The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1913-12-04


committees of the Senate and House
will address themselves to this mat
ter with the most fruitful results,
and l believe that the studies and
/ recently formed plans of the Depart
ment of Agriculture may be made
to serve them very greatly in their
work of framing appropriate and
| adequate legislation. 1t would be
indiscreet and presumptuous in any
| one to dogmatize upon so great and
| many-sided a question, but l feel
confident that common counsel will
produce the results we must all de
sire
Turn from the farm to the world
of business which Centers in the city
and in the factory, and I think that
all thoughtful observers will agree
that the immediate service we owe
the business communities of the
country is to prevent private mon
OPoly more effectually than it has
vet been prevented. I think it will
/ be easily agreed that we should let
/ the sherman antitrust law stand,
/ unaltered, as it is with its debatable
ground about it, but that We should
as much as possible reduce the area
of that debatable ground by further
and more explicit legislation; and
should also supplement that great
act by legislation which will not only
| clarity it but also facilitate its ad-
ministratiOn and make it fairer to
all concerned. No doubt we shall
all wish, and the country Will expect,
this to be the central subject of our
deliberations during the present
session; but it is a subject so many
sided and so deserving of careful
and discriminating discussion that l
shall take the liberty of addressing
you upon it in a special message at
a later date than this. 1t is of CAPT
tai importance that the business
men of this country should be re
lieyed of all uncertainties of law
with regard to their enterprises and
investments and a clear path indi-
Gated which they can travel without
anxiety. 1t is as important that
they should be relieved of embar-
rassment and set free to prosper as
that private monopoly should be de-
stroyed The ways of action should
be thrown wide open.
I turn to subject which I hope
can be handled promptly and with
out serious controversy of any kind.
l mean the method of selecting nom
inees for the Presidency of the
1 United States. l feel confident that
do not misinterpret the wishes or
the expectations of the country when
I urge the prompt enactment of leg
islation which will provide for pri-
mary elections throughout the coun-
try at which the voters of the several
parties may choose their nominees
for the Presidency without the in
teryentiOn of nominating conven-
tons l venture the suggestion that
this legislation should provide for
the retention of party conventions,
/ but only for the purpose of declar-
ing and accepting the verdict of the
1 primaries and formulating the plat
forms of the parties; and l suggest
! lAlcl lhtSt NOliN CDllOll9 SLlOulN NOu-
sist not of delegates chosen for this
single purpose, but of the nominees
/ for Congress, the nominees for va
| cant seats in the Senate of the
| United States, the Senators whose
| terms have not yet closed the ma
tional committees, and the candi-
/ dates for the Presidency themselves.
L.. e. /
/ framed by those responsible to the
/ people for carrying them into effect.
These are all matters of vital
domestic concern, and besides them,
outside the charmed circle of our
/ own national life in which our af-
fections command us, as we'll as our
/ consciences, there stand out our
/ obligations toward our territories
! over sea. Here we are trustees.
/ Porto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines,
! are ours, indeed, but not ours to do
what we please with. Such terri
tories, once regarded as mere pos
| sessions, are no longer to be selfish
! ly exploited they are part of the
/ domain of public conscience and Of
| seryiceable and enlightened states
manship. We must administer them
/ for the people who live in them and
with the same sense of responsible
ity to them as toward our own peo-
/ pie in our domestic affairs No
doubt we shall successfully enough
bind Porto Rico and the Hawaiian
Islands to ourselves by ties of Justice
and interest and affection, but the
performance of our duty toward the
Philippines is a 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 citizens in our own territories
and our obligations toward the peo-
pie of Hawaii by perfecting the pro-
visions for self-goyernment already
granted them, but in the Philippines
we must go further. We must hold
steadily in view their ultimate indie
| pendence, and We must move toward
the time of that independence as
steadily as the way can be cleared
and the foundations thoughtfully
and permanently laid
Acting under the authority con-
ferred upon the President by Con-
gress, ! 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. l believe that in
this way we shall make proof of
their capacity in counsel and their
sense of responsibility in the eXer-