Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-08
The President,s MESSAGE

The Presidents Message
THE Presidents message is typically VIII
L sonesque in diction and in thought. Few
Presidents have so strained their vocabula-
ries for simplicity Of utterance, and few it
is clear have been more happy in the coinage
of telling phrases.
! The Presidents Endorsement of his own
conservation and water power bills was an
ticipated He reiterates his belief that
larger measure of self-government should be
given the Fillpinoes basing his argument on
the ground that so to do will be to vindcate
our own unseIhshness rather than on any
material gain to be achieved by the Filipinoes
themselves It seems TO have escaped the
Presidents mind that the easy thing to do
is to abandon the Philippines, and the diff
cult thing to do is to continue our guardian
ship Of them To many, It would be a su-
preme evidence of selfishness to do ultimately
the one thing which the President believes
is necessary to assert our unselhshness.
He passes over the question Of rural credits
as too difficult to be dealt with at this time
He urges, as is proper, that the proposed
convention for safety at sea, already ratified
by Germany and Great Britain, be confirmed
before the last day of the month"; as is
required by the convention itself The last
of his constructive proposals concerns ade-
quate provision for survey and charting of
our coasts. That the perils of the Alaska
coast line are still unmarked for mariners is
a reproach to the Union.
In relation to economy in government the
President is sure that only a relatively small
sum could be saved by greater efficiency, but
he nevertheless favors saving even that sum.
He is confident that "the people of the
United States do not wish to curtail the
activities Of this Government; they wish
rather to enlarge them This is a rebound
from Jeffersonianism that would have de-
lighted the far -visioned Hamilton.
In the matter of national defense, the
President voices a very general opinion that
we can rely on moderate army, supported
by a we'll trained militia provided we have
an adequate navy. 1t is our natural defense.
But, by a strange process of reasoning, he
concludes that the experts do not know what
out the Democratic idea, which favors an
adequate navy, but does nothing on the as
sumption that nobody knows what an ade-
quate navy is,
BY far the most important part of the
message is that referring to the merchant
marine. The President admits that we have
stunted almost deliberately our ocean ship
ping by intoleraby stupid legislation. He
does not, as a result urge the repeal OF
absurd laws or the reconstruction of our ma
rlne code along feasible land modern lines.
Instead he passes that over as involving too
much difficulty. and suggests as solution
Government ownership OF carriers, to be
operated at a loss. He concludes, most
optimistically. that when the carriage has
become sufficiently profitable to attract and
engage private capital, and engage it in
abundance, the Government ought to with
draw" The Government, once in such busi-
ness, would never withdraw. A richer car
riage than any other can possibly become,
that between Europe and America. vast
though its bulk. has been lost to the United
States under crude and oppressive laws, so
how possibly, with the same laws stin in
effect, can the manned industry be revived?
The message has little new in It and little
Of permanent constructive value. 1t breathes
the Presidents passionate idealism and his
steadfast confidence in his policies. Yet
measured by the crisis in which the world
writhes Il fails TO interpret voice the
mighty purposes which. for the first time in
our history, are stirring the nation from
centre to circumference,