The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-22

for the chief and main purpose of oper- } ating the canal.
 I fully concur with the Secretary of
 War that the problem is simply the man.
 agement of a great public work, and not the governmen. of a local republic; that
 every provision must be directed toward
 the successful maintenance of the canal as an avenue of commerce, and that all
 provisions for .he government of those who live within the zone should be sub
 ordinate to the main purpose.
 The zone is 10 miles long and 10 miles
 wide. Now, 1t has population of 50,0O0
 or 60,O00 but as soon as the work Of
 construction is completed the towns which
 make up this population will be deserted, and only comparatively few natives will
 continue their residence there. The con
 trol of them ought to approximate
 military government. One judge and two ) justices of the peace will be sufficient
 to attend to all the judicial and litigated
 business there is. With few fundamen-
 tai laws of Congress, the zone should be governed by the orders of the President,
 issued through the war department, as
 it is today. Provisions can be made for
 the guaranties of life, liberty and prop
 erty, but beyond those the government should be that of a military reservation,
 managed in connection with this great highway of trade.
 In my last annual message I discussed |
 ment's assuming the task of furnishing to all ships that use the canal, whether our own naval vessels or others, the sup plies of coal and oil and other necessities with which they must be replenished either before or after passing through l the canal, together with the dock facil- ities and repairs of every character. This it is thought wise to do through the government, because the government must establish for itself, for it's own na- val vessels. large depots and dry docks l and warehouses, and these may easily
 be enlarged so as to secure to the world public using the canal reasonable prices
 and a certainty that there will be no discrimination between those who wish
 to avail themselves of such facilities. I renew my recommendation with re- spect to the tolls of the canal that with in limits. which shall seem wise to Con- gress. the power of fixing tolls be given to the President. In order to arrive at a proper conclusion there must be some experimenting, and this cannot be done if Congress does not delegate the power to one who can act expeditiously.
 To Relieve American Shipping
 am very confident that the United States has the power to relieve from the | payment of tolls any part of our ship ping that Congress deems wise. We own the canal. It was our money that built it. We have the right to charge tolls for it's use. Those tolls must be the same to everyone; but when we are dealing with our own ships, the practice of many governments of subsidizing their own merchant vessels is so well established in general that a subsidy equal to the tolls, an equivalent remis- sion of tolls, can not De held to be a ldiscrimina tion is the use of the canal The practice in the SueZ canal makes this clear. The experiment in tolls to f1r.raf r7n r1a less disclose how great a burden of tolls the coastwise trade between the Atlantic and the Pacific coast could bear without preventing its usefulness in lcompetition with the trans continental railroads. One of the chief reasons for building the canal was to set up this competition and to bring the two shores closer together as a practical trade problem. It may be that the tolls will have to be wholly remitted l do not think this is the best principle. because l believe that the cost of such a gov ernment work as the Panama canal ought to be imposed gradually but cer- tainly upon the trade which it creates and makes possible. So far as we can, consistent with the development of the worlds trade through the canal and the benefit which it was intended to se- cure to the east and west coastwise trade, we ought to labor to secure from 
 timately to meet the debt which we have assumed and to pay the interest
 The Philippine Islands
 l In respect to the Philippines I urg- ently join in the recommendation of the
 Secretary of War that the act of Feb
 ruary 6, 1905, limiting the indebtedness
 that may be incurred by the Philippine government for the construction of pub lie works. be increased from s5,000,- GO to $15,000,009. The finances of that gov ernment are in excellent condition. The maximum sum mentioned is quite low as compared with the amount of in- debtedness of other governments with similar resources and the success which has attended the expenditures of the g., 900, 900 in the useful improvements of the harbors and other places in the islands justinfies and requires addition al expenditures for like purposes.
 i I also join in the recommendation that the legislature of the Philippine islands be authorized to provide for the naturalization of Fiipinos and others who by the present law are treated as aliens, so as to enable them to become citizens of the Philippine islands,
 Pending an investigation by Con- gress at it's last session, through one of it's committees, into the disposition of the friars' lands, Secretary Dickin- son directed that the friars lands should not be sold in excess of the linn its fixed for the public lands until Congress should pass upon the subject or should have concluded it's investiga- ton. This order has been an obstruc- ton to the disposition of the lands, and expect to direct the Secretary of War to return to the practice under the opinion of the Attorney General which
 will enable us to dispose of the lands much more promptly, and to prepare
 sinking fund with which to meet the $7,0O0,000 of bonds issued for the pur- chase of the lands. 1 had no doubt
 whatever that the Attorney Generals construction was a proper one, and that it is in the interest of everyone that the land shall be promptly dis , posed of The danger of creating a , monopoly of ownership in lands under the statutes as construed is nothing. There are only two tracts of 60,000 acres each unimproved and in remote provinces that are likely to be disposed of in bulk, and the rest of the lands } are subject to the limitation that they } shall be first offered to the present tenants and lessors who hold them III small tracts.
 Rivers and HarbOrs
 The estimates for the river and har- bor Improvements reach $S2, 100000 for the coming year. I wish to urge that whenever a project has been adopted by Congress IS one to be completed,
 the more money which can be eco- nomically expended in it's construc- tion in each year, the greater the ulti- } mate economy. This has especial ap