188 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



The work of the Census Bureau is now far in ad- 

 vance and the great bulk of the enormous labor in- 

 volved completed. It will be more strictly a statisti- 

 cal exhibit and less encumbered by essays than its 

 immediate predecessors. The methods pursued have 

 been fair, careful, and intelligent, and have secured the 

 approval of the statisticians, who have followed them 

 with a scientific and non-partisan interest. The ap- 

 propriations necessary to the early completion and 

 publication of the authorized volumes should be given 

 m time to secure against delays, which increase the cost 

 and at the same time diminish the value of the work. 



The report of the Secretary exhibits, with interesting 

 fullness, the condition of the Territories. They have 

 shared with the States the great increase in farm prod- 

 ucts, and are bringing yearly large areas into culti- 

 vation by extending their irrigating canals. This 

 work is being done oy individuals or local corpora- 

 tions, and without that system which a full prelimi- 

 nary survey of the water supply and of the irrigable 

 lands would enable them to adopt. The future of the 

 Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, in their 

 material growth and in the increase, independence, 

 and happiness of their people, is very largely depend- 

 ent upon wise and timely legislation, either by Con- 

 gress or their own legislatures, regulating the distri- 

 bution of the water supply furnished by their streams. 

 If this matter is much longer neglected, private cor- 

 porations will have unrestricted control of one of the 

 elements of life and the patentees of the arid lands 

 will be tenants at will of the water companies. 



The United States should part with its ownership 

 of the water sources and the sites for reservoirs, 

 whether to the States and Territories or to individuals 

 or corporations, only upon conditions that will insure 

 to the settlers their proper water supply upon equal 

 and reasonable terms. In the Territories this whole 

 subject is under the full control of Congress, and in 

 the States it is practically so as long as the Govern- 

 ment holds the title to the reservoir sites and water 

 sources and can grant them upon such conditions as 

 it chooses to impose. The improvident granting of 

 franchises of enormous value, without recompense to 

 the State or municipality from which they proceed 

 and without proper protection of the public interests, 

 is the most noticeable and flagrant evil of modern 

 legislation. This fault should not be committed in 

 dealing with a subject that will, before many years, 

 affect so vitally thousands of our people. 



The legislation of Congress for the repression of 

 polygamy has, after years of resistance on the part of 

 the Mormons, at last brought them to the conclusion 

 that resistance is unprofitable and unavailing. The 

 power of Congress over this subject should not be 

 surrendered until we have satisfactory evidence that 

 the people of the State to be created would exercise 

 the exclusive power of the State over this subject in 

 the same way. The question is not whether these 

 people now obey the laws of Congress against po- 

 lygamy, but rather would they make, enforce, and 

 maintain such laws themselves if absolutely free to 

 regulate the subject ? We can not afford to experi- 

 ment with this subject, for when a State is once con- 

 stituted the act is final and any mistake irretrievable. 

 No compact in the enabling act could, in my opinion, 

 be binding or effective. 



I recommend that provision be made for the organ- 

 ization of a simple form of town government in 

 Alaska, with power to regulate such matters as are 

 usually in the States under municipal control. These 

 local civil organizations will give better protection in 

 some matters than the present skeleton Territorial 

 organization. Proper restrictions as to the power to 

 levy taxes and to create debt should be imposed. 



If the establishment of the Department of Agri- 

 culture was regarded by any one as a mere concession 

 to the unenlightened demand of a worthy class of 

 people, that impression has been most effectually 

 removed by the great results already attained. Its 

 home influence has been very great in disseminating 

 agricultural and horticultural information ; in stimu- 



lating and directing a further diversification of crops ; 

 in detecting and eradicating diseases of domestic 

 animals ; and, more than all, in the close and informal 

 contact which it has established and maintains with 

 the farmers and stock raisers of the whole country. 

 Every request for information has had prompt atten- 

 tion, and every suggestion merited consideration. 

 The scientific corps of the department is of a high 

 order, and is pushing its investigations with method 

 and enthusiasm. 



The inspection by this department of cattle and 

 pork products intended for shipment abroad has been 

 the basis of the success which has attended our efforts 

 to secure the removal of the restrictions maintained 

 by the European governments. 



For ten years protests and petitions upon this sub- 

 ject from the packers and stock raisers of the United 

 States have been directed against these restrictions, 

 which so seriously limited our markets and curtailed 

 the profits of the farm. It is a source of general con- 

 gratulation that success has at last been attained, for 

 the effects of an enlarged foreign market for these 

 meats will be felt, not only by the farmer, but in our 

 public finances and in every branch of trade. It is 

 particularly fortunate that the increased demand for 

 food products, resulting from the removal of the re- 

 strictions upon our meats and from the reciprocal 

 trade arrangements to which I have referred, should 

 have come at a time when the agricultural surplus is 

 so large. Without the help thus derived, lower prices 

 would have prevailed. The Secretary of Agriculture 

 estimates that the restrictions upon the importation of 

 our pork products into Europe lost us a market for 

 $20,000,000 worth of these products annually. 



The grain crop of this year was the largest in our 

 history, 50 per cent, greater than that of last year, and 

 yet the new markets that have been opened ana the 

 larger demand resulting from short crops in Europe, 

 have sustained prices to such an extent that the enor- 

 mous surplus of meats and breadstuff s will be marketed 

 at good prices, bringing relief and prosperity to an in- 

 dustry that was much depressed. The value of the 

 frain crop of the United States is estimated by the 

 ecretary to be this year $500,000,000 more than last; 

 of meats, $150,000,000 more, and of all products of the 

 farm, $700,000,000 more. It is not inappropriate, I 

 think, here to suggest that our satisfaction in the con- 

 templation of this marvelous addition to the national 

 wealth is unclouded by any suspicion of the currency 

 by which it is measured, and in which the farmer is 

 paid for the product of his fields. 



The report of the Civil Service Commission should 

 receive the careful attention of the opponents as well 

 as the friends of this reform. The commission in- 

 vites a personal inspection by Senators and Kepre- 

 sentatives of its records and methods j and everv fair 

 critic will feel that such an examination should pre- 

 cede a judgment of condemnation, either of the sys- 

 tem or its administration. It is not claimed that either 

 is perfect, but I believe that the law is being executed 

 with impartiality, and that the system is incompar- 

 ably better and fairer than that of appointments upon 

 favor. I have during the year extended the classified 

 service to include superintendents, teachers, matrons, 

 and physicians in the Indian service. This branch of 

 the service is largely related to educational and phil- 

 anthropic work, and will obviously be the better for 

 the change. 



The heads of the several executive departments 

 have been directed to establish at once an efficiency 

 record as the basis of a comparative rating of the 

 clerks within the classified service, with a view to 

 placing promotions therein upon the basis of merit. 

 I am confident that such a record, fairly kept and 

 open to the inspection of those interested, will power- 

 fully stimulate the work of the departments, and will 

 be accepted by all as placing the troublesome matter 

 of promotions upon a just basis. 



I recommend that the appropriations for the Civil 

 Service Commission be made adequate to the increased 

 work of the next fiscal year. 



