The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-07
SHIP SUBSIDY URGED.
Needed to Aid In the Expansion of
 American Trade.


 Following the course of my distin- guished predecessor, l earnestly rec ommend 10 congress the consideration and passage of ship subsidy bill look ing to the establishment of lines be- tween our Atlantic seaboard and the eastern coast of South America as , well as lines from the west coast of the United States to South America, China. Japan and the Philippines. The profits on foreign mails are perhaps a sufficient measure of the expenditures which might first be tentatively ap- piled to this method of inducing Amer ican capital to undertake the establish ment of American lines of steamships in those directions in which we now feel it most important that we should nave means of transportation con troIled in the interest of the expansion of our trade. A bill of this character has once passed the house and more than once passed the senate. and l hope that at this session a bill framed on the same lines and with the same purposes may become law.
 Interior Department-New Mexico and Arizona.
 The successful party in the last cleo ton in its national platform declared in favor of the admission as separate states of New Mexico and Arizona. and recommend that legislation ap- propriate to this end be adopted. I urge, however, that care be exercised in the preparation of the legislation af- fecting each territory to secure deiib- eration in the selection of persons as ,.f ~ha- 1 F. constitution for the incdming state, and I earnestly advise that such con- stitution after adoption by the conven- ton shall be submitted to the people of the territory for their approval at an election in which the sole issue shall be the merits of the proposed consti- tuition, and if the constitution is de feated by popular vote means shall be provided in the enabling act for a new convention and the drafting of a new constitution. I think it vital that the issue as to the merits of the Nconstitu- ton should not be mixed up with the selection of state officers and that no election of state officers should be had until after the constitution has been fully approved and finally settled upon. Alaska.
 With respect to the territory of Alas ka, I recommend legislation which shall provide for the appointment by the president of a governor and also of an executive council, the members of which shall during their term of office reside in the territory and which shall have legislative powers sufficient to enable it to give to the territory To- cal laws adapted to it's present growth. I strongly deprecate legislation looking to the election of a territorial legisla- ture in that vast district The lack of permanence of residence of a large part of the present population and the small number of the people who either permanently or temporarily reside in the district as compared with it's vast expanse and the variety of the inter ests that have to be subserved make it altogether uniting, in my judgment, to provide for a popular election of a legislative body. The present system is not adequate and does not furnish the character of local control that
 ought to be there. The only compro- mise it seems to me which may give needed local legislation and secure a conservative government is the one I propose.
 Conservation of Natural Resources.
 In several departments there is pre- sented the necessity for legislation looking to the further conservation of our national resources, and the sub ject is one of such importance as to require a more detailed and extended discussion than can be entered upon in this communication For that req son I shall take an early opportunity to send a special message to congress on the subject of the improvement of our waterways, upon the reclamation and irrigation of arid, semiarid and swamp lands, upon the preservation of our forests and the reforesting of suitable areas, upon the reclassifica- ton of the public domain with a view of separating from agricultural set clement mineral, coal and phosphate lands and sites belonging to the gov ernment bordering on streams suita- ble for the utilization of water power.
 Department of Agriculture.
 I commend to your careful considers ton the report of the secretary of ag- riculture as showing the immense sphere of usefulness which that de pertinent now fills and the wonderful addition to the wealth of the nation made by the farmers of this country in the crops of the current year.
 Department of Commerce and Labor. The Lighthouse Board.
 The lighthouse board now discharges its duties under the department of commerce and labor. For upward of forty years this board has been con- stituted of military and naval officers and two or three men of science, with i such an absence of duly constituted i executive head that it is marvellous what work has been accomplished In | the period of construction the energy and enthusiasm of all the members prevented the inherent defects of the system from interfering greatly with the beneficial work of the board, but now that the work is chiefly confined | to maintenance and repair for which