| Show presidents MESSAGE READ TO CONGRESS C OIL IN T 0 ila d SS document deals voluminously with questions of state tariff left for future communication position of the government toward organized labor dealing with illegal combinations president roosevelt Roosevel ts s message to congress read at the opening of the short session ol 01 that body deals vol luminously with questions of state the subject of tariff revision Is left for or a further communication sub stant lally ly the message Is as follows to the senate and house of represent Re presen natives the nation continues to enjoy note worthy prosperity such prosperity Is of 0 course primarily due to the high ual average of our citizenship taken to pother ether with our great natural resources tut but an important factor therein is the working of our long continued govern mental policies the people have em Phat leally expressed their approval of the principles underlying these policies and their desire that these principles be kept substantially unchanged although of course applied in a progressive spirit to meet changing conditions caution again against extravagance the enlargement of scope of the fune eions of 0 the national government re quiren by our development as a nation involves or of course increase of expense and nd the period of prosperity through which the country Is passing justifies ex tures for permanent improvements tar far greater than would be wise in hard bard times battle ships and forts torts public buildings and improved waterways are investments which should be made when we have the money but abundant rev denues and a large surplus oplus always invite extravagance and constant care should be taken to guard against unnecessary increase of the ordinary expenses of gov rov ern ment capital and labor in the vast and complicated mechanism of our modern civilized life the domin dominant ant note is the note of industrialism and the relations of capital and labor and a nd espe dally of organized capital and organized labor to each other and to the public at large arc 8 come second in importance only to the intimate questions of famila life As long as the states retain the prim ary control of the police power the cir P cum um stances must be altogether extreme which require interference by the federal authorities whether in the way of sate safe guarding the rights of labor or in the way of seeing t t wrong Is not done by l druly persons ho shield themselves be hind the name of labor it there Is re rib Bi si stance to the federal courts int In erfer ence with the malls or interstate corn com merce or molestation of federal property or it if the state authorities in some crisis which they are unable to face call for help then the federal government may interfere but though such interference may be caused by a condition of things arising out of trouble connected with some question of labor the interference itself simply takes the form of restoring order without regard to the questions which have caused the breach of order tor for to keep order is a primary duty and in a time of disorder and violence all oth er questions sink into abeyance until or der has been restored in the district of columbia and in the territories the federal law covers the entire held field of gov but the labor question I 1 Is s on only I 1 y acute in populous centers of commerce manufactures or mining nevertheless both in the enactment and in the en of law the federal g government overn ment within athin its restricted sphere should set an example to the state governments espe dally in a matter so vital as this affect ing labor I 1 believe that under modern I 1 industrial conditions it la Is often necessary and even where not necessary it Is yet often wise that there should be organ of labor in order better to secure the rights of the individual wage worker all encouragement should be given to any such h organization so long as it Is con ducted with a due and decent regard for the rights of others there ar are in this country some labor unions which have habitually and other labor union unions which have often been among the most effee live agents in working for good citizen ship hip and for uplifting the condition of those whose welfare should be closest to our hearts but when any labor union seeks improper ends or seeks to achieve proper ends by improper mean means all good citizens and more especially all honorable public servants must oppose the w wrong rong doing as resolutely as they would oppose the wrongdoing of any great corpora corporation tion of course any violence brutality or cor tuition should not tor for one moment be tolerated wage worker have an entire fight tight to organize and by all peaceful and honorable means to endeavor to persuade their fellows to join w n tham in organ Izat iz atlon ions they have a legal right which according to circumstances may or may not be a moral right to refuse to work in company with men who decline to join their organizations they have under no c circumstances the right to commit vio 10 lence upon those whether capitalists or wage workers who refuse to support their organizations or who side with those with whom hom they are at odds for mob rule Is intolerable in any form the amendment and strengthening of the employers liability law Is rec om mended and the passage of a law requiring the adoption of a block sig gig nal system to prevent railroad raI refI road reel dents urged unless of government Emp employee loyes the ines message sage continues there Is no objection to employed emp loyes of the government forming or belonging to unions but the government can neither discriminate for nor discriminate against non union men who are in its employ ment or who seek to be employed under it moreover it Is a very grave ampro briety for government employed emp loyes to band themselves together for the purpose of e extorting x improperly high salaries from the th e government especially Is this true of those within the classified service the letter carriers both municipal and rural are as a whole an excellent body of pub llo servants they should be amply paid but their payment must be obtained by I 1 their claims fairly and honorably before the congress and not by banding together for the defeat of those congress men who refuse to give promises which they can not in conscience give the administration has already taken steps to prevent and punish abuses of this na ture but it wil be wise tor for the congress to supplement this action by legislation bureau of labor M much can be done by the government nt in labor matters merely by gh ahing ing pub lacity to certain conditions the bureau 0 of f labor has done excellent work of this kind in many different d erections lons ions I 1 shall shortly lay before jou i on in a special mes nies sage the full report of the investigation 0 of f the bureau of labor into the colorado r bining strike as this ish Is a strike in which certain very ev I 1 forces which are more of oi less at work everywhere under the condit ana ons of modern industrialism be came startlingly prominent corporations p when we conle come to todeal deal with great cor pora lons tiong the need or the government to alt abt directly is far greater than in the case of labor because great corporations can become such only by engaging in in ter stata state commerce and interstate corn merce ere 1 Is peculiarly the field of the gen oral eral government it is an absurdity to ex pact to eliminate the abuses in great cor por atlena ione by state action it Is difficult to be patient with an argument that such matters should be b left to the th be b cause more than one state pursues the policy of ci eating on easy terms corpora tlona which are never operated that state at all an but in other states whose laws they ignore the national government alone can deal adequately with these great corporations to try to deal with them in an intemperate de or demagogic spirit would in all probability mean that nothing what ever would be accomplished and with absolute cert certainty airty that if anything were accomplished it would be of a harmful nature the american people need to continue to show the very qualities that they have shown that Is moderation good sense the earnest desire to avoid doing any damage and vet the quiet de termination to proceed step by step without halt and without hurry burry in e m or at least in minimizing what ever of mischief or of en ell il there Is to in ter state commerce in the conduct of great corporations they are acting in no spirit of hostility to wealth either in or corporate they are not against the rich man any more than against the poor man on the contrary they are friendly alike toward rich man and toward pool man provided only that each acts in a spirit of justice and de bency toward his fellows great corpora tlona are necessary and only men of treat great and singular mental power can manage such corporations successfully and sich si ch man must have great reward rewards but thee corporations should be man aged with due regard to the interest of the public as a a whole where this can be done under the present laws it must be done where these laws come short others should be enacted to supplement them the bureau of corporation corporations has made careful preliminary investigation of many important corporations it will make a special report on the beet beef industry bureau of corporations the policy of the bureau Is to accod the purposes of its creation by co operation not antagonism by making constructive legislation not destructive prosecution the immedi immediate ite object of its inquiries by conservative investigation of law and fact and by refusal to issue and hence necessarily rate reports its policy being t thus one of open inquiry into and not attach attack up on business the bureau has been able to gain not only the confidence but better still the co operation of men engaged in legitimate business the bureau offers to the congress the means of getting at the cost of prodie tion of our various great staples of corn com merce rebates above all else we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to all on equal terms and to do this it Is nee essary to put a complete stop to all re bat bates 9 whether the shipper or the rail road Is to blame makes no difference the rebate must be stopped the abuses of the private car and private terminal track and side track cyst systems ems must be stopped and the legislation of the fifty eighth congress which declares it to be unlawful for any person or corporation to offer grant give solicit accept or re belve any rebate concession or in respect of the transportation et of any property in interstate or foreign commerce whereby such property shall by any device wb whatever ateer be transported at a less rate than that named in the tariffs published by the carrier must be enforced while I 1 am of the opinion that at present it would be indest undesirable rable it if it were not impracticable finally to clothe the interstate commerce commission with general authority to fix railroad rates I 1 do not believe that as a fair se be curac to shippers the commission should be vested with the power where a given rate has been challenged and after full hearing found to be unreasonable to de tide elde subject to judicial review what shall be a reasonable rate to take its place the ruling of the commission to take effect immediately and to obtain unless and until it la Is reversed by the court of review in ray my judgment the most important legislative act now need ed as regards the regulation gu lation 0 of f corpora eions is this act to confer on the inter state commerce commission the power to revise rates and regulations the re rate to at oleo 01 ce go into effect and to stay to in effect unless and until the court ot 91 review reverses it much space Is here devoted to a consideration ot of the problem ot of the proper housing of the poor in our great cities and the importance of a poper proper p oper solution ot the question shown on this subject the message says there be severe child labor and factory inspection I 1 laws aws it la Is very desir I 1 able abie that married women should not ork in factories the prime duty of the man Is to work to be the breadwinner the prime duty of the woman Is to be the mother the housewife all questions of tariff and finance sink into utter ensig ance when compared with the tre Inen dous the vital importance of trying to shape conditions so that these two duties of the man and of the waman can be fulfilled under reasonably favorable circumstances if a race mee does not have plenty of children or if the children do not hot grow up or it if when they grow up tip they ure are unhealthy in body and stunted or vicious in mind then that race is de cadent and no heaping up of wealth no splendor of momentary material prosper ity can avail in ana an degree as offsets agriculture the department 01 of agriculture has grown into an educational institution with a faculty of two thousand special ests making research into all the sciences of production the congress ates directly and indirectly six millions of dollars annually to carry on this work it reaches every state and territory in the union and the islands of the sea late ly IY come under our flag co operation cooperation Is had with the state experiment stations and with many other institutions and in divi duals the world Is carefully search ed for new varieties of grains fruits grasses vegetables trees and shrubs suitable to various localities in our coun try and marked benefit to our producers has resulted irrigation Irrl gatlon during the two and ahall a half years that have elapsed since the passage of the reclamation act rapid progress has been made in the surveys and examinations of the opportunities for reclamation in the thirteen states and three territories of the arid and west construction has already been begun on the largest and most im of the irrigation works and plans are being completed for works which will utilize the funds now available available the reclamation act has been found to be re mar kably complete and effective and so broad in its provisions that a wide range of undertakings has been possible under it at the same time economy Is guar by the fact that the funds must ultimately be returned to be used over again g establishment of game reserves wherein may be preserved specimens of our wild animals which are now rapidly tending toward extinction Is urged pensions pension 8 the veterans of the civil war have a claim upon the nation such as no other body ef of our citizens possess the pen pan elen sion bureau haa has never in its history been managed g ed in a m more 0 r satisfactory manner now ege t than Is a now th the e c case a PO postal it I 1 service sc in the Poston department the ive ve ha has increased in inefficiency and con editions as to revenue and expenditure continue satisfactory the In increase creage of 0 revenue durin the ear was 9 10 or 6 9 per cent the total receipts amount ing to as 64 34 the expenditures were 70 an increase 0 of about 9 per cent over the preN previous tous 5 sear ear being thus 8 6 G in excess of the cur rent revenue included in these expends turea tures was a total appropriation of 19 9 35 for the continuation and exten ion rion of the rural free deliver dellver service which was vms an increase of 4 35 over the amount expended for this pur pose in the preceding ng fiscal sear bear targe large as this expend itu e has ben b en tl e beneal cent results attained in extending the tree free d trib ution of malls to the residents of rural districts have justified the wis dom doin of the outlay statistics brought down to the 1st of 0 october 1904 show that on that date there were 27 rural routes established serving approximately 12 of people in rural districts re mote from post offices and that there were |
