its designs on the South and Central American republics which have thrown off the yoke of Spain, the situation changed and the peace and interests of this country were threatened through European activities extending all over this continent. President James Monroe, with the tacit approval of Great Britain, formulated the desire of the United States to exclude European interference and end European colonization on the soil of the Americas. In his message to Congress of December 2, 1823, paragraph 7, he thus announced the position which his administration had assumed in negotiations with Russia and other European powers:

President Monroǝ's
Message'of

At the proposal of the Russian imperial government, made through the minister of the Emperor residing here, a full power and instructions have been trans⚫mitted to the Minister of the United States at St. Petersburg, to arrange, by amicable negotiation, the respective rights and interests of the two nations on the northwest coast of December 2, 1823. this continent. A similar proposal has been made by his imperial majesty to the government of Great Britain, which has kewise been acceded to. The government of the United States has been desirous. by this friendly proceeding, of manifesting the great value which they have invariably attached to the friendship of the Emperor, and their solicitude to cultivate the best understanding with his government. In the discussions to which this interest has given rise, and in the arrangements by which they may terminate, the occasion has been judged proper for asserting as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.

In a later paragraph of the same message President Monroe further said: We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintain it, and whose independence we have. on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.

The efforts of the United States to induce Great Britain to submit to arbitration its claim to territory on the eastern border of Venezuela, claimed The Olney

also by Venezuela, resulted in an extended diplomatic correspondence, in the course of which Secretary Cleveland Exposition. Olney, in a letter to Lord Salisbury, expounded the view of the Monroe Doctrine held by this government. Among other things he said:

The foregoing enumeration not only shows the many instances wherein the rule in question has been affirmed and applied, but also demonstrates that the Venezuelan boundary controversy is in any view far within the scope and spirit of the rule as uniformly accepted and acted upon. A doctrine of American public law thus long and firmly established and supported could not easily be ignored in a proper case for its application, even were the considerations upon which it is founded obscure or questionable. No such objection can be made, however, to the Monroe Doctrine understood and defined in the manner already stated. It rests, on the contrary, upon facts and principles that are both intelligible and incontrovertible. That distance and three thousand miles of intervening ocean make any permanent political union between an European and an American state unnatural and inexpedient, will hardly be denied. But physical and geographical considerations are the least of the objections to such a union. Europe, as Washington observed, has a set of primary interests which are peculiar to herself. America is not interested in them and ought not to be vexed or complicated with them. Each great European power, for instance, to-day maintains enormous armies and fleets in self-defence and for protection against any other European power or powers. What have the states of America to do with that condition of things, or why should they be impoverished by wars or preparations for wars, with whose causes or results they can have no direct concern? If all Europe were to suddenly fly to arms over the fate of Turkey, would it not be preposterous that any American state should find itself inextricably involved in the miseries and burdens of the contest? If it were, it would prove to be a partnership in the cost and losses of the struggle, but not in any ensuing benefits.

Moral Interests
Involved.

What is true of the material, is no less true of what may be termed the moral interests involved. Those pertaining to Europe are peculiar to her and are entirely diverse from those pertaining and peculiar to America. Europe as a whole is monarchical, and, with the single important exception of the Republic of France, is committed to the monarchical principle. America, on the other hand, is devoted to the exactly opposite principle to the idea that every people has an inalienable right of self-government-and in the Tnited States of America has furnished to the world the most conspicuous and conclusive example and proof of the excellence of free Institutions, whether from the standpoint of national greatness or of individual hap

piness. It cannot be necessary, however, to enlarge upon this phase of the subjectwhether moral or material interests be considered, it cannot but be universally conceded that those of Europe are irreconcilably diverse from those of America, and that any European control of the latter is necessarily both incongruous and injurious. If, however, for the reasons stated the forcible intrusion of European powers into American politics is to be deprecated-if, as it is to be deprecated, it should be resisted and prevented-such resistance and prevention must come from the United States. They would come from it, of course, were it made the point of attack. But, if they come at all, they must also come from it when any other American state is attacked, since only the United States has the strength adequate to the exigency. Is It true, then, that the safety and welfare of the United States are concerned with the maintenance of the independence of every American state as against any European power as to justify and require Cause of Popular the interposition of the United States whenever that inGovernment Involved. dependence is endangered? The question can be candially answered in but one way. The states of America, south as well as north, by geographical proximity, by natural sympathy, by similarity of governmental constitutions, are friends and allies, commercially and politically, of the United States. To allow the subjugation of any of them by an European power is, of course, to completely reverse that situation and signifies the loss of all the advantages incident to their natural relations to us. But that is not all.

"The people of the United States have a vital interest in the cause of popular selfgovernment. They have secured the right for themselves and their posterity at the cost of infinite blood and treasure. They have realized and exemplified its beneficent operation by a career unexampled in point of natural greatness or individual felicity. They believe it to be for the healing of all nations, and that civilization must either advance or retrograde accordingly as its supremacy is extended or curtailed. Imbued with these sentiments, the reople of the United States might not impossibly be wrought up to an active propaganda in favor of a cause so highly valued, both for themselves and for mankind. But the age of the Crusades has passed, and they are content with such assertion and defence of the right of popular self-government as their own security and welfare demand. It is in that view more than in any other that they believe it not to be tolerated that the political control of an American state shall be forcibly assumed by an European power.

The mischiefs apprehended from such a source are none the less real because not immediately imminent in any specific case, and are none the less to be guarded against because the combination of circumstances that will bring them upon us can not be predicted. The civilized States of Christendom deal with each other on substantially the same principles that regulate the conduct of individuals. The greater its enlightenment, the more surely every state perceives that its permanent interests require it to be governed by the immutable principles of right and justice. Each, nevertheless, is only too liable to succumb to the temptations offered by seeming special opportunities for its own aggrandizement, and each would rashly imperil its own safety were it not to remember that for the regard and respect of other states it must be largely dependent upon its own strength and power. To-day the United States is practically covereign on this continent, and its flat is law upon the subjects to which It confines its interposition. Why? It is not because of the pure friendship or good will felt for it. It is not simply by reason of its high character as a civilized state, nor because wisdom and justice and equity are the invariable characteristics of the dealings of the United States. It is because in addition to all other grounds, its infinite resources combined with its isolated position render it master of the situation and practically invulnerable as against any or all other powers.

National
Security
Involved.

All the advantages of this superiority are at once imperilled if the principle be admitted that European powers may convert American states into colonies or provinces of their own. The principle would be eagerly availed of, and every power doing so would immediately acquire a base of military operations against us. What one power was permitted to do could not be denied to another, and it is not inconceivable that the struggle now going on for the acquisition of Africa might be transferred to South America. If it were, the weaker countries would unquestionably be soon absorbed, while the ultimate result might be the partition of all South America between the various European rowers.

"The disastrous consequences to the United States of such a condition of things are obvious. The loss of prestige, of authority, and of weight in the councils of the family of nations, would be among the least of them. Our only real rivals in peace as well as enemies in war would be found located at our very doors. Thus far in our history we have been spared the burdens and evils of immense standing armies and all the other accessories of huge warlike establishments, and the exemption has largely contributed to our national greatness and wealth, as well as to the happiness of every citizen. But, with the powers of Europe permanently encamped on American soll, the Ideal conditions we have thus far enjoyed cannot be expected to continue. We, too, must be armed to the teeth; we, too, must convert the flower of our male population into soldiers and sailors, and by withdrawing them from the various pursuits of peaceful industry, we, too, must practically annihilate a large share of the productive energy of the nation.

How a greater calamity than this could overtake us it dfficult to see. Nor are our just apprehensions to be allayed by suggestions of the friendliness of European powers of their good will toward us, of their disposition, should they be our neighbors, to dwell with us in peace and harmony. The people of the United States have learned in the school of experience to what extent the relations of states to each

other depend not upon sentiment nor principle, but upon selfish interest. They will not soon forget that, in their hour of distress, all their anxieties and burdens were aggravated by the possibility of demonstrations against their national life on the part of powers with whom they had long maintained the most harmonious relations. They have yet in mind that France seized upon the apparent opportunity of our Civil War to set up a monarchy in the adjoining state of Mexico. They realize that had France and Great Britain held important South American possessions, to work from and to benefit, the temptation to destroy the predominance of the great Republic in this hemisphere by furthering its dismemberment might have been irresistible. From that grave peril they have been saved in the past and may be saved again in the future through the operation of the sure, but silent, force of the doctrine proclaimed by President Monroe. To abandon it, on the other hand, disregarding both the logic of the situation and the facts of our past experience, would be to renounce a policy which has proved both an easy defence against foreign aggression and a prolific source of internal progress and prosperity."

Announcement of 1902.

In connection with the settlement of the claims of various countries against Venezuela, precipitated by the pacific blockade by British, German and Italian vessels of Venezuela's ports, President President Roosevelt's Roosevelt said in his message to Congress of December 2, 1902: "No independent nation in America need have the slightest fear of aggression from the United States. It behooves each one to maintain order within its own borders and to discharge its just obligations to foreigners. When this is done they can rest assured that, be they strong or weak, they have nothing to dread from outside interference."

THE SIXTY-FIRST CONGRESS.

ACTS AND RESOLUTIONS OF THE SECOND SESSION, DECEMBER 6, 1909, TO JUNE 25, 1910.

The second session of the Sixty-first Congress was one of great legislative activity. Its output of laws has been equalled in recent years only by that of the first session of the Fifty-first Congress, in 1890-'91, and that of the first session of the Sixtieth Congress, in 1905-'06. Among the laws of more than ordinary importance passed were those amending the interstate commerce law of 1906, extending its scope and establishing a new federal courtthe Court of Commerce-to consider cases arising under the interstate commerce law, establishing a system of postal savings banks, providing for the admission of Arizona and New Mexico as states, providing for a public accounting of contributions and expenditures in federal elections, authorizing withdrawals of public lands from settlement for conservation purposes, advancing funds for the prosecution of reclamation enterprises in arid land sections, establishing a federal Bureau of Mines, regulating the "white slave" traffic, and enlarging the activities of the federal tariff board. These and other laws of the session are fully summarized in the pages following.

Congress at the same session authorized the Pinchot-Ballinger investigation, a summary of which is given elsewhere in this volume. The House of Representatives curbed the excessive powers of the Speaker by amending the House rules so as to exclude him from membership on the Committee on Rules, of which he was chairman. For details of the resolution in the House which overthrew "Cannonism" see pages 148-150.

ACTS AND RESOLUTIONS.

An act, approved June 18, 1910, provided that a court of the United States be created known as the Commerce Court, and shall have the jurisdiction now possessed by circuit courts of the United States and the Interstate Commerce judges thereof over all cases of the following kinds: Act of 1910.

First. All cases for the enforcement, otherwise than by adjudication and collection of a forfeiture or penalty or by infliction of criminal punishment, of any order of the Interstate Commerce Commission other than for the payment of money.

Second. Cases brought to enjoin, set aside, annul or suspend in whole or in part any order of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Third. Such cases as by Section 3 of the act entitled "An act to further regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states," approved February, 19, 1903, are authorized to be maintained in a circuit court of the United States.

Fourth. All such mandamus proceedings as under the provisions of Section 20 or Section 23 of the act entitled "An act to regulate commerce," approved February 4, 1887, as amended, are authorized to be maintained in a circuit court of the United States.

Nothing contained in this act shall be construed as enlarging the jurisdiction now possessed by the circuit courts of the United States or the judges thereof, that is hereby transferred to and vested in the Commerce Court,

The jurisdiction of the Commerce Court over cases of the foregoing classes shall be exclusive; but this act shall not affect the jurisdiction now possessed by any circuit

or district court of the United States over cases or proceedings of a kind not within the above enumerated classes.

The Commerce Court shall be a court of record, and shall have a seal of such form and style as the court may prescribe. The said court shall be composed of five judges, to be from time to time designated and assigned thereto by the Chief Justice of the United States, from among the circuit judges of the United States, for the period of five years, except that in the first instance the court shall be composed of the five additional circuit judges to be appointed as hereinafter provided, who shall be designated by the President to serve for one, two, three, four and five years, respectively, in order that the period of designation of one of the said judges shall expire in each year thereafter. In case of the death, resignation or termination of assignment of any judge so designated the Chief Justice shall designate a circuit judge to fill the vacancy so caused and to serve during the unexpired period for which the original designation was made. After the year 1914 no circuit judge shall be redesignated to serve in the Commerce Court until the expiration of at least one year after the expiration of the period of his last previous designation. The judge first designated for the five-year period shall be the presiding judge of said court, and thereafter the judge senior in designation shall be the presiding judge.

Each of the judges during the period of his service in the Commerce Court shall, on account of the regular sessions of the court being held in the city of Washington, receive in addition to his salary as circuit Allowances to Commerce judge an expense allowance at the rate of $1,500 per Court Judges.

annum.

The President shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint five additional circuit judges, no two of whom shall be from the same judicial circuit, who shall hold office during good behavior and who shall be from time to time designated and assigned by the Chief Justice of the United States for service in the Circuit Court of any district, or the Circuit Court of Appeals for any circuit, or in the Commerce Court.

The associate judges shall have precedence and shall succeed to the place and powers of the presiding judge whenever he may be absent or incapable of acting in the order of the date of their designations. Four of said judges shall constitute a quorum, and at least a majority of the court shall concur in all decisions.

The court shall have a clerk and a marshal, with the same duties and powers, so far as they may be appropriate and are not altered by rule of the court, as are now possessed by the clerk and marshal, respectively, of the Supreme Court of the United States. The offices of the clerk and marshal of the court shall be in the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia. The judges of the court shall appoint the clerk and marshal, and may also appoint, if they find it necessary, a deputy clerk and deputy marshal; and such clerk, marshal, deputy clerk and deputy marshal shall hold office during the pleasure of the court. The salary of the clerk shall be $4,000 per annum, the salary of the marshal $3,000 per annum, the salary of the deputy clerk $2,500 per annum and the salary of the deputy marshal $2,500 per annum. The said clerk and marshal may, with the approval of the court, employ all requisite assistance. The costs and fees in said court shall be established by the court in a table thereof, approved by the Supreme Court of the United States, within four months after the organization of the court; but such costs and fees shall in no case exceed those charged in the Supreme Court of the United States, and shall be accounted for and paid into the Treasury of the United States.

The Commerce Court shall be always open for the transaction of business. Its regular sessions shall be held in the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia; but the powers of the court or of any judge thereof, or Sessions of of the clerk, marshal, deputy clerk, or deputy marshal may be exerthe Court. cised anywhere in the United States; and for expedition of the work of the court and the avoidance of undue expense or inconvenience to sultors the court shall hold sessions in different parts of the United States as may be found desirable. The actual and necessary expenses of the judges, clerk, marshal, deputy clerk and deputy marshal of the court incurred for travel and attendance elsewhere than in the city of Washington shall be paid upon the written and itemized certificate of such judge, clerk, marshal, deputy clerk or deputy marshal by the marshal of the court, and shall be allowed to him in the statement of his accounts with the United States.

The United States marshals of the several districts outside of the city of Washington in which the Commerce Court may hold its sessions shall provide, under the direction and with the approval of the Attorney General of the United States, such rooms In the public buildings of the United States as may be necessary for the court's use; but in case proper rooms cannot be provided in such public buildings, said marshals, with the approval of the Attorney General of the United States, may then lease from time to time other necessary rooms for the court.

If, at any time, the business of the Commerce Court does not require the services of all the judges, the Chief Justice of the United States may, by writing, signed by him and filled in the Department of Justice, terminate the assignment of any of the judges or temporarily assign him for service in any circuit court or circuit court of appeals. In case of illness or other disability of any judge assigned to the Commerce Court, the Chief Justice of the United States may assign any other circuit judge of the United States to act in his place, and may terminate such assignment when the exigence therefor shall cease; and any circuit judge so assigned to act in place of such Judge shall, during his assignment, exercise all the powers and perform all the functions of such judge.

In all cases within its jurisdiction the Commerce Court, and each of the judges

assigned thereto, shall, respectively, have and may exercise any and all of the powers of a circuit court of the United States and of the judges of said court, respectively, so far as the same may be appropriate to the effective exercise of the jurisdiction hereby conferred. The Commerce Court may issue all writs and process appropriate to the full exercise of its jurisdiction and powers, and may prescribe the form thereof. It may also, from time to time, establish such rules and regulations concerning pleading, practice or procedure in cases or matters within its jurisdiction as to the court may seem wise and proper. Its orders, writs and process may run, be served and be returnable anywhere in the United States, and the marshal and deputy marshal of said court and also the United States marshals and deputy marshals in the several districts of the United States shall have like powers and be under like duties to act for and in behalf of said court as pertain to United States marshals and deputy marshals generally when acting under like conditions concerning suits or matters in the circuits of the United States.

The jurisdiction of the Commerce Court shall be invoked by filing in the office of the clerk of the court a written petition setting forth briefly and succinctly the facts constituting the petitioner's cause of action, and Invoking specifying the relief sought. A copy of such petition shall be forthJurisdiction. with served by the marshal or a deputy marshal of the Commerce Court or by the proper United States marshal or deputy marshal upon every defendant therein named, and when the United States is a party defendant, the service shall be made by filing a copy of said petition in the office of the Secretary of the Interstate Commerce Commission and in the Department of Justice. Within thirty days after the petition is served, unless that time is extended by order of the court or a judge thereof, an answer to the petition shall be filed in the clerk's office, and a copy thereof mailed to the petitioner's attorney, which answer shall briefly and categorically respond to the allegations of the petition. No replication need be filed to the answer, and objections to the sufficiency of the petition or answer as not setting forth a cause of action or defence must be taken at the final hearing or by motion to dismiss the petition based on said grounds, which motion may be made at any time before answer is filed. In case no answer shall be filed as provided herein the petitioner may apply to the court on notice for such relief as may be proper upon the facts alleged in the petition. The court may, by rule, prescribe the method of taking evidence in cases pending in said court, and may prescribe that the evidence be taken before a single judge of the court, with power to rule upon the admission of evidence. Except as may be otherwise provided in this act, or by rule of the court, the practice and procedure in the Commerce Court shall conform as nearly as may be to that in like cases in a circuit court of the United States.

The Commerce Court shall be opened for the transaction of business at a date to be fixed by order of the said court, which shall not be later than thirty days after the judges thereof shall have been designated.

an

A final judgment or decree of the Commerce Court may be reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States if appeal to the Supreme Court be taken by aggrieved party within sixty days after the entry of said final Appeals. judgment or decree. Such appeal may be taken in like manner as appeals from a circuit court of the United States to the Supreme Court, and the Commerce Court may direct the original record to be transmitted on appeal instead of a transcript thereof. The Supreme Court may affirm, reverse, or modify the final judgment or decree of the Commerce Court, as the case may require.

Appeal to the Supreme Court, however, shall in no case supersede or stay the judgment or decree of the Commerce Court appealed from, unless the Supreme Court or a justice thereof shall so direct, and appellant shall give bond in such form and of such amount as the Supreme Court, or the Justice of that court allowing the stay, may require.

An appeal may also be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States from an interlocutory order or decree of the Commerce Court granting or continuing an injunction restraining the enforcement of an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, provided such appeal be taken within thirty days from the entry of such order or decree.

Appeals to the Supreme Court under this section shall have priority in hearing and determination over all other causes except criminal causes in that court.

Suits to enjoin, set aside, annul, or suspend any order of the Interstate Commerce Commission shall be brought in the Commerce Court against the United States. The pendency of such suit shall not of itself stay Interstate Commerce or suspend the operation of the orderr of the Interstate Commission Orders. Commerce Commission; but the Commerce Court, in its discretion, may restrain or suspend, in whole or in part, the operation of the commission's order pending the final hearing and determination of the suit. No order or injunction so restraining or suspending an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission shall be made by the Commerce Court otherwise than upon notice and after hearing, except that in cases where irreparable damage would otherwise ensue to the petitioner, said court, or a judge thereof, may, on hearing, after not less than three days' notice to the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Attorney General, allow a temporary stay or suspension. in whole or in part, of the operation of the order of the Interstate Commerce Commission for not more than sixty days from the date of the order of such court or judge, pending application to the court for its order or injunction, in which case the said order shall contain a specific finding, based upon evidence submitted to the judge making the order and identified by reference thereto, that such irreparable damage would result to the peti