Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-12-03


and enlightened craftsmanship. We
must administer them for the people
who live in them and with the same
sense of responsibility to them as tow
ard our own people in our domestic at
fairs. No doubt we shall successfully
enough bind Porto Rico and the Ha-
waiian Islands to ourselves by ties of
justice and interest and affection, but
the performance of our duty toward
the Philippines as more difficult and
debatable matter. We can satisfy the
obligations OF generous justice toward
the people of Porto Rico by giving
them the ample and familiar rights
and privileges accorded our own citi-
zens in our own territories and our OBJ
legations toward the people of Hawaii
by perfecting the provisions for self
government already granted them, but
in the Philippines we must go further.
We must hold steadily in view their I'LL
innate independence, and we must
move toward the time of that indie
pendence as steadily as the way can be
cleared and the foundations thought
fully and permanently laid.
Acting under the authority conferred
upon the President by Congress, I
have already accorded the people of
the islands a majority in both houses
of their legislative body by appointing
five instead of four native citizens to
the membership of the commission.
believe that in this way we shall make
proof of their capacity in counsel and
their sense of responsibility in the ex-
ercise of political power and that the
success of this step will be sure to clear
our view for the steps which are to
follow. Step by step we should extend
and perfect the system Of self govern
ment in the islands, making test of
them and modifying them as expert
cnce discloses their successes and
their failures; that we should more and
more put under the control Of the ma
tive citizens of the archipelago the es-
sential instruments of their life, their
local instrumentalities of government,
their schools, all the common interests
of their communities, and so by coun-
sci and experience set up a govern
ment which all the world will see to be
suitable to a people whose affairs are
under their own control AT last, ]
hope and believe, we are beginning to
gain the confidence of the Filipino peo-
pies. By their counsel and experience,
rather than by our own, we shall learn
how best to serve them and how soon
1t will be possible and wise to with
draw our supervision. Let US once fnd
the path and set out with firm and con-
fident tread upon it and we shall not
wander from it or linger upon 1t.
duty faces us with regard to Alas
ka. which seems to me very pressing
and very imperative; perhaps l shoula
saw a double duty, for it concerns poeh
tho nolitical and the material develop
mant of the Territory. The people Vi
Alaska. should be given the tuH Ierfl-
+oriaI form of government, ana Alashe. d.
as a. storehouse, should be unloeheo-
One kew to it is a system oil rallM"S ;
these the Government should lesei,
build and administer, and the ports anu
torr,irals il should itself control III
49, interest of all who wish 10 use
tl,or, for the service and development
- AZ. country and its people.
U, .te az construction Of railways is on
:. ~ erst step; is only thrusting in the
kew to the storehouse land thfo"lus 49,
,ha lock and opening the. DOOR no" 'le
tennutfng resources of the country
to he exploited is another h1tte', -
which I shall take the liberty Oh liotii
time to time calling your attehtioh' ~,
- Go a policy which must be Worheo
Ut nv well-considered stages, not upon
tbaorv but upon lines of practlcal eA-
,,odiency It is part of our general prop
lem of conservation. We have Ire'si
hand in working out the problem III
Alaska than in the States of the Union
and vet the principle and object are tHe
same. wherever we touch it. we Hus'
,sa tha resources of the country, MOI
1oclx them I'D. There need be no con-
hict or jealousy as between State ana
Federal authorities, for there can be nc
essential difference Of purpose between
them. The resources in question must DC
used, but not destroyed or wasted; USED
but not monopolized upon any mario"
idea of Individual rights as against inc
abiding interests of communities. iha'
a. policy can be worked out by confer
ence and concession which Will release
those resources and yet not leopard or
dissipate them, 1 for one nave no douoti
and it can be done on lines of regulation
which need be no less acceptable to the
people and governments of the States
concerned than to the people and Gov
eminent of the Nation at large. whose
heritage these resources are. We must
bend our counsels to this end. A COM
mon purpose ought to make agreement
easy.
Three or four matters of special i'm
portance and significance l beg that you
will permit me to mention in closing.
Our Bureau of Mines ought to be
equipped and empowered to render even
more effectual service than it renders
now in improving the conditions of mine
labor and making the mines more econ
omically productive as well as more safe
This is an all-important part of the work
of conservation; and the conservation OF
human life and energy lies even nearer
to our interest than the preservation
from waste of our material resources.
We owe 1t, in mere justice to the rail-
way employees OF the country, to provide
for them a fair and effective employers
liability act; and a law that We can
stand by in this matter will be no less
to the advantage of those who administer
the railroads of the country than to the
advantage of those whom they employ.