Chapter 18

The continued and rapid growth of the postal service is a sure index of the great and increasing business activity of the country. Its most striking new development is the extension of rural free delivery. This has come almost wholly within the last year. At the beginning of the fiscal year 1899-1900 the number of routes in operation was only 391, and most of these had been running less than twelve months. On the 15th of November, 1900, the number had increased to 2,614, reaching into forty-four States and Territories, and serving a population of 1,801,524. The number of applications now pending and awaiting action nearly equals all those granted up to the present time, and by the close of the current fiscal year about 4,000 routes will have been established, providing for the daily delivery of mails at the scattered homes of about three and a half millions of rural population.

This service ameliorates the isolation of farm life, conduces to good roads, and quickens and extends the dissemination of general information. Experience thus far has tended to allay the apprehension that it would be so expensive as to forbid its general adoption or make it a serious burden. Its actual application has shown that it increases postal receipts, and can be accompanied by reductions in other branches of the service, so that the augmented revenues and the accomplished savings together materially reduce the net cost. The evidences which point to these conclusions are presented in detail in the annual report of the Postmaster-General, which with its recommendations is commended to the consideration of the Congress. The full development of this special service, however, requires such a large outlay of money that it should be undertaken only after a careful study and thorough understanding of all that it involves.

Very efficient service has been rendered by the Navy in connection with the insurrection in the Philippines and the recent disturbance in China.

A very satisfactory settlement has been made of the long-pending question of the manufacture of armor plate. A reasonable price has been secured and the necessity for a Government armor plant avoided.

I approve of the recommendations of the Secretary for new vessels and for additional officers and men which the required increase of the Navy makes necessary. I commend to the favorable action of the Congress the measure now pending for the erection of a statue to the memory of the late Admiral David D. Porter. I commend also the establishment of a national naval reserve and of the grade of vice-admiral. Provision should be made, as recommended by the Secretary, for suitable rewards for special merit. Many officers who rendered the most distinguished service during the recent war with Spain have received in return no recognition from the Congress.

The total area of public lands as given by the Secretary of the Interior is approximately 1,071,881,662 acres, of which 917,135,880 acres are undisposed of and 154,745,782 acres have been reserved for various purposes. The public lands disposed of during the year amount to 13,453,887.96 acres, including 62,423.09 acres of Indian lands, an increase of 4,271,474.80 over the preceding year. The total receipts from the sale of public lands during the fiscal year were $4,379,758.10, an increase of $1,309,620.76 over the preceding year.

The results obtained from our forest policy have demonstrated its wisdom and the necessity in the interest of the public for its continuance and increased appropriations by the Congress for the carrying on of the work. On June 30, 1900, there were thirty-seven forest reserves, created by Presidential proclamations under section 24 of the act of March 3, 1891, embracing an area of 46,425,529 acres.

During the past year the Olympic Reserve, in the State of Washington, was reduced 265,040 acres, leaving its present area at 1,923,840 acres. The Prescott Reserve, in Arizona, was increased from 10,240 acres to 423,680 acres, and the Big Horn Reserve, in Wyoming, was increased from 1,127,680 acres to 1,180,800 acres. A new reserve, the Santa Ynez, in California, embracing an area of 145,000 acres, was created during this year. On October 10, 1900, the Crow Creek Forest Reserve, in Wyoming, was created, with an area of 56,320 acres.

At the end of the fiscal year there were on the pension roll 993,529 names, a net increase of 2,010 over the fiscal year 1899. The number added to the rolls during the year was 45,344. The amount disbursed for Army pensions during the year was $134,700,597.24 and for Navy pensions $3,761,533.41, a total of $138,462,130.65, leaving an unexpended balance of $5,542,768.25 to be covered into the Treasury, which shows an increase over the previous year's expenditure of $107,077.70. There were 684 names added to the rolls during the year by special acts passed at the first session of the Fifty-sixth Congress.

The act of May 9, 1900, among other things provides for an extension of income to widows pensioned under said act to $250 per annum. The Secretary of the Interior believes that by the operations of this act the number of persons pensioned under it will increase and the increased annual payment for pensions will be between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000.

The Government justly appreciates the services of its soldiers and sailors by making pension payments liberal beyond precedent to them, their widows and orphans.

There were 26,540 letters patent granted, including reissues and designs, during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1900; 1,660 trademarks, 682 labels, and 93 prints registered. The number of patents which expired was 19,988. The total receipts for patents were $1,358,228.35. The expenditures were $1,247,827.58, showing a surplus of $110,400.77.

The attention of the Congress is called to the report of the Secretary of the Interior touching the necessity for the further establishment of schools in the Territory of Alaska, and favorable action is invited thereon.

Much interesting information is given in the report of the Governor of Hawaii as to the progress and development of the islands during the period from July 7, 1898, the date of the approval of the joint resolution of the Congress providing for their annexation, up to April 30, 1900, the date of the approval of the act providing a government for the Territory, and thereafter.

The last Hawaiian census, taken in the year 1896, gives a total population of 109,020, of which 31,019 were native Hawaiians. The number of Americans reported was 8,485. The results of the Federal census, taken this year, show the islands to have a total population of 154,001, showing an increase over that reported in 1896 of 44,981, or 41.2 per cent.

There has been marked progress in the educational, agricultural, and railroad development of the islands.

In the Territorial act of April 30, 1900, section 7 of said act repeals Chapter 34 of the Civil Laws of Hawaii whereby the Government was to assist in encouraging and developing the agricultural resources of the Republic, especially irrigation. The Governor of Hawaii recommends legislation looking to the development of such water supply as may exist on the public lands, with a view of promoting land settlement. The earnest consideration of the Congress is invited to this important recommendation and others, as embodied in the report of the Secretary of the Interior.

The Director of the Census states that the work in connection with the Twelfth Census is progressing favorably. This national undertaking, ordered by the Congress each decade, has finally resulted in the collection of an aggregation of statistical facts to determine the industrial growth of the country, its manufacturing and mechanical resources, its richness in mines and forests, the number of its agriculturists, their farms and products, its educational and religious opportunities, as well as questions pertaining to sociological conditions.

The labors of the officials in charge of the Bureau indicate that the four important and most-desired subjects, namely, population, agricultural, manufacturing, and vital statistics, will be completed within the limit prescribed by the law of March 3, 1899.

The field work incident to the above inquiries is now practically finished, and as a result the population of the States and Territories, including the Hawaiian Islands and Alaska, has been announced. The growth of population during the last decade amounts to over 13,000,000, a greater numerical increase than in any previous census in the history of the country.

Bulletins will be issued as rapidly as possible giving the population by States and Territories, by minor civil divisions. Several announcements of this kind have already been made, and it is hoped that the list will be completed by January 1. Other bulletins giving the results of the manufacturing and agricultural inquiries will be given to the public as rapidly as circumstances will admit.

The Director, while confident of his ability to complete the different branches of the undertaking in the allotted time, finds himself embarrassed by the lack of a trained force properly equipped for statistical work, thus raising the question whether in the interest of economy and a thorough execution of the census work there should not be retained in the Government employ a certain number of experts not only to aid in the preliminary organization prior to the taking of the decennial census, but in addition to have the advantage in the field and office work of the Bureau of trained assistants to facilitate the early completion of this enormous undertaking.

I recommend that the Congress at its present session apportion representation among the several States as provided by the Constitution.

The Department of Agriculture has been extending its work during the past year, reaching farther for new varieties of seeds and plants; co-operating more fully with the States and Territories in research along useful lines; making progress in meteorological work relating to lines of wireless telegraphy and forecasts for ocean-going vessels; continuing inquiry as to animal disease; looking into the extent and character of food adulteration; outlining plans for the care, preservation, and intelligent harvesting of our woodlands; studying soils that producers may cultivate with better knowledge of conditions, and helping to clothe desert places with grasses suitable to our arid regions. Our island possessions are being considered that their peoples may be helped to produce the tropical products now so extensively brought into the United States. Inquiry into methods of improving our roads has been active during the year; help has been given to many localities, and scientific investigation of material in the States and Territories has been inaugurated. Irrigation problems in our semiarid regions are receiving careful and increased consideration.

An extensive exhibit at Paris of the products of agriculture has made the peoples of many countries more familiar with the varied products of our fields and their comparative excellence.

The collection of statistics regarding our crops is being improved and sources of information are being enlarged, to the end that producers may have the earliest advices regarding crop conditions. There has never been a time when those for whom it was established have shown more appreciation of the services of the Department.

In my annual message of December 5, 1898, I called attention to the necessity for some amendment of the alien contract law. There still remain important features of the rightful application of the eight-hour law for the benefit of labor and of the principle of arbitration, and I again commend these subjects to the careful attention of the Congress.

That there may be secured the best service possible in the Philippine Islands, I have issued, under date of November 30, 1900, the following order:

The United States Civil Service Commission is directed to render such assistance as may be practicable to the Civil Service Board, created under the act of the United States Philippine Commission, for the establishment and maintenance of an honest and efficient civil service in the Philippine Islands, and for that purpose to conduct examinations for the civil service of the Philippine Islands, upon the request of the Civil Service Board of said islands, under such regulations as may be agreed upon by the said Board and the said United States Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service Commission is greatly embarrassed in its work for want of an adequate permanent force for clerical and other assistance. Its needs are fully set forth in its report. I invite attention to the report, and especially urge upon the Congress that this important bureau of the public service, which passes upon the qualifications and character of so large a number of the officers and employees of the Government, should be supported by all needed appropriations to secure promptness and efficiency.

I am very much impressed with the statement made by the heads of all the Departments of the urgent necessity of a hall of public records. In every departmental building in Washington, so far as I am informed, the space for official records is not only exhausted, but the walls of rooms are lined with shelves, the middle floor space of many rooms is filled with file cases, and garrets and basements, which were never intended and are unfitted for their accommodation, are crowded with them. Aside from the inconvenience there is great danger, not only from fire, but from the weight of these records upon timbers not intended for their support. There should be a separate building especially designed for the purpose of receiving and preserving the annually accumulating archives of the several Executive Departments. Such a hall need not be a costly structure, but should be so arranged as to admit of enlargement from time to time. I urgently recommend that the Congress take early action in this matter.

I transmit to the Congress a resolution adopted at a recent meeting of the American Bar Association concerning the proposed celebration of John Marshall Day, February 4, 1901. Fitting exercises have been arranged, and it is earnestly desired by the committee that the Congress may participate in this movement to honor the memory of the great jurist.

The transfer of the Government to this city is a fact of great historical interest. Among the people there is a feeling of genuine pride in the Capital of the Republic.

It is a matter of interest in this connection that in 1800 the population of the District of Columbia was 14,093; to-day it is 278,718. The population of the city of Washington was then 3,210; to-day it is 218,196.

The Congress having provided for "an appropriate national celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Establishment of the Seat of the Government in the District of Columbia," the committees authorized by it have prepared a programme for the 12th of December, 1900, which date has been selected as the anniversary day. Deep interest has been shown in the arrangements for the celebration by the members of the committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, the committee of Governors appointed by the President, and the committees appointed by the citizens and inhabitants of the District of Columbia generally. The programme, in addition to a reception and other exercises at the Executive Mansion, provides commemorative exercises to be held jointly by the Senate and House of Representatives in the Hall of the House of Representatives, and a reception in the evening at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in honor of the Governors of the States and Territories.

In our great prosperity we must guard against the danger it invites of extravagance in Government expenditures and appropriations; and the chosen representatives of the people will, I doubt not, furnish an example in their legislation of that wise economy which in a season of plenty husbands for the future. In this era of great business activity and opportunity caution is not untimely. It will not abate, but strengthen, confidence. It will not retard, but promote, legitimate industrial and commercial expansion. Our growing power brings with it temptations and perils requiring constant vigilance to avoid. It must not be used to invite conflicts, nor for oppression, but for the more effective maintenance of those principles of equality and justice upon which our institutions and happiness depend. Let us keep always in mind that the foundation of our Government is liberty; its superstructure peace.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 4, 1900_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, copy of a letter from the Commissioner-General of the United States to the Paris Exposition of 1900, of November 17, 1900, giving a detailed statement of the expenditures of the commission for the year ended November 15, 1900.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 6, 1900_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the report from the Secretary of State and accompanying papers relating to the claim against the United States of the Russian subject, Gustav Isak Dahlberg, master and principal owner of the Russian bark _Hans_, based on his wrongful and illegal arrest and imprisonment by officers of the United States District Court for the southern district of Mississippi, and, in view of the opinion expressed by the Department of Justice that the said arrest and detention of the complainant were wrongful and without the authority of law, I recommend the appropriation by Congress of the sum of $5,000 to reimburse the master and owners of the vessel for all losses and damages incurred by reason of his said wrongful and illegal arrest and detention.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 6, 1900_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers, in relation to the lynching, in La Salle County, Tex., on October 5, 1895, of Florentine Suaste, a Mexican citizen.

Following the course pursued in the case of the lynching of three Italian subjects at Hahnville, La., on August 8, 1896, and in that of the lynching of the Mexican citizen, Luis Moreno, at Yreka, Cal., in August, 1895, I recommend the appropriation by Congress, out of humane consideration, and without reference to the question of liability of the Government of the United States, of the sum of $2,000, to be paid by the Secretary of State to the Government of Mexico, and by that Government distributed to the heirs of the above-mentioned Florentino Suaste.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 3, 1901_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In reply to a resolution of the Senate of December 19, 1900, directing the Secretary of War "to transmit to the Senate the report of Abraham L. Lawshe, giving in detail the result of his investigations, made under the direction of the War Department, into the receipts and expenditures of Cuban funds," the Senate is informed that for the reasons stated in the accompanying communication from the Secretary of War, dated December 28, 1900, it is not deemed compatible with the public interest to transmit the report to the Senate at this time.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 16, 1901_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith for the information of the Congress a letter from the Secretary of Agriculture, in which he presents a preliminary report of investigations upon the forests of the southern Appalachian Mountain region. Upon the basis of the facts established by this investigation the Secretary of Agriculture recommends the purchase of land for a national forest reserve in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and adjacent States. I commend to the favorable consideration of Congress the reasons upon which this recommendation rests.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 25, 1901_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

For the information of the Congress and with a view to such action on its part as it may deem wise and appropriate I transmit a report of the Secretary of War, made to me under date of January 24, 1901, containing the reports of the Taft commission, its several acts of legislation, and other important information relating to the conditions and immediate wants of the Philippine Islands.

I earnestly recommend legislation under which the government of the islands may have authority to assist in their peaceful industrial development in the directions indicated by the Secretary of War.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 29, 1901_.

_To the Congress_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State relating to the treaty between the United States and Spain, signed at Washington, November 7, 1900, providing for the cession of any and all islands of the Philippine Archipelago lying outside of the lines described in Article III of the treaty of peace of December 10, 1898.

I recommend the appropriation by Congress during the present session of the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of carrying out the obligations of the United States under the treaty.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 29, 1901_.

_To the Congress_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State relating to the lynching of two Italian subjects at Tallulah, La., on July 20, 1899.

I renew the recommendation made in my annual message to the Congress on December 3, 1900, that in accordance with precedent Congress make gracious provision for indemnity to the families of the victims in the same form as heretofore.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 29, 1901_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State accompanying the Commercial Relations of the United States for the year 1900, being the annual and other reports of consular and diplomatic officers upon the industries and commerce of foreign countries, with particular reference to the growing share of the United States in international trade. The advance in the general efficiency of our consular service in promoting trade, which was noted in my message of March 1, 1900, transmitting the reports for 1899, was even more marked than last year. The promptitude with which the reports of the consuls are printed and distributed, the generous recognition which is being increasingly accorded by our business interests to the practical value of their efforts for enlarging trade, and the continued testimony of competent foreign authorities to the general superiority of their commercial work, have naturally had a stimulating effect upon its consular corps as a whole, and experience in the discharge of their duties adds greatly to their efficiency. It is gratifying to be able to state that the improvement in the service, following closely upon the steady progress in expediting the publication of reports, has enabled the Department of State this year to submit the annual reports a month in advance of the usual time, and to make them as nearly as possible a contemporaneous picture of the trade of the world. In view of the great importance of these reports to our producers, manufacturers, exporters, and business interest generally, I cordially approve the recommendation of the Secretary of State that Congress shall authorize the printing as heretofore of an edition of 10,000 copies of the summary, entitled "Review of the World's Commerce," and of 5,000 copies of Commercial Relations (including this summary), to be distributed by the Department of State.

WILLIAM McKINLEY.