| OCR Text |
Show JAMESTOWN CELEBRATION Bespeaks Aid Which Will Make It a Worthy Event I again heartily commend to your favorable fa-vorable consideration the tercpntennia I Celebration of the settlement at Jamestown, James-town, Va. Appreciating the desirability of this commemoratldn, the Congress passed an m I March 3. 1906, authorizing in the year IS'?, on and near the waters of Hampton Roads, In the State of Virginia, Vir-ginia, an international naul. marine, and military celebration In honor of this event. By the authority vetej In me bv this act, I hav.; made proclamation of said celebration, ar.d have issue,, in con7 formity with its Instructions Invitations to all the nations of the earth to participate, partici-pate, by sending their naval vessels and BUCh military organl7atlons as may be practicable This celebration would fail of its full purpose unless It were- enduring In Its results re-sults and commensurate with the importance import-ance of the event to he celebrated, the event from which our Nation dates Its birth. 1 earnestly hope that this celebration, celebra-tion, already Indorsed by the ""ongre8 of the I'nlted States, and by the Legislatures Legisla-tures Of sixteen States since the action of the Congress, will receive such additional nld at your hands as will make It worthy of the great event It Is Intended to celebrate, cele-brate, and thereby enable the Government Govern-ment of the L'nlted States to make provision pro-vision for the exhibition of Its own resources, re-sources, and likewise enable our people who have undertaken the work of such a relet, ration to provide suitable and proper entertainment and instruction In the historic his-toric events of our country for nil who may visit the exposition and to whom we have tendered our hospitality. Work of Pension Eureau. It Is a matter of unmixed satisfaction once more to call attention to the excellent excel-lent work of the Pension bureau; for the veterans of th Civil war have a greater claim upon us than any other class of our citizens To them, first of all among our p. ople, honor Is due Seen years ago my lamented predecessor. predeces-sor. President licKlnley, stated that the time hud Come for the Nation to care for the graves of the 'onfed, i ate dead 1 recommend that the Congress take action toward this end. The tlrst need Is to take charge of the graves of the Confederate dead who died Iii Northern ;.ii--r,,1s The question of Immigration Is of vital Interest to ibis country. In the year ending end-ing June 30. 1905. there came to the United Unit-ed States 1,026,000 alien Immigrants, in other words, In the Single year that has I Just elapsed then- came to this countrv a greater number Of people than came here during the 109 years of our colonial life which Intervened between the tlrst landing at Jamestown and the Declaration Declara-tion of Independence. It Is clearly shown in the report of the Commissioner-General Of Immigration that while min h of this enormous immigration is undoubtedly healthy and natural, a considerable proportion pro-portion Is undesirable from one reason oi another; moreover, a considerable proportion propor-tion of li probably a very large proportion. propor-tion. Including most of the undeslralde class. Juts not come here of its own initiative, in-itiative, but because of the activity of the agents of the gie.it transportation companies com-panies These agents are distributed throughout Europe and by the offer of all kind.- of Inducements they wheedle and cajole many Immigrants, often against their best Interest, to come here Most Serious Obstacle. The most serloias obstacle we have to an tlti r In the effort to secure a proper regulation of the Immigration to these shores arises from the determined opposition oppo-sition of the foreign steamship lines who have ii" Interest whatever In the ma'ter save to lncreane the returns on their capital cap-ital by carrying masses -f Immigrants tilthci in the tteerage quarters of tinir ships. As i said In my last message to the Congress, we cannot liuve too much Immigration Im-migration of the light sort. and WS should hav.- rion. whatever or the wrong Bort. i if couise. ii is .1. .-arable lh.it even die nght kind "f Immigration should bt properly distributed m this country. We need more of such Immigration for the South; and special effort (should be made to secure It. Perhaps it would be possible possi-ble to limit the number of Immigrants allowed to come iii ai.v OTIC e.ir to N W York and oiler Northern cities, WhlU leaving unlimited the number allowed to come to the South, always provided, how-aver, how-aver, thai a .-uie lei effort IS made to see that only immigrants "f the right kind come to our countrv anywhere In actual practice It lias piov. d so di'-fliult di'-fliult to enfor.e the Immigration where long stretches of frontier marked bv an Imaginary Hue ilone Intervene between be-tween ii and our neighbors thai i recommend recom-mend that no Immigrants be allow, d in come in from Canada and Mexico s.ic natives of the tWO COUntrleS themselves. As much as possible should be done ii distribute the immigrants upon the lai a and keep them aWSy from the congested tenement-house districts of the great Ill's Il-l's pin distribution Is a. palliative, not a cure. The prime need is to keep out all ImmlgTaiitH Who Will not make good American citizens. Keeping Out Bad Ones. The laws now existing fu the exi iu Ion of undeplrable immigrants should be strengthened Adequate means should bo adopted, enforced by sufficient penalties, to . on.pel -teamfhlp companies ngaged In the passenger business to observe In good faith the low which forbids them to encourage or solicit Immigration to the I -Idled F.I ale- Moi . . rr. ' '- r s) Id be a sharp limitation Imposed upon all vessels ves-sels coming to our ports as to the number num-ber of immigrants in ratio to the tonnage which each vessel ,-nn CSrO". This ratio ehould be high enough to InsJre tho cui log hither of af good 8 Class Of alien? BJ poVslble Provision should be made f..r the uurer punishment of those who in-duce in-duce aliens to come to this country under un-der promise or assurance of Employment, n inould be mad possible to Inflict a sufficiently heavy penalty on any cm- GRADUAL EXTENSION OF MERJTJYSTEM Suggestions as to Changes in Laws Gowning the Civil Civ-il Service. WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS NOT AN IDEAL METHOD However. They Represent an Advance Oyer the old Spoils System. Plover violating thin law to devr him from taking the risk. It seems to mo wise that there should ne an International conference held to deal With this question of Immigration, which has mom than a merely national significance; such a conference could among other things enter al length "into the methods fr securing a thorough Inspection In-spection of would-be Immigrants at the pons from which they desire to embark before permitting them to embark Fitness for Citizenship. In dealing with this question It Is un- wi-e to depart from the old American tradition and to dlscrlmir.ato for or against any man who desires to come hero and become a clilz. u. save on the ground of that man's fitness for citizenship citizen-ship it is our right at,. due, to , o i, his moral and social quality, His standard stand-ard of living should b-- such that ho will not. by pressure of competition, lower the standard of living of our own wage workers; for It must ever bo a prlmo object ob-ject of our legislation to keep high their standard of living, if the man who seeks to come here Is from the moral and social so-cial standpoint of such a character as to bid fair to add value to the communltv he should be heartily welcomed. We cannot can-not afford to pay heed to whether he Is of one creed or another, of one nation or another. We cannot afford to consider whether he s Catholic or Protest I i Jew or Gentile; whether be is Englishman or Irishman. Frenchman or German. Japanese, Jap-anese, Italian, Scandinavian, Slav or Magyar, What WO should desire to find out Is the Individual quality of the Individual Indi-vidual man. In my Judgment, with this end In view, we shall have to prepare thiough our own agents a far more rigid inspection In the countries from Which inn wiimiKranis come More Rigid Inspection. Tt will be a great deal better to have fewer. Immigrants, but all of the right kind than a great number of Immigrants, many of whom are necessarily of the wrong kind. As far as possible we wish to limit the Immigration to this countrv to persons who propose to become citizens citi-zens of this countrv. and we can well afford af-ford to Insist upon adequate scrutiny of the character of those who are 'thus proposed pro-posed for future citizenship There should be an increase in the stringency of the laws to keep out Insane, idiotic, epileptic and pauper Immigrants. Put this is by no means enough. Not merely the anarchist, anar-chist, but every man of anarchistic tendencies, ten-dencies, all violent and disorderly people, all people Of bad cha'-acter. the Incompetent, Incompe-tent, the lazy, the vlclaUS, the physically unfit, defective, or degenerate should be kept out. The Blocks out of which American Amer-ican citizenship Is to be built should be strong and health sound In body mind, and chain, ter. If It tie objected that the Government agents would not always select se-lect well, the answer Is that they would certainly select better than do the agents and Linkers of foreign sleamshlp companies, com-panies, the people who now do whatever selection l done Chinese Immigration. The questions arising In connection with Chinese immigration stand bv themselves them-selves The conditions in China are such that the entire Chinese coolie class, that is. the class ..f Chinese laborers, skilled and unskilled, legitimately come under the head of undesirable Immigrants l" this country, becajse of their numbers, the low wages for which they work, and their low standard of living. Not only Is It to the Interest 01 this country to let ep them out. but the Chinese authorities do not desire that they should be admitted. At present their entrance Is prohibited bj laws amply adequate to accomplish this purpose. These laws have been, are being, be-ing, and will be, thoroughly enforced. The violations of them an- -o few in number as to be Infinitesimal and can be entirely disregarded. There Is no serious proposal pro-posal to alter the Immigration law as regard! re-gard! the Chinese laborer, skilh-d or unskilled, un-skilled, and there Is no ex ii. f,,r any man feeling or affecting to feel i he slightest slight-est alarm on the subject. Wrongs Have Been Done. But In the effort 10 cairy out the policy pol-icy of excluding Chinese laborers. I'hl-nese I'hl-nese coolies, grave Injustice and wrong have been done by this Nation to the people of t'htnu, and therefore ultimately to this Nation Itself. Chinese st idents, buslnens and professional men Of all kinds not only merchants, but bankers, doctors, manufacturer--, professor-, travelers trav-elers and the like should lie encouraged to come here ami treated on precisely the name footing that we treat stud u.-. I.us-Inebi I.us-Inebi men, travelers, and the like of other oth-er nations. Our laws und treaties should be framed, not BO as to put these people 111 the excepted . lasses, but to state that we will admit all Chines.-, except Chinese Chi-nese of th idle la-s, Chinese skilled or unskilled laborers. There would not be the leust danger that any such provision would result In an) relaxation of the law about laborers. These will, under oil conditions, con-ditions, be k- pt out absolutely. Put it will be more -jsy to see that both Justice and courtesy are flhown, AS they ought to be shown, to other Chinese. If the law or treaty Is frapic.i aa above suggested. Examinations snotild be completed com-pleted at the port of departure from China, For this puris.se tin re -should bu provided a more adequate consular service ser-vice In China than we now have. The ap-propri.itloi.s. ap-propri.itloi.s. both f'T the oftlcs of the consult and for the office forces In tho consulates should bo Increased. Open Door In China. As a people we have talked much of tho open duor in China, and we expect, and quite rightly intend to Insist upon. Jus ties le ing shown us by the Chlneso, But we can uot expect t. receive equity unless un-less we do equity. We can not asl; the Chinese to do to us what we are unwilling unwill-ing to do to them. Tiny would have a perfect right to exclude our laboring men If our laboring men threatened to come Into their country In suc h numbers as to Jeopardize the well-being of the i hlii. se population, and a", mutatis mutandis, these wen; the conditions with which chim-so Immigration actually brought this people face to face, we had and huve a perfect right, which the Chinese Guv-eminent Guv-eminent in no way contests, to act as we have acted in the mailer of restricting coolie Immigration. That this right exists ex-ists for each country was explicitly acknowledged ac-knowledged in the last treaty between the Iwo countries. But w.i must treat the Chinese student, traveler, and business busi-ness man In a splilt of the broadest Justice Jus-tice and courtesy if we expect similar treatment to be accorded to our own people, peo-ple, of similar rank who go to China Tiouble With Boycott. Much trouble has come during th past summer from the organized boycott against American goods which has been farted In Chins The main factor In producing pro-ducing this bovcott has been tho resentment resent-ment felt by the students and business people of chins, by 'ill the Chinese leaders lead-ers against the harr-hncss of our law toward to-ward educated Chinamen of the professional profes-sional and business classes This Government has tho friendliest feeling for China and desires China s well-being. We cordially sympathise with the announced purpose oi Japau to stand for the in t grlty of China. Such an attitude tends to the peaco of the world The rivil service law has been on tho statute books for twenty-two years Every President and a vast mnjorliy of heads of departments who have been iu office during that period have favored a gradual extension of the merit system. 1 n. nun. thoroughly Its principles have I' en understood, lb, greater has In en the Y with which the law has been re--"' i d. d by administrative officers. Any attempt to carry on the great executive, departments of the Government without tiiH law would inevitably result In chaos The Civil S i i vie commissioners arc doing do-ing t-xci I I'M t work and their compensation compensa-tion Is inadequate considering the service they perform. Examinations Practical. The statement that the examinations are not practical In character is based on a misapprehension of the practice ,,i the commission. The department:; nre Invariably Invari-ably consulted as to the requirements de sired and as to the character of questions that shall be asked. General Invitations are frequently sent out to all heads of u'partments asking whether any changes in the scope or character of examinations are required In Other words the departments depart-ments prescribe the requirements and the qualifications desired and the Civil Service Ser-vice commission co-opernte-s with them in securing persons wiib these qualifications qualifica-tions and insuring open ind Impartial competition. j :l arCe number Of examinations ex-aminations (a.-, in- example those for trades position') there are no educational requirements whatever, and a person who can neither read nor write mav pass with a high average Yaranrles n the service aro tilled with reasonable expedition and the machinery of the commission, which reaches every part of the countrv, Is the best agency that has yet been devised for rinding people with the most suitable qualifications for tho various offices to bo filled. Not an Ideal Method. Written competitive examinations do not make an ideal method for lining positions, posi-tions, but the do represent an Immeasurable Immeasur-able advance upon t he 'spoils'" method, under which outside politicians really make the appolntnv.mts nominally made by the executive officers, the appointees being chosen by the politicians in question, ques-tion, in the great majority of cases, for reasons totally unconnected with the needs of the pervlro or of the puollr. Statistics gathered by the census bureau show that the tenure of office in the Government Gov-ernment service does not differ materially from that enjoyed by employees Of large business corporations. Heads of ex. ,- tlve departments and members of the commission have called my attention to the fact that the rule requiring a illlng of charges and Hire days' notice before an employee could be separated from the service for Inefficiency has served no good purposo whatever, because that Is not a matter upon which u hearing of the employee em-ployee found to be Irefflclcnt can be of any value, and In practice the rulo pro. vldlng for such notice and hearing has merely resulted In keeping In a certain number of Incompetents, because of the reluctance of heads of departments and bureau chiefs to go through the required procedure. Experience lias shown that man. If a superior for Improper reasons wishes to remove him. and Is mischievous because It sometimes serves to keep In the service incompetent men not guilty of specific wrong-doing. Hule Is Amended. Having these facts iu view, the rule has been amended by providing that where the Inefficiency or Incapacity comes within the personal knowledge of tho head of a department the n movul may be made without notice the reasons therefor b Ing tiled and made a record of the department. de-partment. The absolute right of removal rests where It always has rested with the bead of a department; any limitation of this absolute right i . suits in grave In-Jury In-Jury to the public service. The change is merely one of procedure; it was much needed; and It Is producing good results. The Civil service law is being energetically energeti-cally and impartially enforced, and In the large majority of cases complaints of violations vio-lations of clth--r the law or rules are discovered dis-covered to be iinfcuind.il. In this respect, this law compares very favorably with any other Federal statute. Politics Eliminated. The question of politics In the appointment appoint-ment and retention of the- men engaged In merely ministerial work has be.-n practically practi-cally eliminated In almost the entire field of Government employment cove-reel by the civil service law. The action of tho C tigress in providing the commission wltli Its own force instead of requiring It to rely on detailed clerks has been Justl-)ed Justl-)ed by the Increased work done at a smaller est to the Government, I urge Upon the Congress 8 careful consideration of the rec immi ndatlons contained in the annual report of the commission. |
