so that gradually they may, if they are able, learn to govern themselves.  Under the present system of just laws and sympathetic administration, we have every reason to believe that they are gradually acquiring the character which lies at the basis of self-government, and for which, if it be lacking, no system of laws, no paper constitution, will in any wise serve as a substitute.  Our people in the Philippines have achieved what may legitimately be called a marvelous success in giving to them a government which marks on the part of those in authority both the necessary understanding of the people and the necessary purpose to serve them disinterestedly and in good faith.  I trust that within a generation the time will arrive when the Philippines can decide for themselves whether it is well for them to become independent, or to continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able to guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign invasion.  But no one can prophesy the exact date when it will be wise to consider independence as a fixed and definite policy.  It would be worse than folly to try to set down such a date in advance, for it must depend upon the way in which the Philippine people themselves develop the power of self-mastery.

Porto Rico.

I again recommend that American citizenship be conferred upon the people of Porto Rico.

Cuba.

In Cuba our occupancy will cease in about two months’ time, the Cubans have in orderly manner elected their own governmental authorities, and the island will be turned over to them.  Our occupation on this occasion has lasted a little over two years, and Cuba has thriven and prospered under it.  Our earnest hope and one desire is that the people of the island shall now govern themselves with justice, so that peace and order may be secure.  We will gladly help them to this end; but I would solemnly warn them to remember the great truth that the only way a people can permanently avoid being governed from without is to show that they both can and will govern themselves from within.

Japanese exposition.

The Japanese Government has postponed until 1917 the date of the great international exposition, the action being taken so as to insure ample time in which to prepare to make the exposition all that it should be made.  The American commissioners have visited Japan and the postponement will merely give ampler opportunity for America to be represented at the exposition.  Not since the first international exposition has there been one of greater importance than this will be, marking as it does the fiftieth anniversary of the ascension to the throne of the Emperor of Japan.  The extraordinary leap to a foremost place among the nations of the world made by Japan during this half century is something unparalleled in all previous history.  This exposition will fitly commemorate and signalize the giant progress that has been achieved.  It is the first exposition of its kind that has ever been held in Asia.  The United States, because of the ancient friendship between the two peoples, because each of us fronts on the Pacific, and because of the growing commercial relations between this country and Asia, takes a peculiar interest in seeing the exposition made a success in every way.