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Stereograph, Copyrighted, 1906, by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AT PANAMA RESPONDING TO THE WELCOME OF PRESIDENT AMADOR.

The Panama Canal is an enterprise attached to the War Department, and its affairs come under Mr. Taft's general supervision, although the President himself is very properly giving a great deal of direct attention to this colossal undertaking.

Mr. Roosevelt

on

The President's special message to Congress, following his trip Panama. to Panama, and explaining the condition of things there, was made public. on December 17. It was accompanied by excellent illustrations, and we have given a number of pages to an illustrated review of it elsewhere in this number of the magazine. It is enough, therefore, at this immediate point, to refer our readers to page 66, and to remark that the President returned full of interest in the great engineering task now in progress and confident that in a general way we are working upon right lines. It has been found a task of great difficulty to ar

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hortation of the law-making body to do one thing or another. In almost every recent instance the President has merely transmitted useful information, and it cannot justly be said that he has endeavored to instruct Congress in the performance of its duty.

The Discharge

One of the clearest and most of Colored forcible utterances ever made by Troops. Mr. Roosevelt is his message of December 19, sent in response to Senate resolutions, explaining and justifying the discharge of negro soldiers in consequence of the murderous attack of certain troops upon citizens at Brownsville, Texas, last August. It will be remembered that the discharge of most of the members of three companies was in pursuance of recommendations made by the Inspector-General of the army after careful and repeated investigations. A wellinformed citizen of New York, greatly interested in the education and welfare of the colored race, remarked not long ago that, whereas the colored people had previously

Copyright, 1906, by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

been ardent admirers of Mr. Roosevelt, there was not now a single negro in the United States who would cast his vote for the President if he were again to come up for election. A great many colored men have been sent through colleges and universities, and it is certainly unfortunate if the race has not developed able leaders by the thousand who are capable of laying aside race clannishness in a case of this kind. For if they cannot trust Mr. Roosevelt in the endeavor to do his duty in a matter of military discipline, where can they pin, their faith? Military employment is a very different thing from civil employment. For any sort of mutiny or failure to serve the Government with honor and fidelity, discharge from the army is too mild a form of treatment to be regarded as punishment. A certain number of soldiers in certain companies played the part of assassins. There were no mitigating circumstances. A vastly larger number of soldiers engaged in a conspiracy of silence to protect those assassins from punishment. The conditions

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT TALKING WITH THE NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENTS AT

PANAMA,

were such that it became impossible to retain the members of the three companies concerned in the service of the Government as soldiers. It was not with the President a question of the color of the troops, but of their conduct. Nor was it in any sense a question of the individual guilt of every man discharged. It is enough to say that there was a condition existing in that particular battalion which could be dealt with in no other way except by discharge of the men upon whom any suspicion could rest. The President makes it clear that he would have dealt in precisely the same way with white soldiers. Those who insist upon treating this matter as a race question are certainly

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doing the cause of the colored people no commerce. For reasons of general public good, and are probably doing it some serious policy, it would be well if we were better harm. An independent report upon the supplied with direct lines to the chief South facts, made by Gen. A. B. Nettleton, fully American ports; and possibly we might injustifies the conclusions reached by the army vest something in persuading capitalists to inquiries. Secretary Taft, himself a lawyer go into that line of business. The voice of of the highest rank and a judge of great experience, reviews the facts exhaustively, and the country may rest assured that Mr. Roosevelt has in this affair done his duty without prejudice and with due regard to the best interests of the army and to the rights of every one concerned.

Shall We Sub

the Administration carries great weight. Nevertheless those of us who have followed the subject for years are well aware that to enter upon the policy of subsidizing steamship lines is for our Government a very dubious experiment.

A Nation

lubbers."

Just now the genius of our peoof Land- ple is for the development of the resources of the country. We are using government energy and money to conserve the forests, to build irrigation dams, and to do a variety of other things that help to promote the amazing prosperity which the country is enjoying. It is easy to work with existing tendencies, and it is hard to work against them. Ten years from now it may be statesmanlike to try to persuade our young men to go to sea as sailors and our capitalists to invest, like the Germans of to-day, in merchant shipping. But at present our young men have more than they can do on land, at better pay than a seafaring life will ever afford; and the land pursuits give them opportunities for mental as well as material progress that are denied the sailor boy. We are simply too prosperous, at present, to be obliged to take to ocean freighting for a livelihood. The disappearance of our former merchant marine was due chiefly to the fact that there was so much money to be made in railroading, agriculture, and manufacturing here at home in the period following the Civil War, that our capital and labor with one accord refused the meager harvests of the sea for the rich and certain returns afforded by the development of the Mississippi Valley and the farther West.

The Administration has identisidize Merchant fied itself in a most vigorous Shipping? fashion with the measure pending in Congress for promoting the American merchant marine by the grant of subsidies. The President has recommended a step in this direction, and Mr. Root advocated it with great effect in his speech before the Trans-Mississippi Congress at Kansas City. Mr. Root is particularly interested in the creation of lines to promote intercourse between this country and the South American republics. Mr. Cortelyou makes allusion to the subject in connection with the carrying of the mails. From the standpoint of the Secretary of Commerce, American lines are desirable for the promotion of our foreign trade, especially in South America and the Orient. The American people will not favor any very bold policy in this direction. American capital and labor are employed at remunerative rates on land, and we are able to hire our ocean freighting done by foreigners at prices very advantageous to our

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hortation of the law-making body to do one thing or another. In almost every recent instance the President has merely transmitted useful information, and it cannot justly be said that he has endeavored to instruct Congress in the performance of its duty.

The Discharge

One of the clearest and most of Colored forcible utterances ever made by Troops. Mr. Roosevelt is his message of December 19, sent in response to Senate resolutions, explaining and justifying the discharge of negro soldiers in consequence of the murderous attack of certain troops upon citizens at Brownsville, Texas, last August. It will be remembered that the discharge of most of the members of three companies was in pursuance of recommendations made by the Inspector-General of the army after careful and repeated investigations. A wellinformed citizen of New York, greatly interested in the education and welfare of the colored race, remarked not long ago that, whereas the colored people had previously

Copyright, 1906, by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

been ardent admirers of Mr. Roosevelt, there was not now a single negro in the United States who would cast his vote for the President if he were again to come up for election. A great many colored men have been sent through colleges and universities, and it is certainly unfortunate if the race has not developed able leaders by the thousand who are capable of laying aside race clannishness in a case of this kind. For if they cannot trust Mr. Roosevelt in the endeavor to do his duty in a matter of military discipline, where can they pin, their faith? Military employment is a very different thing from civil employment. For any sort of mutiny or failure to serve the Government with honor and fidelity, discharge from the army is too mild a form of treatment to be regarded as punishment. A certain number of soldiers in certain companies played the part of assassins. There were no mitigating circumstances. A vastly larger number of soldiers engaged in a conspiracy of silence to protect those assassins from punishment.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT TALKING WITH THE NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENTS AT

PANAMA,

The conditions

were such that it became impossible to retain the members of the three companies concerned in the service of the Government as soldiers. It was not with the President a question of the color of the troops, but of their conduct. Nor was it in any sense a question of the individual guilt of every man discharged. It is enough to say that there was a condition existing in that particular battalion which could be dealt with in no other way except by discharge of the men upon whom any suspicion could rest. The President makes it clear that he would have dealt in precisely the same way with white soldiers. Those who insist upon treating this matter as a race question are certainly

[graphic]
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doing the cause of the colored people no commerce. For reasons of general public good, and are probably doing it some serious policy, it would be well if we were better harm. An independent report upon the supplied with direct lines to the chief South facts, made by Gen. A. B. Nettleton, fully American ports; and possibly we might injustifies the conclusions reached by the army vest something in persuading capitalists to inquiries. Secretary Taft, himself a lawyer go into that line of business. The voice of of the highest rank and a judge of great ex- the Administration carries great weight. perience, reviews the facts exhaustively, and Nevertheless those of us who have followed the country may rest assured that Mr. the subject for years are well aware that to Roosevelt has in this affair done his duty enter upon the policy of subsidizing steamwithout prejudice and with due regard to ship lines is for our Government a very dubithe best interests of the army and to the ous experiment. rights of every one concerned.

Shall We Sub

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The Administration has identisidize Merchant fied itself in a most vigorous Shipping ? fashion with the measure pending in Congress for promoting the American merchant marine by the grant of subsidies. The President has recommended a step in this direction, and Mr. Root advocated it with great effect in his speech before the Trans-Mississippi Congress at Kansas City. Mr. Root is particularly interested in the creation of lines to promote intercourse between this country and the South American republics. Mr. Cortelyou makes allusion to the subject in connection with the carrying of the mails. From the standpoint of the Secretary of Commerce, American lines are desirable for the promotion of our foreign trade, especially in South America and the Orient. The American people will not favor any very bold policy in this direction. American capital and labor are employed at remunerative rates on land, and we are able to hire our ocean freighting done by foreigners at prices very advantageous to our

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A Nation

lubbers."

Just now the genius of our peoof "Land- ple is for the development of the resources of the country. We are using government energy and money to conserve the forests, to build irrigation dams, and to do a variety of other things that help to promote the amazing prosperity which the country is enjoying. It is easy to work with existing tendencies, and it is hard to work against them. Ten years from now it may be statesmanlike to try to persuade our young men to go to sea as sailors and our capitalists to invest, like the Germans of to-day, in merchant shipping. But at present our young men have more than they can do on land, at better pay than a seafaring life will ever afford; and the land pursuits give them opportunities for mental as well as material progress that are denied the sailor boy. We are simply too prosperous, at present, to be obliged to take to ocean freighting for a livelihood. The disappearance of our former merchant marine was due chiefly to the fact that there was so much money to be made in railroading, agriculture, and manufacturing here at home in the period following the Civil War, that our capital and labor with one accord refused the meager harvests of the sea for the rich and certain returns afforded by the development of the Mississippi Valley and the farther West.

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