The Forrest City times., 1911-12-22
.ional opinion of the country. are likely


 be singularly unfortunate if this uione- tary question should by any chance be- come a party issue And I sincerely hope t will not. The exceeding amount of consideration if has received from the people Of the nation has been wholly non partisan. and the congress set its non partisan seal upon 1t when the monetary commission was appointed. In commend ing the question to the favorable con sideration of congress. I speak for, and in the spirit of, the great number of my fellow citizens. who without any thought of party or partisanship feel with re- markabie earHestness that this reform is necessary to the interests of all the peo- De.
 The War Department
 There is now before congress a bill. the purpose Of which is 10 increase the efficiency and decrease the expense Of the army. IL contains four principal fea- tHres First. a consolidation Of the gen cral staff with the adjutant generals and the inspector generals department second. consolidation Of the quarter masters department with the subsistence and pay department. third. the creation of an army service corps. and fourth. an extension of the enlistment period from three To five years
 With the establishment of an army service corps. as proposed in the bill. ] am thoroughly in accord and am con- viuced that the establishment Of such corps will result In a material econ omy and a very great increase of eff ctency in the army. It has #ftt,..atetiy been recommended by me and my predecessors. also believe that a consolidation of the staff corps can be made with resulting increase in ef- hciency and economy. but not along the lines provided in the bill under consideration.
 IF good condition. It showed itself able so meet an emergency in the success ful mobilization of an army division of from 15.000 to 20.000 men which took place along the bo,der of Mexico dur ing the recent disturbances in that country. The marve1,us freedom from the ordinary camp diseases of typhoid fever and measles Is referred to in the report of the secretary of war, and shows such an effectiveness in the sanitary regulations and treatment of the medical corps. and in the disci- pline of the army itself. as to invoke the highest commendation.
 The Panama Canal.
 The very satisfactory progress made on the Panama canal last year has continued. and there Is every reason to believe that the canal will be com pleted as early as the 1st of July. 1913. unless something unforeseen occurs. This IS about Is months before the time promised by the engineers
 We are now near enough the com pletion of the canal to make it i'm perattYely necessary that legislation should be enacted to fix the method by which the canal shall be maintained and controlled and the zone governed. the fact Is that today there Is no stat utory law by authority of which the president is maintaining the govern ment of the zone. The Implied author ity of the president to maintain a civil government In the zone may be de- rived from the mandatory direction given him in the original Spooner act. by which he was commanded to build the canal; but certainly. now that the canal is about to be completed and to be put under permanent manage raent, there ought to be specific statu- tory authority for its regulation and control and for the government of the zone. which we hold for the chief and main purpose of operating the canal
 I fully concur with the secretary Of war that the problem is simply the management of great public work and not the government of local re- public, that every provision must be directed toward the successful main tenance of the canal as an avenue of commerce. and that all provisions for the government of those who live within the zone should be subordinant to the main purpose.
 1 renew my recommendation with re speet 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 q proper conclusion there must be some experimenting. and thls cannot be done If congress does not delegate the power to one who can act eXpeditously.
 l 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 l it. We have the right to charge tolls | for its use. Those tolls must be the same | to everyone but when We are dealing with our own ships. the practice of many 1 governments of subsidizing their own merchant vessels is so well established in | general that a subsidy equal to the tolls | an equivalent remission of tolls. cannot be held to be discrimination fin the use of the canal. The practice in the l Suez canal makes this clear.
 The Philippine Islands.
 In respect to the Philippines. l l urgently join in the recommendation 1 of the secretary of war that the act Of February 6 1905. limiting the indebt- i edness that may be incurred by the Philippine government for the con struction of public works be in 1 creased from $2.o00.QQo to SI5.600 GOO. i The finances of that government are l in excellent condition. The maximum sum mentioned Is quite low as com l pared with the amount of indebted uSss of other governments with sim l liar resources. and the success which 1 has attended the expenditure of the l S5eo00o0 in the useful improvements of the harbors and other places in the islands iustities and requires addl- ttonal expenditures for like purposes.
 Rivers and Harbors.
 l The estimates for the river and har- l hor improvements reach $32 000. 900 for the coming year wish to urge that 1 whenever project has been adopted 1 by congress as one to be completed | the more money which can be eco- | ironically expended in it's construction i in each year, the greater the ultimate 1 economy. This has especial applica- uon 10 the improvement of the Mis- 1 sissippt river and it's large branches 1 IL seems ta me that an increase in the 1 amount of money now being annually 1 expended in the improvement of the | Ohio river which has been formally | adopted by congress would be in the 1 interest of the public. A similar 1 change ought to be made during the .t4r sa,