328 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



instructions to prepare such estimates and make such suggestions as might appear 

 to it pertinent in the circumstances, accompanies this message. 



" The scientific surveys which should be undertaken go far beyond any surveys 

 or explorations which the government of the Philippine Islands, however com- 

 pletely self-supporting, could be expected to make. The surveys, while of course 

 beneficial to the people of the Philippine Islands, should be undertaken as a 

 national work for the information not merely of the people of the Philippine 

 Islands, but of the people of this country and of the world. Only preliminary 

 explorations have yet been made in the archipelago, and it should be a matter of 

 pride to the Government of the United States fully to investigate and to describe 

 the entire region. So far as may be convenient and practical, the work of this 

 survey should be conducted in harmony with that of the proper bureaus of the 

 government of the Philippines; but it should not be under the control of the 

 authorities of the Philippine Islands, for it should be undertaken as a national 

 work and subject to a board appointed by Congress or the President. The plan 

 transmitted recommends simultaneous surveys in different branches of research, 

 organized on a co-operative system. This would tend to completeness, avoid 

 duplication, and render work more economical than if the exploration were under- 

 taken piecemeal. No such organized surveys have ever yet been attempted any- 

 where ; but the idea is in harmony with modern, scientific, and industrial methods. 



" I recommend, therefore, that provision be made for the appointment of a 

 board of surveys to superintend the national surveys and explorations to be made 

 in the Philippine Islands, and that appropriations be made from time to time to 

 meet the necessary expenses of such investigation. It is not probable that the 

 survey would be completed in a less period than that of eight or ten years, but it is 

 well that it should be begun in the near future. The Philippine Commission, and 

 those responsible for the Philippine government are properly anxious that this sur- 

 vey should not be considered as an expense of that government, but should be 

 carried on and treated as a national duty in the interests of science. 



" THEODORE ROOSEVELT." 179 



The papers of the President's board were transmitted to Con- 

 gress with the report of the committee of the Academy, and 

 printed in the same document. The plan proposed by the board 

 conforms in all its essential features to that recommended by the 

 Academy, except that no provision is made for an advisory 

 council consisting of the heads, or chief field agents, of the 

 various surveys. 



The message, with the accompanying documents, was referred 

 to the Committee on the Philippines and ordered to be printed, 18 ' 



179 Congr. Record, vol. 39, part 2, pp. 2052, 2057. 



180 It forms Sen. Doc. no. 145, $8th Congress, 3d Session, February 7, 1905. 



