Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1908-06-19

J 1OrP6
I has been reduced from 1000 to 400.
and yet the number of certificates issued
/ during the last twelve months has been
] greater than any previous twelve months
! since the bureau was established. nearly
| 400, 900 having been issued during the
| past year.
| The act of June 81. 1890. was the first
disability law in the history of the world
granting pension to soldiers and sail
/ ors because of their need of help. with
! out requiring proof of disability incurred
/ in service in the line of duty. and the
| act of February 6, 1907. granting pen-
| sons to all soldiers and sailors who
served in the Civil War and in the
/ Mexican War, are measures Of Justice
and generosity uneXampled in the an
nails of grateful people, The total
number of pensioners on the rolls is now
! slightly in excess of $4,000. and the
I average amount paid out in pensions
/ in month is nearly 13 million dollars,
/ and in 1907 $13S,155,412 were paid to
! pensioners.
During the last four years the post
J office department has continued its be-
neffcent work in the interest of all the
people, until on the list of April, 1908,
/ free rural delivery was in operation on
| 39,O37 routes from 5000 post-oflces:
/ complete rural service has been estab-
| lished in 1913 counties. saving $4,000 900
/ in the diScOntinuance of pOSt-ofices: and
! in every way carrying the blessings of
the free-delivery system to ouy rural
population, and thus promoting the hap
! piness and contentment of the people,
| Army Reorganization.
The work of reorganfzing and pro-
noting the efficiency of the army has
gone steadily forward until we have
military force not only sufficient to
maintain peace within our own borders
but capable of resisting any possible
force that could be sent against u.s. The
establishment of a general staff of the
army has made action by it more prompt
and effective than ever before and has
served to give to the policy of improve
| ment in the army prominent charac-
ter
The educational training of officers Of
the army after graduation gives to our
officers a higher training in military
science and the practical needs of actual
war than the officers of any other army
By the division of the artillery corps in
to the field and coast artillery the army
has been separated into two branches
the mobile army and that part needed
for the maintenance of the coast de-
lenses. Work upon the coast defenses
has proceeded both upon the mainland
and in the dependencies upon a we'll
time is near at hand when we can rest
secure that both our mainland coast
and dependencies will be proof against
| the sudden capture of any seaport in
which the nations flag is flying.
Most important progress has been
made in the development of the national
militia as aid to the regular army
of the United States. By weIl-directed
legislation and by the activity of the
of ri ont
for the first time in the history of the
country adequate steps are being taken
to bring about an approximation of
mament, equipment, and discipline of
the militia to those of the regular army
The Importance of this development for
national defense can not be over-esti-
ma ted.
The medical department has rendered
most valuable service in stamping out
yellow fever without which it would
have been impossible to construct the
Panama canal. The army has aided the
stricken people of San Francisco, saving
them from starvation and death due to
the earthquake and fire with which that
city was visited
The management of our outlying pos
sessions under Republican administra-
ton has been attended with remarkable
success. Under American occupation and
control the commerce of the island of
Porto Rico which in the most prosper
Gus days of Spanish rule aggregated but
% million dollars was, in 1907, Sc mil
lions. The production of sugar has
advanced from 100000 tons to 204, 900
tons, valued at Is million dollars.
When we took possession of the island
there was but one school building owned
by the government. Now there are over
So built and under construction, and
the number of pupils in the public
schools is 10000. Peace and order pre-
vail throughout the island, and rep
resentative is accorded to the United
States.
The Philippine Islands.
In the Philippine Islands the people
have been given a legislative body, the
full power of conducting their own mu-
nicipal and provincial governments. the
establishment of their own tariff sys-
tenn, the direction of the postal service.
and indeed greater rights and powers
than those possessed by any other people
subject to our sovereignty. A sound
and reliable currency system has been
established. schools so enlarged that the
number of primary schools now aggre-
gate between 5000 and 1000 with a total
enrolment in March last of 479,97S.
Post-offices have been established
throughout the archipelago, a free de-
livery service in the city of Manila, prac-
tically 10000 miles of telegraph and
cable lines are in operation and several
hundred miles of new railway are under
construction or contract; while less than
10 per cent of the government employees
and municipal offices are Americans, and
of the police and constabulary force SO
per cent are Filipinos.
The work of civilizing and uplifting
the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands
has gone forward with remarkable pro-
gress. The president of the United
States aptly summarizes the whole mat
ter as follows:
mo great civilized power has ever
managed with such wisdom and disin-
terestedness the affairs of a people COM
mitted by the accident of war to it's
hands. If we had followed the advice
of the misguided persons who wished
to turn the islands loose and let them
suffer whatever fate might befau them,
they would have already passed through
a period of complete and bloody chaos,
and would now undoubtedly be the pos
session of some other power which there
is every reason to believe would not have
done as we have done-that is, would
not have striven to teach them how to
govern themselves or to have developed
them, as we have developed them, pri-
marily in their own interests. Save only
our attitude toward Cuba, l question
whether there is a brighter page in the
annals of international dealing between
the strong and the weak than the page
which tells of our doings in the Philip
pines
Peace prevails throughout the islands
today in a greater degree than ever in
the history of the islands, either under