Weekly journal-miner., 1909-12-08
ECONOMY THE KEYNOTE OF PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
Reneros Ills Recommendation ffor Eary Statehood

expenditures which at one time were
 contemplated in the establishment of a naval base in the Philippines and have expressed their judgment, in which fully concur, in favor of making an extensive naval base at Pearl Harbor, near Honolulu, and not in the Philippines. This does not dis pense with the necessity for the com paratively small appropriations re- | qulred to finish the proper coast defenses in the Philippines now under construction on the Island of Corrigi- dor and elsewhere or to complete a suitable repair station and eoaling supply station at Olongapo, where is ! the floating dock Dewey. I hope that this recommendation of the joint board will end the discussion as to the comparative merits of Manila bay and Alongapo as naval stations and will lead to prompt measures for the proper equipment and defense of Pearl Harbor.
 The Navy.
 The president then discusses the navy, the need for reform, economy in expenditures. etc. He says
 "A comprehensive plan for the reorganization of the officers of all corps of the navy will be presented to congress and I hope it will meet with action suited to it's urgency" Appointment of an eminent astrono- mer as head of the naval observatory is recommended.
 Expedition in Legal Procedure.
 The deplorable delays in the ad- ministration of civil and criminal law have received the attention of committees of the American Bar asso- citation and of many state bar asso- citations. as we'll as the thought of judges and jurists. In my judgment . a change in judicial procedure. with view to reducing its expense to private litigants in civil cases and facilitating the despatch of business and final decision in both civil and criminal cases. constitutes the great est need in our American institutions. I do not doubt for one moment that much of the lawless violence and cruelty exhibited in lynehings is di- reetly due to the uncertainties and injustice growing out of the delays Tn trials, judgments and the exeeu- tiOns thereof by our courts. Of course these remarks apply as we'll to the administration of justice in state courts as to that in federal courts, and without making insidious dis tinetiOn it is perhaps not too much to say that, speaking generally the defects are less in the federal courts than in the state courts. But they are very great in the federal courts. The e&peditiOn with which business is disposed of both on the civil and the criminal side of English courts under modern rules of procedure makes the delays in our courts seem archaic and barbarOus.
 Tie procedure in the federal courts should furnish an example for the state courts. I presume it is i'm possible, without an amendment to the constitution, to unite under one form of action the proceedings at common law and proceedings in equity in the federal courts but it is eer- tainly not impossible by a statute to simplify and make short and direct the procedure both at law and i1 equity in those courts. It is not i'm possible to cut down still more than it is cut down, the jurisdiction of the supreme court so as to eonfine 1t al- most wholly to statutory and con- stitutiOnal questions. Under the pres ent statutes the equity and admiralty procedure in the federal courts is under the control of the supreme court but in the pressure of busi- ness to which that court is subjected it is impossible to hope that a radi- cal and proper reform of the federal equity procedure can be brought about. I therefore recommend legis- lation providing for the appointment by the president of a commission with authority to examine the law and equity procedure of the federal courts of first instance, the law of appeals from those courts to the courts of appeals and to the supreme court, and the costs imposed in such procedure upon the private litigants and upon the public treasury and make recommendation with a view to simplifying and expeditihg the procedure as far as possible and making it as inexpensive as may be to the litigant of little means.
 Injunction Without Notice.
 The platform of the successful party in the last election contained the following:
 'The republican party will uphold at all times the authority and integ- rity of the courts, state and federal, and will ever insist that their powers to enforce their process and to pro teet life, liberty and property shall be preserved inviolate. We believe, however, that the rules of procedure
 (Continued on Page Four.)