Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1903-12-24
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT.
RecOmmen datiOns Straight
and Strong Letter.


receive more space than any other sim
gle matter mentioned in President
Roosevelts message to congress. 1t is
the most interesting affair in which the
government has figured in the past IL
months, says the ST. Louis Globe-Dem-
ocrat. The president makes it plain
that he and Secretary Hay could not
have done otherwise at the isthmus
without being grossly recreant to the
interests of the American people. From
long line of precedents he shows that
the action of the government has been
consistent with its record for the past
half century in relation to Colombia
and the isthmus. The president is also
justified in his expressions of satisfac-
tion at the settlement which has taken
place in the Alaska boundary contro-
versy, which has removed the only is
sue capable of causing any irritation
between the United States and Eng
land. What he says about the coun-
try's triumph in preventing the spolia-
ton of Venezuela by Germany, England
and Italy year ago, and in getting
The Hague, will be emphatically en-
dorsed by the great mass of his coun-
trymen, without distinction of party or
section.
In the more strictly domestic affairs
the president likewise has an encour-
aging story to tell. The establishment
of the department of commerce and
q hnr hn en-
tant step toward an improvement of
the relations between labor and capital
Much progress has been made, he says,
in the conditions in Porto Rico and the
Philippines within the year. Alaska is
advancing, and he urges the enactment
of proper land laws for that locality
and the promotion by the government
OF the building of railroads and the de-
Velopment of other means of communi-
cation, so far as this can be legitimate
ly done. The work of reclaiming the
desert has begun under the irrigation
act of 1902, and the president is es-
pecially well pleased on this account
partly because national irrigation was
always favored by him, but chiefly be
cause this work promises to be of such
vast benefit to an area comprising a
large part of many states. He makes
another plea for the preservation of
Ihe forests, to re-enforce those which
he has already. made in messages and
addresses. The general staff act he
finds has brought great Improvement
10 the army, adding thereto a recon-
mendation for the establishment of a
naval base in the Philippines
On the postal, land and naturaliza-
ton frauds the president speaks plain
ly and wisely. He urges prompt ex-
posure and conviction, and recommends
an appropriation to enable the attorney
general to act more effectively than he
is able to do at present in proceeding
against these and all other offenders
against the government. The official
corruption in st. Louis incites him TO
ask for the insertion of bribery among
the list of eXtraditable offenses in all
treaties. He suggests the adoption of
means whereby undesirable immigrants
can be kept out of the country and the
desirable one properly distributed. so
40 HOI W concentrate the Dulk of them.
as now, in few states. The question
OF the merchant marine he finds to be
SO important that he recommends the
appointment of q commission to con-
slider the best means for it's restoration
In view of the probability that the
treasury surplus will be small at the
end of the fiscal year next June. if
there should be any surplus, he cau-
tions congress to exercise prudence in
the matter of appropriations. He urges
congress, however, to favor in all prop
er ways the Louisiana Purchase expo
sition and likewise the Lewis and Clark
fair, to be held at Portland, Ore. in
1905. President Roosevelt makes an
Illuminating survey of all the country's
important domestic and foreign inter
ests. Every person who wants to be
Informed about the nations internal
and external concerns by the man who
knows most about them and who has
larger influence than any other sim
gle official upon them, should read
carefully and intelligently every line
of this communication to congress and
people.