152 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



d'Mite. The typical American officer of the best 

 kind need not be a good mathematician; but he 

 must be able to master himself, to control others, 

 and to show boldness and fertility of resource in 

 every emergency. 



Action should be taken in reference to the 

 militia and to the raising of volunteer forces. 

 Our militia law is obsolete and worthless. The 

 organization and armament of the National 

 Guard of the several States, which are treated 

 as militia in the appropriations by the Congress, 

 should be made identical with those provided 

 for the regular forces. The obligations and 

 duties of the guard in time of war should be care- 

 fully defined, and a system established by law 

 under which the method of procedure of rais- 

 ing volunteer forces should be prescribed in 

 advance. It is utterly impossible in the excite- 

 ment and haste of impending war to do this sat- 

 isfactorily if the arrangements have not been 

 made long beforehand. Provision should be 

 made for utilizing in the first volunteer organ- 

 izations called out the training of those citizens 

 who have already had experience under arms, 

 and especially for the selection in advance of 

 the officers of any force which may be raised; 

 for careful selection of the kind necessary is im- 

 possible after the outbreak of war. 



That the army is not at all a mere instrument 

 of destruction has been shown during the last 

 three years. In the Philippines, Cuba, and Porto 

 Rico it has proved itself a great constructive 

 force, a most potent implement for the upbuild- 

 ing of a peaceful civilization. 



No other citizens deserve so well of the republic 

 as the veterans, the survivors of those who saved 

 the Union. They did the one deed which if left 

 undone would have meant that all else in our 

 history went for nothing. But for their stead- 

 fast prowess in the greatest crisis of our his- 

 tory, all our annals would be meaningless, and 

 our great experiment in popular freedom and 

 self-government a gloomy failure. Moreover, 

 they not only left us a united nation, but they 

 left us also as a heritage the memory of the 

 mighty deeds by which the nation was kept 

 united. We are now indeed one nation, one in 

 fact as well as in name; we are united in our 

 devotion to the flag which is the symbol of 

 national greatness and unity; and the very com- 

 pleteness of our union enables us all, in every 

 part of the country, to glory in the valor shown 

 alike by the sons of the North and the sons of 

 the South in the times that tried men's souls. 



The men who in the last three years have done 

 so well in the East and the West Indies and on 

 the mainland of Asia have shown that this re- 

 membrance is not lost. In any serious crisis 

 the United States must rely for the great mass 

 of its fighting men upon the volunteer soldiery 

 who do not make a permanent profession of the 

 military career; and whenever such a crisis 

 arises the deathless memories of the civil war 

 will give to Americans the lift of lofty purpose 

 which comes to those whose fathers have stood 

 valiantly in the forefront of the battle. 



The merit system of making appointments is 

 in its essence as democratic and American as the 

 common-school system itself. It simply means 

 that in clerical and other positions where the 

 duties are entirely non-political, all applicants 

 should have a fair field and no favor, each stand- 

 ing on his merits as he is able to show them by 

 practical test. Written competitive examina- 

 tions offer the only available means in many 

 cases for applying this system. In other cases, 

 as where laborers are employed, a system of 



registration undoubtedly can be widely extended. 

 There are, of course, places where the written 

 competitive examination can not be applied, and 

 others where it offers by no means an ideal solu- 

 tion, but where under existing political condi- 

 tions it is, though an imperfect means, yet the 

 best present means of getting satisfactory results. 



Wherever the conditions have permitted the 

 application of the merit system in its fullest and 

 widest sense, the gain to the Government has 

 been immense. The navy-yards and postal serv- 

 ice illustrate, probably better than any other 

 branches of the Government, the great gain in 

 economy, efficiency, and honesty due to the en- 

 forcement of this principle. 



I recommend the passage of a law which will 

 extend the classified service to the District of 

 Columbia, or will at least enable the President 

 thus to extend it. In my judgment all laws pro- 

 viding for the temporary employment of clerk* 

 should hereafter contain a provision that they 

 be selected under the civil-service law. 



It is important to have this system obtain at 

 home, but it is even more important to have it 

 applied rigidly in our insular possessions. Not 

 an office should be filled in the Philippines or 

 Porto Rico with any regard to the man's par- 

 tizan affiliations or services, with any regard to 

 the political, social, or personal influence which 

 he may have at his command; in short, heed 

 should be paid to absolutely nothing save the 

 man's own character and capacity and the needs 

 of the service. 



The administration of these islands should be 

 as wholly free from the suspicion of partizan 

 politics as the administration of the army and 

 navy. All that we ask from the public servant 

 in the Philippines or Porto Rico is that he re- 

 flect honor on his country by the way in which 

 he makes that country's rule a benefit to the 

 people who have come under it. This is all that 

 we should ask, and we can not afford to be con- 

 tent with less. 



The merit system is simply one method of 

 securing honest and efficient administration of 

 the Government; and in the long run the sole 

 justification of any type of government lies in 

 its proving itself both honest and efficient. 



The consular service is now organized under 

 the provisions of a law passed in 1856, which is 

 entirely inadequate to existing conditions. The 

 interest shown by so many commercial bodies 

 throughout the country in the reorganization of 

 the service is heartily commended to your atten- 

 tion. Several bills providing for a new consular 

 service have in recent years been submitted to 

 the Congress. They are based upon the just prin- 

 ciple that appointments to the service should be 

 made only after a practical test of the appli- 

 cant's fitness, that promotions should be gov- 

 erned by trustworthiness, adaptability, and zeal 

 in the performance of duty, and that the tenure 

 of office should be unaffected by partizan consid- 

 erations. 



The guardianship and fostering of our rapidly 

 expanding foreign commerce, the protection of 

 American citizens resorting to foreign countries 

 in lawful pursuit of their affairs, and the main- 

 tenance of the dignity of the nation abroad, com- 

 bine to malte it essential that our consuls should 

 be men of character, knowledge, and enterprise. 

 It is true that the service is now, in the main, 

 efficient, but a standard of excellence can not be 

 permanently maintained until the principles set 

 forth in the bills heretofore submitted to the Con- 

 gress on this subject are enacted into law. 



In my judgment the time has arrived when 



