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cipal towns. All these important works, as well as the roadwork, have been paid for out of current funds.

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Careful attention has also been given to the legislative needs of the Island. It was a commentary on the necessity for legislation that nearly all the bases of settlement between the warring factions, proposed during the period of deliberation which led up to the establishment of the provisional government, incorporated more or less urgent demands for legislation, and particularly for legislation under the constitution affecting municipal and judicial administration. To meet this demand for legislative action, and in pursuance of the plan of the Peace Commission, an advisory commission was created, composed of twelve members, nine of whom were prominent Cubans, all political parties being represented, and three Americans, who had had experience with Spanish law. The commission on organizing was charged with the drafting of five laws: electoral law, a municipal law, a provincial law, a judiciary law, and a civil service law. To these have since been added a law organizing the armed forces, a military code, a law organizing the national executive departments, a general telephone law, a notarial law, and the revision of portions of the mortgage law. Numerous minor decrees have also been reported by the commission, and the lack of adequate legislation at present obliged the commission to draft a municipal accounting law and a municipal tax law in connection with the organic cipal law. The work of the Advisory Law Commission is thus a work of organization of practically every fundamental branch of the Cuban Government. The law of the executive departments, together with the civil service law, will reorganize the executive power of the national government; the organic municipal law and the laws of municipal accounting and municipal taxation will afford to the municipalities a government in harmony with the constitution; the electoral law is applicable to offices national, provisional, and municipal; the judiciary law organizes the courts and provides for the independence of the judiciary; while the law of armed forces and the military code organize the military establishment of the Republic. Of these laws, the electoral law and the law of armed forces, as well as numerous minor decrees reported by the commission, have been promulgated by the Provisional Governor. Drafts of the provincial and municipal laws have also been reported and approved. In all of these cases the proposed laws have been printed and distributed for public criticism prior to promulgation. Most of the laws drafted by the commission will be promulgated by the Provisional Governor, and the remainder will be submitted for action to the Cuban Congress.

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In addition, a commission has been convened, constituted by prominent Cuban judges and lawyers, for the revision of the harsh and antiquated penal code and the code of criminal procedure.

Much attention has been given to the matter of sanitation, which, in Cuba, is not only of vital importance to the health of the inhabitants but has also a direct bearing upon the development and commerce of the country, for vessels will not seek to enter a port of the Island if all other ports of the world are quarantined against Cuba. The matter is also one of serious moment to the people and the commerce of the Southern States of the United States. The dreaded yellow fever had been stamped out in Cuba during the American military government, but has reappeared. Indefatigable work on the part of the provisional administration has again suppressed it. In view of the special importance of sanitation in Cuba, a law has been promulgated which nationalizes the sanitary service of the Island. and provides a national board of sanitation charged with the responsibility of securing proper sanitation throughout the Island and invested with the authority necessary for obtaining that result.

Public order has been kept perfectly, and at no time for a century has the Island been as quiet and as free from marauding bands as under the American Provisional Administration. The presence in the Island of an American Army detachment, nemibering about 5,000 men, and known as the Army of Cuban

Pacification, has assisted in great measure in renewing confi dence. The rural guard, which had been used as a political agency, has been reorganized by American Army officers and restored to its original efficiency. For the purpose of enabling the new Cuban government to maintain itself, a decree has been issued providing for the organization of the armed forces. Under this decree the method of calling the militia into service is regulated, and provisions are made for the establishment of a permanent army, which is now being organized.

It fell to the provisional government to pay practically the entire cost of the uprising of 1906, as well as the debts incurred by the Cuban government, when it was struggling with the insurrectionists, as the damage caused by the revolutionary forces. Such payments have, up to the present time, amounted to over $9,000,000. As a consequence of the revolution, about 15,000 claims for damages were filed by Cubans and aliens, the total amount claimed exceeding $4,000,000. A commission of American officers and Cubans have investigated and reported on every claim, and recommended payments to the amount of $1,390,088.39, all of which have been made, except in a few cases that are being reconsidered on appeal.

Many long pending questions, which had troubled the Cuban authorities for years, have also been settled. A question between the State and the Catholic Church, involving the purchase of property owned by the Church in Habana and used by the State, has been satisfactorily settled and the purchase carried out. A water famine in the outskirts of Habana has been remedied by the acquirement in behalf of the municipality and under excellent conditions of a water concession, on account of which the city and national government had been engaged in costly litigation for years, while the public suffered from lack of water. A decree has been issued to facilitate the demarcation of large unsurveyed estates held in common in the eastern part of the Island, the division of which has for a century been regarded as necessary for the public interests. Other decrees have served to clear up doubts arising in the interpretation of customs tariffs, and have simplified the manner of drafting manifests, as well as the customs regulations for the entry and clearance of vessels. Still other decrees have been promulgated for the settlement of minor difficulties which had arisen under the present laws.

A remarkable feature of the provisional administration has been the satisfaction and content with which its acts have been received by the Cuban people, and the cordiality existing between the American government officials and all political parties, as well as the commercial and industrial bodies of Cuba. This state of public sentiment is all the more gratifying in view of the previous bitterness between the political parties, and of the difficulties and embarrassments with which the provisional administration has had to contend by reason of long periods of drought, labor strikes, and business depression, which have affected the agricultural and commercial interests. classes have perfect confidence in the American government, and realize that their welfare is the object of constant solicitude and effort.

Preparation for Restoration of Cuban Government.

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In the meantime, the work of preparation for the return of the government to the Cubans has gone on as rapidly as circumstances would permit. Soon after the advisory commission began to consider the electoral law the opinion was expressed in the commission, as well as in the public press, that a census of the Island should be taken in order to secure reliable basis for the electoral lists, and that the local elections be held before the national elections in order that they might serve as a test of the electoral law. Secretary Taft again visited Cuba in April, 1907, and among other matters which received his attention was that deciding upon the fate of the forthcoming elections. As a result of his conference with the national committees of the various political parties, and with other representative bodies, he announced that a census of the Island

should be taken in as short a time as was consistent with making it thorough, fair, and complete for electoral purposes, that the municipal and provincial elections would be held as soon as practicable after the termination of the census, that within six months after these local elections the national elections would be held, and that as soon as the president and senators were designated by the presidential and senatorial electoral colleges the government would be devolved upon the Cubans. On January 14th of this year, President Roosevelt, in transmitting to Congress the report of the Provisional Gov ernor for 1906-07, ordered that the provisional administration end not later than February 1, 1909. In pursuance of the plan laid out by Secretary Taft, a careful census of the Island has been taken under the direction of an official of the United States Census Department. The election boards provided for by the new electoral law have been constituted, and it is expected to hold the local elections in July of this year, and the national election in the fall; whereupon, in compliance with President Roosevelt's order, the government of the Island will, devolve upon the officials designated as a result of such election, not later than February 1, 1909.

The empire that shifted from the Mediterranean will in the lifetime of those now children bid fair to shift once more westward to the Pacific.-President Roosevelt at San Francisco, Cal., May 13, 1903.

The contention that we are not a nation with power to govern a conquered or purchased territory, robs us of a faculty most important for good to every sovereignty,-Hon. Wm. H. Taft, at Cleveland, Ohio.

It is no longer a question of expansion with us; we have expanded. If there is any question at all it is a question of contraction; and who is going to contract?-President McKinley at Iowa Falls, Iowa, Oct. 16, 1899.

It is a good lesson for nations and individuals to learn never to hit if it can be helped, and then never to hit softly. I think it is getting to be fairly understood that that is our foreign policy.-President Roosevelt at San Francisco, Cal., May 13, 1903.

The policy of expansion is what distinguishes the administration of McKinley and adds another to the list of patriotic victories of the Republican party. By this policy the United States has become a world power.-Hon. Wm. H. Taft, at Kansas City, Mo.

The construction of the canal is now an assured fact; but most certainly it is unwise to intrust the carrying out of so momentous a policy to those who have endeavored to defeat the whole undertaking.-President Roosevelt's speech accepting 1904 nomination.

The guns that thundered off Manila and Santiago left us If echoes of glory, but they also left us a legacy of duty. we drove out a mediaeval tyranny only to make room for savage anarchy, we had better not have begun the task at all.-President Roosevelt in The Strenuous Life, p. 11.

When we legislate for Alaska we are acting within the clearly granted authority of the Constitution, and when we legislate for the Philippines we are likewise within the Constitution.-Hon. C.. W. scope and plain purpose of the

Fairbanks, in U. S. Senate, February 22, 1902,

For years the commerce of the world has demanded an isthmian canal, and recent events give us the assurance that an early this vast be accomplished at undertaking will protection of the American day under the flag.-Hon. C. W. Fairbanks, at St. Paul, Minn., August 31, 1903.

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We are the trustees and guardians of the whole Filipino people, and peculiarly of the ignorant masses, and our trust is not discharged until those masses are given education sufficient to know their civil rights and maintain them against a more powerful class and safely to exercise the political franchise.-Hon. Wm. H. Taft, in special report to the President.

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the One vital, fact confronts dominating which no eloquence, party oratory, which no rhetoric can obscure: BRYAN'S NOMINATION MEANS TAFT'S ELECTION.-New York World.

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MERCHANT MARINE.

During the past twelve years of Republican control American ship-building has made steady growth in tonnage and improvement in design. The closing fiscal year of President Roosevelt's administration is the banner ship-building year in American history. Up to June 20, 1908, the output was 590,231 gross tons (the highest record in any earlier year was 583,450 gross tons), and the few remaining days of the fiscal year will bring the aggregate up to 600,000 tons. Of this large output, however, no vessels were built exclusively for the foreign trade. Were it not for the coasting trade policy, which reserves to American vessels exclusively the transportation of freight and passengers between American ports, doubtless domestic shipyards would have almost entirely disappeared from our seaboard, and even our war vessels would have been built abroad, or if at home, at an enormous increase in cost. Every industrial factor and every act of Congress which tends to promote shipbuilding for mercantile purposes at the same time renders the United States more capable of producing its own war vessels, and such legislation accordingly contributes to national defense. For this reason, if for no other, the Republican policy of promoting shipbuilding at home is entitled to the support of every patriotic citizen.

The following table shows the total merchant tonnage (gross register tons) under the American flag, divided according to the trade in which engaged, on June 30 of each year named, and also the gain or loss for each period of four fiscal years, covering the four latest national administrations:

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*Gain or loss in three years.

The returns for June 30, 1908, not yet completed, will show a total increase during the four years of over 1,100,000 gross tons.

American tonnage built during recent periods of four fiscal years, beginning June 30th:

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In 1896 the production of steel vessels in the United States amounted to only 96.331 gross tons; by 1908 it had increased to 425,000 gross tons. Two-thirds of the merchant tonnage of all

types under the American flag on the sea, on the lakes and the. rivers of the United States were built during the administrations of Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt. In 1906 115,500 men employed on American steam vessels, valued at $386,773,000, were paid $61,265,000 in wages.

In 1905 50,750 workmen in American shipyards were paid $29,241,000 in wages.

Legislation for Seamen.

The Republican Party in control of Congress and the executive departments has steadily endeavored to improve the conditions of American labor at sea as well as American. labor on the land. At the late session Congress, by the act of April 2, 1908, for the first time provided for Government determination of the numbers of the crew of every steam vessel, passenger or freight, thereby providing also for the fixing of hours of labor. It also passed an act for the regulation of seagoing barges, the most dangerous form of navigation on our coasts, and thus both gave better protection to the crews on such vessels and at the same time took steps to reduce a serious menace to navigation along our coasts.

More rigid inspections at home and abroad of the seaworthiness of vessels have been prescribed by Congress and the Administration. As long ago as 1898 a compulsory Scale of provisions for seamen on American vessels was fixed by law 'very much superior in the quantity and quality of the food furnished to seamen on other vessels. Indeed, the standard of living on American ships thus provided has already led other nations to legislate in the same direction, thus improving the conditions of labor at sea generally. The same act of December 21, 1898, provided for the prompter payment of wages, already much higher on American than on foreign ships, and for the return of wrecked, sick or injured American seamen from abroad, or from Alaska, Porto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines and the Canal Zone, at the expense of the Federal Government. Forecastle quarters on American ships are now equal to any on foreign ships and superior to most. Warm rooms are provided in cold weather.

The penalty of imprisonment for the seaman's breach of a civil contract has been abolished and all forms of corporal punishment prohibited by heavy penalties. Prompt trials of cases in which a seaman is a party are now required by law.

Legislative enactment and administrative effort have been directed successfully against the crimping system by which seamen have been cheated of their wages. Abuses under the system of allotment of wages have been reduced to a minimum, and "shanghaiing" on American vessels has practically ceased since the acts of 1906 and 1907. Under these several acts the Federal courts have inflicted heavy penalties on those engaged in defrauding seamen. Of the act of 1898 the Supreme Court has said:

"The story of the wrongs done to sailors in the larger ports, not merely of this nation but of the world, is an oft-told tale, and many have been the efforts to protect them against such wrongs. One of the. most common means of doing these wrongs is the advancement of wages. Bad men lure them into haunts of vice, advance a little money to continue their dissipation, and having thus acquired a partial control and by liquor dulled their faculties, place them on board the vessel just ready to sail and most ready to return the advances. When once on shipboard and the ship at sea, the sailor is powerless and no relief is availing. It was in order to stop this evil, to protect the sailor, and not to restrict him of his liberty, that this statute was passed. And while in some cases it may operate harshly, no one can doubt that the best interests of the seaman as a class are preserved by such legislation."

The wages of seamen on American vessels are much higher than on foreign vessels. Thus the average monthly wages paid at Bremen, the great German seaport, are $16, and at Liverpool $18 for seamen and $20 for firemen. At New York seamen on American vessels are paid $25 and firemen $35 to $40. American engineers and mates are paid double the corresponding British wages. The American S. S. "St. Louis" (11,629 gross tons) has a monthly pay roll of $11,300 for 380 men; the British S. S. "Oceanic" (17,274 gross tons) pays $9,891 to 427 men, and the German S. S. "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" (14,349 gross tons)

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