The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-06

NA1lipul lnIuIlnS interests III AmeFIcd Hawaii.
 In my judgment immediate steps should
 be taken for the fortification of Hawaii. This is the most important point in the
 Pacific to fortify in order to conserve
 the interests of this country. It would be hard to overstate the importance of
 thls need. Hawaii is too heavily taxed. Laws hould be enacted setting aside for a period of, say. twenty years, D per cent of the internal revenue and customs receipts from Hawaii as a special fund to be expended in the islands for educa-
 tional and public buildings, and for har- bor improvements and military and naval
 defenses. It can not be too often re- peated that our aim must be to develop
 the territory of Hawaii on traditional
 American lines That territory has se- rious commercial and industrial problems to reckon with but no measure of -re- lief can be copsidered which looks to leg islation admitting Chinese and restricting them by statute to field labor and domes- tic service. The status of servility can never again be tolerated on American soil. We cannot concede that the proper solution of It's problems is special legis- lation admitting to Hawaii a class of la
 borers denied admission to the other states and territories. These are obsta- cles, and great obstacles, in the way of building up a representative American community in the Hawaiian Islands; but it is not in the American character to give up in the face of difficulty. Many
 an American commonwealth has been built up against odds equal to those that now confront Hawaii.
 No merely half-hearted effort to meet Its problems as other American communi- ties have met theirs can be accepted as final. Hawaii shall never become a ter ritory in which a governing class of rich planters exists by means of coolle labor
 Even if the rate of growth of the terri tory is thereby rendered slower. the growth must only take place by the ad- mission of immigrants fit in the end to assume the duties and burdens of full American citizenship. Our aim must be
 to develop the territory on the same
 basis of stable citizenship as exists or this continent.
 Porto Rico.
 l earnestly advocate the adoption of legislation which will explicitly confer American citizenship on all citizens oI Porto Rico. There Is. fin my judgment,
 no excuse for failure to do this. The harbor of San Juan should be dredged and improved. The expenses of the fed
 eral court of Porto Rico should be met from the federal treasury, and not from the Porto Rican treasury. The elections in Porto Rico should take place every four years, and the legislature should meet in session every two years. The present form of government in Porto Rico, which provides for the appointment by the President of the members of the executive council or upper house of the legislature, has proved satisfactory and has inspired confidence in property own CTS and invGstors. l do not deem 1t ad- visable at the present time to change this form in any material feature. The problems and needs of the islands are in- dustrlal and commercial rather than pos
 litical.
 lnsuar Affairs in General.
 I wish also to call the attention of the Congress to one question which affect, our insular possessions generally; name ly, the need of an increased 1iberality ir the treatment of the whole franchise l question in these islands. In the proper desire to prevent the islands being ex- plotted by spectators and to have them l develop in the interest of their own peo- | pie 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. Elsewhert | in this message I have spoken strongly 1 against the jealousy of mere wealth, ant | especially of corporate wealth as such l But 1t is particularly regrettable to allow any such jealousy to be developed wher 1 we are dealing either with our insular ol with foreign affairs. The big corporation | has achieved It's present position in th'
 business world simply because 1t is thu
 most effective instrument in business | competition. In foreign affairs we can | not afford to put our people at a disad
 vantage with their competitors by in any
 way discriminating against the efficiency ! of our business organizations. In the 1 same way we cannot afford to allow oul | insular possessions to lag behind In indus | trial development from any twisted jeal ousy of business success. It Is. of course | a mere truism to say that the business
 interests of the islands will only be de
 veloped if 1t becomes the financial Inter
 est of somebody to develop them. Ye l this development is one of the thing' | most earnestly to be wished for In thu interest of the islands themselves. Wt l have been paying all possible heed to th' political and educational interests of thu
 islands, but, important though these ob | jects are, 1t is not less important that wt l should favor their industrial develop | ment The government can in certalr
 ways help this directly, as by biulnnt l good roads; but the fundamental and i vital help must be given through the de yelopment of the industries of the is lands and q most efficient means to this | end is to encourage big American corpo rations to start industries in them ant | this means to make it advantageous fol l them to do SO. To limit the ownership l of mining claims as has been done in thu 1 Philippines Is absurd. In both the Phil | fppines and Porto Rico the limit of hold | ings of land should be largely raised. | Alaska.
 | earnestly ask that Alaska be given al | JoIo should h.
 chosen who can speak with authority o {, the needs of the territory. Tho govern
 ment should aid in the construction of { 1 railroad from the Gulf of Arizona to tn | Youkon river, in American territory. ]
 my last two messages l advocated cer
 tain additional action on behalf of Alaska l shall not now repeat those recommen 1, dations, but shall lay all my stress upoi l the one recommendation of giving t | Alaska some one authorized to speak 10 ] it. I should prefer that the delegate wa l made elective, but If this Is not deemed
 wise then make him appointive. At an,
 rate, give Alaska some person whose bus
 mess 1t shall be to speak with authorit, 1 on her behalf to the Congress. Tho natur al resources of Alaska are great. Som of the chief needs of the peculiarly ener 1 getic, self-reliant, and typically American | white population of Alaska were set forti
 in my last message. I also earnestly asl t, your attention to the needs of the Alaskan
 Indians. All Indians who are competen
 should receive the full rights of American 1 citizenship. It is, for instance. grosi
 and indefensibe wrong to deny such hard
 working, decent-iving Indians as the Met
 lakahtlas the right to obtain licenses al
 captains, pilots, and engineers, the righ
 to enter mining claims, and to profit bl | the homestead law. These particular In
 dians are civilized, and are competent ant