to Puerto Rico than as to any State or Territory within our continental
limits. The island is thriving as never before, and it is being
administered efficiently and honestly. Its people are now enjoying
liberty and order under the protection of the United States, and upon
this fact we congratulate them and ourselves. Their material welfare
must be as carefully and jealously considered as the welfare of any
other portion of our country. We have given them the great gift of free
access for their products to the markets of the United States. I ask
the attention of the Congress to the need of legislation concerning the
public lands of Puerto Rico.

In Cuba such progress has been made toward putting the independent
government of the island upon a firm footing that before the present
session of the Congress closes this will be an accomplished fact. Cuba
will then start as her own mistress; and to the beautiful Queen of the
Antilles, as she unfolds this new page of her destiny, we extend our
heartiest greetings and good wishes. Elsewhere I have discussed the
question of reciprocity. In the case of Cuba, however, there are weighty
reasons of morality and of national interest why the policy should be
held to have a peculiar application, and I most earnestly ask your
attention to the wisdom, indeed to the vital need, of providing for a
substantial reduction in the tariff duties on Cuban imports into the
United States. Cuba has in her constitution affirmed what we desired,
that she should stand, in international matters, in closer and more
friendly relations with us than with any other power; and we are bound
by every consideration of honor and expediency to pass commercial
measures in the interest of her material well-being.

In the Philippines our problem is larger. They are very rich tropical
islands, inhabited by many varying tribes, representing widely different