ADDRESS AT THE NATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE EXTENSION OF THE FOREIGN COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON, D. C., JANUARY 14, 1907

I thank you for your cordial greeting, and I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the very kind terms which you have used regarding myself. I have come here with pleasure, not to make a prepared address, or to attempt oratory, but to talk a few minutes about subjects of common interest to us all.

I wish first to express the satisfaction that I feel in the existence of this convention. The process of discussion, consideration, mutual information, and comparison of opinion among the people who are not in office, is the process that puts under the forms of representative government the reality of freedom and of a self-governing people. The discussion which takes place in such meetings as this, and which is stimulated by such meetings as this, in the club, in all the local associations and places where men meet throughout the country, is at once far removed from the secret and selfish devices of the lobbyist and from the stolid indifference which characterizes a people willing to be governed without themselves having a voice in government.

I congratulate you that you have come here to the nation's capital to discuss and consider subjects which are properly of national concern; that you have not come to ask the national government to do anything which you ought to do yourselves at home in your separate states, but to consider the exercise of the great commerce power of the nation, the power which from the beginning of our government has been fittingly placed in the hands of the national administration.To my view we are advancing, and the whole world is advancing, in the opportunities and in the spirit and method which create opportunities for that kind of commerce which is profitable and beneficial to both parties the world over. Our relations continually grow more reasonable, more sensible and kindly with Europe and all the powers of Europe, with our vigorous and growing neighbor to the north, with our rapidly advancing and developing neighbors to the south, and with the nations that face us on the other side of the Pacific. Little occasions for controversy, little causes for irritation, little incidents of conflicting interests continually arise, as they do among friends and neighbors in the same town, but the general trend of international relations is a trend towards mutual respect, mutual consideration, and substantial good understanding.

Of course our relations to Europe, and our relations to the Orient, and our relations to Canada have long been much discussed and are worthy of discussion; but it seems to me that the subject which at this particular time opens before us with more of an appearance, and just appearance, of new opportunity than any other, is the subject of our relations to the Latin American nations to the south. I am not going to detain you by any extended discussion of that subject. I made a long—perhaps too long—speech about it before the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress at Kansas City a few weeks ago, and that has been printed in various forms and some of you, perhaps, have seen it or will see it. The substance is that just at the time when the United States has reached a point of development in its wonderful resources and accumulation of capital so that it is possible for us to turn our attention from the development of our own internal affairs to reach out into other lands for investment, for the fruits of profitable enterprise, for the expansion and extension of trade—just at that time the great and fertile and immeasurably rich countries of South America are emerging from the conditions of internal warfare, of continual revolution, of disturbed and unsafe property conditions, and are acquiring stability in government, safety for property, capacity to protect enterprise. So that we may look with certainty to an enormous increase of population and of wealth throughout the continent of South America, and we may look with certainty for an enormous increase in purchasing power as a consequence of that increase in population and wealth.

These two things coming together spread before us an opportunity for our trade and our enterprise surpassed by none anywhere in the world or at any time in our history.

It was with this view that last summer I spent three months, in response to the kind invitations of various Governments of South America, in visiting their capitals, in meeting their leading men, in becoming familiar with their conditions, and in trying to represent to them what I believe to be the real relation of respect and kindliness on the part of the people of the United States.

I wish you all could have seen with what genuine reciprocal friendship they accepted the message that I brought to them. We have long been allied to them by political sentiment. Now lies before us the opportunity—with their stable governments and protection for enterprise and property, and our increased capital—now lies before us the opportunity to be allied to them also by the bonds of personal intercourse and profitable trade.

This situation is accentuated by the fact that we are turning our attention to the south and engaging there in the great enterprise of constructing the Panama Canal. No one can tell what effect that will have upon the commerce of the world, but we do know that there never has been in history a case of a great change in the trade routes of the world which has not powerfully affected the rise and fall of nations, the development of commerce, and the development of civilization.

We, by the expenditure of a part of our recently acquired capital, are about to open a new trade route that will bring our Atlantic and Gulf ports into immediate, close intercourse with all the Pacific coasts of South and Central America, and which will bring our Pacific ports into immediate and close relation with all the countries about the Caribbean Sea and the eastern coast of South America. The combination of political sentiment which has long allied us with the Latin American countries, the opportunity which comes from their change of conditions and our increase of capital, and the effects that must necessarily follow the opening of the great trade route of the Panama Canal, all point to the development of American enterprise and American trade to the south.

Now, in considering that view of the future there are certain practical considerations that necessarily arise. How are we to adapt ourselves to this new condition? How are we to utilize this opportunity? One subject naturally presents itself, and that is the increase of means of communication through which our intercourse and our trade may be carried on. And that may be in two ways: one by the promotion of the railroad, long ago projected, and in constant course of development—the road that we speak of as the Pan American road. When we speak of the Pan American Railroad we are speaking of something of the future, and which exists today only in a great number of links, each of which has its separate name. They are being built, and being built with great rapidity. In Mexico, in Guatemala, in Bolivia, in Peru, in the Argentine, in other countries pieces of road are being built—many of them by American capital and American enterprise; some of them by capital coming from other countries—promoted by the strong desire of the people of these Latin American countries to break out from their isolation and to be brought into closer contact with the rest of the world. Those pieces are being built until now, when the work actually under contract is completed, there will be less than 4,000 miles remaining to be built to make a complete railroad which will unite the city of Washington with the city of Buenos Ayres in the Argentine.

One of the objects of the Rio conference last summer was to promote and further the interest of all American countries in the building of this road, and I am glad to believe that the action taken by that conference has had that effect. The line now running to the south is almost through Mexico—has almost reached the Guatemala line; and lines are being built in Guatemala to connect with that; and within the life of men now sitting in this room it will be possible for passengers and merchandise to travel by rail practically the entire length of both the North and South American continents.

The other method of communication is by steamships. We are lamentably deficient in that. A great many fine, swift, commodious lines of steamships run between the South American ports and Europe and very few and comparatively poor ships run between those ports and the ports of the United States. No American line runs south of the Caribbean Sea. Our mails are slow and uncertain. It is a matter of hardship for a passenger to go directly between the great South American ports and the great North American ports, while the mails run swiftly and certainly to and from Europe, and it is a pleasure for a passenger to go between one of those ports and the European ports. The Postmaster-General reports that the best way for him to get the despatches from my Department to our ministers in South America with certainty and swiftness is to send them to Europe and have them sent from there to South America. That condition of things ought not to continue if we can prevent it.One great reason why it exists is, that American shipping is driven off the seas by two great obstacles interposed in its way by legislation. One is the legislation of foreign countries which has subsidized foreign shipping; the other is the legislation of our own country which by the protective tariff has raised the standard of living of all Americans—a most beneficent result—has raised the standard of living of all Americans so that American ships paying and feeding their officers and men according to the American standard cannot compete on even terms with foreign ships, the cost of whose officers and men is under the foreign standard.

If our Government will equalize these artificial disadvantages under which our vessels labor and will do for them enough to make up to them the disadvantage caused by raising the standard of living of the men they employ and to make up to them the disadvantage, coming from the fact that their foreign competitors are subsidized by foreign governments for the purpose of promoting foreign trade against American trade, we will have an American merchant marine and American ships to carry passengers and freight and mails between South and North American ports. A bill to provide that is pending in Congress now. It has passed the Senate. It is in the Committee of the House. I hope that all of you who agree with me in believing that our Government ought to be fair to the American merchant marine will say so out loud; say so to your neighbors; say so in such a way that American public opinion will realize that that kind of fair treatment is not a matter of the lobbyist, but is a matter of broad, American public policy.

There is one other subject—very important as a part of this general outlook and forecast of American policy looking towards the south. That is our special relation towards the countries, the smaller countries about the Caribbean, and particularly the West Indian countries, the islands that lie directly on the route between our ports and the Panama Canal. Some of them have had a pretty hard time. The conditions of their lives have been such that it has been difficult for them to maintain stable and orderly governments. They have been cursed, some of them, by frequent revolution. Poor Cuba, with her wonderful climate and richness of soil, has suffered. We have done the best we could to help her, and we mean to go on doing the best we can to help her.

I think the key of our attitude towards these countries can be put in three sentences:

First. We do not want to take them for ourselves.

Second. We do not want any foreign nations to take them for themselves.

Third. We want to help them.

Now, we can help them; help them govern themselves, help them to acquire capacity for self-government, help them along the road that Brazil and the Argentine and Chile and Peru and a number of other South American countries have travelled—up out of the discord and turmoil of continual revolution into a general public sense of justice and determination to maintain order.

There is a good deal of talk in the newspapers about the annexation of Cuba. Never! so long as the people of Cuba do not themselves give up the effort to govern themselves. Our efforts should be towards helping them to be self-governing. That is what we are trying to do now and what we mean to try to do.

So with Santo Domingo. Poor Santo Domingo! With her phenomenal richness of soil, her people ought to be among the richest and happiest on earth; but the island has been the scene of almost continued revolution and bloodshed. Her politics are purely personal, and have been a continual struggle of this and that and the other man to secure ascendancy and power. She has come to us for help. She is burdened with an enormous amount of debt, much of it fraudulent, much of it created by revolutionary governments in the bush or by regular governments in distress, needing a little money to save themselves from being overthrown, in desperate circumstances, ready to make any sort of bargain, to pay any sort of interest, to promise anything to get immediate relief. Many debts have been created in that way and are hanging over her, foreign debts as to which she has pledged the resources of this custom-house to the creditors of this country, and of that custom-house to the creditors of that country, and of another custom-house to the creditors of the third country. She is unable to pay interest; unable to make any settlement because she could not give anything to carry out any settlement. With this enormous debt hanging over her like a pall, and with this record of continual revolution and strife depriving her of credit, depriving her of courage and of hope, she came to us to help her. And we are trying to arrange so that she may have the little—very little—moral support of the United States which is necessary to settle her debts, to insure the honest collection of her revenue and its application to carry out the settlement, and that she may be able to stand and walk alone. Now, we are trying to make an arrangement of that kind by a treaty; trying to perform the office of friendship and discharge the duty of good neighborhood towards Santo Domingo. I hope you wall take a little interest in this unfortunate neighbor and try to create a little interest in her on the part of our people; for our treatment of Santo Domingo, like our treatment of Cuba, is but a part of a great policy which shall in the years to come determine the relations of this vast country, with its wealth and enterprise, to the millions of men and women and the countless millions of trade and treasure of the great world to the south.Our treatment of Santo Domingo, like our treatment of Cuba, is but a part of the working out of the policy of peace and righteousness as the basis for wealth and prosperity, in place of the policy of force, of plunder, of conquest, as the means of acquiring wealth.

The question is frequently asked, Should not a series of reciprocity treaties be adopted for the purpose of promoting our relations with these southern countries? That is not so important in regard to the South American countries as it might seem at first, because so greatly do the productions of North and South America vary that most of the products of South America already come into the United States free, as they are not competing with our products. Between eighty and ninety per cent of all our imports from South America are now admitted to the United States free of duty. The great country of Brazil—over ninety per cent of all our imports from there come in free of duty. So that the field to be covered by reciprocity treaties with those countries is comparatively narrow, and that question is not a question of first importance in regard to our relations with them. There are, however, some countries in regard to whose products I should like very much to see an opportunity to make reciprocity treaties.

But this opens up a broader subject. I do not think that the subject of reciprocity can now be adequately considered or discussed without going into that broader subject, and that is the whole form of our tariff laws.

In my judgment the United States must come to a maximum and minimum tariff.

A single straight-out tariff was all very well in the world of single straight-out tariffs; but we have passed on, during the course of years, into a world for the most part of maximum and minimum tariffs, and with our single-rate tariff we are left with very little opportunity to reciprocate good treatment from other countries in their tariffs and very little opportunity to defend ourselves against bad treatment. Of course this is the side that I look at; this is my point of view. I may be wrong, but this is the way it looks to me—that any country in the world can put up its tariff against our products as compared with similar products from another country without suffering for it so far as our present laws are concerned. We go on taking that country's products at just the same rates as we did before. Any country in the world knows that if it puts down our products in its tariff it will get no benefit from it because we will have to charge it the same rates that we charge the country that treats us the worst. The maximum and minimum tariff would be free from one serious difficulty that arises in the negotiation of reciprocity treaties. That difficulty is this: When you make a reciprocity treaty with Country A, agreeing to receive certain products from that country at less than our tariff schedules, you are immediately confronted by Country B, which is equally friendly with us, treats us as well or perhaps better, and to which we cannot with good grace refuse the same. Then comes Country C with the same demand, and D and E. The result is that with that fair and equal treatment which we wish to accord to all countries there is a tendency, by means of successive reciprocity treaties, to change the whole form of the tariff, and to change it without that full and general discussion, without that deliberate consideration of the effect upon all American interests, which there ought to be in dealing with this complicated and interwoven business of tariff rates. Now, a maximum and minimum tariff would enable us to deal equally with all countries, as we are friendly, and ought to be, with all countries. It would be free from invidious discrimination; it would enable us to protect ourselves against those that use us badly, to reward those that use us well; and it would proceed upon a general and intelligent consideration of all interests.

There is but one other subject that I want to speak to you about, one to which the convention that met here last year contributed very much, and that is representation abroad under the American consular system.

The American consular service, I had the honor to say here last year, has been an exceptionally uneven one. There have been many very good men in it, and there have been many men in it who were simply passing the remainder of their days in dignified retirement. That came along naturally enough when we did not have much foreign trade and we were not pushing much for foreign trade; but the strain on that machinery has of late years become rather great. We are pushing out in all the world for trade, and our people want information. Some of them need it—all want it—and they need to be well represented among the people of the other countries where they want to do business. And wherever there is a weak spot there is trouble and dissatisfaction. So that with changing times a change in method has become necessary.

Congress passed a law at the last session, the material parts of which had been hanging in Congress for over thirteen years, introduced years ago by men with foresight a little in advance of the practical requirements of the time. Their ideas did not receive endorsement and practical effect until the last session. The Congress in that law classified the consulates in different grades. They provided an inspection service, so that now we have inspectors who have been selected from among the most able and efficient consuls and whose business it is to see what consuls are doing and whether they are doing anything, so that now the State Department will not be the last place where information is received about the misdeeds of a consul.They made provision that all fees should be turned into the Treasury and the sole compensation of consuls should be their salary, thus closing the door to temptation.

They did in that act a number of very good things for the consular service. There was a clause in the bill originally which provided that all appointments to the higher positions in the service should be by promotion from the lower positions, and that all appointments to the lower positions should be upon examination. That was stricken out because it was considered that Congress had no constitutional right to limit the President in that way. There is a good deal to be said for that view; but it is equally true of appointments to the army and to the navy, yet there have stood upon the statute books of the United States for many years provisions for the filling of higher grades in the army and navy by promotion, and for the appointment to the lower grades only upon a satisfactory examination. And those provisions, while doubtless the President could break over them with the consent of the Senate, nevertheless have constituted a kind of agreement between the President and the Senate, having the appointing power, and Congress which creates the offices and appropriates the money to pay them, as to how the offices are to be filled. I would like to see that kind of an agreement applied to the consular service, so that the method of selection could be settled, and permanently settled, as it has been in the army and the navy.

Immediately after the passage of the consular reorganization act with that clause omitted, the President made an order, known as the Order of June 27, 1906, in which he provided that all the upper grades should be filled by promotion and that the lower grades should be filled only upon examination, and prescribed the method of the examination, and also provided that as between candidates of equal merit the appointments should be made so as to equalize them throughout the United States, as they ought to be equalized so far as it is practicable, and also that the appointments should be made without regard to the political affiliations of the candidates.

Under that order we will have the opportunity, in filling all of the important consulates, to get the best possible evidence as to whether a man is fit for the important place by scanning the work of the young men in the lower places—better than a dozen examinations and better than ten thousand letters of recommendation.

Under that plan we will put in the young men who come along for the lower grades of places and bar out the lazy fellows that want to fall back on a living they are not energetic enough to get for themselves. And when we have seen how the young fellows work in the lower places we will pick out the men here and there who are born consuls and put them into the higher places.

Now, that is the law for this Administration. It is good until March 4, 1909. What will become of it then no one can tell. I should be very glad if the public opinion of the country would say to Congress: Agree to that in such a way that it will be permanent for all time.

Gentlemen, I thank you for your attention and again renew my expression of satisfaction at the intelligent public service you have rendered by leaving your homes and your occupations to come here and do the work of self-governing American citizens.