The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-08

tion 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 lib- erty 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 mans per mission when we require nlm to obey 1t. Obedience to the law is demanded as right; not asked as a favor.
 We have cause as a nation to be thank- full for the steps that have been so sue- cessfully 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. There fore the work will stand. There shall be no backward step In in the working of the laws it proves desirable that they shall at any point be expanded or am- plifed, the amendment can be made as it's desrability is shown. Meanwhile they are being administered with judgment, but with insistence upon obedience to them; and their need has been empha- sized in signal fashion by the events of the past year.
 Receipts and Expenditures
 
 service, the receipts of the government for the last fiscal year aggregated $56O,- 6674. The expenditures for the same period were 5O6099OO7. the surplus for the fiscal year being $54, 297, 667 The indiea- tons are that the surplus for the present fiscal year will be very small, if, indeed, there be any surplus. From July to Mo- vember the receipts from customs were, approximately nine million dollars less than the receipts from the same source for a corresponding period of last year. Should this decrease continue at the same ratio throughout the fiscal year, the sur plus would be reduced by, approximately, thirty million dollars. Should the rev enue from customs suffer much further decrease during the fiscal year, the sur plus would vanish. A large surplus Is certainly undesirable Two years ago , the war taxes were taken off with the express intention of equalizing the gov 1 ernmental 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 appropri- ations. 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 empha- sized by the fact that we can not afford to be parsimonous in providing for what is essential to our well-being. Careful economy wherever possible will alone pre- vent our income from failing below the point required in order to meet our gen. une needs.
 Needs of Financial Situation. The integrity of our currency is beyond question: and under present conditions it would be unwise and unnecessary to at tempt a reconstruction of our entire mon- etary 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, l called attention to certain needs of the financial situation, and l again ask the consideration of the congress for these questions.
 i Conference Between Gold and Silver.
 During the last session of the congress, at the suggestion of joint note from the i Republic of Mexico and the Imperial gov T ernment of China, and in harmony with an act of the congress appropriating $5.- GOO to pay the expenses thereof, a con- mission 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 com mission has filed it's preliminary report { which has been made public. l deem it important that the commission be con- tlnued and that sum of money be ap- priated sufficient to pay the expenses of it's further labors.
 Merchant Marine.
 A majority of our people desire that 1 steps be taken In the interests of Ameri- can shipping so that we may once more resume our former position in the ocean carrying trade. But hitherto the differ ences of opinion as to the proper method of reaching this end have been so wide that 1t has proved impossible to secure the adoption of any particular scheme Having in view these facts, l recommend that the congress direct the secretary of the navy the postmaster general and the secretary of commerce and labor associ- ated with such a representation from the senate and house of representatives as the congress in it's wisdom may designate to serve as a commission for the purpose of Investigating and reporting to the con- gross at it's next session what Legislation is desirable or necessary for the develop
 
 and American commerce. and incidentally of national ocean mall service of ade- uuate auxiliary naval cruisers and naval reserves. While such a measure is de- slrable at this time, in< v1ew or 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 2i-knot steamers. Our service should equal the best If it does not. the commercial pub lie will abandon it. If we are to stay in the business it ought to be with 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. More over. lines of cargo shins 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 Amer ica. to Asia, and elsewhere would be much in the interest of our commercial expansion.
 Immigration.
 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 un- desirable immigrants shall be kept out en- tirely. while desirable immigrants are nranarIv dfstriblted throffehout tbe coi1n-