Suitable provision should be made for the expense of keeping our diplomatic officers more fully informed of what is being done from day to day in the progress of our diplomatic affairs with other countries.  The lack of such information, caused by insufficient appropriations available for cable tolls and for clerical and messenger service, frequently puts our officers at a great disadvantage and detracts from their usefulness.  The salary list should be readjusted.  It does not now correspond either to the importance of the service to be rendered and the degrees of ability and experience required in the different positions, or to the differences in the cost of living.  In many cases the salaries are quite inadequate.

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State of the Union Address
Theodore Roosevelt
December 3, 1906

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

As a nation we still continue to enjoy a literally unprecedented prosperity; and it is probable that only reckless speculation and disregard of legitimate business methods on the part of the business world can materially mar this prosperity.

No Congress in our time has done more good work of importance than the present Congress.  There were several matters left unfinished at your last session, however, which I most earnestly hope you will complete before your adjournment.

I again recommend a law prohibiting all corporations from contributing to the campaign expenses of any party.  Such a bill has already past one House of Congress.  Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly.

Another bill which has just past one House of the Congress and which it is urgently necessary should be enacted into law is that conferring upon the Government the right of appeal in criminal cases on questions of law.  This right exists in many of the States; it exists in the District of Columbia by act of the Congress.  It is of course not proposed that in any case a verdict for the defendant on the merits should be set aside.  Recently in one district where the Government had indicted certain persons for conspiracy in connection with rebates, the court sustained the defendant’s demurrer; while in another jurisdiction an indictment for conspiracy to obtain rebates has been sustained by the court, convictions obtained under it, and two defendants sentenced to imprisonment.  The two cases referred to may not be in real conflict with each other, but it is unfortunate that there should even be an apparent conflict.  At present there is no way by which the Government can cause such a conflict, when it occurs, to be solved by an appeal to a higher court; and the wheels of justice are blocked without any real decision of the question.  I can not too strongly urge the passage of the bill in question.  A failure to pass it will result in seriously hampering the