| Show NATION AT PENE PRESIDENT INFORMS CONGRESS ABOUT RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES NEW arbitration TREATIES united states helps in amicable set of disputes events con necked with the mexican revo revola IU tion need for merchant marine washington dec dee 1 7 foreign affairs are the sole subject of president tatt taft s special message which was submitted to congress Con gresa today in part the docu ment says the relations of the united states with other countr es have continued durin during it tre a past twelve months upon a basis of the usual good will and friendly tri endly intercourse arbitration the year just passed marks an im lin portent general movement on the part ot of the powers for broader arbitration in the tion of the manifold benefits 0 mankind in the extension of the policy of tl e settlement of international dis puts by arbitration rather than by war and in response to a widespread demand tor for an advance in that direction on the part of the people of the united baates and of great britain and of france new arbitration treaties were negotiated last spring with great britain and france I 1 the terms ot of which were designed as expressed in the preamble of theae these treat les ies to extend the scope and obligations of the policy of arbitration adopted in n our beert t treaties with those govern governments ants to pave the way tor for this treaty treat with ith the united states great B britain fain negotiated an important modification in its alliance with japan and the french government also expedited the negotiations with sig nal good will the new treaties have been suba eted to the senate and are awaiting its advice and consent to t their hel r ratification all the essentials of these important treaties have long been known and it 13 1 my earnest hope that they will receive prompt and favorable action arbitrations in further illustration of the practical and beneficent application of the pie of arb and the underlying broad ep sp rit of conciliation I 1 am happy to advert to the part of the united states in atlig amicable settlement ot of dis which menaced the peace between a and costa rica and beaw between haiti and the dominican republic since the date of their independence colombia and costa rica had been seek jn ang a solution of a boundary dispute which ca ne as a heritage from colombia to the new republic of panama upon its beginning life as an independent na tion don in january 1910 at ther request of both governments the agents represent ing them met in conference at the depart ment of state and subsequently conclude ed a protocol submitting this long pend ing controversy Y to the arbitral jud judgment ment of the chief justice of the united baates who consented to act in this capacity A boundary commission according to the Int internal ernat onal agreement agreements has now been appointed and it is expected that the ar will shortly proceed and that this long stand ng d sputa will be honor ably and satisfactorily terminated aga n a few n months ago it appeared that the dominican republic and haiti were about to enter upon hostilities be cause of complications growing out of an acrimonious boundary dispute chich the efforts of many years had bad tailed failed to solve e the government of the united sta states tes by a friend y interpose in terpos tion of good offices succeeded in prevailing upon the parties to place their reliance upon some form of pacific settlement mexico the recent voli political events in mexico received attention from this government because of the exceedingly delicate and difficult situation created along our south ern border a d the necessity tor for takina taking 9 measures properly to safeguard amert amer can interests the go government v of the united states in its d desire sire to secure a proper observance and enforcement of the so called neutrality statutes of the federal government issued direction directions to t the h e ap appropriate appropriate officers to exercise a dill g gent e nt and vigilant regard for the require ments of such rules and laws although a condition of actual armed conflict ex sted there was no official recognition of belligerency involving the technical neu tr tralley al it y obligations bli g a d 0 ns 0 ot f internal internet onal law A after t e r oia a c conference 0 n f e n e with the a cretaro of war and the secretary of the nay nav I 1 thought it w wise 1 se to a assemble s able an army of abse division of t full ul 1 streng strength t a at t ban san antonio tex a brigade of three regiments at galveston Oal veston a brigade of infantry in the los angeles district of southern call cali fornia together with a squadron of bat tle ships and cruisers and transports at galveston and a small squadron of ships at bar sar diego at the same time through our representative at the cit city y of mexico I 1 expressed to president diaz the hope that r 0 apprehends ons might result from unfounded conjectures as to these mill tary maneuvers and assured him that they had no significance which should cause concern to his government 1 I am more than nappy happy to here record the tact fact that all apprehensions as to the effect of 0 the presence of so lari lare e a mill tary force in texas proved groundless no disturbances occurred the insurrection continued and resulted in engagements between the regular mexican troops and the insurgents ats and this along the border so that in several instances bullets from the contending f forces 0 aces struck american citizens engaged in their lawful occupation occupations on american so I 1 proper protests were made against r these invasions of american rights to th the mexican authorities the presence of a large military and naval force available for prompt action near the mexican border proved to be the most fortunate under the somewhat trying conditions presented by this inva slon sion of american rights the policy and action altion of this govern ment were based upon an earnest friend liness for the mexican people as a whole and it Is 1 a matter of gratification to hote that this attitude of strict impartiality as to all faction s in mexico and of sincere friendship for the neighboring nation without regard tor for party allegiance has been een generally recognized and has resulted in an even closer and more sym byrn pathetic understanding between the two republics and a warn er regard one tor for the other action to suppress violence and restore tranquility throughout the mexican republic was of peculiar inter est to this government in that it con the safeguarding of american life and property in that country on may 25 1911 president diaz res gnad senor de la barra was chosen provisional preal dent elections for president aej ice Pies president ident were thereafter held throb through i out the rep alic and senor francisco I 1 madero was formally declared elected on october 15 to the chief magistral magl mag istra on november r 6 president madero ent entered e red upon the duties of his office honduras and nicaragua treaties proposed As to the situation in central america I 1 have taken occasion in the past to em ern most strongly the importance that should bo be attributed to the consume con summa a tion of the conventions between the re publics of nicaragua and of 0 honduras and this country and I 1 again earnestly recommend that the necessary advice and consent of the senate be accorded to these treaties which will make it ble for these central american I 1 cs ca to enter upon an era of genuine eco coo national development our relations with the republic of panama lecul arly important due to mu obligations and the vast interests created by the canal have continued in the usual friendly manner and we have been glad to make ate espres blon rion of our attitude of sympathetic in terest in the endeavors of our neighbor in undertaking the development of the rich resources of the country new japanese treaty the treaty of commerce and navigation between the united states and japan signed in 1894 would by a strict inter i pret pre atlon tation of its as have terminal nat ed d on july 17 1912 japan a general treaties tre atlee with tha th other powers however terminated in 19 1911 and the japanese government expressed an earnest besre to conduct condu CIS I 1 the he ne negotiations g t for or a new treaty with the clait united ed states simultaneously with its s with the other po ers era there were eh number of important questions involved in the treaty include eions ing ng t the e immigration of laborers reri revision slon of the customs tariff and the right of or americans to holdread hol hold dreal real estate in japan the united states consented onsen ted to waive all technicalities and to enter at once upon negotiations for a new treaty on the un s that bere should be a con ti nuance throughout the I 1 fe of the treaty of the same effective measures tor for the restriction of imin ration gration 0 laborer labor ersi to american territory wilch wt ich had been in operation with entire satisfaction to both governments since the japanese government accepted this basia of 0 negotiation and a new treaty was quickly concluded resulting in a ma highly ly satta fac tory settlement of the other questions re berred to europe and the near east easl in europe and the near ast during the past twelve month ther has been at times considerable al unrest the moroccan question which for some HOMS months was the cause of great anxiety happily appears to have reached a stage at alt which it need no longer be regarded with concern the ottoman empire waa was occupied tor for n u period by strife in al bania banta and Is now at war with italy in greece and the balkan countries the d squi squirting eting potentiality alit es of this situation have been more or less felt persia has ha been the scene of a long internal gle these conditions have been the cause eduse of uneasiness in european diplo macy but thus tar far without d reel pollyl cal eat concern to the united states in the war which unhappily exists be tween italy and turkey this government I 1 has no direct p political 0 lotical interest and I 1 took occasion at the suitable time to Is sue a proclamation of neutrality in that conflict at the same time all necessary steps seeps have bane been taken to safeguard the personal inhere interests t of american citizens and organizations organisations gation in so far as affected I 1 by y the war fur seal treaty the fur seal controversy which tor for nearly twenty five years has been the source of serious friction between the th united baates and the powers bordering upon the north pacific ocean W whose hose sub jt have been p emitted to engage in pelagic sealing against the fur seal herd herds having their breedl breeding ng grounds within the jurisdiction of the united states has at last been satisfactorily adjusted by the conclusion of the north pacific sealing convention entered into between the united states great brita britain in japan and russia on the seventh of july last the attention of congress I 1 Is especially called to ohp necessity tor for legislation on the part of the united states for or the pur pose of fulfilling the obligations assumed under this convention to which the tha sen ate gave its advice and content consent on the twenty fourth dav day of july last international opium commission irr in a special message transmitted to the congress on the seventh of january 1911 in which I 1 concurred in the recommend a eions made by the secretary of state in regard to certain needful legislation tor for the control of our interstate and foreign traffic in opium and other menacing drugs I 1 q quoted u t d f from ro n my annual mea mes sage of de december a C her 7 1 in which I 1 in an bounced that the the results of the interns In terne opium commission held at shan shang 9 hal hat in february 1909 at the invitation 1 ol 01 1 the united states had been laid before this government that the report of that comm assion show ed that china was mah mak ing Le remarkable progress and admirable admira bu efforts toward the eradication of the opium evil that the interested govern ments had bad not permitted their commer ria la in to prevent their co opera alon in this reform and as a result 01 ol collateral cal lateral investigations of the opium question in this country I 1 recommended that the manufacture sale and use of 01 opium in the united states should be more rigorously controlled by prior to that time and arid in continuation of the policy of this government to be cure the co 0 operation oper li tion atlon of the interested nations the ani united ted states proposed an international opium conference with full powers for the purpose of clothing w with atif the force of international law the resolutions adopted by the above mentioned commission together with their essen bial the other powers con bernod cordially responded to the proposal of this government and I 1 am glad iad to be able to announce representative of 0 f all the powers assembled in conference at the hag trag e ci en the first of this month foreign trade relations of the united I 1 states in my last annual message I 1 referred to the tariff negotiations of the depart ment of state with foreign countries in connection with the application by a se be 4 rles of proclamations of the minimum tariff of the united states to imports I 1 eions from the seve several ral countries and I 1 stated that henri in its t a g general e n e r al 0 operation per a t ion a sec e e tion 2 of 0 t the new e w ta tariff 1 f t law a w h had a d proved ro v e 4 a guaranty of continued commercial peace although were were unfortunate iv instances where foreign governments dealt arbitrarily will wit amer american I 1 can int interests e re S t 8 within their jurisdiction in a manner in jurious and inequitable during the past year some instances of oll discriminatory sari rot batory treatment have been removed but I 1 re gret to say that there remain 9 a few cases of differential treatment adverse to tor the commerce of the united states while none of these instances now appears tn to amount to undue discrimination in th the sense of section 2 of the tariff law of 0 august 5 1909 they are all exceptions to that complete degree of equality of tar iff treatment that the department of state has consistently sought to obtain tor for american commerce abroad while the double tariff feature of thor no tar ft if law of 1909 has been amply justified by the results achieved in removing former and preventing new undue disi criminations against american commerce it Is bellei ed th that t the time haa has come fo for the amendment of this feature of the law in such way as to provide a graduated graduate 4 means of meeting barving degrees 0 of f discriminatory treatment of american commerce in foreign countries as well a to pr protect hect the financial interests abroad of american american citizens against arbitrary and injurious 9 treatment on the part of foreign governments through either leg or administrative measures it would seem desirable that the maxi mum tariff of the united states embrace within its purview the tree free list which Is not the case ease at the present tim in order that it might have reasonable significance to the governments of thos countries from which the importations into the united state states are confined vir dually to articles on the tree free list the fiscal year ended june 30 1911 shows great progress in the development of american trade it was noteworthy as marking the highest record of 0 export exports of american products to foreign coun tries the valuation being in excess of 2 mo COO OM thes exports showed a gain oer over the preceding year of more than 1 crying need for american merchant marine I 1 need hardly reiterate the conviction that there should speedily be built up an american merchant marine this is nee essary to assure |
