The Huttig news., 1907-12-07

| and increase the cost and lengthen the | time of completing the canal.
 1 President Recommends
 Postal Savings Banks.
 T commend to the favorab ble consid- | eration of the congress postal saw 1 ings bank system as recommended by the postmaster general. The primary 1 object is to encourage among our peo- 1 pie economy and thrift and by the use ! of postal savings banks to give them an opportunity to husband their re- | sources. particularly those who have | not the facilities at hand for depositing | their money in savings banks. Viewed. however. from the experience of the | past few weeks. it is evident that the | advantages of such an institution are | still more far-Feaching. Timid depos | itors have withdrawn their savings for | the time being from national banks; in diyiduals have hoarded their cash and | the workingmen their earnings; all l of which money has been withdrawn | and kept in hiding or in the safe de- | posit box to the detriment of pros l perity. Through the agency of the pos | tai savings banks such money would be | restored to the channels of trade, to | the mutual benefit of capital and labor. | T further commend to the congress | the consideration of the postmaster | generals recommendation for an ex- tension of the parcel post, especially on I | 215 rural routes. serving nearly 5000, | 900 people who do not have the ad l vantages of the inhabitants of cities in | obtaining their supplies. These recom | mendations have been drawn up to | benefit the farmer and the country | storekeeper; otherwise I should not favor them, for I believe that it is good | policy for our government to do every l thing possible to aid the small town and the country district. It Is desirable | that the country merchant should not l be crushed out.
 'The fourth class postmasters con l vention has passed a very strong reso-
 iution in favor of placing the fourth | class postmasters under the civil-serv- | ice law. The administration has all
 ready put into effect the policy of re-
 fusing to remove any fourth class post | masters save for reasons connected | with the good of the service; and it is | endeavoring so far as possible to re-
 move them from the domain of partisan
 politics. It would be a most desirable
 thing to put the fourth class postmas-
 ters in the classified service"
 He renews his recommendations of
 last year in regard to Alaska; calls att
 tentfon to the admission of Oklahoma
 as state; urges the importance of pro-
 Yiding shipping relief for Hawaii asks
 for citizenship for Porto Ricans, and
 promises submission of Secretary
 Taft's report on Philippines when that | official returns.
 He asks for the creation of a bureau l of mines; recommends the providing of
 funds for preserving The Hermitage,
 the home of Andrew Jackson; and the
 erection of naval monument at
 Vicksburg.
 Corporation Contributions
 to Campaign Expenses.
 Under our form of government voting
 is not merely a right but duty and | moreover, fundamental and necessary
 duty if a is to be a good citizen | It is well to provide that corporations
 shall not contribute to presidential or
 national campaigns and furthermore to
 provide for the publication of both con- | tributions and expenditures. There is | however always danger in laws of this
 kind, which from their very nature are
 difficult of enforcement; the danger being
 lest they be obeyed only by the honest
 and disobeyed by the interruptions, so
 as to act only as penalty upon honest
 men. Moreover, no such law would ham, | per an interruptions man of unlimited
 means from buying his own way into of l flee. There is very radical measure
 which would, I believe, work a substan-
 tial improvement in our system of con
 ducting a campaign, although I am well
 aware that it will take some time for | people to so familiarize themselves with
 such a proposal as to be willing to con- l slider it's adoption. The need for collect
 ing large campaign funds would vanish ir congress provided an appropriation for
 the proper and legitimate expenses of each of the great national parties, an ap- | propriation ample enough to meet the
 necessity for thorough organization and l machinery, which requires a large eX- penditure of money. Then the stipula- l ton should be made that no party re- | ceiving campaign funds from the treasury Sh0 tho,
 from any individual subscriber or donor; and the necessary publicity for receipts and expenditures could without difficulty | be provided"
 Wants Improvement in the
 Ocean Mail Service.
 "I call your especial attention to the un-
 satisfactory condition of our foreign mail | service, which, because of the lack of | American steamship lines, is now largely
 done through foreign lines, and which,
 particularly so far as South and Central l America are concerned, is done in a man | ner which constitutes a serious barrier
 to the extensions of our commerce.
 'The time has come, in my judgment, | to set to work seriously to make our
 ocean mail service correspond more
 closely with our recent commercial and | political development. beginning was
 made by the ocean mail act of March 5,
 1891, but even at that time the act was | known to be inadequate in various par
 ticulars. Since that time events have
 moved rapidly in our history. We have | acquired Hawaii the Philippines. and
 lesser islands in the Pacific. We are
 steadily prosecuting the great work of
 uniting at the Isthmus the waters of the
 Atlantic and the Pacific. To a greater
 extent than seemed probably even a
 dozen years ago we may look to an | American future on the sea worthy of
 the tradition of our past. As the first step in that direction, and the step most
 feasible at the present time, recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of | 1891. That act has stood for some years | free from successful criticism of its prin- | ciple and purpose. It was based on theo- | ries of the obligations of a great mari | time nation, undisputed in our own land | and followed by other nations since the | beginning of steam navigation. Briefly | those theories are that it is the duty of | first-class power so far as practicable | to carry it's ocean mails under its own
 flag; that the fast ocean steamships and their crews, required for such mail serv- ice, are valuable auxiliaries to the sea power of a nation. Furthermore, the construction of such steamships insures l the maintenance in an efficient condition | of the ShipyardS in which our battleships