the extension of the rural free-delivery system must be continued, for reasons of sound public policy.  No governmental movement of recent years has resulted in greater immediate benefit to the people of the country districts.  Rural free delivery, taken in connection with the telephone, the bicycle, and the trolley, accomplishes much toward lessening the isolation of farm life and making it brighter and more attractive.  In the immediate past the lack of just such facilities as these has driven many of the more active and restless young men and women from the farms to the cities; for they rebelled at loneliness and lack of mental companionship.  It is unhealthy and undesirable for the cities to grow at the expense of the country; and rural free delivery is not only a good thing in itself, but is good because it is one of the causes which check this unwholesome tendency towards the urban concentration of our population at the expense of the country districts.  It is for the same reason that we sympathize with and approve of the policy of building good roads.  The movement for good roads is one fraught with the greatest benefit to the country districts.

I trust that the Congress will continue to favor in all proper ways the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.  This Exposition commemorates the Louisiana purchase, which was the first great step in the expansion which made us a continental nation.  The expedition of Lewis and Clark across the continent followed thereon, and marked the beginning of the process of exploration and colonization which thrust our national boundaries to the Pacific.  The acquisition of the Oregon country, including the present States of Oregon and Washington, was a fact of immense importance in our history; first giving us our place on the Pacific seaboard, and making ready the way for our ascendency in the commerce of the greatest of the oceans.  The centennial of our establishment upon the western coast by the expedition of Lewis and Clark is to be celebrated at Portland, Oregon, by an exposition in the summer of 1905, and this event should receive recognition and support from the National Government.

I call your special attention to the Territory of Alaska.  The country is developing rapidly, and it has an assured future.  The mineral wealth is great and has as yet hardly been tapped.  The fisheries, if wisely handled and kept under national control, will be a business as permanent as any other, and of the utmost importance to the people.  The forests if properly guarded will form another great source of wealth.  Portions of Alaska are fitted for farming and stock raising, although the methods must be adapted to the peculiar conditions of the country.  Alaska is situated in the far north; but so are Norway and Sweden and Finland; and Alaska can prosper and play its part in the New World just as those nations have prospered and played their parts in the Old World.  Proper land laws should be enacted; and the survey