The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-12-08
HIS MESSAGE
To CONGRESS
[Continued From Page One.l

CONTINUED From Page One.l
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cover explicitly, unequivocally and be-
You'd question breach OF trust in the
shape of prematurely divulging official
secrets by an officer or employee of the
United States and to provide suitable
penalty therefor.
Merchant Marine.
To the spread of our trade in peace
and the defense of our flag in war
great and prosperous merchant marine
is Indispensable. We should have ships
OF our own and seamen of our own to
convey our goods to neutral markets
and in case of need to reinforce our
battle line. 1t cannot but be q 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
good thing that American merchants
and manufacturers should have to send
their goods and letters to South Amer
lea via Europe if 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. l
ask your earnest consideration of the
report with which the merchant ma
rine commission has followed it's long
and careful inquiry
1t is a matter of unmiXed satisfac.
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
WrCng sort.
The questions arising in connection
With Chinese immigration stand h1
themselves. The conditions in China
are such that the entire Chinese cody
.lass-that is, the class of Chinese la
Oorers, 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, tray
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 filing Of charges and
three days notice before an employee
could be separated A.om the service for
inefficiency has ser7ed no good pur-
pose whatever. Experience has shown
that the rule is wholly ineffective to
save any man if superior for i'm
proper reasons wishes to remove him
and is mischievous because it 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 a record of the department
The absolute right of removal rests
where it always has rested, with the
head Of department. The change is
merely one Of procedure 1t was much
needed, and it 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.
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
apd tho TTpjtnd States in bo rroJ,,cfo,