OCR Text |
Show WATCHFUL WAITING IS Kid POLICY President Wilson Says Huerta's Prestige Is Fast Crumbling-Message Crumbling-Message Asks Legislation for Facilitating Credits Needed by Farmers Urges Presidential Primaries. but that we should as much as possl- I ble reduce the area of that debatable ground by further and more explicit legislation; and should also supplement supple-ment that great act by legislation which will not only clarify it but also facilitate its administration and make it fairer to all concerned. No doubt we shall all wish, and the country will expect, this to be the centra subject of our deliberations during the present pres-ent session; hut it is a subject so many-sided and so deserving of careful care-ful and discriminating discussion that I shall take the liberty of addressing you upon it in a special message at 3 later date than this. It Is of capital importance that the business men of this country should be relieved of all uncertainties of law with regard to their enterprises and investments and a clear path indicated which they can travel without anxiety. It is as Important Im-portant that they should be relieved of embarrassment and set free to prosper as that private monopoly should' be destroyed. The ways of action should be thrown wide open. I turn to a subject which I hope can be handled promptly and without with-out serious controversy of any kind, i Washington, Dec. 2. The president today delivered the following message to congress: i In pursuance of my constitutional duty to "give to the congress information informa-tion of the state of the Union," I tali', the liberty of addressing you on several sev-eral matters which ought, as it seems to me, particularly to engage the attention at-tention of your honorable bodies, as of all who study the welfare of the nation. I shall ask ycur indulgence if I venture ven-ture to depart in some degree from the usual custom of setting before you In formal review the many matters which have engaged the attention ami called for the action of the several departments of the government or euce, as for something fundamental to its whole business life and necessary neces-sary to set creut free from arbitrary and artificial restraints. I need not say how earnestly I hope for its early enactment en-actment into law. I present to you, in addition, the urgent necessity that special provision be made also for facilitating the cred; its needed by the farmers of the country. coun-try. The pending currency bill does the farmers a great service. It puts them upon an equal footing with other oth-er business men and masters of enterprise, en-terprise, as it should; and upon its passage they will find themselves quit of many of the difficulties which now hamper them in the field of credit. The farmers, of course, ask and which look to them for early treatment treat-ment in the future, because the list Is long, very long, and would suffer in the abbreviation to which I should have to subject it. I shnll submit to you the reports of the -heads of the several departments, in which these subjects are set forth in careful detail, de-tail, and beg that they may receive the hougbtful attention of your committees commit-tees and of all members of the congress con-gress who may have the leisure to study them. Their obvious importance, as constituting the very substance of the business of the government, makes comment and emphasis on my part unnecessary. un-necessary. Cot ntry Is at Peace. The country, I am thankful to say, !s at peace with all the world, and many happy manifestations multipl about us of a growing cordiality and. ! Eense of community of interest among I the nations, foreshadowing an age of should be given no special privilege, such as extending to them the credit of the government itself. What they need and should obtain is legislation which will make their own abundant and substantial credit resources available avail-able as a foundation for joint, concerted con-certed local action in their own behalf be-half in getting the capital they must use. It is to this we should now address ad-dress ourselves. Allowed to Lag. It has, singularly enough, come to pass that we have allowed the industry indus-try of our farms to lag behind the other activities of the country in its development. . I need not stop to tell you how fundamental to the life of the Nation is the production of its food. Our thoughts may ordinarily be concentrated upon the cities and the hives of industry, upon the cries of the crowded market place and the clangor of the factory, but it is from I mean the method of selecting nominees nomi-nees for the presidency of the United States. I feel confident that I do not misinterpret the wishes or the expectations of the country when I urge the prompt enactment of legislation which will provide for primary elections throughout through-out the country at which the voters of the several parties may choose their nominees for the presidency without the intervention of nominating conventions. con-ventions. Independence for Philippines. These are all matters of vital domestic do-mestic concern, and besides them, outside out-side the charmed circle of our own national life in which our affections command us, as well as our consciences, con-sciences, there stand out our obligations obliga-tions toward our territories 'over sea. Here we are trustees. Porto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines, are ours, once regarded as mere possessions, are no settled peace and good will. Th"re is only one possible standard by which to determine controversies between the United States and other nations, and 'hat is compounded of these two elements: Our own honor and our oblir,:!iens to the peace of the world. A tnst so compounded ought easily to be made to govern both the establishment of new treaty obligations obli-gations and the interpretation of those already assumed. Huerta Must Let Go. There is but one cloud upon our horizon. ho-rizon. That has shown itself to the Routh of us, and hangs over Mexico. There can be no certain prospect of peace in America until General Huerta has surrendered his usurped authority In Mexico; until it is understood on ill hands, indeed, that such pretended governments will not be countenanced or dealt with by the government of the United Slates. We are the friends of constitutional government j in America: we are more than its f n'ends, we are its champions: because in no ether way can our neighbors, to whom we would wish in every way to make proof of our friendship, work DU t their own development in pe.ice and liberty. Mexico has no government. govern-ment. The attempt to maintain one it the City of Mexico has broken down, and a mere military despotism has been set up which has hardly more than the semblance of national authority. author-ity. It originated in the usurpation I of Victoriano Huerta, who, afier a uie quiet interspaces oi me open ti-leys ti-leys and the free hillsides that we draw the sources of life and of prosperity, pros-perity, from the farm and the ranch, from the forest and the mine. Without With-out these every street would be silent, si-lent, evry omoe deserted, every factory fac-tory fallen into disrepair. And yet the farmer does not stand upon the same footing with the forester and the miner in the market cf credit. He is the servant of tiie seasons. Nature determines how long he must wait for his crops, and will not be hurried in . her processes. He may give his note, but the season of its maturity depends upon the season when his crop matures, ma-tures, lies at the gates of the market where his products are sold. And the . security he gives is of a character not known in the broker's office or as familiarly fa-miliarly as it might be on the couuter of the banker. Efficiency In Farming. The agricultural department of the governmt nt is seeking to assist as never before to make farming an efficient effi-cient business, of wide co-operative effort, ef-fort, in quick touch with the markets for foodstuffs. The farmers and the government will henceforth work together to-gether as real parlners in this field, where we now begin to see our way very clearly and where many intelligent intelli-gent plans are already being put Into execution. The treasury of the United Uni-ted Slates has, by a timely and well-considered well-considered distribution of its deposits, depos-its, facilitated the moving of the crops longer to be selfishly exploited; they are part of the domain of public conscience con-science and of serviceable and enlightened enlight-ened statesmanship. We must administer admin-ister them for the people who live in them and with the same sense of responsibility re-sponsibility to them as toward our own people in our domestic affairs. No doubt we shall successfully enough bind Porto Kico and the Hawaiian islands is-lands to ourselves by ties of justco and affection, but the performance of cur duty toward the Philippines is a more difficult and debatable matter. We can satisfy the obligations of generous gen-erous justice toward the people of Pcrto Kico by giving them the ample and familiar rights and privileges accorded ac-corded our own citizens in our own Territory and our obligations toward the people of Hawaii by perfecting the provisions of self-government already granted them, but in the Philippines we must go further. We must hold steadily in view their ultimate independence, inde-pendence, and we must move toward tho time of that independence as steadily as the way can be cleared and the foundations thoughtfully and permanently per-manently laid. s Double Duty Toward Alaska. A duty faces us with regard to Alaska Alas-ka which seems to me very pressing and very Imperative; perhaps I should say a double duty, for it concerns both the political and the material development develop-ment of the territory. The people of Alaska should be given the full terri- brief attempt to p'ay the part of constitutional con-stitutional president, has at last cast aside even the pretense of legal right and declared himself dictator. As a consequence, a condition of affairs now exists in Mexico which has made it doubtful whether even tho most elementary and fundamental rights either of her own people or of the ei'izens of other countries resident within her territory can long be successfully suc-cessfully safeguarded, ami which threatens, if long continued, to imperil im-peril the interests of peace, order and tolerable life in 'he lands Immediately Immedi-ately to the south of us Even if the usurper bail succeeded In his purposes. In despite of the constitution of the republic and the rights of Its people, he would have set up nothing but a precarious and baleful power, which could have lasted but a little while, and whose eventful downfall would have left the remit ry III a mere deplorable de-plorable condition than ever. Hut h,-bas h,-bas not. succeeded, lie has forfeited the respect, and the moral sup' urt. even of those who were at one 'Jme willing to see him succeed. I, idle by little he has been completely liiol.'it ed. I:.v a lit lie every day his power and pn,rtk;o are crumbling ami Ibe col-J col-J lapse is not far away. Wo shall not, II believe, be obliged to alter our pol- I lo f ,.-l,.l,fnl iviiilimr And then in the present season and prevented the scarcity of available funds too often oft-en experienced at such times. Hut we must not allow ourselves to depend de-pend upon extraordinary expedients. We must add the means by which the farmer may make his credit constantly constant-ly and easily available and command when he will the capital by which to support and expand his business. We lag behind many other great countries of the modern world in attempting to do this. Systems of rural credit have been studied and developed on the other side of the water while wo left our farmers to shift for themselves in the ordinary money market. You have but to look about you In any rural district, to see the result, tho handicap and embarrassment which have been put upon thoso who produce pro-duce our food. Study Rural Credit. . Conscious of Ihhi backwardness and neglect, on our part, the congress re-ceully re-ceully authorized the creation of a ipeclnl eomml.'-Mim to study the vari on!) iiysleinH of rural credit which have been put. into operalion in Kur-opo, Kur-opo, and thin commission Is already prepared to report. Its report ought lo make it easier for us to delenuine what methods will he best suited to our own farmers. tonal lorni oi government, anu Alaska, Alas-ka, as a storehouse, should be unlocked. un-locked. One key to it is a system of railways. These the government should itself build and administer, and the ports and terminals it should itself control in tho interest of till who wish to use (hem for the service and development de-velopment of tho country and its people. peo-ple. Specially Important. Three or four matters of special importance im-portance and significance 1 beg that you will permit nie to mention In closing. clos-ing. Our bureau of mines ought to be equipped and empowered to render even more effectual service than it renders now In improving the conditions condi-tions of mine labor and making the mines more economically productive n s well us more safe. This Is an all-. all-. Important, part of the work of con-servalion; con-servalion; and the conservation of human life and energy lies even nearer near-er lo our interest than the preservation preserva-tion from waste of our material resources. re-sources. We owe It. In mere just lee to the railway employes of Hie counlry. to provide for them n r.'ilr and effective employers' llabllily act; and a law that we can stand by In this matter will be no less to the advantage of when the end comes, we shall hope to I see consl itul ional order restored in distressed Mexico by Ihe concert and j energy of inn h of her lcad"i s as pre-j pre-j fer the liberty of their people to their own ambitions. Currency Reform. I turn to mailers of domesllc concern. con-cern. You already have under consideration con-sideration a bill for the reform of our i system of banking and currency, for which f lie counlry wails with linpnll- ict anermnn Law stana. Turn from the farm lo the world of business which centers In the clly and In Hie factory, and I think that all thoughtful observers will agree that the I mined ial e service we owe Ihe business comma nil les of Ihe counlry Is to prevent private monopoly more effect nally than It has yet been pre- ,enled. I think It will be easily agr I that, we should lei, the Sherman anll-l.rnsl. anll-l.rnsl. law slnml, unaltered, an it is, with lis di'bii I a ble ground about It, (Hose who mlmlnlst.er the railroads or Ihe counlry than to the advantage of thorn whom they employ. The experience experi-ence of a large number of the slates ahiindanlly proves that. We ought to devole ourselves to meeting pressing demands of plain .lusllce like this us earnestly as to the accomplishment of political and economic reforms. Social just lee comes llrsl. Law Is the machinery for lis reallzMllon and Is vital only as It o. presses and embodies It. |