The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1913-12-04
PRESIDENT DFLV-
.ERS FIRST MESSAGE

At / O'Clock Tuesday President
Wilson delivered his first message to
both branches of congress, in the
house chamber. Following are the
principal points of the document:
We shall not, / believe, be obliged
to alter our policy of watchful wait
ling: and then, when the end comes,
we shall hope to see constitutional or
der restored in distressed Mexico by
the concert and energy Of such of her
leaders as prefer the liberty of their
people to their own ambitions.
What the farmers need and should
obtain is legislation which will make
their own abundant and substantial
credit resources available as a founda-
tion for joint, concerted local action
in their own behalf in getting the
capital they must use.
But We must not allow ourselves to
depend upon extraordinary expedi-
ents. We must add the means by
which the farms may make his credit
constantly and easily available and
command when he will the capital by
which to support and expand his
business.
Conscious of this backwardness and
neglect on our part congress recently
authorized the creation of a special
commission to study the various sys-
TENS of rural credit which have been
put into operation in Europe, and this
commission is already prepared to re-
port. Its report ought to make it
easier for us to determine what meth.
ods will be best suited to our farmers.
The immediate service we owe the
business communities of the country
Is to prevent private monopoly more
effectually than it has yet been pre-
vented. This is subject SO many
sided and so deserving of careful and
discriminating discussion that / shall
take the liberty of addressing you up
on it in q special message at later
date than this.
| | feel confident that L do not mis-
interpret the wishes or the expecta-
tons of the country when / urge the
prompt enactment of legislation which
Will provide for primary elections
throughout the country at which vot
ers of the several parties may choose
their nominees for the presidency
without the intervention of nominat-
ing conventions.
But in the Philippines we must hold
steadily in view their ultimate inde-
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.
Step by step we should extend and
perfect the system of self government
IN the islands, making test of them
and modifying them as experience
discloses their successes and their
failures.
At last, / hope and believe, we are
beginning to gain the confidence of
the Filipino peoples. By their counsel
and experience, rather than by our
own, we shall learn how best to serve
them and how soon it will be posi-
bic and wise to withdraw our super
vision. Let us once find the path and
set out with firm and confident tread
upon it, and we shall not wander
from it or hnger upon it.
The people of Alaska should be
given the full territorial form of gov
eminent, and Alaska, as a storehouse,
should be unlocked.
Our key to it is system of rail-
ways. These the government should
itself build and administer, and the
ports and terminals it should itself
control in the interest of all who wish
to use them for the service and de.
velopment of the country and its peo
pie.
Our Bureau of Mines ought to be
equipped and empowered to render
even more effectual service than it
renders now in improving the condi-
tons of mine labor and making the
mines more economically productive
as well as more safe. The conserva-
tion of human life and energy lies
even nearer to our interest than the
preservation from waste of our ma
tional resources.
We owe it, in mere justice to the
railway employees of the country, to
provide for them fair and effective
Employers Liability act. Social jus
tlee comes first. Law is the machin-
cry for its realization and is vital
only as it expresses and embodies it.
We ought to address ourselves
among other things, to the prompt
alienation of the very unsafe, unjust
and burdensome conditions which
now surround the employment of sail
ors and render it extremely difficult
to obtain the services of spirited ami
competent men such as every ship
needs if it is to be safely handled