148 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



TTicut of John L. Waller by the expeditionary mili- 

 tary authorities of Franco still remains to be given. 

 Mr! Waller, formerly l/nited States consul at Tam- 

 alave, remained in Madagascar after his term of 

 ollice expired, and was apparently successful in 

 procuring business concessions from the Hovas of 

 greater or less value. After the occupation of 

 Tamatave and the declaration of martial law by the 

 French lie was arrested upon various charges, 

 among them that of communicating military in- 

 formation to the enemies of France, was tried and 

 convicted by a military tribunal, and sentenced to 

 twenty years' imprisonment,. 



Following the course justified by abundant pre- 

 cedents, this Government requested from that of 

 France the record of the proceedings of the French 

 tribunal which resulted in Mr. Waller's condemna- 

 tion. This request has been complied with to the 

 extent of supplying a copy of the official record, 

 from which appear the constitution and organiza- 

 tion of the court, the charges as formulated, and 

 the general course and result of the trial, and by 

 which it is shown that the accused was tried in 

 open court and was defended by counsel. But the 

 evidence adduced in support of the charges which 

 was not received by the French Minister for Foreign 

 Affairs till the first week in October has thus far 

 been withheld, the French Government taking the 

 ground that its production in response to our de- 

 mand would establish a bad precedent. The efforts 

 of our ambassador to procure it, however, though 

 impeded by recent changes in the French ministry, 

 have not been relaxed, and it is confidently ex- 

 pected that some satisfactory solution of the matter 

 will shortly be reached. Meanwhile it appears that 

 Mr. Waller's confinement has every alleviation 

 which the state of his health and all the other cir- 

 cumstances of the case demand or permit. 



In agreeable contrast to the difference above 

 noted respecting a matter of common concern 

 where nothing is sought except such a mutually 

 satisfactory outcome as the true merits of the case 

 .require, is the recent resolution of the French Cham- 

 bers favoring the conclusion of a permanent treaty 

 of arbitration between the two countries. 



An invitation has been extended by France to the 

 Government and people of the United States to par- 

 ticipate in a great international exposition at Paris 

 in 1900, as a suitable commemoration of the close 

 of this the world's marvelous century of progress. 

 I heartily recommend its acceptance, together with 

 such legislation as will adequately provide for a 

 due representation of this Government and its 

 people on the occasion. 



Our relation with the states of the German Em- 

 pire are, in some aspects, typical of a condition of 

 things elsewhere found in countries whose produc- 

 tions and trade are similar to our own. The close 

 rivalries of competing industries ; the influence of 

 the delusive doctrine that the internal development 

 of a nation is promoted and its wealth increased 

 by a policy which, in undertaking to reserve its 

 home markets for the exclusive use of its own pro- 

 ducers, necessarily obstructs their sales in foreign 

 markets and prevents free access to the products. of 

 the world ; the desire to retain trade in time-worn 

 ruts, regardless of the inexorable laws of new needs 

 and changed conditions of demand and supply, and 

 our own halting tardiness in inviting a freer ex- 

 change of commodities and by this means imperil- 

 ing our footing in the external markets naturally 

 open to us. have rroaiod a situation somewhat in- 

 jurious to American export interests, not only in 

 Germany, where they are perhaps most noticeable, 

 but in adjacent countries. The exports affected 

 arc large!;. American cattle and other food products, 

 the reason assigned for unfavorable discrimination 



being that their consumption is deleterious to the 

 public health. This is all the more irritating in 

 view of the fact that no European state is as jeal- 

 ous of the excellence and wholesomeness of its ex- 

 ported food supplies as the United States, nor so 

 easily able, on account of inherent soundness, to 

 guarantee those qualities. 



Nor are these difficulties confined to our food 

 products designed for exportation. Our great in- 

 surance companies, for example, having built up a 

 va<t business abroad and invested a large share of 

 their gains in foreign countries in compliance with 

 the local laws and regulations then existing, now 

 find themselves within a narrowing circle of onerous 

 and unforeseen conditions, and are confronted by 

 the necessity of retirement from a field thus made 

 unprofitable, if indeed they are not summarily ex- 

 pelled, as some of them have lately been from 

 Prussia. 



It is not to be forgotten that international trade 

 can not be one-sided. Its currents are alternating 

 and its movements should be honestly reciprocal. 

 Without this jt almost necessarily degenerates into 

 a device to gain advantage or a contrivance to se- 

 cure benefits with only the semblance of a return. 

 In our dealings with other nations we ought to be 

 open-handed and scrupulously fair. This should be 

 our policy as a producing nation, and it plainly be- 

 comes us as a people who love generosity and the 

 moral aspects of national good faith and reciprocal 

 forbearance. 



These considerations should not, however, con- 

 strain us to submit to unfair discrimination nor to 

 silently acquiesce in vexatious hindrances to the 

 enjoyment of our share of the legitimate advan- 

 tages of proper trade relations. If an examina- 

 tion of the situation suggests such measures on our 

 part as would involve restrictions similar to those 

 from which we suffer, the way to such a course is 

 easy. It should, however, by no means be lightly 

 entered upon, since the necessity for the inaugura- 

 tion of such a policy would be regretted by the best 

 sentiment of our people, and because it naturally 

 and logically might lead to consequences of the 

 gravest character. 



I take pleasure in calling to your attention the 

 encomiums bestowed on those vessels of our new 

 navy which took part in the notable ceremony of 

 the opening of the Kiel Canal. It was fitting that 

 this extraordinary achievement of the newer Ger- 

 man nationality should be celebrated in the pres- 

 ence of America's exposition of the latest develop- 

 ments of the world's naval energy. 



Our relations with Great Britain, always intimate 

 and important, have demanded during the past 

 year even a greater share of consideration than is 

 usual. 



Several vexatious questions were left undeter- 

 mined by the decision of the Bering Sea Arbitra- 

 tion Tribunal. The application of the principles 

 laid down by that august body has not been fol- 

 lowed by the results they were intended to accom- 

 plish, either because the principles themselves 

 lacked in breadth and definiteness, or because their 

 execution has been more or less imperfect. Much 

 correspondence has been exchanged between the 

 two governments on the subject of preventing the 

 exterminating slaughter of seals. The insufficiency 

 of the British patrol of Bering Sea, under the regu- 

 lations agreed on by the two governments, has 

 been pointed out, and yet only two British ships 

 have been on police duty during this season in 

 those waters. 



The need of a more effective enforcement of ex- 

 isting regulations, as well as the adoption of such ad- 

 ditional regulations as experience has shown to be 

 absolutely necessary to carry out the intent of the 



