g our
roads has been active during the year; help has been given to many
localities, and scientific investigation of material in the States and
Territories has been inaugurated. Irrigation problems in our semiarid
regions are receiving careful and increased consideration.

An extensive exhibit at Paris of the products of agriculture has made
the peoples of many countries more familiar with the varied products of
our fields and their comparative excellence.

The collection of statistics regarding our crops is being improved and
sources of information are being enlarged, to the end that producers may
have the earliest advices regarding crop conditions. There has never
been a time when those for whom it was established have shown more
appreciation of the services of the Department.

In my annual message of December 5, 1898, I called attention to the
necessity for some amendment of the alien contract law. There still
remain important features of the rightful application of the eight-hour
law for the benefit of labor and of the principle of arbitration, and I
again commend these subjects to the careful attention of the Congress.

That there may be secured the best service possible in the Philippine
Islands, I have issued, under date of November 30, 1900, the following
order:

The United States Civil Service Commission is directed to render such
assistance as may be practicable to the Civil Service Board, created
under the act of the United States Philippine Commission, for the
establishment and maintenance of an honest and efficient civil service
in the Philippine Islands, and for that purpose to conduct examinations
for the civil service of the Philippine Islands, upon the request of the
Civil Service Board of said islands, under such regulations as may be
agreed upon by the said Board and the said United States Civil Service
Commission.

The Civil Service Commission is greatly embarrassed in its work for
want of an adequate permanent force for clerical and other assistance.
Its needs are fully set forth in its report. I invite attention to
the report, and especially urge upon the Congress that this important
bureau of the public service, which passes upon the qualifications and
character of so large a number of the officers and employees of the
Government, should be supported by all needed appropriations to secure
promptness and efficiency.

I am very much impressed with the statement made by th