The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-09
President ROOSeUeIt
 Sends Last Message
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ID

i task of the kind has ever been better i performed The men on the isthmus, from Colonel Goethals and his fellow ! commissioners through the entire list of
 employees who are faithfully doing their
 duty, have won their right to the un- grudging respect and gratitude of the American people.
 Ocean Mail Lines.
 again recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 1891 so that sat isfactory American ocean mail lines to South America, Asia, the Philippines and Australia may be established. The crea-
 ton of such steamship lines should be I the natural corollary of the voyage of the battle fleet. It should precede the opening of the Panama canal. Even | under favorable conditions several years must elapse before such lines caN be put into operation. Accordingly I urge that the Congress act promptly where foresight already shows that action | sooner or later will be inevitable.
 Hawaii.
 call particular attention to the terri tory of Hawaii. The importance of those | islands is apparent, and the need of i'm proving their condition and developing | their resources Is urgent. In recent years industrial conditions upon the islands I have radically changed. The importation
 of coolie labor has practically ceased and there is now developing such a diversity in agricultural products as to make pos
 sible change in the land conditions of
 the territory, so that an opportunity may
 be given to the small land owner similar to that on the mainland To aid these
 changes the national government must provide the necessary harbor improve ments on each island, so that the agri-
 cultural products can be carried to the
 markets of the world. The coastwise shipping laws should be amended to meet
 the special needs of the islands. and the
 alien contract labor law should be so modified in it's application to Hawaii as to enable American and European labor to be brought thither.
 We have begun to improve Pearl harbor for a naval base and to provide the neces- sary military Notifications for the pro- lection of the islands, but I cannot too strongly emphasize the need of appropri- ations for these purposes of such an amount as will within the shortest pos sible time make those islands practically impregnable. It is useless to develop the industrial conditions of the islands and establish there bases of supply for our naval and merchant fleets unless we in- sure, as far as human ingenuity can, their safety from foreign seizure
 One thing to be remembered with all our fortihcations is that 1t is almost use- less to make them impregnable from the sea if they are left open to land attack This Is true even of our own coast, but 1t is doubly true of our insular possessions In Hawaii, for instance, 1t Is worse than useless to establish 8 naval station unless we establish it behind Notifications so strong that no landing force can take them save by regular and long-continued siege operations.
 The Philippines.
 Real progress toward self government is being made in the Philippine islands. The gathering of Philippine legislative body and Philippine assembly marks a process absolutely new in Asia not only as re- gards Asiatic colonies of European pow CTS but as regards Asiatic possessions of other Asiatic powers; and, indeed, always excepting the striking and wonderful ex- ample afforded by the great empire of Japan, it opens an entirely new departure when compared with anything which has happened among Asiatic powers which are their own masters. Hitherto this Philip pine legislature has acted with modera- tion and self-restraint, and has seemed in practical fashion to realize the eternal truth that there must always be govern ment, and that the only way in which any body of individuals can escape the neces- sity of being governed by outsiders is to show that they are able to restrain them selves, to keep down wrongdoing and dis order. The Filipino people, through their officials, are therefore making real steps in the direction of self-government. I hope and believe that these steps mark the beginning of a course which will con tinue till the Filipinos become fit to de- eide for themselves whether they desire to be an independent nation. But it is well for them (and well also for those Americans who during the past decade have done so much damage to the Fili- pinos by agitation for an immediate inde- pendence for which they were totally un- fit) to remember that self-government de- pends, and must depend upon the Fili- pinos themselves. All we can do is to give them the opportunity to develop the capacity for self-government. If we had followed the advice of the foolish doc trinaires who wished us at any time dur ing the last 10 years to turn the Filipino people adrift, we should have shirked the plainest possible duty and have inflicted a lasting wrong upon the Filipino people. We have acted in exactly the opposite spirit. We have given the Filipnos con- stitutional government; government based upon justice; and we have shown that we have governed them for their good and not for our aggrandizement At the present time, as during the past 10 years, the 1neXOraDle lOglc or 1acIS SHOWS that this government must be supplied by us and not by them. We must be wise and generous; we must help the Filipinos to master the difficult art of self-control,
 which Is simply another name for self government. But we cannot give them
 self-government save in the sense of gov
 erning them so that gradually they may,
 if they are able, learn to govern them
 selves. Under the present system of just
 laws and sympathetic administrations, we
 have every reason to believe that they are gradually acquiring the character which lies at the basis of self-govern- ment and for which, if 1t be lacking, no system of laws, no paper constitution, will
 ir anywise serve as a substitute. Our people in the Philippines have achieved what may legitimately be called mar velous success in giving to them a gov ernment which marks on the part of those l in authority both the necessary under
 standing of the people and the necessary purposetto serve them disinterestedly and | in good faith I trust that within gen eration the time will arrive when the | Philippines can decide for themselves whether 1t is well for them to become | independent or to continue under the l protection of a strong and disinterested | power, able to guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign iryasin But no one can prophecy the | exact date when 1t will be wise to con- l sider independence as a fixed and definite l policy It would be worse than folly to | try to set down such a date in advance, l for it must depend upon the way in which | the Philippine people themselves develop tha nowar self-maSterV