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Show tions may seem to be less necessity than the immediate enactment of the j other measures to which I refer; be- cause at least two years will elapse before another election in which federal fed-eral offices are to be filled ; but it would greatly relieve the. public mind if this j important matter were dealt with while the circumstances and the dangers dan-gers to the public morals of the present pres-ent method of obtaining and spending campaign funds stand clear under recent re-cent observation and the methods of expenditure can be frankly studied in the light of present experience; and a delay would have the further very serious se-rious disadvantage of postponing action ac-tion until another election was at hand and some special object connected with it might be thought to be in the mind of those who urged it. Action can 1 taken now with facts for guidance and without suspicion of partisan purpose I shall not argue at length the desirability desir-ability of giving a freer hand in the matter of combined and concerted effort ef-fort to those who shall undertake the essential enterprise of building up our export trade. That enterprise will presently, will immediately assume, has indeed already assumed, a magnitude magni-tude unprecedented iu our experience. We have not the necessary instrumentalities instrumen-talities for its prosecution; It is deemed to be doubtful whether they could be created upon an adequate scale under our present laws. We should clear away all legal obstacles and create a basis of undoubted law for it which will give freedom without permitting unregulated license. The thing must be done now, because the opportunity is here and may escape us if we hesitate or delay. Porto Rico's Needs. The argument for the proposed MESSAGEOF WSLSQN PRESIDENT DELIVERS A SHORT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS IN JOINT SESSION. ASKS MORE RAILWAY LAWS , Calls for Early Action on Remaining Measures of His Program of Settlement Settle-ment and Regulation Other Legislation Legis-lation That Is Advised. Washington, Dec. 5. President Wilson's Wil-son's message, delivered to congress in joint session today, was brief and to the point. The president said: Gentlemen of he Congress : In fulfilling a-, this time the duty laid upon me by the Constitution of communicating com-municating to yoj from time to time information of the state of the Union and recommending to your consideration considera-tion such legislative measures as may be judged necessary .nd expedient. I shall continue th" practice, which T hope has been acceptable to you, of leaving to the reports of the several heads of the executive departments the elaboration of the detailed needs of the public service and confine myself to those matters of more general public pub-lic policy with which it seems necessary neces-sary and feasible to deal at the present pres-ent session of the congress. I realize the limitations of time under un-der which yon will necessarily act at this session and shall make my suggestions sug-gestions as few ao possible ; but there were some things left undone at the last session which there will now be time to complete and which it seems uecessary in the interest of the public tw do at once. In the first place, it seems to me imperatively im-peratively necessary that the earliest possible consideration and action should be accorded the remaining measures of the program of settlement settle-ment and regulation which I had occasion occa-sion to recommend to you at the close of your last session in view of the public pub-lic dangers disclosed by the unaccommodated unaccom-modated difficulties which then existed, and which still unhappily continue to exist, between the railroads of the country and their locomotive engineers, conductors, and trainmen. Railvay Troubles First. I then recommended : First, immediate provision for the enlargement and administrative reorganization reor-ganization of the interstate commerce commission along the lines embodied in the bill recently passed by the house of representatives and now awaiting t-ction by the senate; in order that the commission may be enabled to deal V ith the many great and various duties now devolving upon it with a promptness prompt-ness and thoroughness which are, with it;i present constitution and means of suggestions until an opportunity should be offered for a more deliberate consideration con-sideration of them. The fourth recommendation rec-ommendation I do not deem it necessary neces-sary to renew. The power of the interstate in-terstate commerce commission to grant an increase of rates on the ground referred re-ferred to is indisputably clear and a recommendation by the congress with regard to such a matte'- might seem to draw in question the scooe of the commission's com-mission's authority or ir-- inclination to do. justice when there is .io reason to doubt eilher. The other suggestions the increase in the interstate commerce commission's commis-sion's membership and in its facilities for performing its manifold duties, the provision for full public investigation and assessment of industrial disputes, and the grant to the executive of the power to control and operate the railways rail-ways when necessary In time of war or other like public necessity I now very earnestly renew. The necessity for such legislation is manifest and pressing. Those who have intrusted us with the responsibility and duty of serving and safeguarding them in such matters would find it hard. I believe, to excuse a failure to act upon these grave matters or any unnecessary postponement of action upon them. Not only does the interstate commerce com-merce commission now find it practically practi-cally impossible, with its present membership mem-bership and organization, to perform its great functions promptly d thoroughly, thor-oughly, but it is: not unlikel that it may presently be found ad'""able to add to its duties still others equally heavy and exacting. It must first be perfected as an administrative instrument. instru-ment. The country cannot and should not consent to remain any longer exposed to profound industrial disturbances for lack of additional means of arbitration arbitra-tion and conciliation which the congress con-gress can easily and promptly supply. And all wil'- agree that there must be no doubt as to the power of the executive execu-tive to make immediate and uninterrupted uninter-rupted use of the railroads for the concentration con-centration of the military forces of the nation wherever they are needed and whenever they are needed. This is a program of regulation, prevention pre-vention r.-'d administrative efficiency which argues its own case in the mere statement of it. With regard to one of its items, the increase in the efficiency effi-ciency of the interstate commerce commission, com-mission, the house of representatives has already acted ; its action needs only the concurrence of the senate. For Control and Operation. I would hesitate to recommend, and I dare say the congress would hesitate to act upon the suggestion should I make it, that any man in any occupation occupa-tion should be obliged by law to continue con-tinue in an employment which he desired de-sired to leave. To pass a law which forbade or prevented the individual workman to leave his work before receiving re-ceiving the approval of society in -Icing so would be to adopt a new pi.n- amendments of the organic law 'of Porto Por-to Rico is brief and conclusive. The present laws governing the island and regulating the rights and privileges of its people are not just. We have created cre-ated expectations of extended privilege privi-lege which we have not satisfied. There is uneasiness among the people of the island and even a suspicious doubt with regard to our intentions concerning them which the adoption of the pending measure would happily remove. re-move. We do not doubt what we wish to do in any essential particular. We ought to do it at once. There are other matters already advanced ad-vanced to the stage of conference between be-tween the two houses of which it is not necessary that I should speak. Some practicable basis of agreement concerning them will no doubt be found and action taken upon them. Inasmuch as this is, gentlemen, probably prob-ably the last occasion I shall have to address the Sixty-fourth congress, I hope that you will permit me to say with what genuine pleasure and satisfaction satis-faction I have co-operoted with you in the many measures of constructive policy pol-icy with which you have enriched the legislative annals of the country. It lias been a privilege to labor in such company. I take the liberty of congratulating con-gratulating you upon the completion of a record of rare serviceableness and distinction. action, practically impossible. Second, the establishment of an eif'ht-hour day as the legal basis alike of work and of wages in the employment employ-ment of all railway employees who are actually engaged in the work of oper-stlrg oper-stlrg trains in interstate transportation transporta-tion Third, the authorization of the ap-polf.tment'by ap-polf.tment'by the president of a small body of men to observe the actual results re-sults in experience of the adoption of (he eight-hour day in railway trans-potation trans-potation alike for the men and for th railroads. Fourth, explicit approval by the congress con-gress of the consideration by the interstate in-terstate commerce commission of an increase of freight rates to meet such additional expenditures by the railroads rail-roads as may have been rendered necessary nec-essary by the adoption of the eight-hour eight-hour day and which have not been offset off-set by administrative readjustments and economies, should the facts disclosed dis-closed justify the increase. Fifth, an amendment of the existing federal statute which provides flr the mediation, conciliation, and arbitration of such controversies ns the present by adding to it a provision that, iu case the methods of accommodation now provided for should fail, a full public investigation of the merits of every su:h dispute shall be instituted and completed before a strike or lockout may lawfully be attempted. And, sixth, the lodgment in the hands of the executive of the power, in case of military necessity, to take control of such portions and such rolling roll-ing stock of the railroads of the coun- ciple into our jurisprudence which I take it for granted we are not prepared to introduce. But the proposal that the operation of the railways of the country shall not be stopped or interrupted inter-rupted by the concerted aqtion of organized or-ganized bodies of men until a public investigation shall have been instituted which shall make the whole question at issue plain for the judgment of the opinion of the nation is not to propose any such principle. It is based upon the very different principle that the concerted con-certed action of powerful bodies of men shall not be permitted to stop the industrial in-dustrial processes of the nation, at any rate before the nation shall have had an opportunity to acquaint itself with the merits of the case as between employee em-ployee and employer, time to form its opinion upon an Impartial statement of the merits, and opportunity to consider con-sider all practicable means of conciliation concilia-tion or arbitration. I can see nothing in that proposition but the justifiable safeguarding by society so-ciety of the necessary processes of its very life. There is nothing arbitrary arbi-trary or unjust in it unless it be arbitrarily arbi-trarily and unjustly done. It can and should be done with a full and scrupulous scrupu-lous regard for the interests and liberties liber-ties of all concerned as well as for the permanent interests of society itself. Other Legislation Urged. Three matters of capital importance await the action of the senate which have already been acted upon by the house of representatives: the bill which seeks to extend greater freedom of combination to those engaged in promoting pro-moting the foreign commerce of the try as may be required for military jse and to operate them for military purposes, with authority to draft into the military service of the United States such train crews and administrative adminis-trative officials as the circumstances require for their safe and efficient use. Renews His Recommendations. The second and third of these recommendations rec-ommendations the congress immediately immediate-ly acted on : it established the eight-hour eight-hour day as the legal basis of work and wages in train service and it authorized au-thorized the appointment of a commission com-mission to observe and report upon the practical results, deeming these the measures most immediately needed ; but it postponed action upon the other country than is now thought by some to be legal under the terms of the laws against monopoly; the bill amending the present organic law of Porto Itico ; and the bill proposing a more thorough thor-ough and systematic regulation of the expenditure of money in elections, commonly com-monly called the Corrupt Practices Act. I need not labor my advice that these measures be enacted into law. Their urgency lies in the manifest circumstances circum-stances which render their adoption at this time not only opportune but necessary. neces-sary. Even delay would seriously jeopard the interests of the country and of the government. Immediate passage of the bill to regulate reg-ulate the expenditure of money in elec- |