Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1905-12-06

| of regret and uneasiness to us that the
lines of communication with our sister
republics of South America should be
chiefly under foreign control. 1t is not
a good thing that American merchants
and manufacturers should have to send
| their goods and letters to South Amer
lea via Europe IL they wish security
| and dispatch. Even on the Pacific,
| where our ships have held their own
better than on the Atlantic, our mer-
| chant flag is now threatened through
the liberal aid bestowed by other gov
ernments on their own steam lines. I
ask your earnest consideration of the
report with which the merchant ma
rine commission has followed its long
and careful inquiry.
1t Is a matter of unmixed satisfac-
F.! ton once more to call attention to the
excellent work of the pension bureau,
for the veterans Of the civil war have
greater claim upon us than any other
class Of our citizens. To them first Of
all among our people honor Is due.
Immigration.
AS l said in my last message to the
| congress, we cannot have too much
immigration Of the right sort, and we
should have none whatever Of the
wrong sort.
The questions arising in connection
with Chinese immigration stand by
| themselves. The conditions In China
| are such that the entire Chinese cody
al thof 10 no oil Of d
borers, skilled and unskilled - legiti-
mately come under the head Of unde-
| sirable immigrants to this country.
But in the effort to carry out the pol
| Icy Of excluding Chinese labOrers, Chi
| nese coolies, grave injustice and wrong
have been done by this nation to the
people of China and therefore ultimate
ly to this nation itself. Chinese stu
dents, business and professional men
of all kinds, not only merchants, but
! bankers, doctors, manufacturers, pro-
| fessors, travellers and the like, should
! be encouraged to come here and treat
| ed on precisely the same footing that
we treat students, business men, trav-
elers and the like Of other nations.
AS a people we have talked much Of
the open door in China, and we expect.
and quite rightly intend to insist upon,
| justice being shown us by the Chinese.
But we cannot expect to receive equity
unless we do equity.
The Civil Service.
| Heads Of executive departments and
members of the commission have call
| ed my attention to the fact that the
| rule requiring a filing of charges and
three days notice before an employee
could be separated from the service for
inefficiency has served no good pur-
pose whatever. Experience has shown
that the rule is wholly ineffective to
| save any man IL superior for i'm
| proper reasons wishes to remove him
| and is mischievous because 1t some
| times serves to keep In the service in
| competent men not guilty of specific
| wrongdoing Having these facts in
view, the rule has been amended by
| providing that where the inefficiency or
! incapacity comes within the personal
/ knowledge Of the head Of a department
the removal may be made without no.
! tice, the reasons therefor being filed
and made record Of the department.
The absolute right Of removal rests
| where 1t always has rested, with the
head of department. The change Is
merely one Of procedure. 1t was much
! needed, and 1t is producing good re-
suits.
Our copyright laws need revision.
Philippines and Other Islands.
During the last year the Philippine
Islands have been slowly recovering
from the series Of disasters which since
American occupation have greatly re-
duced the amount of agricultural prod
| ucts below what was produced In Span
ish times.
The agricultural conditions Of the is
lands enforce more strongly than ever
the argument In favor Of reducing the
tariff on the products of the Philippine
Islands entering the United States. I
earnestly recommend that the tariff
now imposed by the Dingley bill upon
the products of the Philippine Islands
be entirely removed, except the tariff
on sugar and tobacco, and that that
tariff be reduced to % per cent of the
present rates under the Dingley act;
that after July 1, 1909, the tariff upon
tobacco and sugar produced In the
Philippine Islands be entirely removed
and that free trade between the islands
| and the United States in the products
Of each country then be provided for
by law.
In my Judgment, immediate steps
| should be taken for the fertilization of
Hawaii. This Is the most important
point in the Pacific to fortify in order
to conserve the interests Of this coun-
try. 1t would be hard to overstate the
Importance of this need. Hawaii Is too
heavily taxed. Laws should be enact
ed setting aside for period of, say,
twenty years 20 per cent Of the internal
revenue and customs receipts from Ha-
waii as a special fund to be expended
in the islands.
/ earnestly advocate the adoption of
legislation which will explicitly confer
American citizenship on all citizens of
Porto Rico.
l wish also to call the attention OF
the congress to one question which af-
fects our insular possessions generally
namely, the need of an increased lib
erallty in the treatment of the whole
franchise question in these islands.
I earnestly ask that Alaska be given
4 - IL