The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1905-12-06

ment Is terminated by the failure Of
the treaty chaos will follow. and sooner
or later this government may be in
! VOWED In serious difficulties with for
eisn governments over the island or
else may be forced itself to intervene
in the island in some unpleasant fash
ION.
Army and Navy.
I do not believe that any army in the
world has q better average Of enlisted
man or a better type Of Junior officer,
but the army should be trained to act
effectively in a mass Provision should
be made by sufficient appropriations
for maneuvers of a practical kind.
Provision should be made for the pro-
motion of exceptionally meritorious
men over the heads Of their comrades
and for the retirement Of all men who
have reached a given age without get
ting beyond a given rank.
There should be an increase in the
coast artillery forceeso that u coast
Notifications can be In some degree
adequately manned. There Is special
need for an increase and reorganization
Of the medical department Of the army.
In both the army and navy there must
be the same thorough training for duty
In the staf corps as in the fighting line.
The importance Of this was shown con-
clusively In the Spanish-American and
the Russo-Japanese wars. The work
Of the medical departments In the JAP
anese army and navy is especially
worthy Of study.
Our navy must, relatively to the ma
vies Of other nations, always he Of
greater size than our army. We have
most wisely continued for q number Of
years to build up navy. and it
has now reached a fairly high standard
Of efficiency. This standard must not
only be maintained. but increased. It
does not seem to me necessary, how
ever, that the navy should, at least in
the immediate future, be increased be-
You'd the present number Of units.
What is now clearly necessary is to
substitute efficient for inefficient units
as the latter become worn out or as it
becomes apparent that they are use
less. Probably the result would be
attained by adding a single battleship
to u navy each year, the superseded
or outworn vessels being laid up or
broken up as they are thus replaced.
Naturalization.
On this subject I recommend:
First.-A federal bureau Of naturali-
cation, to be established in the depart
ment Of commerce and labor, to su-
pervise the administration Of the natu-
radiation laws and to receive returns
of naturalizations pending and accom-
plished.
Second.-Uniformity Of naturalization
certificates, fees to be charged, and
procedure.
Third.-More exacting qualifications
for citizenship.
Fourth.-The preliminary declaration
Of intention to be abolished and no
alien to be na~turalized until at least
ninety days after the fling Of his petit
ton.
Fifth. - Jurisdiction to naturalize
aliens to be confined to United States
district courts and to such state courts
as have jurisdiction in civil actions ir
which the amount in controversy is un-
limited; in cities Of yer 100000 inhab-
itants the United States district courts
to have exclusive jurisdiction In the
naturalization Of the alien residents of
such cities.
Criminal Laws.
In my last message I asked the at.
tention Of the congress to the urgent
need Of action to make our criminal
law more effective, and I most ear
nestly request that you pay heed to
the report of the attorney general on
this subject.
There seems to be no statute of the
United States which provides for the
punishment Of a United States attor-
ney or other officer Of the government
who corruptly agrees to wrongfully do
or wrongfully refrain from doing any
act when the consideration for such
corrupt agreement is other than one
possessing money value. This ought to
be remedied by appropriate legislation.
Legislation should also be enacted to
cover explicitly, uneQuivocally and be-
yond question breach Of trust in the
shape Of prematurely divulging official
secrets by an officer or employee Of the
United States and to provide a suitable
penalty therefor.
Merchant Marine.
To the spread Of our trade In peace
aud the defense Of our flag in war a
great and prosperous merchant marine
Is indispensable. We should have ships
Of WI aud seamen of our own to
convey VI goods to neutral markets
and In case Of need to reinforce our
battle line. 1t cannot but be a source
of regret and uneasiness to us that the
lines Of communication with our sister
republics Of South America should be
chiefly under foreign control. It is not
a good thing that American merchants
and manufacturers should have to send
their goods and letters to South Amer
lea via Europe II they wish security
and disn0tch. Even on tho Pacific