Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1909-12-11
MESSAGE READ
TO CONGRESS
Needed Legislation Outlined by
President Taft.
WORKINGS OF TARIFF ACT
Maximum and Minimum Clause Dis
cussed-Practability of Postal Saw
inas Banks Considered to Be
Beyond Question.

WaShingtOn.-The message OF the
president to congress may be sum-
married. as follows:
The relations of the United States
to all foreign governments, with the
exception of the unfortunate embroil-
ment with Nicaragua, are declared
satisfactory. That our friendly rela-
tons with Mexico have been cement
ed by the recent meeting of the pres
idents of the two republics is evil
denced by the following passage in
the message:
My meeting with President Diaz and
the greeting exchanged on both Ameri-
can and Mexican soil served. l hope. to
siSnaIize the close and cordial relations
which so well bind together this republic
and the great republic Immediately to the
south. between which there is so vast a
network Of material interests.
A system providing for the pension
ing of civil servants is favored.
The message makes mention that
criminal prosecutions against I'M
worthy government officers in con-
nection with sugar trust custom house
frauds are going forward.
The message says:
I regret to refer to the fact Of the DIS
covery of extensive frauds in the collec-
ton of the customs revenue at New York
city, in which a number of the subor-
dinate employees in the weighing and
other departments were directly con-
cerned. and in which the beneficiaries
were the American Sugar Refining Com
pany and others. The frauds consisted
of sugar. The government has recovered
from the American Sugar Refining Com
pany all that it is shown to have been de-
frauded of. The sum was received in full
of the amount due, which might have
been recovered by civil suit against the
beneficiary of the fraud. but there was
an express reservation in the contract Of
settlement by which the settlement should
not interfere with, or prevent the GRIM
NAL prosecution of everyone who was
found to be subject to the same.
Criminal prosecutions are now proceed
ing against a number of the government
officers. The treasury department and the
department of justice are eXerting every
effort to discover all the wrongdoers. in
Guiding the officers and employees Of the
companies who may have been priyy to
the fraud. 1t would seem to me that an
investigation of the frauds by congress at
present, pending the probing by the treas
ury department and the department OF
justice, as proposed, might by giving i'm
munity and otherwise prove an embar-
rassment in securing conviction Of tina
guilty parties.
On the question of the tariff the
president treasures the country as to
possibility of tariff war owe the max
imum and minimum clause in the
hill In oCkc tho nc0n10 fn have onn.
fidence that the chief executive will
t%actfully carry out the provisions of
the measure.
Quoting the plank Of the platform
On which the Republican candidate
was elected, the message declares the
intention Of the administration to up-
hold every principle of law, but con-
den,1s the issuance of hasty injunc-
tons.
Deficit in the p~ostofice department,
the president declares, is due to the
undercharging of second-class mail
matter, he being of the opinion that
such matter does not pay its due
share toward expenses.
The president continues:
The deficit every year in the post
office department is largely caused by
the low rate of postage of l cent a
pound charged on secOnd-class mail
matter, which includes not only news
papers but magazines and miscellan-
eous periodicals. The actual loss
growing out of the transmission OF
this second-class mail matter at l cent
a pound amounts to about s63, 900, 900
a wear The aVpv1p e cost of the ira MS
portation Of this matter is more than
9 cents a pound.
1t appears that the average distance
over which newspapers are delivered
to their customers is 291 miles. while
the average haul of magazines is .049.
and of miscellaneous periodicals 1928
miles. Thus, the average haul of the
magazine is three and one-half times
and that Of the miscellaneous period
ical nearly four times the haul of the
daily newspaper, yet all of them pay
the same postage rate of 1 cent a
pound. The statistics of 1907 show
that se~cond-class mail matter consti-
tuted 63.91 per cent of the weight OF
all the mail. and yielded only SIC per
cent of the revenue.
The figures given are startling. and
show the payment by the government
of an enormous subsidy to the news
Pop't' to II IN ( y ak
congress may well consider whether
radical steps should not be taken to
reduce the deficit in the p~ost-office de-
partment caused by this discrepancy
between the actual cost of tr~ansporta-
ton and the compensation exacted
therefor.
A great saving might be made,
amounting to much more than half OF
the loss, by imposing upon magazines
and periodicals a higher rate of post
g They are much heavier than
newspapers, and contain a much higher
proportion of advertising to reading
matter, and the average distance of
their transportation is three and a half
times as great.
The immediate institution of postal
savings banks is recommended.
An earnest recommendation is made
for the passage of a ship subsidy bill.
With the urging of legislation look
ing to the conservation If our national
resources, the message concludes:
Il urgently recommend to congress
that a law be passed requiring that can.
didates in elections of members Of the
house of representatives and committees
in charge of their candidacy and cam
paign file in a proper Office of the United
States government a statement of the
contributions received and of the expen-
ditures incurred in the campaign for such
49, III