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Messages and Papers of William McKinley V.2. by William McKinley

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The act to encourage the holding of the Pan-American Exposition on the
Niagara frontier, within the county of Erie or Niagara, in the State of
New York, in the year 1901, was approved on March 3, 1899.

This exposition, which will be held in the city of Buffalo, in the near
vicinity of the great Niagara cataract, and within a day's journey of
which reside 40,000,000 of our people, will be confined entirely to the
Western Hemisphere. Satisfactory assurances have already been given by
the diplomatic representatives of Great Britain, Mexico, the Central and
South American Republics, and most of the States of the United States
that these countries and States will make an unique, interesting, and
instructive exhibit, peculiarly illustrative of their material progress
during the century which is about to close.

The law provides an appropriation of $500,000 for the purpose of making
an exhibit at the exposition by the Government of the United States
from its Executive Departments and from the Smithsonian Institution and
National Museum, the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, the
Department of Labor, and the Bureau of the American Republics. To secure
a complete and harmonious arrangement of this Government exhibit a board
of management has already been created, and charged with the selection,
purchase, preparation, transportation, arrangement, and safe-keeping
of the articles and materials to be exhibited. This board has been
organized and has already entered upon the performance of its duties,
as provided for by the law.

I have every reason to hope and believe that this exposition will tend
more firmly to cement the cordial relations between the nations on this
continent.

In accordance with an act of Congress approved December 21, 1898,
and under the auspices of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, a most
interesting and valuable exposition of products and manufactures
especially adapted to export trade was held in Philadelphia from the
14th of September to the 1st of December, 1899. The representative
character of the exhibits and the widespread interest manifested in the
special objects of the undertaking afford renewed encouragement to those
who look confidently to the steady growth of our enlarged exportation
of manufactured goods, which has been the most remarkable fact in the
economic development of the United States in recent years. A feature of
this exposition which is likely to become of permanent and increasing
utility to our industries is the collection of samples of merchandise
produced in various countries with special reference to particular
markets, providing practical object lessons to United States
manufacturers as to qualities, styles, and prices of goods such as meet
the special demands of consumers and may be exported with advantage.

In connection with the exposition an International Commercial
Congress was held, upon the invitation of the Philadelphia Commercial
Museum, transmitted by the Department of State to the various foreign
Governments, for an exchange of information and opinions with the
view to the promotion of international trade. This invitation met
with general and cordial acceptance, and the Congress, which began
its sessions at the exposition on the 13th of October, proved to be of
great practical importance, from the fact that it developed a general
recognition of the interdependence of nations in trade and a most
gratifying spirit of accommodation with reference to the gradual removal
of existing impediments to reciprocal relations, without injury to the
industrial interests of either party.

In response to the invitation of His Majesty, the Emperor of Russia,
delegates from twenty-six countries were assembled at The Hague on the
18th of May, as members of a conference in the interest of peace. The
commission from the United States consisted of the Hon. Andrew D. White,
the Hon. Seth Low, the Hon. Stanford Newel, Captain Alfred T. Mahan, of
the United States Navy, Captain William Crozier, of the United States
Army, and the Hon. Frederick W. Holls, secretary. The occasion seemed
to be opportune for the serious consideration of a plan for the pacific
adjustment of international differences, a subject in which the American
people have been deeply interested for many years, and a definite
project for a permanent international tribunal was included in the
instructions to the delegates of the United States.

The final act of the conference includes conventions upon the
amelioration of the laws and customs of war on land, the adaptation to
maritime warfare of the principles of the Geneva Convention of 1864, and
the extension of judicial methods to international cases. The Convention
for the Pacific Settlement of International Conflicts embodies the
leading features of the American plan, with such modifications as were
rendered necessary by the great diversity of views and interests
represented by the delegates. The four titles of the convention provide
for the maintenance of general peace, the exercise of good offices and
mediation, the formation of commissions of inquiry, and international
arbitration.

The mediation provided for by the convention is purely voluntary and
advisory, and is intended to avoid any invasion or limitation of the
sovereign rights of the adhering States. The commissions of inquiry
proposed consists of delegations to be specifically constituted for
particular purposes by means of conventions between the contesting
parties, having for their object the clear understanding of
international differences before resorting to the use of force.
The provision for arbitration contemplates the formation of a permanent
tribunal before which disputed cases may be brought for settlement
by the mutual consent of the litigants in each separate case. The
advantages of such a permanent tribunal over impromptu commissions of
arbitration are conceived to be the actual existence of a competent
court, prepared to administer justice, the greater economy resulting
from a well-devised system, and the accumulated judicial skill and
experience which such a tribunal would soon possess.

While earnestly promoting the idea of establishing a permanent
international tribunal, the delegation of the United States was not
unmindful of the inconveniences which might arise from an obtrusive
exercise of mediation, and in signing the convention carefully guarded
the historic position of the United States by the following declaration:

Nothing contained in this convention shall be so construed as to require
the United States of America to depart from its traditional policy of
not intruding upon, interfering with, or entangling itself in the
political questions or policy or internal administration of any foreign
state; nor shall anything contained in the said convention be construed
to imply a relinquishment by the United States of America of its
traditional attitude toward purely American questions.


Thus interpreted, the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of
International Conflicts may be regarded as realizing the earnest desire
of great numbers of American citizens, whose deep sense of justice,
expressed in numerous resolutions and memorials, has urged them to labor
for this noble achievement. The general character of this convention,
already signed by the delegates of more than twenty sovereign States,
further commends it to the favorable action of the Senate of the United
States, whose ratification it still awaits.

Since my last annual message, and in obedience to the acts of the
Congress of April 22 and 26, 1898, the remaining volunteer force
enlisted for the Spanish War, consisting of 34,834 regulars and 110,202
volunteers, with over 5,000 volunteer officers, has been discharged from
the military service. Of the volunteers, 667 officers and 14,831 men
were serving in the Philippines, and 1,650 of the regulars, who were
entitled to be mustered out after the ratification of the treaty of
peace. They voluntarily remained at the front until their places could
be filled by new troops. They were returned home in the order in which
they went to Manila, and are now all of them out of the service and in
the ranks of citizenship. I recommend that the Congress provide a
special medal of honor for the volunteers, regulars, sailors, and
marines on duty in the Philippines who voluntarily remained in the
service after their terms of enlistment had expired.

By the act of March 2, 1899, Congress gave authority to increase the
Regular Army to a maximum not exceeding 65,000 enlisted men, and to
enlist a force of 35,000 volunteers, to be recruited from the country at
large. By virtue of this authority the Regular Army has been increased
to the number of 61,999 enlisted men and 2,248 officers, and new
volunteer regiments have been organized aggregating 33,050 enlisted men
and 1,524 officers. Two of these volunteer regiments are made up of
colored men, with colored line officers. The new troops to take the
places of those returning from the Philippines have been transported
to Manila to the number of 581 officers and 26,322 enlisted men of
the Regular Army and 594 officers and 15,388 enlisted men of the new
volunteer force, while 504 officers and 14,119 men of the volunteer
force are on the ocean _en route_ to Manila.

The force now in Manila consists of 905 officers and 30,578 regulars,
and 594 officers and 15,388 of the volunteers, making an aggregate of
1,499 officers and 45,966 men. When the troops now under orders shall
reach Manila the force in the archipelago will comprise 2,051 officers
and 63,483 men. The muster out of the great volunteer army organized
for the Spanish War and the creation of a new army, the transportation
from Manila to San Francisco of those entitled to discharge and the
transportation of the new troops to take their places have been a work
of great magnitude well and ably done, for which too much credit cannot
be given the War Department.

During the past year we have reduced our force in Cuba and Puerto Rico.
In Cuba we now have 334 officers and 10,796 enlisted men; in Puerto
Rico, 87 officers and 2,855 enlisted men and a battalion of 400 men
composed of native Puerto Ricans; while stationed throughout the United
States are 910 officers and 17,317 men, and in Hawaii 12 officers and
453 enlisted men.

The operations of the Army are fully presented in the report of the
Secretary of War. I cannot withhold from officers and men the highest
commendation for their soldierly conduct in trying situations, their
willing sacrifices for their country, and the integrity and ability with
which they have performed unusual and difficult duties in our island
possessions.

In the organization of the volunteer regiments authorized by the
act of March 2, 1899, it was found that no provision had been made for
chaplains. This omission was doubtless from inadvertence. I recommend
the early authorization for the appointment of one chaplain for each of
said regiments. These regiments are now in the Philippines, and it is
important that immediate action be had.

In restoring peaceful conditions, orderly rule, and civic progress in
Cuba, Puerto Rico, and, so far as practicable, in the Philippines, the
rehabilitation of the postal service has been an essential and important
part of the work. It became necessary to provide mail facilities both
for our forces of occupation and for the native population. To meet this
requirement has involved a substantial reconstruction. The existing
systems were so fragmentary, defective, and inadequate that a new and
comprehensive organization had to be created. American trained officials
have been assigned to the directing and executive positions, while
natives have been chiefly employed in making up the body of the force.
In working out this plan the merit rule has been rigorously and
faithfully applied.

The appointment of Director-General of Posts of Cuba was given
to an expert who had been Chief Post-Office Inspector and Assistant
Postmaster-General, and who united large experience with administrative
capacity. For the postmastership at Havana the range of skilled and
available men was scanned, and the choice fell upon one who had been
twenty years in the service as deputy postmaster and postmaster of a
large city. This principle governed and determined the selection of the
American officials sent not only to Cuba, but to Puerto Rico and the
Philippines, and they were instructed to apply it so far as practicable
in the employment of the natives as minor postmasters and clerks. The
postal system in Cuba, though remaining under the general guidance of
the Postmaster-General, was made essentially independent. It was felt
that it should not be a burden upon the postal service of the United
States, and provision was made that any deficit in the postal revenue
should be a charge upon the general revenues of the island.

Though Puerto Rico and the Philippines hold a different relation
to the United States, yet, for convenience of administration, the
same principle of an autonomous system has been extended to them. The
development of the service in all of the islands has been rapid and
successful. It has moved forward on American lines, with free delivery,
money order, and registry systems, and has given the people mail
facilities far greater and more reliable than any they have ever before
enjoyed. It is thus not only a vital agency of industrial, social, and
business progress, but an important influence in diffusing a just
understanding of the true spirit and character of American
administration.

The domestic postal service continues to grow with extraordinary
rapidity. The expenditures and the revenues will each exceed
$100,000,000 during the current year. Fortunately, since the revival
of prosperous times the revenues have grown much faster than the
expenditures, and there is every indication that a short period will
witness the obliteration of the annual deficit. In this connection the
report of the Postmaster-General embodies a statement of some evils
which have grown up outside of the contemplation of law in the treatment
of some classes of mail matter which wrongly exercise the privilege
of the pound rate, and shows that if this matter had been properly
classified and had paid the rate which it should have paid, instead
of a postal deficit for the last fiscal year of $6,610,000, there
would have been on one basis a surplus of $17,637,570, and on another
of $5,733,836. The reform thus suggested, in the opinion of the
Postmaster-General, would not only put the postal service at once on a
self-sustaining basis, but would permit great and valuable improvements,
and I commend the subject to the consideration of the Congress.

The Navy has maintained the spirit and high efficiency which have always
characterized that service, and has lost none of the gallantry in heroic
action which has signalized its brilliant and glorious past. The Nation
has equal pride in its early and later achievements. Its habitual
readiness for every emergency has won the confidence and admiration of
the country. The people are interested in the continued preparation and
prestige of the Navy and will justify liberal appropriations for its
maintenance and improvement. The officers have shown peculiar adaptation
for the performance of new and delicate duties which our recent war has
imposed.

It cannot be doubted that Congress will at once make necessary provision
for the armor plate for the vessels now under contract and building.
Its attention is respectfully called to the report of the Secretary
of the Navy, in which the subject is fully presented. I unite in his
recommendation that the Congress enact such special legislation as may
be necessary to enable the Department to make contracts early in the
coming year for armor of the best quality that can be obtained in this
country for the _Maine_, _Ohio_, and _Missouri_, and that the provision
of the act of March 3, 1899, limiting the price of armor to $300 per ton
be removed.

In the matter of naval construction Italy and Japan, of the great
powers, laid down less tonnage in the year 1899 than this country, and
Italy alone has less tonnage under construction. I heartily concur in
the recommendations for the increase of the Navy, as suggested by the
Secretary.

Our future progress and prosperity depend upon our ability to equal, if
not surpass, other nations in the enlargement and advance of science,
industry, and commerce. To invention we must turn as one of the most
powerful aids to the accomplishment of such a result. The attention of
the Congress is directed to the report of the Commissioner of Patents,
in which will be found valuable suggestions and recommendations.

On the 30th of June, 1899, the pension roll of the United States
numbered 991,519. These include the pensioners of the Army and Navy in
all our wars. The number added to the rolls during the year was 40,991.
The number dropped by reason of death, remarriage, minors by legal
limitation, failure to claim within three years, and other causes, was
43,186, and the number of claims disallowed was 107,919. During the year
89,054 pension certificates were issued, of which 37,077 were for new or
original pensions. The amount disbursed for army and navy pensions
during the year was $138,355,052.95, which was $1,651,461.61 less than
the sum of the appropriations.

The Grand Army of the Republic at its recent national encampment held in
Philadelphia has brought to my attention and to that of the Congress the
wisdom and justice of a modification of the third section of the act of
June 27, 1890, which provides pensions for the widows of officers and
enlisted men who served ninety days or more during the War of the
Rebellion and were honorably discharged, provided that such widows are
without other means of support than their daily labor and were married
to the soldier, sailor, or marine on account of whose service they claim
pension prior to the date of the act.

The present holding of the Department is that if the widow's income
aside from her daily labor does not exceed in amount what her pension
would be, to wit, $96 per annum, she would be deemed to be without
other means of support than her daily labor, and would be entitled to
a pension under this act; while if the widow's income independent of
the amount received by her as the result of her daily labor exceeds
$96, she would not be pensionable under the act. I am advised by the
Commissioner of Pensions that the amount of the income allowed before
title to pension would be barred has varied widely under different
administrations of the Pension Office, as well as during different
periods of the same administration, and has been the cause of just
complaint and criticism.

With the approval of the Secretary of the Interior the Commissioner of
Pensions recommends that, in order to make the practice at all times
uniform and to do justice to the dependent widow, the amount of income
allowed independent of the proceeds of her daily labor should be not
less than $250 per annum, and he urges that the Congress shall so amend
the act as to permit the Pension Office to grant pensionable status to
widows under the terms of the third section of the act of June 27, 1890,
whose income aside from the proceeds of daily labor is not in excess of
$250 per annum. I believe this to be a simple act of justice and
heartily recommend it.

The Dawes Commission reports that gratifying progress has been made in
its work during the preceding year. The field-work of enrollment of four
of the nations has been completed. I recommend that Congress at an early
day make liberal appropriation for educational purposes in the Indian
Territory.

In accordance with the act of Congress approved March 3, 1899, the
preliminary work in connection with the Twelfth Census is now fully
under way. The officers required for the proper administration of the
duties imposed have been selected. The provision for securing a proper
enumeration of the population, as well as to secure evidence of the
industrial growth of the Nation, is broader and more comprehensive than
any similar legislation in the past. The Director advises that every
needful effort is being made to push this great work to completion in
the time limited by the statute. It is believed that the Twelfth Census
will emphasize our remarkable advance in all that pertains to national
progress.

Under the authority of the act of Congress approved July 7, 1898,
the commission consisting of the Secretary of the Treasury, the
Attorney-General, and the Secretary of the Interior has made an
agreement of settlement, which has had my approval, of the indebtedness
to the Government growing out of the issue of bonds to aid in the
construction of the Central Pacific and Western Pacific railroads.
The agreement secures to the Government the principal and interest of
said bonds, amounting to $58,812,715.48. There has been paid thereon
$11,762,543.12, which has been covered into the Treasury, and the
remainder, payable within ten years, with interest at the rate of 3 per
cent per annum, payable semiannually, is secured by the deposit of an
equal amount of first-mortgage bonds of the Pacific Railway companies.
The amounts paid and secured to be paid to the Government on account of
the Pacific Railroad subsidy claims are:


Union Pacific, cash $58,448,223.75
Kansas Pacific, cash 6,303,000.00
Central and Western Pacific, cash 11,798,314.14
Notes, secured 47,050,172.36
Kansas Pacific--dividends for deficiency
due United States, cash 821,897.70
--------------
Making a total of 124,421,607.95


The whole indebtedness was about $130,000,000, more than half of which
consisted of accrued interest, for which sum the Government has realized
the entire amount less about $6,000,000 within a period of two years.

On June 30, 1898, there were thirty forest reservations (exclusive of
the Afognak Forest and Fish Culture Reserve in Alaska), embracing an
estimated area of 40,719,474 acres. During the past year two of the
existing forest reserves, the Trabuco Canyon (California) and Black
Hills (South Dakota and Wyoming), have been considerably enlarged, the
area of the Mount Rainier Reserve, in the State of Washington, has been
somewhat reduced, and six additional reserves have been established,
namely, the San Francisco Mountains (Arizona), the Black Mesa (Arizona),
Lake Tahoe (California), Gallatin (Montana), Gila River (New Mexico),
and Fish Lake (Utah), the total estimated area of which is 5,205,775
acres. This makes at the present time a total of thirty-six forest
reservations, embracing an estimated area of 46,021,899 acres. This
estimated area is the aggregated areas within the boundaries of the
reserves. The lands actually reserved are, however, only the vacant
public lands therein, and these have been set aside and reserved for
sale or settlement in order that they may be of the greatest use to
the people.

Protection of the national forests, inaugurated by the Department of
the Interior in 1897, has been continued during the past year and much
has been accomplished in the way of preventing forest fires and the
protection of the timber. There are now large tracts covered by forests
which will eventually be reserved and set apart for forest uses. Until
that can be done Congress should increase the appropriations for the
work of protecting the forests.

The Department of Agriculture is constantly consulting the needs of
producers in all the States and Territories. It is introducing seeds and
plants of great value and promoting fuller diversification of crops.
Grains, grasses, fruits, legumes, and vegetables are imported for all
parts of the United States. Under this encouragement the sugar-beet
factory multiplies in the North and far West, semitropical plants are
sent to the South, and congenial climates are sought for the choice
productions of the far East. The hybridizing of fruit trees and grains
is conducted in the search for varieties adapted to exacting conditions.
The introduction of tea gardens into the Southern States promises to
provide employment for idle hands, as well as to supply the home market
with tea. The subject of irrigation where it is of vital importance to
the people is being carefully studied, steps are being taken to reclaim
injured or abandoned lands, and information for the people along these
lines is being printed and distributed.

Markets are being sought and opened up for surplus farm and factory
products in Europe and in Asia. The outlook for the education of the
young farmer through agricultural college and experiment station, with
opportunity given to specialize in the Department of Agriculture, is
very promising. The people of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine
Islands should be helped, by the establishment of experiment stations,
to a more scientific knowledge of the production of coffee, india
rubber, and other tropical products, for which there is demand in the
United States.

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We do not know the women's names, but their voices are quite distinct. All are pregnant. But while the first woman awaits the birth of her baby with a moon-like serenity, the other two are not so lucky. One, whose previous pregnancies have failed to go to term, is experiencing a heartbreaking late miscarriage; the other is a young student whose accidental pregnancy will end in her child being put up for adoption.

Sylvia Plath's only play was never intended for the stage, being broadcast instead on BBC radio in August 1962. Less than six months later, Plath killed herself, but not before the burst of astonishing creative energy that produced her extraordinary, terrifying Ariel poems.

Anyone who knows Plath's poetry will see the connection between Three Women and Plath's subsequent poems, particularly in the way she talks about the agony of childbirth, the rush of love for this tiny alien being, and both the wonder and wounded rawness of motherhood. It is a beautiful piece, full of startling imagery that draws you in through the sheer intensity of its femaleness, and because it so precisely articulates the emotions that are often thought but seldom voiced by women - certainly not in the early 1960s - about men, motherhood and our relationship to our bodies.

It's been 20 years since there has been an attempt at a professional stage version and - in a theatre world that happily accepts the poetic offerings of Sarah Kane and Debbie Tucker Green, or the staged possibilities of The Waves, one of Plath's own inspirations for the piece, I see no reason why it shouldn't be brought to life. Sadly, it doesn't breathe here, in a production by Robert Shaw that is clearly a labour of love, but which never finds a way to give the internal a physical reality. Plath's poetry, like most babies, is more robust than it appears - and won't break if treated with a little less reverence and considerably more grit.

Instead, what we are offered is tinkling piano music, mournful mood lighting, an innocuous pale setting, as well as three perfectly good but indisputably ladylike performances that capture none of the wounded redness of Plath's poetry, and do her the disservice of making her sound bleached and somewhat prissy. It's a pity. What might have been a wonder ends up a mere curiosity.

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