154 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



officers; and as to several other matters of detail 

 touching the interests both of the island and of 

 the Federal Government. 



By the resolution of annexation the President 

 was directed to appoint five commissioners to rec- 

 ommend to Congress such legislation concerning 

 the islands as they should deem necessary or 

 proper. These commissioners were duly appointed, 

 and after a careful investigation and study of the 

 system of laws and government prevailing in the 

 islands, and of the conditions existing there, they 

 prepared a bill to provide a government under the 

 title of " The Territory of Hawaii." The report 

 of the commission, with the bill which they pre- 

 pared, was transmitted by me to Congress on Dec. 

 0, 1898, but the bill still awaits linal action. 



The people of these islands are entitled to the 

 benefits and privileges of our Constitution, but 

 in the absence of any act of Congress providing 

 for Federal courts in the islands, and for a pro- 

 cedure by which appeals, writs of error, and other 

 judicial proceedings necessary for the enforcement 

 of civil rights may be prosecuted, they are power- 

 less to secure their enforcement by the judgment 

 of the courts of the United States. It is manifestly 

 important, therefore, that an act shall be passed 

 as speedily as possible erecting these islands into 

 a judicial district, providing for the appointment 

 of a judge and other proper officers and methods 

 of procedure in appellate proceedings, and that the 

 government of this newly acquired territory under 

 the Federal Constitution shall be fully defined and 

 provided for. 



A necessity for immediate legislative relief exists 

 in the Territory of Alaska. Substantially the only 

 law providing a civil government for this Territory 

 is the act of May 17, 1884. This is meager in its 

 provisions, and is fitted only for the administration 

 of affairs in a country sparsely inhabited by civ- 

 ilized people and unimportant in trade and pro- 

 duction, as was Alaska at the time this act was 

 passed. The increase in population by immigra- 

 tion during the past few years, consequent upon 

 the discovery of gold, has produced such a condi- 

 tion as calls for more ample facilities for local 

 self-government and more numerous conveniences 

 of civil and judicial administration. Settlements 

 have grown up in various places, constituting in 

 point of population and business cities of thou- 

 sands of inhabitants, yet there is no provision of 

 law under which a municipality can be organized 

 or maintained. 



In some localities the inhabitants have met to- 

 gether and voluntarily formed a municipal organ- 

 ization for the purpose of local government, adopt- 

 ing the form of a municipal constitution and 

 charter, under which said officials have been ap- 

 pointed ; and ordinances creating and regulating 

 a police force, a fire department, a department of 

 health, and making provision for the care of the 

 insane and indigent poor and sick and for public 

 schools, have been passed. These proceedings and 

 the ordinances passed by such municipalities are 

 without statutory authority and have no sanction 

 except as they are maintained by the popular sen- 

 timent of the community. There is an entire ab- 

 sence of authority to provide the ordinary instru- 

 ments of local police control and administration, 

 the population consisting of the usual percentage 

 of lawless adventurers of the class that always 

 flock to new fields of enterprise or discovery, and 

 under circumstances which require more than 

 ordinary provision for the maintenance of peace, 

 good order, and lawful conduct. 



The whole vast area of Alaska comprises but 

 one judicial district, with one judge, one marshal, 

 and one district attorney, yet the civil and crim- 



inal business has more than doubled within the 

 past year, and is many times greater both in vol- 

 ume and importance than it was in 1884. The 

 duties of the judge require him to travel thou- 

 sands of miles to discharge his judicial duties at 

 the various places designated for that purpose. 

 The Territory should be divided into at least two 

 districts, and an additional judge, district attor- 

 ney, marshal, and other appropriate officers be 

 provided. 



There is practically no organized form of govern- 

 ment in the Territory. There is no authority, 

 except in Congress, to pass any law, no matter 

 how local or trivial, and the difficulty of convey- 

 ing to the Congress an adequate conception and 

 understanding of the various needs of the people 

 in the different communities is easily understood. 

 I see no reason why a more complete form of Ter- 

 ritorial organization should not be provided. Fol- 

 lowing the precedent established in the year 1805, 

 when a temporary government was provided for 

 the recently acquired t territory, then known under 

 the name of Louisiana, it seems to me that it 

 would be advantageous to confer greater executive 

 power upon the governor and to establish, as was 

 done in the case of the Territory of Louisiana, 

 a legislative council having power to adopt ordi- 

 nances which shall extend to all the rightful sub- 

 jects of local legislation, such ordinances not to 

 take effect until reported to and approved by the 

 Congress if in session, and if that body is not in 

 session then by the President. In this manner a 

 system of laws providing for the incorporation and 

 government of towns and cities having a certain 

 population, giving them the power to establish 

 and maintain a system of education to be locally 

 supported, and ordinances providing for police, 

 sanitary, and other such purposes, could be speed- 

 ily provided. I believe a provision of this kind 

 would be satisfactory to the people of the Terri- 

 tory. It is probable that the area is too vast 

 and the population too scattered and transitory 

 to make it wise at the present time to provide for 

 an elective legislative body, but the conditions call- 

 ing for local self-government will undoubtedly 

 very soon exist, and will be facilitated by tlie 

 measures which I have recommended. 



I recommend that legislation to the same end 

 be had with reference to the government of Porto 

 Rico. The time is ripe for the adoption of a tem- 

 porary form of government for this island ; and 

 many suggestions made with reference to Alaska 

 are applicable also to Porto Rico. 



The system of civil jurisprudence now adopted 

 by the people of this island is described by com- 

 petent lawyers who are familiar with it as thor- 

 oughly modern and scientific, so far as it relates 

 to matters of internal business, trade, production, 

 and social and private right in general. The cities 

 of the island are governed under charters which 

 probably require very little or no change. So that 

 with relation to matters of local concern and pri- 

 vate right, it is not probable that much, if any. 

 legislation is desirable; but with reference to pub- 

 lic administration and the relations of the island 

 to the Federal Government, there are many matter* 

 which are of pressing urgency. The same necessity 

 exists for legislation on the part of Congress t<> 

 establish Federal courts and Federal jurisdiction 

 in the island as has been previously pointed out 

 by me with reference to Hawaii. Besides the ad- 

 ministration of justice, there are the subjects of 

 the public lands; the control and improvement of 

 rivers and harbors; the control of the waters or 

 streams not navigable, which, under the Spanish 

 law, belonged to the Crown of Spain, and have 

 by the treaty of cession passed to the United 





