The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1904-12-06
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

naturalization now defective, but those
relating to citizenship Of the United
States ought also to be made the sub
ject of scientific inquiry with view to
probable further legislation. The pow
err Of the government to protect the in
tegrity of the elections of its own Off
Gals is inherent and has been recog-
nized and affirmed by repeated dec
larations of the supreme court There
Is no enemy of free government more
dangerous and none so insidious as
the corruption Of the electorate. | rec.
ommend the enactment of n law direct
ed against bribery and corruption in
federal elections.
DELAYS IN CRIMINAL PROSECU-
TIONS.
No subject is better worthy the at
tenton of the congress than that por
ton of the report of the attorney gen
eral dealing with the long delays and
the great obstruction to justice expert
enced in the cases of Beavers, Green
and Gaynor and Benson. Were these
isolated and special cases | should not
call your attention to them, but the diff
ficuties encountered as regards these
men who have been indicted for crimi-
nal practices are not exceptional. They
are precisely similar in kind to what
occurs again and again in the case of
criminals who have sufficient means to
enable them to take advantage of n
,c ,trhi I.,.
up in the federal courts and which
amounts in effect to making the law
easy of enforcement against the man
who has no money and difficult of on.
forcement, even TO the point of some
times securing immunity, rs regards
the man who has money. At present
the interests of the innocent man are
amply safcguardcd but the interests Of
the government that is the interests
of honest administrations that is the
interests of the people-are not recog-
nized as they should he.
1The president discusses the progress
of the territories of AlnSka, Hawaii
and Porto Rico. with recommendations
for changes in the present system Of
government of the first named. He de
sires TO see IA delegate from Alaska in
congress.
FOREIGN POLICY.
The steady aim of this nation, as of
all enlightened nations should be to
strive to bring ever nearer the day
when there shall prevail throughout
the world the peace of justice, but
there are kinds of peace which are
highly undesirable, which are in the
long run as destructive as any war.
The goal to set before us as "A nation,
the goal which should be set before all
mankind, is the attainment of the
peace of justice. of the peace which
comes when each nation is not merely
safeguarded in its own rights, but
scrupulously recognizes and performs
its duty toward others. Generally
peace tells for righteousness, but If
there is conflict between the two then
our fealty is due first to the cause of
righteousness. Unrlghteous wars are
common and unrighteous peace is rare,
but both should he stunned. The
right of freedom and the responsibility
for the exercise of that right cannot be
divorced. One of our great poets has
well and finely said that freedom is not
a gift that tarrieS long in the hands of
towards. Neither does it larry long in
the hands of those too slOthful, too dis
honest or too unintclligent 10 exercise
il. The eternal vigilance which is the
price of liberty must be exercised
sometimes 10 guard against outside
foes, although, of course, far more Of
ten to guard against our own selfish or
th0ughtleSs shortcomings.
1t is our duty to remember that Il ma
tiOn has no more right to do injustice
to another nation. strong or weak than
an individual has to do injustice to an
other individual; that the same moral
law applies in one case as in the other.
But we must also remember that ii is
as much the duty of the nation to
guard its own rights and its own inter
csts as if is the duty Of the individual
so to do. Until some method is devised
by which there shall be "A degree Of in
ternational control over offending ma
lions it would be wicked thing for
the most civilized powers, for those
with most sense of international obli-
cations and with keeneSt and most gen
erous appreciation of the difference be-
tween right and wrong. to disarm. If
the great civilized nations of the pres
ent day should completely diSarm, the
result would mean an immediate re-
crudescence of barbarism in one form /.
or another. Under any circumstances a |
sufficient armament would have TO be /
kept up to serve the purposes of inter F!
national police, and until international /
cohesion and the sense Of international .
duties and rights are far more adj /,
vanced than at present nation desir-
Gus both Of securing respect for itself /
and of doing good to others must have /
Il force adequate for the work which ii |