“Come away! come away! there is nothing now to cheer us—
Nothing now to comfort us, but love’s road home:—
Over there beyond the darkness there’s a window gleams to greet us,
And a warm heart waits for us within.

“Come away! come away!—or the roving-fiend will hold us,
And make us all to dwell with him to the end of human faring:
There are no men yet can leave him when his hands are clutched upon them,
There are none will own his enmity, there are none will call him brother.
So we’ll be up and on the way, and the less we brag the better
For the freedom that God gave us and the dread we do not know:—
The frost that skips the willow-leaf will again be back to blight it,
And the doom we can not fly from is the doom we do not see.

“Come away! come away! there are dead men all around us—
Frozen men that mock us with a wild, hard laugh
That shrieks and sinks and whimpers in the shrill November rushes,
And the long full wind on the lake.”

Mr. Robinson has written in this little volume not verse but poetry. Whether he has the power of sustained flight remains to be seen.

TO THE CENTRAL JUVENILE REFORMATORY COMMITTEE, AT THE WHITE HOUSE,
DECEMBER 15, 1905

_Gentlemen_:

About all I can say to you is to express my very hearty sympathy with and belief in your purpose. The time of my life when I was brought into closest touch with conditions similar to those which you are trying to remedy was while I was Police Commissioner in New York City. At that time my closest friend and associate in all of my work was Mr. Jacob Riis, with whose books and writings you are all more or less familiar. I was even more impressed than I have been all along, ever since I have grown up, with the fact that if you are going to do anything permanent for the average man you have got to begin before he is a man. The older man is almost impossible to reform. Of course there are exceptional individuals, men who have been completely changed, not only after they have reached years of manhood, but after very advanced periods of life. But speaking generally, the chance of success lies in working with the boy and not with the man. That applies peculiarly to those boys who tend to drift off into courses which mean that unless they are checked they will be formidable additions to the criminal population when they grow older. It is eminently worth while to try to prevent those boys becoming criminals, to try to prevent their being menaces to and expenses and sores in society, while there is a chance of reforming them.

A year ago I was approached by the people interested in Colorado in their juvenile court, and they set an example which I wish could be followed all over the country, and particularly here in the District of Columbia. To the people of Colorado I expressed, as I express to you, my very earnest belief in their work, and told them that “of course so far as my very limited powers here go those powers will be at your disposal.”

I think people rather often completely misapprehend what are really the important questions. The question of the tariff, the currency, or even the regulation of railroad rates, are all subordinate to the great basic moral movements which mean the preservation of the individual in his or her relations to the home; because if the homes are all straight the State will take care of itself.

TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND OTHERS, AT
THE WHITE HOUSE, DECEMBER 18, 1905

_Mr. Macfarland; Ladies and Gentlemen_:

It is a peculiar pleasure to greet this body here to-day. As Mr. Macfarland has well said, the public-school system of our country is the most characteristically democratic and American feature of our national life. It has been my good fortune that all of my children have received, or are receiving, a portion of their education in the public schools of this District, in this city; and I feel that the advantage to them is incalculable. I certainly do not underrate the importance of the higher education. It would be the greatest misfortune if we ever permitted such a warped and twisted view of democracy to obtain as would be implied in a denial of the advantage that comes to the whole Nation from the high education of the few who are able to take advantage of the opportunity to acquire it. But while fully admitting this, it remains true that most important of all is the education of the common school. The public schools are not merely the educational centres for the mass of our people, but they are the factories of American citizenship. Incidentally to its other work the public school does more than any other institution of any kind, sort, or description to Americanize the child of foreign-born parents who comes here when young, or is born here. Nothing else counts for as much in welding together into one compact mass of citizenship the different race stocks which here are being fused into a new nationality.

MESSAGE COMMUNICATED TO THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS, JANUARY 8, 1906

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I enclose herewith the annual report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, the annual report of the Panama Railroad Company, and the Secretary of War’s letter transmitting the same, together with certain papers.

The work on the Isthmus is being admirably done, and great progress has been made, especially during the last nine months. The plant is being made ready and the organization perfected. The first work to be done was the work of sanitation, the necessary preliminary to the work of actual construction; and this has been pushed forward with the utmost energy and means. In a short while I shall lay before you the recommendations of the Commission and of the Board of Consulting Engineers as to the proper plan to be adopted for the canal itself, together with my own recommendations thereon. All the work so far has been done, not only with the utmost expedition, but in the most careful and thorough manner; and what has been accomplished gives us good reason to believe that the canal will be dug in a shorter time than had been anticipated, and at an expenditure within the estimated amount. All our citizens have a right to congratulate themselves upon the high standard of efficiency and integrity which has been hitherto maintained by the representatives of the Government in doing this great work. If this high standard of efficiency and integrity can be maintained in the future at the same level which it has now reached, the construction of the Panama Canal will be one of the feats to which the people of this Republic will look back with the highest pride.

From time to time various publications have been made, and from time to time in the future various similar publications doubtless will be made, purporting to give an account of jobbery, or immorality, or inefficiency, or misery, as obtaining on the Isthmus. I have carefully examined into each of these accusations which seemed worthy of attention. In every instance the accusations have proved to be without foundation in any shape or form. They spring from several sources. Sometimes they take the shape of statements by irresponsible investigators of a sensational habit of mind, incapable of observing or repeating with accuracy what they see, and desirous of obtaining notoriety by widespread slander. More often they originate with, or are given currency by, individuals with a personal grievance. The sensation-mongers, both those who stay at home and those who visit the Isthmus, may ground their accusations on false statements by some engineer, who, having applied for service on the Commission and been refused such service, now endeavors to discredit his successful competitors; or by some lessee or owner of real estate who has sought action or inaction by the Commission to increase the value of his lots, and is bitter because the Commission can not be used for such purposes; or on the tales of disappointed bidders for contracts; or of office-holders who have proved incompetent, or who have been suspected of corruption and dismissed, or who have been overcome by panic and have fled from the Isthmus. Every specific charge relating to jobbery, to immorality, or to inefficiency, from whatever source it has come, has been immediately investigated, and in no single instance have the statements of these sensation-mongers and the interested complainants behind them proved true. The only discredit inhering in these false accusations is to those who originate and give them currency, and who, to the extent of their abilities, thereby hamper and obstruct the completion of the great work in which both the honor and the interest of America are so deeply involved. It matters not whether those guilty of these false accusations utter them in mere wanton recklessness and folly or in a spirit of sinister malice to gratify some personal or political grudge.

Any attempt to cut down the salaries of the officials of the Isthmian Commission, or of their subordinates who are doing important work, would be ruinous from the standpoint of accomplishing the work effectively. To quote the words of one of the best observers on the Isthmus: “Demoralization of the service is certain if the reward for successful endeavor is a reduction of pay.” We are undertaking in Panama a gigantic task—the largest piece of engineering ever done. The employment of the men engaged thereon is only temporary, and yet it will require the highest order of ability if it is to be done economically, honestly, and efficiently. To attempt to secure men to do this work on insufficient salaries would amount to putting a premium upon inefficiency and corruption. Men fit for the work will not undertake it unless they are well paid. In the end the men who do undertake it will be left to seek other employment with as their chief reward the reputations they achieve. Their work is infinitely more difficult than any private work, both because of the peculiar conditions of the tropical land in which it is laid, and because it is impossible to free them from the peculiar limitations inseparably connected with Government employment; while it is unfortunately true that men engaged on public work, no matter how devoted and disinterested their services, must expect to be made the objects of misrepresentation and attack. At best, therefore, the positions are not attractive in proportion to their importance; and among the men fit to do the task, only those with a genuine sense of public spirit and eager to do the great work for the work’s sake, can be obtained; and such men can not be kept if they are to be treated with niggardliness and parsimony, in addition to the certainty that false accusations will continually be brought against them.

I repeat that the work on the Isthmus has been done and is being done admirably. The organization is good. The mistakes are extraordinarily few, and these few have been of practically no consequence. The zeal, intelligence, and efficient public service of the Isthmian Commission and its subordinates have been noteworthy. I court the fullest, most exhaustive, and most searching investigation of any act of theirs, and if any one of them is ever shown to have done wrong his punishment shall be exemplary. But I ask that they be decently paid, and that their hands be upheld as long as they act decently. On any other conditions we shall not be able to get men of the right type to do the work; and this means that on any other conditions we shall ensure, if not failure, at least delay, scandal, and inefficiency in the task of digging the giant canal.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION, AT THE WHITE HOUSE, JANUARY 10, 1906

_Gentlemen_:

I want to say just a word of greeting to you and to ask your influence on behalf of the medical corps, not only of the Army, but of the Navy. There is not a more exacting profession; there is not a profession which makes greater demands upon those following it, and which more entitles them to the gratitude of mankind, than is the profession which is yours. The Army surgeon has to combine the work of your profession with the work of the military man of the line. In saying that, I want to call your attention to two specific things; one thing that is now being done by men of your profession and one need of men of your profession.

First, the thing that is being done: All the United States is the debtor to the medical men who have accomplished such remarkable work on the Isthmus of Panama. You hear very loose talk about making the dirt fly in Panama. Before making the dirt fly it was necessary to get the microbes under; it was necessary to grapple with the mosquitoes; necessary to eradicate disease. That has been done to perfection. We have had the foundation laid for that wonderful piece of constructive engineering work, to dig the giant canal. Too much praise can not be given to those who have done this work in Panama. So much for tribute to your compeers. Now as to the need of your compeers. You recollect the complaint made about hygienic conditions during the war with Spain. Complaint was made that the troops were not properly treated, etc. The blame rested, not on any one man then in office, but upon our people as a whole who had declined, through their representatives, to make provision long in advance for meeting such a need. If we had a war break out to-morrow and had to raise any large army, there would be an immediate breakdown in the medical department simply because at present our medical corps is numerically only fit to take care of about forty per cent of the Regular Army as it is now. The medical corps is not numerically fit to grapple with a campaign in which our whole Army as it is, the little Army as it is, should be employed. And of course if we had to mobilize an army of volunteers we would under present conditions have to count upon widespread disaster through the shortcomings in the medical and sanitary and hygienic arrangements rendered inevitable by our present lack of preparation.

The Japanese have given us a good lesson in this as in many other particulars, by the way they handled their army in the recent war. One of the reasons why their medical department did well—the main reason—was the fact that they had an ample supply of doctors who had been practiced in time of peace in doing the duties they would have to do in war. And until we have provision for an ample corps of doctors in the Army so that they can be practiced in time of peace we will not have prepared as we ought to prepare for the possibilities of war. Until we thus prepare we can make up our minds that we are ourselves responsible for any disaster that occurs to any army that the United States may raise in the future; not the man who may be at the head of the Army at the time. The tendency is to attack the men in office at the time. That is utterly unjust, and the people themselves, and the representatives of the people in public life, who have failed to provide the necessary means in advance—they are responsible when disaster comes. That applies to the medical department, and it applies to every other branch of the military establishment just as much.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE INTERSTATE NATIONAL GUARD ASSOCIATION, AT THE
WHITE HOUSE, JANUARY 22, 1906

_Senator Dick; Members of the Association_:

I trust it is hardly necessary for me to say what a genuine pleasure it is to me to-day to greet this organization. I have been a member of the National Guard myself, and both at the time when I was Governor (as the present Assistant Secretary of War can say) and since I have been President, and even when I was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, I have always done all that in me lay to further the interests of the National Guard.

I have a good many things on hand, but one of the things that are interesting me most at present, Senator Dick, is the encouragement of rifle practice to the National Guard. I want to have it understood, gentlemen, that I do not care anything like as much for how your regiments march and perform parade-ground and armory maneuvres as I care for how they are instructed in the work that would make them valuable as soldiers in time of war. I earnestly hope that the National Guard, and, Mr. Taft, the Regular Army also, especially the Regular Army, will more and more have the kind of instruction that will make it second nature for the man who marches to march fully equipped as he would be in time of war. If he is trained to march that way he will not throw away his equipment the first time he goes to war; otherwise he will do it. I want to see the average National Guardsman know how to shoot well. I want to see the fund that we have for rifle practice distributed among the several State organizations, partly at least with reference to the way in which those State organizations promote marksmanship. I want to see the young fellow who has been through the National Guard receive a training which will make him able to do his work in time of war if the need comes.

In a great industrial civilization such as ours we may just as well face the fact that there is a constant tendency to do away with, to eliminate, those qualities which make a man a good soldier. It should be the steady object of every legislator, of every executive officer, and above all of you gentlemen who have to do with the National Guard, to try to encourage those qualities, to try to counteract the tendency toward their elimination. Every officer of the National Guard should train his men the whole time as if he were training them with a view to possible action, so that the men under him will be trained by him to have those habits of body and mind which will render them formidable as soldiers in the field. You should try to train your men so they can live in the open; train them so they will know what cover is, so they will be able to take advantage of it, so they will know how to march and march well; and you should realize the relative importance of what it is that the men under you learn, that as war is carried on nowadays, ninety per cent of the ordinary work done either on the parade-ground or in the armory, either by a militia regiment or a regular regiment, amounts to nothing whatever in the way of training except so far as the incidental effect it has in accustoming the men to act together and to obey; but they are not going to fight shoulder to shoulder when they get out into the field. It is absolutely not of the slightest consequence what their alignment is, but is of vital consequence that they shall know how to take cover, how to shoot, and how to make themselves at home under any circumstances.

We have such a small regular army that you men of the National Guard have upon you a heavy responsibility. I want to say that while it is incumbent upon you to take your duties seriously and do them with all your heart, if you do even that you do more good to the Nation than any equal body of citizens to be found in our country.

TO THE STUDENTS OF THE MANASSAS, VIRGINIA, INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, AT THE
WHITE HOUSE, FEBRUARY 14, 1906

_Mr. Hale_; _Ladies and Gentlemen_:

It is a peculiar pleasure to me to greet you to-day; and no body of our fellow-citizens can have a greater claim to being received at the White House than a body like this, which stands for the fundamental duty of American citizenship—the duty of self-education. I am, of course, as we all must be, peculiarly interested in the kind of development of which, I am glad to say, I think we can accept this school as typical—not as exceptional, but as typical. There are a great many very, very excellent charitable people in the country, but some of them tend to forget at times that the only charity that does permanent good is that kind of charity that is not a charity at all, that teaches some one how to help himself or herself. The only way in which any section of our citizens, of no matter what color, can be permanently benefited is by teaching them to pull their own weight, to do their own duty, their duty to themselves, their duty to their neighbors, their duty to the State at large. I have felt about the schools of which this is a type as I feel, for instance, about Mr. Washington’s school at Tuskegee, that one of the reasons they are so good is that they can serve as an example of schools of which we should try to develop as many as we can for the white people as well as for the colored people. The white man needs just as much as the colored man to learn that for the average man the education that fits him to do work in life is industrial. Other things shall be added to it, or ought to be added to it, but that must remain as the basis.

Of course, Miss Dean, the good that comes with any such school as this is increased tenfold when the school is founded, as you founded this, and as Mr. Washington founded Tuskegee, by a colored man or colored woman to help the colored boys and colored girls of to-day to make the best type of self-respecting, self-supporting American citizens of the future. I esteem it an honor to welcome you here this afternoon, and it is a very fitting thing that you should be introduced by the American citizen whom every good American delights to honor—Rev. Edward Everett Hale.

MESSAGE COMMUNICATED TO THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS, FEBRUARY 19, 1906

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I submit herewith the letter of the Secretary of War transmitting the report of the Board of Consulting Engineers on the Panama Canal, and the report of the Isthmian Canal Commission thereon, together with a letter written to the Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission by Chief Engineer Stevens. Both the Board of Consulting Engineers and the Canal Commission divide in their report. The majority of the Board of Consulting Engineers, eight in number, including the five foreign engineers, favor a sea-level canal; and one member of the Canal Commission, Admiral Endicott, takes the same view. Five of the eight American members of the Board of Consulting Engineers and five members of the Isthmian Canal Commission favor the lock canal, and so does Chief Engineer Stevens. The Secretary of War recommends a lock canal pursuant to the recommendation of the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers and of the majority of the Canal Commission. After careful study of the papers submitted and full and exhaustive consideration of the whole subject, I concur in this recommendation.

It will be noticed that the American engineers on the consulting board and on the commission by a more than two to one majority favor the lock canal, whereas the foreign engineers are a unit against it. I think this is partly to be explained by the fact that the great traffic canal of the Old World is the Suez Canal, a sea-level canal, whereas the great traffic canal of the New World is the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, a lock canal. Although the latter, the Soo, is closed to navigation during the winter months, it carries annually three times the traffic of the Suez Canal. In my judgment the very able argument of the majority of the Board of Consulting Engineers is vitiated by their failure to pay proper heed to the lessons taught by the construction and operation of the Soo Canal. It must be borne in mind, as the Commission points out, that there is no question of building what has been picturesquely termed “the Straits of Panama”; that is, a waterway through which the largest vessels could go with safety at uninterrupted high speed. Both the sea-level canal and the proposed lock canal would be too narrow and shallow to be called with any truthfulness a strait, or to have any of the properties of a wide, deep water strip. Both of them would be canals, pure and simple. Each type has certain disadvantages and certain advantages. But in my judgment the disadvantages are fewer and the advantages very much greater in the case of a lock canal substantially as proposed in the papers forwarded herewith; and I call especial attention to the fact that the Chief Engineer, who will be mainly responsible for the success of this mighty engineering feat, and who has therefore a peculiar personal interest in judging aright, is emphatically and earnestly in favor of the lock-canal project and against the sea-level project.

A careful study of the reports seems to establish a strong probability that the following are the facts: The sea-level canal would be slightly less exposed to damage in the event of war; the running expenses, apart from the heavy cost of interest on the amount employed to build it, would be less; and for small ships the time of transit would probably be less. On the other hand, the lock canal at a level of eighty feet or thereabout would not cost much more than half as much to build and could be built in about half the time, while there would be very much less risk connected with building it, and for large ships the transit would be quicker; while, taking into account the interest on the amount saved in building, the actual cost of maintenance would be less. After being built it would be easier to enlarge the lock canal than the sea-level canal. Moreover, what has been actually demonstrated in making and operating the great lock canal, the Soo, a more important artery of traffic than the great sea-level canal, the Suez, goes to support the opinion of the minority of the Consulting Board of Engineers and of the majority of the Isthmian Canal Commission as to the superior safety, feasibility, and desirability of building a lock canal at Panama.

The law now on our statute books seems to contemplate a lock canal. In my judgment a lock canal as herein recommended is advisable. If the Congress directs that a sea-level canal be constructed its direction will of course be carried out. Otherwise the canal will be built on substantially the plan for a lock canal outlined in the accompanying papers, such changes being made of course as may be found actually necessary; including possibly the change recommended by the Secretary of War as to the site of the dam on the Pacific side.

MESSAGE COMMUNICATED TO THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS, MARCH 5, 1906

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Our coast defences as they existed in 1860 were not surpassed in efficiency by those of any country, but within a few years the introduction of rifled cannon and armor in the navies of the world, against which the smoothbore guns were practically useless, rendered them obsolete. For many years no attempt was made to remedy the deficiencies of these seacoast fortifications. There was no establishment in the country equipped for the manufacture of high-power rifled guns; there was no definite adopted policy of coast defence, and Congress was reluctant to undertake a work the cost of which could not be stated even approximately and the details of which had not advanced, so far as could be ascertained, beyond the experimental stages.

The Act of March 3, 1883, was the first decisive step taken to secure suitable and adequate ordnance for military purposes. Under the provisions of this act a joint board of officers of the Army and Navy was appointed “for the purpose of examining and reporting to Congress which of the navy-yards or arsenals owned by the Government has the best location and is best adapted for the establishment of a Government foundry, or what other method, if any, should be adopted for the manufacture of heavy ordnance adapted to modern warfare for the use of the Army and Navy of the United States.” This board, known as the “Gun Foundry Board,” made its report in 1884 and directed public attention not only to the defenceless condition of our coasts, but to the importance and necessity of formulating a comprehensive scheme for the protection of our harbors and coast cities.

As a result, the Act of Congress approved March 3, 1885, provided that “the President of the United States shall appoint a board ... which board shall examine and report at what ports fortifications or other defences are most urgently required, the character and kind of defences best adapted to each with reference to armament, the utilization of torpedoes, mines, and other defensive appliances.”

The board, organized under the foregoing provision of law, popularly known as the “Endicott Board,” in its report of January 23, 1886, cited the principles on which any system of coast defence should be based, and clearly stated the necessity of having our important strategic and commercial centres made secure against naval attack. In determining the ports that were in urgent need of defence, since a fleet did not exist for the protection of the merchant marine, fortifications were provided at every harbor of importance along the coast and at several of the lake ports. For any particular harbor or locality the report specifies the armament considered necessary for proper protection, the character of emplacements to be used, the number of submarine mines and torpedo boats, with detailed estimates of cost for these various items. The proposed guns, mounts, and emplacements were of types that seemed at that time best suited to accomplish the desired results, based on the only data available, namely, experiments and information of similar work from abroad.

After the report was made part of the public records, the development and adoption of a suitable disappearing gun carriage caused the substitution of open emplacements for the expensive turrets and armored casements, materially reducing the cost of installing the armament. The great advances in ordnance, increasing the power and range of the later guns, caused a diminution in the number and calibre of the pieces to be mounted, and this fact, combined with advances in the science of engineering, rendered unnecessary the construction of the expensive “floating batteries” designed by the Endicott Board for mounting guns to give sufficient fire for the defence of wide channels or for harbors where suitable foundations could not be secured on land. Furthermore, keeping pace with the gradual development and improvement in the engines and implements of war, fortified harbors are equipped with rapid-fire guns, and, to a certain extent, with power plants, searchlights, and a system of fire control and direction, now essential adjuncts of a complete system of defence, though not so considered by that board.

While the details of the scheme of defence recommended by the Endicott Board have been departed from, in making provision for later developments of war material, the great value of its report lies in the fact that it sets forth a definite and intelligible plan or policy upon which the very important work of coast defence should proceed, and which is as applicable to-day as when formulated.

The greater effective ranges possible with the later rifled cannon, the necessity of thoroughly covering with gun fire all available waters of approach, and the growth of seacoast towns beyond the limits of some of the military reservations, have combined to move defensive works more to the front, and many of the gun positions now occupied have been obtained from private ownership. The cost of such sites has been a large item in the present cost of fortifications, and this purchase of land was not included in its estimates by the Endicott Board.

An examination of the report also discloses the fact that no estimates were submitted covering a supply of ammunition to be kept in reserve for the services of the guns that were recommended, due, perhaps, to the fact that a satisfactory powder to give the energy desired and a suitable projectile to accomplish the desired destruction of armor were still in experimental stages. These questions, however, are no longer in doubt, and Congress already has made provision for some of the ammunition needed.

The omissions in the estimates of the Endicott Board and the changes in the details of its plans have caused doubts in the minds of many as to the money that will be needed to defend completely our coasts by guns, mines, and their adjuncts. New localities are pressing their claims for defence. The insular possessions can not be held unless the principal ports, naval bases, and coaling stations are fortified before the outbreak of war. These considerations have led me to appoint a joint board of officers of the Army and Navy “to recommend the armament, fixed and floating, mobile torpedoes, submarine mines, and all other defensive appliances that may be necessary to complete the harbor defence with the most economical and advantageous expenditures of money.” The board was further instructed “to extend its examinations so as to include estimates and recommendations relative to defences of the insular possessions,” and to “recommend the order in which the proposed defence shall be completed, so that all the elements of harbor defence may be properly and effectively co-ordinated.”