The President's message is nearly finished und Mr. Roosevelt has informed the members of his cabinet shat he will read it to them for criticism in the present week, says a Washington dispatch to the "New York Herald." The document is one of the shortest prepared by a President and it probably will be compressed into a still smaller compass, Mr. Roosevelt's opinion is that a message briefly but strongly discussing each of the important questions engrossing the attention of the country will be what the nation wants, Reciprocity, Trusts, the Merchant Marine, the Navy and the Isthmian Canal are the leading subjects to be discussed in the message. In addition to these matters, Mr. Roosevelt is expected to urge the maintenance of the status quo in the Philippines and the enactment of more stringent immigration laws, which will enable the exclusion of undesirable aliens and the re-enactment of the Chinese exclusion act.
Members of the ways and means committee who have talked with him do not expect him to recommend any reduction in the war revenue taxes, Nor will he, it is believed, include any financial recommendations in his message.
The negotiations with China will be described briefly and the Peking protocol and the correspondence leading to its signature will be laid before Congress for its inforination, It has finally been determined that ratification of the protocol by the Senate is unnecessary.
A statement of events in Cuba will be submitted, but as all arrangements for the turning over of the government to the Cubans have been made public, recommendations respecting the island are unnecessary.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.