It must be apparent that we will require an army of about 60,000, and that during present conditions in Cuba and the Philippines the President should have authority to increase the force to the present number of 100,000.  Included in this number authority should be given to raise native troops in the Philippines up to 15,000, which the Taft Commission believe will be more effective in detecting and suppressing guerrillas, assassins, and ladrones than our own soldiers.

The full discussion of this subject by the Secretary of War in his annual report is called to your earnest attention.

I renew the recommendation made in my last annual message 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.

I favor the recommendation of the Secretary of War for the detail oil officers from the line of the Army when vacancies occur in the Adjutant-General’s Department, Inspector-General’s Department, Quartermaster’s Department, Subsistence Department, Pay Department, Ordnance Department, and Signal Corps.

The Army cannot be too highly commended for its faithful and effective service in active military operations in the field and the difficult work of civil administration.

The continued and rapid growth of the postal service is a sure index of the great and increasing business activity of the country.  Its most striking new development is the extension of rural free delivery.  This has come almost wholly within the last year.  At the beginning of the fiscal year 1899, 1900 the number of routes in operation was only 391, and most of these had been running less than twelve months.  On the 15th of November, 1900, the number had increased to 2,614, reaching into forty-four States and Territories, and serving a population of 1,801,524.  The number of applications now pending and awaiting action nearly equals all those granted up to the present time, and by the close of the current fiscal year about 4,000 routes will have been established, providing for the daily delivery of mails at the scattered homes of about three and a half millions of rural population.

This service ameliorates the isolation of farm life, conduces to good roads, and quickens and extends the dissemination of general information.  Experience thus far has tended to allay the apprehension that it would be so expensive as to forbid its general adoption or make it a serious burden.  Its actual application has shown that it increases postal receipts, and can be accompanied by reductions in other branches of the service, so that the augmented revenues and the accomplished savings together materially reduce the net cost.  The evidences which point to these conclusions are presented in detail in the annual report of the Postmaster-General, which with its recommendations is commended to the consideration of the Congress.  The full development of this special service, however, requires such a large outlay of money that it should be undertaken only after a careful study and thorough understanding of all that it involves.