The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-05


 we now leave to a state or city, not under the control of the federal govern- ment, the duty of performing our inter national obligations in this respect. By proper Legislation we may and ought
 to, place in the hands of the federal 1 executive the means of enforcing the ! treaty rights of such aliens in the courts ! of the federal government. It puts our | government in a pusillanimous position to l make definite engagements to protect l aliens and then to excuse the failure to | perform those engagements by an ex- l plana ton that the duty to keep them ! is in states or cities, not within our con
 trol. If we would promise, we must put ourselves in a position to perform our promise. We cannot permit the pos
 sble failure of justice due to local prej-
 udice in any state or municipal govern- ment to expose us to the risk of war ! which might be avoided if federal jur- isdiction was asserted by suitable legis- lation by Congress and carried out by proper proceedings instituted by the ex-
 ecutive, in the courts of the national government.
 Reform In Banking Laws. One of the reforms to be carried out during the incoming administration is change in the forms of monetary and banking laws, so as to secure greater elasticity in the forms of currency avail able for trade and to prevent the lim- itations of law from operating to increase the endorsements of a financial panic. The monetary commission lately appoint ed is giving full consideration to existing conditions and to all proposed remedies and will doubtless suggest one that VIII meet the requirements of business and of public interest. We may hope that the report will embody neither the mar
 row view of those who believe that the i sole purpose of the new system. should be to secure a large return on bank
 ing capital or of those who would have greater expansion of currency with little regard to provisions for its immediate ! redemption or ultimate security. There is no subject of economic discussion so | intricate and so likely to evoke differing | views and dogmatic' statements as this l one. The commission in studying the gen ] eral influence of currency on business and of business on currency, have wisely l extended their investigation In European i banking and monetary methods. The in- | formation that they have. derived from 1 such experts as they have found abroad ! will undoubtedly be found helpful in the , solution of the difficult problem they have ! in hand.
 | The incoming Congress should | | publican platform and pass a proper | postal savings bank bill. It will not | be unwise or excessive paternalism. The promise to repay by the government i will furnish an inducement to savings l deposits which private enterprise can 1 not supply, and at such low rate or l interest as not to withdraw custom 1 from existing banks. It will substan- 1 tially increase the funds available for | investment as capital in useful enter l prises. It will furnish the absolute ! security which makes the proposed | scheme of government guaranty of de- 1 posits so olluring without its perni- cious results.
 Importance In Foreign Trade. | sincerely hope that the incoming 1 Congress will be alive, as 1t should be, l to the importance of our foreign trade | and of encouraging it in every way l feasible. The possibility of increasing l this trade in the Orient, in the Philip pines and in South America are known
 to everyone who has given the matter attention The direct effect of free trade between this country and the
 Philippines will be marked upon our sale of cottons, agricultural machinery l and other manufacturers. The necessity l of the establishment of direct lines of | steamers between North and South | America has been brought to the atten- l tion of Congress by my predecessor, l and by MT. Root before and after his
 noteworthy visit to that continent and
 I sincerely hope that Congress may be | induced to see the wisdom of a tenta- | tive effort to establish such lines by
 the use of mail subsidies.
 1 The importance which the depart
 ment of agriculture and of commerce
 and labor may play in ridding the mar
 kets of Europe of prohibitions and dis | crimlnation against the importation of our products Is fully understood,
 and it is hoped that the use of the
 maximum and minimum feature of our
 tariff law to be soon passed will be ef- fective to remove many of those re- | strictions.
 Panama Canal.
 1 The Panama canal will have a most l irnportant bearing upon the trade be- | tween tiHe eastern and the far western | sections of our country, and will great
 ly increase the facilities for transpor 1 tation between the eastern and the
 western seaboard and may possibly | revolutionize the transcontinental rates | with respect to bulky merchandise. It
 will also have a most beneficial effect
 to increase the trade between the east
 ern seaboard of the United States and the western coast of South American, 1 and. indeed, with some of the important
 ports on the east coast of South Amer
 lea reached by rail from the west coast i The work on the canal is making most
 satisfactory progress. The type of the
 canal as a lock canal was fixed by Con- | gress after full consideration of the
 conflicting reports of the majority and
 minority of the consulting board, and 1 after the recommendation of the war department and the executive upon those reports. Recent suggestion that something had occurred on the isthmus
 to make the lock type of the canal less feasible than 1t was supposed to be
 when the reports were made and the
 policy determined on, led to visit to
 the isthmus of board of competent
 engineers to examine the Gatun dam
 and locks which are the key of the lock type. The report of that board shows
 that nothing has occurred in the na-
 ture of newly revealed evidence which
 should change the views once formed
 in the original discussion. The con-
 struction will go on under a most ef-
 fective organization controlled by Col