Message of the President, Alberto Membreño, to the Congress___ Arrest of J. W. Grace, an American citizen, resulting from a law of Liability to military service upon return to Italy of (1) naturalized American citizens of Italian birth; (2) persons born in the United States of Italian parents before the naturalization of the parents. Dual citizenship. Detention in Italy of wives and children of naturalized citizens of Italian birth. Correspondence relating to Treaty between Japan and Russia guaranteeing the territorial rights and special interests of each in the Far East.... Discrimination in freight rates affecting equality of commercial Abrogation by the United States of Article 5 of the treaty of January 24, 1891, concluded between the United States and the Independent State of the Congo. Acceptance of the abrogation and denuncia- Political affairs. Francisco Villa, Raphael Castro and Pablo Lopez declared outlaws by the de facto Government. Report of the Secretary of State to the Senate on conditions in Mexico. Raid on Columbus, New Mexico, by Villa bandits. Pursuit of Villa by American troops. Attitude of obstruction by the de facto Govern- ment. Activities of de la Rosa. Raid on Glen Springs, Tex., by Mexicans. Demand of the de facto Government for the withdrawal of American troops from Mexico. Attitude of the United States. Attack on American troops in Mexico by de facto Government troops. Attacks on American naval detachments at Tampico and Mazatlan. American-Mexican Joint Commission. Renewed activities of bandits under Villa. Capture of Chihauhua and Torreon by Villa. Recapture by de facto Government .. Financial affairs. Sequestration of the National Bank of Mexico Embargo on the exportation of arms and munitions of war to Mexico. Interoceanic Canal treaty between the United States and Nicaragua. Protests of Colombia, Costa Rica and Salvador in relation thereto. Suit of Costa Rica and Salvador against Nicaragua before the Arbitration of claims of American citizens against Panama on account of injuries sustained during the riot at Panama City on July 4, 1912 Riot at Colon, April 2, 1915. Killing of Corporal Langdon and ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT Gentlemen of the Congress: In fulfilling at this time the duty laid upon me by the Constitution of communicating to you from time to time information of the state of the Union and recommending to your consideration such legislative measures as may be judged necessary and expedient, I shall continue the practice, which I hope has been acceptable to you, of leaving to the reports of the several heads of the executive departments the elaboration of the detailed needs of the public service and confine myself to those matters of more general public policy with which it seems necessary and feasible to deal at the present session of the Congress. I realize the limitations of time under which you will necessarily act at this session and shall make my suggestions as few as possible; but there were some things left undone at the last session which there will now be time to complete and which it seems necessary in the interest of the public to do at once. In the first place, it seems to me imperatively necessary that the earliest possible consideration and action should be accorded the remaining measures of the programme of settlement and regulation which I had occasion to recommend to you at the close of your last session in view of the public dangers disclosed by the unaccommodated difficulties which then existed, and which still unhappily continue to exist, between the railroads of the country and their locomotive engineers, conductors and trainmen. I then recommended: First, immediate provision for the enlargement and administrative reorganization of the Interstate Commerce Commission along lines embodied in the bill recently passed by the House of Representatives and now awaiting action by the Senate, in order that the Commission may be enabled to deal with the many great and various duties now devolving upon it with a promptness and thoroughness which are, with its present constitution and means of action, practically impossible. Second, the establishment of an eight-hour day as the legal basis alike of work and of wages in the employment of all railway employees who are actually engaged in the work of operating trains in interstate transportation. Third, the authorization of the appointment by the President of a small body of men to observe the actual results in experience of the adoption of the eight-hour day in railway transportation alike for the men and for the railroads. Fourth, explicit approval by the Congress of the consideration by the Interstate Commerce Commission of an increase of freight rates to meet such additional expenditures by the railroads as may have been rendered necessary by the adoption of the eight-hour day and which have not been offset by administrative readjustments and economies, should the facts disclosed justify the increase. Fifth, an amendment of the existing Federal statute which provides for the mediation, conciliation and arbitration of such controversies as the present by adding to it a provision that, in case the methods of accommodation now provided for should fail, a full public investigation of the merits of every such dispute shall be instituted and completed before a strike or lockout may lawfully be attempted. And, sixth, the lodgement in the hands of the Executive of the power, in case of military necessity, to take control of such portions and such rolling stock of the railways of the country as may be required for military use and to operate them for military purposes, with authority to draft into the military service of the United States such train crews and administrative officials as the circumstances require for their safe and efficient use. The second and third of these recommendations the Congress immediately acted on. It established the eight-hour day as the legal basis of work and wages in train service and it authorized the appointment of a commission to observe and report upon the practical results, deeming these the measures most immediately needed; but it postponed action upon the other suggestions until an opportunity should be offered for a more deliberate consideration of them. The fourth recommendation I do not deem it necessary to renew. The power of the Interstate Commerce Commission to grant an increase of rates on the ground referred to is indisputably clear and a recommendation by the Congress with regard to such a matter might seem to draw in question the scope of the Commission's authority or its inclination to do justice when there is no reason to doubt either. The other suggestions-the increase in the Interstate Commerce Commission's membership and in its facilities for performing its manifold duties, the provision for full public investigation and assessment of industrial disputes, and the grant to the Executive of the power to control and operate the railways when necessary in time of war or other like public necessity-I now very earnestly renew. The necessity for such legislation is manifest and pressing. Those who have intrusted us with the responsibility and duty of serving and safeguarding them in such matters would find it hard, I believe, |