148 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



sufficiently humanitarian spirit. The danger 

 comes in the opposite direction. 



There are still troubles ahead in the islands. 

 The insurrection has become an affair of local 

 banditti and marauders, who deserve no higher 

 regard than the brigands of portions of the Old 

 World. Encouragement, direct or indirect, to 

 these insurrectos stands on the same footing as 

 encouragement to hostile Indians in the days 

 when \\e still had Indian wars. Exactly as our 

 aim is to give to the Indian who remains peace- 

 ful the fullest and amplest consideration, but to 

 have it understood that we will show no weak- 

 ness if he goes on the war-path, so we must make 

 it evident, unless we are false to our own tra- 

 ditions and to the demands of civilization and 

 humanity, that while we will do everything in 

 our power for the Filipino who is peaceful, we 

 will take the sternest measures with the Filipino 

 who follows the path of the insurrecto and the 

 ladrone. 



The heartiest praise is due to large numbers of 

 the natives of the islands for their steadfast 

 loyalty. The Macabebes have been conspicuous 

 for their courage and devotion to the flag. I 

 recommend that the Secretary of War be em- 

 powered to take some systematic action in the 

 way of aiding those of these men who are crip- 

 pled in the service and the families of those who 

 are killed. 



The time has come when there should be addi- 

 tional legislation for the Philippines. Nothing 

 better can be done for the islands than to intro- 

 duce industrial enterprises. Nothing would bene- 

 fit them so much as throwing them open to in- 

 dustrial development. The connection between 

 idleness and mischief is proverbial, and the oppor- 

 tunity to do remunerative work is one of the 

 surest preventives of war. Of course no business 

 man will go into the Philippines unless it is to 

 his interest to do so; and it is immensely to the 

 interest of the islands that he should go in. It 

 is therefore necessary that the Congress should 

 pass laws by which the resources of the islands 

 can be developed; so- that franchises (for limited 

 terms of years) can be granted to companies 

 doing business in them, and every encouragement 

 be given to the incoming of business men of every 

 kind. 



Not to permit this is to do a wrong to the 

 Philippines. The franchises must be granted and 

 the business permitted only under regulations 

 which will guarantee the islands against any 

 kind of improper exploitation. But the vast 

 natural wealth of the islands must be developed, 

 and the capital willing to develop it must be 

 given the opportunity. The field must be thrown 

 open to individual enterprise, which has been 

 the real factor in the development of every re- 

 gion over which our flag has flown. It is urgent- 

 ly necessary to enact suitable laws dealing with 

 general transportation, mining, banking, cur- 

 rency, homesteads, and the use and ownership of 

 the lands and timber. These laws will give free 

 play to industrial enterprise; and the commercial 

 development which will surely follow will afford 

 to the people of the islands the best proofs of 

 the sincerity of our desire to aid them. 



I call your attention most earnestly to the 

 crying need of a cable to Hawaii and the Philip- 

 pines, to be continued from the Philippines to 

 points in Asia. We should not defer a day 

 longer than necessary the construction of such 

 a cable. It is demanded not merely for commer- 

 cial but for political and military considerations. 



Either the Congress should immediately pro- 

 vide for the construction of a Government cable, 



or else an arrangement should be made by which 

 like advantages to those accruing from a Gov- 

 ernment cable may be secured to the Govern- 

 ment by contract with a private cable company. 



No single great material work which remains 

 to be undertaken on this continent is of such 

 consequence to the American people as the build- 

 ing of a canal across the isthmus connecting North 

 and South America. Its importance to the na- 

 tion is by no means limited merely to its mate- 

 rial effects upon our business prosperity; and 

 yet with view to these effects alone it would be 

 to the last degree important for us immediately 

 to begin it. While its beneficial effects would 

 perhaps be most marked upon the Pacific coast 

 and the Gulf and South Atlantic States, it would 

 also greatly benefit other sections. It is em- 

 phatically a work which it is for the interest of 

 the entire country to begin and complete as soon 

 as possible; it is one of those great works which 

 only a great nation can undertake with pros- 

 pects of success, and which when done are not 

 only permanent assets in the nation's material 

 interests, but standing monuments to its con- 

 structive ability. 



I am glad to be able to announce to you that 

 our negotiations on this subject with Great Brit- 

 ain, conducted on both sides in a spirit of friend- 

 liness and mutual good-will and respect, have 

 resulted in my being able to lay before the Sen- 

 ate a treaty which if ratified will enable us to 

 begin preparations for an isthmian canal at any 

 time, and which guarantees to this nation every 

 right that it has ever asked in connection with 

 the canal. In this treaty, the old Clayton-Bul- 

 wer treaty, so long recognized as inadequate to 

 supply the base for the construction and main- 

 tenance of a necessarily American ship-canal, is 

 abrogated. It specifically provides that the 

 United States alone shall do the work of build- 

 ing and assume the responsibility of safeguarding 

 the canal and shall regulate its neutral use by 

 all nations on terms of equality without the 

 guaranty or interference of any outside nation 

 from any quarter. The signed treaty will at 

 once be laid before the Senate, and if approved 

 the Congress can then proceed to give effect to 

 the advantages it secures us by providing for the 

 building of the canal. 



The tine end of every great and free people 

 should be self-respecting peace; and this nation 

 most earnestly desires sincere and cordial friend- 

 ship with all others. Over the entire world, of 

 recent years, wars between the great civilized 

 powers have become less and less frequent. Wars 

 with barbarous and semibarbarous peoples come 

 in an entirely different category, being merely 

 a most regrettable but necessary international 

 police duty which must be performed for I lie 

 sake of the welfare of mankind. Peace can only 

 be kept with certainty where both sides wish to 

 keep it; but more and more the civilized people:- 

 are realizing the wicked folly of war and are 

 attaining that condition of just and intelligent 

 regard for the rights of others which will in tin 

 end, as we hope and believe, make world-wide 

 peace possibfe. The peace conference at Tin 1 

 Hague gave definite expression to this hope and 

 lielief and marked a stride toward their attain 

 meat. 



The same peace conference acquiesced in GUI' 

 statement of the Monroe doctrine as compatible 

 with the purposes and aims of the conference. 



The Monroe doctrine should be the cardinal 

 feature of the foreign policy of all the nation* 

 of the two Americas, as it is of the United States.* 

 Just seventy-eight years have passed since Presi- 





