I congratulate you on the continued and increasing prosperity of our

country. By the favor of Divine Providence we have been blessed during

the past year with health, with abundant harvests, with profitable

employment for all our people, and with contentment at home, and

with peace and friendship with other nations. The occurrence of

the twenty-fourth election of Chief Magistrate has afforded another

opportunity to the people of the United States to exhibit to the world

a significant example of the peaceful and safe transmission of the

power and authority of government from the public servants whose terms

of office are about to expire to their newly chosen successors. This

example can not fail to impress profoundly thoughtful people of other

countries with the advantages which republican institutions afford.

The immediate, general, and cheerful acquiescence of all good citizens

in the result of the election gives gratifying assurance to our

country and to its friends throughout the world that a government

based on the free consent of an intelligent and patriotic people

possesses elements of strength, stability, and permanency not found in

any other form of government.

Continued opposition to the full and free enjoyment of the rights of

citizenship conferred upon the colored people by the recent amendments

to the Constitution still prevails in several of the late slaveholding

States. It has, perhaps, not been manifested in the recent election to

any large extent in acts of violence or intimidation. It has, however,

by fraudulent practices in connection with the ballots, with the

regulations as to the places and manner of voting, and with counting,

returning, and canvassing the votes cast, been successful in defeating

the exercise of the right preservative of all rights--the right

of suffrage--which the Constitution expressly confers upon our

enfranchised citizens.

It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that

sectionalism as a factor in our politics should disappear. They prefer

that no section of the country should be united in solid opposition

to any other section. The disposition to refuse a prompt and hearty

obedience to the equal-rights amendments to the Constitution is all

that now stands in the way of a complete obliteration of sectional

lines in our political contests. As long as either of these amendments

is flagrantly violated or disregarded, it is safe to assume that

the people who placed them in the Constitution, as embodying the

legitimate results of the war for the Union, and who believe them to

be wise and necessary, will continue to act together and to insist

that they shall be obeyed. The paramount question still is as to the

enjoyment of the right by every American citizen who has the requisite

qualifications to freely cast his vote and to have it honestly

counted. With this question rightly settled, the country will be

relieved of the contentions of the past; bygones will indeed be

bygones, and political and party issues, with respect to economy

and efficiency of administration, internal improvements, the tariff,

domestic taxation, education, finance, and other important subjects,

will then receive their full share of attention; but resistance to

and nullification of the results of the war will unite together in

resolute purpose for their support all who maintain the authority of

the Government and the perpetuity of the Union, and who adequately

appreciate the value of the victory achieved. This determination

proceeds from no hostile sentiment or feeling to any part of the

people of our country or to any of their interests. The inviolability

of the amendments rests upon the fundamental principle of our

Government. They are the solemn expression of the will of the people

of the United States.

The sentiment that the constitutional rights of all our citizens must

be maintained does not grow weaker. It will continue to control the

Government of the country. Happily, the history of the late election

shows that in many parts of the country where opposition to the

fifteenth amendment has heretofore prevailed it is diminishing, and is

likely to cease altogether if firm and well-considered action is taken

by Congress. I trust the House of Representatives and the Senate,

which have the right to judge of the elections, returns, and

qualifications of their own members, will see to it that every case

of violation of the letter or spirit of the fifteenth amendment is

thoroughly investigated, and that no benefit from such violation shall

accrue to any person or party. It will be the duty of the Executive,

with sufficient appropriations for the purpose, to prosecute

unsparingly all who have been engaged in depriving citizens of the

rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution.

It is not, however, to be forgotten that the best and surest guaranty

of the primary rights of citizenship is to be found in that capacity

for self-protection which can belong only to a people whose right to

universal suffrage is supported by universal education. The means

at the command of the local and State authorities are in many cases

wholly inadequate to furnish free instruction to all who need it.

This is especially true where before emancipation the education of the

people was neglected or prevented, in the interest of slavery. Firmly

convinced that the subject of popular education deserves the earnest

attention of the people of the whole country, with a view to wise

and comprehensive action by the Government of the United States, I

respectfully recommend that Congress, by suitable legislation and

with proper safeguards, supplement the local educational funds in

the several States where the grave duties and responsibilities of

citizenship have been devolved on uneducated people by devoting to

the purpose grants of the public lands and, if necessary, by

appropriations from the Treasury of the United States. Whatever

Government can fairly do to promote free popular education ought to be

done. Wherever general education is found, peace, virtue, and social

order prevail and civil and religious liberty are secure.

In my former annual messages I have asked the attention of Congress to

the urgent necessity of a reformation of the civil-service system

of the Government. My views concerning the dangers of patronage,

or appointments for personal or partisan considerations, have been

strengthened by my observation and experience in the Executive office,

and I believe these dangers threaten the stability of the Government.

Abuses so serious in their nature can not be permanently tolerated.

They tend to become more alarming with the enlargement of

administrative service, as the growth of the country in population

increases the number of officers and placemen employed.

The reasons are imperative for the adoption of fixed rules for the

regulation of appointments, promotions, and removals, establishing

a uniform method having exclusively in view in every instance the

attainment of the best qualifications for the position in question.

Such a method alone is consistent with the equal rights of all

citizens and the most economical and efficient administration of the

public business.

Competitive examinations in aid of impartial appointments and

promotions have been conducted for some years past in several of

the Executive Departments, and by my direction this system has been

adopted in the custom-houses and post-offices of the larger cities of

the country. In the city of New York over 2,000 positions in the civil

service have been subject in their appointments and tenure of place to

the operation of published rules for this purpose during the past

two years. The results of these practical trials have been very

satisfactory, and have confirmed my opinion in favor of this system of

selection. All are subjected to the same tests, and the result is free

from prejudice by personal favor or partisan influence. It secures for

the position applied for the best qualifications attainable among the

competing applicants. It is an effectual protection from the pressure

of importunity, which under any other course pursued largely exacts

the time and attention of appointing officers, to their great

detriment in the discharge of other official duties, preventing the

abuse of the service for the mere furtherance of private or party

purposes, and leaving the employee of the Government, freed from the

obligations imposed by patronage, to depend solely upon merit for

retention and advancement, and with this constant incentive to

exertion and improvement.

These invaluable results have been attained in a high degree in the

offices where the rules for appointment by competitive examination

have been applied.

A method which has so approved itself by experimental tests at

points where such tests may be fairly considered conclusive should be

extended to all subordinate positions under the Government. I believe

that a strong and growing public sentiment demands immediate measures

for securing and enforcing the highest possible efficiency in the

civil service and its protection from recognized abuses, and that

the experience referred to has demonstrated the feasibility of such

measures.

The examinations in the custom-houses and post-offices have been held

under many embarrassments and without provision for compensation for

the extra labor performed by the officers who have conducted them, and

whose commendable interest in the improvement of the public service

has induced this devotion of time and labor without pecuniary reward.

A continuance of these labors gratuitously ought not to be expected,

and without an appropriation by Congress for compensation it is not

practicable to extend the system of examinations generally throughout

the civil service. It is also highly important that all such

examinations should be conducted upon a uniform system and under

general supervision. Section 1753 of the Revised Statutes authorizes

the President to prescribe the regulations for admission to the civil

service of the United States, and for this purpose to employ suitable

persons to conduct the requisite inquiries with reference to "the

fitness of each candidate, in respect to age, health, character,

knowledge, and ability for the branch of service into which he seeks

to enter;" but the law is practically inoperative for want of the

requisite appropriation.

I therefore recommend an appropriation of $25,000 per annum to meet

the expenses of a commission, to be appointed by the President in

accordance with the terms of this section, whose duty it shall be

to devise a just, uniform, and efficient system of competitive

examinations and to supervise the application of the same throughout

the entire civil service of the Government. I am persuaded that the

facilities which such a commission will afford for testing the fitness

of those who apply for office will not only be as welcome a relief

to members of Congress as it will be to the President and heads of

Departments, but that it will also greatly tend to remove the causes

of embarrassment which now inevitably and constantly attend the

conflicting claims of patronage between the legislative and executive

departments. The most effectual check upon the pernicious competition

of influence and official favoritism in the bestowal of office will

be the substitution of an open competition of merit between the

applicants, in which everyone can make his own record with the

assurance that his success will depend upon this alone.

I also recommend such legislation as, while leaving every officer as

free as any other citizen to express his political opinions and to use

his means for their advancement, shall also enable him to feel as safe

as any private citizen in refusing all demands upon his salary for

political purposes. A law which should thus guarantee true liberty

and justice to all who are engaged in the public service, and likewise

contain stringent provisions against the use of official authority

to coerce the political action of private citizens or of official

subordinates, is greatly to be desired.

The most serious obstacle, however, to an improvement of the civil

service, and especially to a reform in the method of appointment and

removal, has been found to be the practice, under what is known as

the spoils system, by which the appointing power has been so largely

encroached upon by members of Congress. The first step in the reform

of the civil service must be a complete divorce between Congress and

the Executive in the matter of appointments. The corrupting

doctrine that "to the victors belong the spoils" is inseparable

from Congressional patronage as the established rule and practice of

parties in power. It comes to be understood by applicants for office

and by the people generally that Representatives and Senators are

entitled to disburse the patronage of their respective districts and

States. It is not necessary to recite at length the evils resulting

from this invasion of the Executive functions. The true principles of

Government on the subject of appointments to office, as stated in the

national conventions of the leading parties of the country, have again

and again been approved by the American people, and have not been

called in question in any quarter. These authentic expressions of

public opinion upon this all-important subject are the statement

of principles that belong to the constitutional structure of the

Government.

Under the Constitution the President and heads of Departments

are to make nominations for office. The Senate is to advise

and consent to appointments, and the House of Representatives

is to accuse and prosecute faithless officers. The best

interest of the public service demands that these distinctions

be respected; that Senators and Representatives, who may

be judges and accusers, should not dictate appointments to

office.

To this end the cooperation of the legislative department of the

Government is required alike by the necessities of the case and by

public opinion. Members of Congress will not be relieved from the

demands made upon them with reference to appointments to office until

by legislative enactment the pernicious practice is condemned and

forbidden.

It is therefore recommended that an act be passed defining the

relations of members of Congress with respect to appointment to office

by the President; and I also recommend that the provisions of section

1767 and of the sections following of the Revised Statutes, comprising

the tenure-of-office act of March 2, 1867, be repealed.

Believing that to reform the system and methods of the civil service

in our country is one of the highest and most imperative duties

of statesmanship, and that it can be permanently done only by the

cooperation of the legislative and executive departments of the

Government, I again commend the whole subject to your considerate

attention.

It is the recognized duty and purpose of the people of the United

States to suppress polygamy where it now exists in our Territories and

to prevent its extension. Faithful and zealous efforts have been made

by the United States authorities in Utah to enforce the laws against

it. Experience has shown that the legislation upon this subject, to be

effective, requires extensive modification and amendment. The longer

action is delayed the more difficult it will be to accomplish what

is desired. Prompt and decided measures are necessary. The Mormon

sectarian organization which upholds polygamy has the whole power of

making and executing the local legislation of the Territory. By its

control of the grand and petit juries it possesses large influence

over the administration of justice. Exercising, as the heads of this

sect do, the local political power of the Territory, they are able to

make effective their hostility to the law of Congress on the subject

of polygamy, and, in fact, do prevent its enforcement. Polygamy will

not be abolished if the enforcement of the law depends on those who

practice and uphold the crime. It can only be suppressed by taking

away the political power of the sect which encourages and sustains it.

The power of Congress to enact suitable laws to protect the

Territories is ample. It is not a case for halfway measures. The

political power of the Mormon sect is increasing. It controls now

one of our wealthiest and most populous Territories. It is extending

steadily into other Territories. Wherever it goes it establishes

polygamy and sectarian political power. The sanctity of marriage and

the family relation are the corner stone of our American society and

civilization. Religious liberty and the separation of church and state

are among the elementary ideas of free institutions. To reestablish

the interests and principles which polygamy and Mormonism have

imperiled, and to fully reopen to intelligent and virtuous immigrants

of all creeds that part of our domain which has been in a great degree

closed to general immigration by intolerant and immoral institutions,

it is recommended that the government of the Territory of Utah be

reorganized.

I recommend that Congress provide for the government of Utah by a

governor and judges, or commissioners, appointed by the President and

confirmed by the Senate--a government analogous to the provisional

government established for the territory northwest of the Ohio by

the ordinance of 1787. If, however, it is deemed best to continue the

existing form of local government, I recommend that the right to vote,

hold office, and sit on juries in the Territory of Utah be confined to

those who neither practice nor uphold polygamy. If thorough measures

are adopted, it is believed that within a few years the evils which

now afflict Utah will be eradicated, and that this Territory will in

good time become one of the most prosperous and attractive of the new

States of the Union.

Our relations with all foreign countries have been those of

undisturbed peace, and have presented no occasion for concern as to

their continued maintenance.

My anticipation of an early reply from the British Government to the

demand of indemnity to our fishermen for the injuries suffered by that

industry at Fortune Bay in January, 1878, which I expressed in my last

annual message, was disappointed. This answer was received only in the

latter part of April in the present year, and when received exhibited

a failure of accord between the two Governments as to the measure of

the inshore fishing privilege secured to our fishermen by the treaty

of Washington of so serious a character that I made it the subject of

a communication to Congress, in which I recommended the adoption of

the measures which seemed to me proper to be taken by this Government

in maintenance of the rights accorded to our fishermen under the

treaty and toward securing an indemnity for the injury these interests

had suffered. A bill to carry out these recommendations was under

consideration by the House of Representatives at the time of the

adjournment of Congress in June last.

Within a few weeks I have received a communication from Her Majesty's

Government renewing the consideration of the subject, both of the

indemnity for the injuries at Fortune Bay and of the interpretation

of the treaty in which the previous correspondence had shown the two

Governments to be at variance. Upon both these topics the disposition

toward a friendly agreement is manifested by a recognition of our

right to an indemnity for the transaction at Fortune Bay, leaving the

measure of such indemnity to further conference, and by an assent to

the view of this Government, presented in the previous correspondence,

that the regulation of conflicting interests of the shore fishery

of the provincial seacoasts and the vessel fishery of our fishermen

should be made the subject of conference and concurrent arrangement

between the two Governments.

I sincerely hope that the basis may be found for a speedy adjustment

of the very serious divergence of views in the interpretation of

the fishery clauses of the treaty of Washington, which, as the

correspondence between the two Governments stood at the close of the

last session of Congress, seemed to be irreconcilable.

In the important exhibition of arts and industries which was held last

year at Sydney, New South Wales, as well as in that now in progress

at Melbourne, the United States have been efficiently and honorably

represented. The exhibitors from this country at the former place

received a large number of awards in some of the most considerable

departments, and the participation of the United States was recognized

by a special mark of distinction. In the exhibition at Melbourne the

share taken by our country is no less notable, and an equal degree of

success is confidently expected.

The state of peace and tranquillity now enjoyed by all the nations

of the continent of Europe has its favorable influence upon our

diplomatic and commercial relations with them. We have concluded and

ratified a convention with the French Republic for the settlement of

claims of the citizens of either country against the other. Under this

convention a commission, presided over by a distinguished publicist,

appointed in pursuance of the request of both nations by His Majesty

the Emperor of Brazil, has been organized and has begun its sessions

in this city. A congress to consider means for the protection of

industrial property has recently been in session in Paris, to which

I have appointed the ministers of the United States in France and in

Belgium as delegates. The International Commission upon Weights and

Measures also continues its work in Paris. I invite your attention to

the necessity of an appropriation to be made in time to enable

this Government to comply with its obligations under the metrical

convention.

Our friendly relations with the German Empire continue without

interruption. At the recent International Exhibition of Fish

and Fisheries at Berlin the participation of the United States,

notwithstanding the haste with which the commission was forced to make

its preparations, was extremely successful and meritorious, winning

for private exhibitors numerous awards of a high class and for the

country at large the principal prize of honor offered by His Majesty

the Emperor. The results of this great success can not but be

advantageous to this important and growing industry. There have been

some questions raised between the two Governments as to the proper

effect and interpretation of our treaties of naturalization, but

recent dispatches from our minister at Berlin show that favorable

progress is making toward an understanding in accordance with the

views of this Government, which makes and admits no distinction

whatever between the rights of a native and a naturalized citizen of

the United States. In practice the complaints of molestation suffered

by naturalized citizens abroad have never been fewer than at present.

There is nothing of importance to note in our unbroken friendly

relations with the Governments of Austria-Hungary, Russia, Portugal,

Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, and Greece.

During the last summer several vessels belonging to the merchant

marine of this country, sailing in neutral waters of the West Indies,

were fired at, boarded, and searched by an armed cruiser of the

Spanish Government. The circumstances as reported involve not only a

private injury to the persons concerned, but also seemed too little

observant of the friendly relations existing for a century between

this country and Spain. The wrong was brought to the attention of

the Spanish Government in a serious protest and remonstrance, and the

matter is undergoing investigation by the royal authorities with a

view to such explanation or reparation as may be called for by the

facts.

The commission sitting in this city for the adjudication of claims of

our citizens against the Government of Spain is, I hope, approaching

the termination of its labors.

The claims against the United States under the Florida treaty with

Spain were submitted to Congress for its action at the late session,

and I again invite your attention to this long-standing question, with

a view to a final disposition of the matter.

At the invitation of the Spanish Government, a conference has recently

been held at the city of Madrid to consider the subject of protection

by foreign powers of native Moors in the Empire of Morocco. The

minister of the United States in Spain was directed to take part

in the deliberations of this conference, the result of which is

a convention signed on behalf of all the powers represented. The

instrument will be laid before the Senate for its consideration. The

Government of the United States has also lost no opportunity to urge

upon that of the Emperor of Morocco the necessity, in accordance with

the humane and enlightened spirit of the age, of putting an end to the

persecutions, which have been so prevalent in that country, of

persons of a faith other than the Moslem, and especially of the Hebrew

residents of Morocco.

The consular treaty concluded with Belgium has not yet been officially

promulgated, owing to the alteration of a word in the text by the

Senate of the United States, which occasioned a delay, during which

the time allowed for ratification expired. The Senate will be asked to

extend the period for ratification.

The attempt to negotiate a treaty of extradition with Denmark failed

on account of the objection of the Danish Government to the usual

clause providing that each nation should pay the expense of the arrest

of the persons whose extradition it asks.

The provision made by Congress at its last session for the expense

of the commission which had been appointed to enter upon negotiations

with the Imperial Government of China on subjects of great interest

to the relations of the two countries enabled the commissioners

to proceed at once upon their mission. The Imperial Government was

prepared to give prompt and respectful attention to the matters

brought under negotiation, and the conferences proceeded with such

rapidity and success that on the 17th of November last two treaties

were signed at Peking, one relating to the introduction of Chinese

into this country and one relating to commerce. Mr. Trescot, one of

the commissioners, is now on his way home bringing the treaties, and

it is expected that they will be received in season to be laid before

the Senate early in January.

Our minister in Japan has negotiated a convention for the reciprocal

relief of shipwrecked seamen. I take occasion to urge once more

upon Congress the propriety of making provision for the erection of

suitable fireproof buildings at the Japanese capital for the use of

the American legation and the court-house and jail connected with

it. The Japanese Government, with great generosity and courtesy, has

offered for this purpose an eligible piece of land.

In my last annual message I invited the attention of Congress to the

subject of the indemnity funds received some years ago from China and

Japan. I renew the recommendation then made that whatever portions of

these funds are due to American citizens should be promptly paid

and the residue returned to the nations, respectively, to which they

justly and equitably belong.

The extradition treaty with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which has

been for some time in course of negotiation, has during the past year

been concluded and duly ratified.

Relations of friendship and amity have been established between the

Government of the United States and that of Roumania. We have sent

a diplomatic representative to Bucharest, and have received at this

capital the special envoy who has been charged by His Royal Highness

Prince Charles to announce the independent sovereignty of Roumania. We

hope for a speedy development of commercial relations between the two

countries.

In my last annual message I expressed the hope that the prevalence of

quiet on the border between this country and Mexico would soon become

so assured as to justify the modification of the orders then in force

to our military commanders in regard to crossing the frontier, without

encouraging such disturbances as would endanger the peace of the two

countries. Events moved in accordance with these expectations, and the

orders were accordingly withdrawn, to the entire satisfaction of our

own citizens and the Mexican Government. Subsequently the peace of the

border was again disturbed by a savage foray under the command of

the Chief Victoria, but by the combined and harmonious action of the

military forces of both countries his band has been broken up and

substantially destroyed.

There is reason to believe that the obstacles which have so long

prevented rapid and convenient communication between the United States

and Mexico by railways are on the point of disappearing, and that

several important enterprises of this character will soon be set on

foot, which can not fail to contribute largely to the prosperity of

both countries.

New envoys from Guatemala, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, and

Nicaragua have recently arrived at this capital, whose distinction and

enlightenment afford the best guaranty of the continuance of friendly

relations between ourselves and these sister Republics.

The relations between this Government and that of the United States of

Colombia have engaged public attention during the past year, mainly by

reason of the project of an interoceanic canal across the Isthmus of

Panama, to be built by private capital under a concession from

the Colombian Government for that purpose. The treaty obligations

subsisting between the United States and Colombia, by which we

guarantee the neutrality of the transit and the sovereignty and

property of Colombia in the Isthmus, make it necessary that the

conditions under which so stupendous a change in the region embraced

in this guaranty should be effected--transforming, as it would, this

Isthmus from a barrier between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans into a

gateway and thoroughfare between them for the navies and the merchant

ships of the world--should receive the approval of this Government, as

being compatible with the discharge of these obligations on our part

and consistent with our interests as the principal commercial power

of the Western Hemisphere. The views which I expressed in a special

message to Congress in March last in relation to this project I

deem it my duty again to press upon your attention. Subsequent

consideration has but confirmed the opinion "that it is the right and

duty of the United States to assert and maintain such supervision and

authority over any interoceanic canal across the isthmus that connects

North and South America as will protect our national interest."

The war between the Republic of Chile on the one hand and the allied

Republics of Peru and Bolivia on the other still continues. This

Government has not felt called upon to interfere in a contest that is

within the belligerent rights of the parties as independent states.

We have, however, always held ourselves in readiness to aid in

accommodating their difference, and have at different times reminded

both belligerents of our willingness to render such service.

Our good offices in this direction were recently accepted by all the

belligerents, and it was hoped they would prove efficacious; but I

regret to announce that the measures which the ministers of the United

States at Santiago and Lima were authorized to take with the view to

bring about a peace were not successful. In the course of the war some

questions have arisen affecting neutral rights. In all of these the

ministers of the United States have, under their instructions, acted

with promptness and energy in protection of American interests.

The relations of the United States with the Empire of Brazil continue

to be most cordial, and their commercial intercourse steadily

increases, to their mutual advantage.

The internal disorders with which the Argentine Republic has for some

time past been afflicted, and which have more or less influenced its

external trade, are understood to have been brought to a close. This

happy result may be expected to redound to the benefit of the foreign

commerce of that Republic, as well as to the development of its vast

interior resources.

In Samoa the Government of King Malietoa, under the support and

recognition of the consular representatives of the United States,

Great Britain, and Germany, seems to have given peace and tranquillity

to the islands. While it does not appear desirable to adopt as a whole

the scheme of tripartite local government which has been proposed, the

common interests of the three great treaty powers require harmony in

their relations to the native frame of government, and this may be

best secured by a simple diplomatic agreement between them. It would

be well if the consular jurisdiction of our representative at Apia

were increased in extent and importance so as to guard American

interests in the surrounding and outlying islands of Oceanica.

The obelisk generously presented by the Khedive of Egypt to the city

of New York has safely arrived in this country, and will soon be

erected in that metropolis. A commission for the liquidation of the

Egyptian debt has lately concluded its work, and this Government, at

the earnest solicitation of the Khedive, has acceded to the provisions

adopted by it, which will be laid before Congress for its information.

A commission for the revision of the judicial code of the

reform tribunal of Egypt is now in session in Cairo. Mr. Farman,

consul-general, and J.M. Batchelder, esq., have been appointed as

commissioners to participate in this work. The organization of the

reform tribunals will probably be continued for another period of five

years.

In pursuance of the act passed at the last session of Congress,

invitations have been extended to foreign maritime states to join in

a sanitary conference in Washington, beginning the 1st of January. The

acceptance of this invitation by many prominent powers gives promise

of success in this important measure, designed to establish a system

of international notification by which the spread of infectious or

epidemic diseases may be more effectively checked or prevented. The

attention of Congress is invited to the necessary appropriations for

carrying into effect the provisions of the act referred to.

The efforts of the Department of State to enlarge the trade and

commerce of the United States, through the active agency of consular

officers and through the dissemination of information obtained from

them, have been unrelaxed. The interest in these efforts, as developed

in our commercial communities, and the value of the information

secured by this means to the trade and manufactures of the country

were recognized by Congress at its last session, and provision was

made for the more frequent publication of consular and other reports

by the Department of State. The first issue of this publication has

now been prepared, and subsequent issues may regularly be expected.

The importance and interest attached to the reports of consular

officers are witnessed by the general demand for them by all classes

of merchants and manufacturers engaged in our foreign trade. It is

believed that the system of such publications is deserving of the

approval of Congress, and that the necessary appropriations for its

continuance and enlargement will commend itself to your consideration.

The prosperous energies of our domestic industries and their immense

production of the subjects of foreign commerce invite, and even

require, an active development of the wishes and interests of

our people in that direction. Especially important is it that our

commercial relations with the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South

America, with the West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico, should be

direct, and not through the circuit of European systems, and should

be carried on in our own bottoms. The full appreciation of the

opportunities which our front on the Pacific Ocean gives to commerce

with Japan, China, and the East Indies, with Australia and the island

groups which lie along these routes of navigation, should inspire

equal efforts to appropriate to our own shipping and to administer by

our own capital a due proportion of this trade. Whatever modifications

of our regulations of trade and navigation may be necessary or useful

to meet and direct these impulses to the enlargement of our exchanges

and of our carrying trade I am sure the wisdom of Congress will be

ready to supply. One initial measure, however, seems to me so clearly

useful and efficient that I venture to press it upon your earnest

attention. It seems to be very evident that the provision of regular

steam postal communication by aid from government has been the

forerunner of the commercial predominance of Great Britain on all

these coasts and seas, a greater share in whose trade is now the

desire and the intent of our people. It is also manifest that the

efforts of other European nations to contend with Great Britain for a

share of this commerce have been successful in proportion with their

adoption of regular steam postal communication with the markets whose

trade they sought. Mexico and the States of South America are anxious

to receive such postal communication with this country and to aid in

their development. Similar cooperation may be looked for in due time

from the Eastern nations and from Australia. It is difficult to see

how the lead in this movement can be expected from private interests.

In respect of foreign commerce quite as much as in internal trade

postal communication seems necessarily a matter of common and public

administration, and thus pertaining to Government. I respectfully

recommend to your prompt attention such just and efficient measures as

may conduce to the development of our foreign commercial exchanges and

the building up of our carrying trade.

In this connection I desire also to suggest the very great service

which might be expected in enlarging and facilitating our commerce on

the Pacific Ocean were a transmarine cable laid from San Francisco to

the Sandwich Islands, and thence to Japan at the north and Australia

at the south. The great influence of such means of communication on

these routes of navigation in developing and securing the due share of

our Pacific Coast in the commerce of the world needs no illustration

or enforcement. It may be that such an enterprise, useful, and in the

end profitable, as it would prove to private investment, may need to

be accelerated by prudent legislation by Congress in its aid, and

I submit the matter to your careful consideration.

An additional and not unimportant, although secondary, reason for

fostering and enlarging the Navy may be found in the unquestionable

service to the expansion of our commerce which would be rendered by

the frequent circulation of naval ships in the seas and ports of all

quarters of the globe. Ships of the proper construction and equipment

to be of the greatest efficiency in case of maritime war might be made

constant and active agents in time of peace in the advancement and

protection of our foreign trade and in the nurture and discipline of

young seamen, who would naturally in some numbers mix with and improve

the crews of our merchant ships. Our merchants at home and abroad

recognize the value to foreign commerce of an active movement of our

naval vessels, and the intelligence and patriotic zeal of our naval

officers in promoting every interest of their countrymen is a just

subject of national pride.

The condition of the financial affairs of the Government, as shown by

the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, is very satisfactory. It

is believed that the present financial situation of the United States,

whether considered with respect to trade, currency, credit, growing

wealth, or the extent and variety of our resources, is more favorable

than that of any other country of our time, and has never been

surpassed by that of any country at any period of its history. All our

industries are thriving; the rate of interest is low; new railroads

are being constructed; a vast immigration is increasing our

population, capital, and labor; new enterprises in great number are

in progress, and our commercial relations with other countries are

improving.

The ordinary revenues from all sources for the fiscal year ended June

30, 1880, were--

From customs.......................................... $186,522,064.60

From internal revenue.................................. 124,009,373.92

From sales of public lands............................... 1,016,506.60

From tax on circulation and deposits of national banks... 7,014,971.44

From repayment of interest by Pacific Railway companies.. 1,707,367.18

From sinking fund for Pacific Railway companies............ 786,621.22

From customs fees, fines, penalties, etc................. 1,148,800.16

From fees--consular, letters patent, and lands........... 2,337,029.00

From proceeds of sales of Government property.............. 282,616.50

From profits on coinage, etc............................. 2,792,186.78

From revenues of the District of Columbia................ 1,809,469.70

From miscellaneous sources............................... 4,099,603.88

Total ordinary receipts................................ 333,526,610.98

The ordinary expenditures for the same period were--

For civil expenses..................................... $15,693,963.55

For foreign intercourse.................................. 1,211,490.58

For Indians.............................................. 5,945,457.09

For pensions (including $19,341,025.20 arrears of pensions)

........................................................ 56,777,174.44

For the military establishment, including river and harbor

improvements and arsenals............................... 38,116,916.22

For the naval establishment, including vessels, machinery,

and improvements at navy-yards.......................... 13,536,984.74

For miscellaneous expenditures, including public buildings,

light-houses, and collecting the revenue................ 34,535,691.00

For expenditures on account of the District of Columbia.. 3,272,384.63

For interest on the public debt......................... 95,757,575.11

For premium on bonds purchased........................... 2,795,320.42

leaving a surplus revenue of $65,883,653.20, which, with an amount

drawn from the cash balance in Treasury of $8,084,434.21, making

$73,968,087.41, was applied to the redemption--

Of bonds for the sinking fund.......................... $73,652,900.00

Of fractional currency..................................... 251,717.41

Of the loan of 1858......................................... 40,000.00

Of temporary loan.............................................. 100.00

Of bounty-land scrip............................................ 25.00

Of compound-interest notes.................................. 16,500.00

Of 7.30 notes of 1864-65..................................... 2,650.00

Of one and two year notes.................................... 3,700.00

Of old demand notes............................................ 495.00

Total................................................... 73,968,087.41

The amount due the sinking fund for this year was $37,931,643.55.

There was applied thereto the sum of $73,904,617.41, being

$35,972,973.86 in excess of the actual requirements for the year.

The aggregate of the revenues from all sources during the fiscal

year ended June 30, 1880, was $333,526,610.98, an increase over the

preceding year of $59,699,426.52. The receipts thus far of the current

year, together with the estimated receipts for the remainder of the

year, amount to $350,000,000, which will be sufficient to meet the

estimated expenditures of the year and leave a surplus of $90,000,000.

It is fortunate that this large surplus revenue occurs at a period

when it may be directly applied to the payment of the public debt soon

to be redeemable. No public duty has been more constantly cherished

in the United States than the policy of paying the nation's debt as

rapidly as possible.

The debt of the United States, less cash in the Treasury and exclusive

of accruing interest, attained its maximum of $2,756,431,571.43

in August, 1865, and has since that time been reduced to

$1,886,019,504.65. Of the principal of the debt, $108,758,100 has been

paid since March 1, 1877, effecting an annual saving of interest of

$6,107,593. The burden of interest has also been diminished by the

sale of bonds bearing a low rate of interest and the application of

the proceeds to the redemption of bonds bearing a higher rate. The

annual saving thus secured since March 1, 1877, is $14,290,453.50.

Within a short period over six hundred millions of 5 and 6 per

cent bonds will become redeemable. This presents a very favorable

opportunity not only to further reduce the principal of the debt, but

also to reduce the rate of interest on that which will remain unpaid.

I call the attention of Congress to the views expressed on this

subject by the Secretary of the Treasury in his annual report, and

recommend prompt legislation to enable the Treasury Department to

complete the refunding of the debt which is about to mature.

The continuance of specie payments has not been interrupted or

endangered since the date of resumption. It has contributed greatly

to the revival of business and to our remarkable prosperity. The fears

that preceded and accompanied resumption have proved groundless. No

considerable amount of United States notes have been presented for

redemption, while very large sums of gold bullion, both domestic and

imported, are taken to the mints and exchanged for coin or notes. The

increase of coin and bullion in the United States since January 1,

1879, is estimated at $227,399,428.

There are still in existence, uncanceled, $346,681,016 of United

States legal-tender notes. These notes were authorized as a war

measure, made necessary by the exigencies of the conflict in which

the United States was then engaged. The preservation of the nation's

existence required, in the judgment of Congress, an issue of

legal-tender paper money. That it served well the purpose for which

it was created is not questioned, but the employment of the notes as

paper money indefinitely, after the accomplishment of the object for

which they were provided, was not contemplated by the framers of the

law under which they were issued. These notes long since became, like

any other pecuniary obligation of the Government, a debt to be paid,

and when paid to be canceled as mere evidence of an indebtedness

no longer existing. I therefore repeat what was said in the annual

message of last year, that the retirement from circulation of United

States notes with the capacity of legal tender in private contracts is

a step to be taken in our progress toward a safe and stable currency

which should be accepted as the policy and duty of the Government and

the interest and security of the people.

At the time of the passage of the act now in force requiring the

coinage of silver dollars, fixing their value, and giving them

legal-tender character it was believed by many of the supporters of

the measure that the silver dollar which it authorized would speedily

become, under the operations of the law, of equivalent value to the

gold dollar. There were other supporters of the bill, who, while

they doubted as to the probability of this result, nevertheless were

willing to give the proposed experiment a fair trial, with a view to

stop the coinage if experience should prove that the silver dollar

authorized by the bill continued to be of less commercial value than

the standard gold dollar.

The coinage of silver dollars under the act referred to began in

March, 1878, and has been continued as required by the act. The

average rate per month to the present time has been $2,276,492. The

total amount coined prior to the 1st of November last was $72,847,750.

Of this amount $47,084,450 remain in the Treasury, and only

$25,763,291 are in the hands of the people. A constant effort has been

made to keep this currency in circulation, and considerable expense

has been necessarily incurred for this purpose; but its return to the

Treasury is prompt and sure. Contrary to the confident anticipation of

the friends of the measure at the time of its adoption, the value

of the silver dollar containing 412-1/2 grains of silver has

not increased. During the year prior to the passage of the bill

authorizing its coinage the market value of the silver which it

contained was from 90 to 92 cents as compared with the standard gold

dollar. During the last year the average market value of the silver

dollar has been 88-1/2 cents.

It is obvious that the legislation of the last Congress in regard to

silver, so far as it was based on an anticipated rise in the value

of silver as a result of that legislation, has failed to produce the

effect then predicted. The longer the law remains in force, requiring,

as it does, the coinage of a nominal dollar which in reality is not

a dollar, the greater becomes the danger that this country will be

forced to accept a single metal as the sole legal standard of value in

circulation, and this a standard of less value than it purports to be

worth in the recognized money of the world.

The Constitution of the United States, sound financial principles,

and our best interests all require that the country should have as its

legal-tender money both gold and silver coin of an intrinsic value,

as bullion, equivalent to that which upon its face it purports to

possess. The Constitution in express terms recognizes both gold and

silver as the only true legal-tender money. To banish either of these

metals from our currency is to narrow and limit the circulating medium

of exchange to the disparagement of important interests. The United

States produces more silver than any other country, and is directly

interested in maintaining it as one of the two precious metals which

furnish the coinage of the world. It will, in my judgment, contribute

to this result if Congress will repeal so much of existing legislation

as requires the coinage of silver dollars containing only 412-1/2

grains of silver, and in its stead will authorize the Secretary of the

Treasury to coin silver dollars of equivalent value, as bullion, with

gold dollars. This will defraud no man, and will be in accordance with

familiar precedents. Congress on several occasions has altered the

ratio of value between gold and silver, in order to establish it more

nearly in accordance with the actual ratio of value between the two

metals.

In financial legislation every measure in the direction of greater

fidelity in the discharge of pecuniary obligations has been found

by experience to diminish the rates of interest which debtors are

required to pay and to increase the facility with which money can

be obtained for every legitimate purpose. Our own recent financial

history shows how surely money becomes abundant whenever confidence

in the exact performance of moneyed obligations is established.

The Secretary of War reports that the expenditures of the

War Department for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1880, were

$39,924,773.03. The appropriations for this Department for the current

fiscal year amount to $41,993,630.40.

With respect to the Army, the Secretary invites attention to the fact

that its strength is limited by statute (U.S. Revised Statutes,

sec. 1115) to not more than 30,000 enlisted men, but that provisos

contained in appropriation bills have limited expenditures to the

enlistment of but 25,000. It is believed the full legal strength is

the least possible force at which the present organization can be

maintained, having in view efficiency, discipline, and economy. While

the enlistment of this force would add somewhat to the appropriation

for pay of the Army, the saving made in other respects would be more

than an equivalent for this additional outlay, and the efficiency of

the Army would be largely increased.

The rapid extension of the railroad system west of the Mississippi

River and the great tide of settlers which has flowed in upon new

territory impose on the military an entire change of policy. The

maintenance of small posts along wagon and stage routes of travel

is no longer necessary. Permanent quarters at points selected, of a

more substantial character than those heretofore constructed, will be

required. Under existing laws permanent buildings can not be erected

without the sanction of Congress, and when sales of military sites

and buildings have been authorized the moneys received have reverted

to the Treasury and could only become available through a new

appropriation. It is recommended that provision be made by a general

statute for the sale of such abandoned military posts and buildings as

are found to be unnecessary and for the application of the proceeds

to the construction of other posts. While many of the present posts

are of but slight value for military purposes, owing to the changed

condition of the country, their occupation is continued at great

expense and inconvenience, because they afford the only available

shelter for troops.

The absence of a large number of officers of the line, in active duty,

from their regiments is a serious detriment to the maintenance of

the service. The constant demand for small detachments, each of which

should be commanded by a commissioned officer, and the various details

of officers for necessary service away from their commands occasion

a scarcity in the number required for company duties. With a view to

lessening this drain to some extent, it is recommended that the law

authorizing the detail of officers from the active list as professors

of tactics and military science at certain colleges and universities

be so amended as to provide that all such details be made from the

retired list of the Army.

Attention is asked to the necessity of providing by legislation for

organizing, arming, and disciplining the _active_ militia of the

country, and liberal appropriations are recommended in this behalf.

The reports of the Adjutant-General of the Army and the Chief of

Ordnance touching this subject fully set forth its importance.

The report of the officer in charge of education in the Army shows

that there are 78 schools now in operation in the Army, with an

aggregate attendance of 2,305 enlisted men and children. The Secretary

recommends the enlistment of 150 schoolmasters, with the rank and

pay of commissary-sergeants. An appropriation is needed to supply the

judge-advocates of the Army with suitable libraries, and the Secretary

recommends that the Corps of Judge-Advocates be placed upon the same

footing as to promotion with the other staff corps of the Army. Under

existing laws the Bureau of Military Justice consists of one officer

(the Judge-Advocate-General), and the Corps of Judge-Advocates of

eight officers of equal rank (majors), with a provision that the

limit of the corps shall remain at four when reduced by casualty

or resignation to that number. The consolidation of the Bureau of

Military Justice and the Corps of Judge-Advocates upon the same

basis with the other staff corps of the Army would remove an unjust

discrimination against deserving officers and subserve the best

interests of the service.

Especial attention is asked to the report of the Chief of Engineers

upon the condition of our national defenses. From a personal

inspection of many of the fortifications referred to, the Secretary

is able to emphasize the recommendations made and to state that their

incomplete and defenseless condition is discreditable to the country.

While other nations have been increasing their means for carrying on

offensive warfare and attacking maritime cities, we have been dormant

in preparation for defense. Nothing of importance has been done toward

strengthening and finishing our casemated works since our late civil

war, during which the great guns of modern warfare and the heavy armor

of modern fortifications and ships came into use among the nations;

and our earthworks, left by a sudden failure of appropriations some

years since in all stages of incompletion, are now being rapidly

destroyed by the elements.

The two great rivers of the North American continent, the Mississippi

and the Columbia, have their navigable waters wholly within the limits

of the United States, and are of vast importance to our internal and

foreign commerce. The permanency of the important work on the South

Pass of the Mississippi River seems now to be assured. There has been

no failure whatever in the maintenance of the maximum channel during

the six months ended August 9 last. This experiment has opened a

broad, deep highway to the ocean, and is an improvement upon the

permanent success of which congratulations may be exchanged among

people abroad and at home, and especially among the communities of

the Mississippi Valley, whose commercial exchanges float in an

unobstructed channel safely to and from the sea.

A comprehensive improvement of the Mississippi and its tributaries is

a matter of transcendent importance. These great waterways comprise

a system of inland transportation spread like network over a large

portion of the United States, and navigable to the extent of many

thousands of miles. Producers and consumers alike have a common

interest in such unequaled facilities for cheap transportation.

Geographically, commercially, and politically, they are the strongest

tie between the various sections of the country. These channels of

communication and interchange are the property of the nation.

Its jurisdiction is paramount over their waters, and the plainest

principles of public interest require their intelligent and careful

supervision, with a view to their protection, improvement, and the

enhancement of their usefulness.

The channel of the Columbia River for a distance of about 100 miles

from its mouth is obstructed by a succession of bars, which occasion

serious delays in navigation and heavy expense for lighterage and

towage. A depth of at least 20 feet at low tide should be secured

and maintained to meet the requirements of the extensive and growing

inland and ocean commerce it subserves. The most urgent need, however,

for this great waterway is a permanent improvement of the channel at

the mouth of the river.

From Columbia River to San Francisco, a distance of over 600 miles,

there is no harbor on our Pacific coast which can be approached

during stormy weather. An appropriation of $150,000 was made by the

Forty-fifth Congress for the commencement of a breakwater and harbor

of refuge, to be located at some point between the Straits of Fuca and

San Francisco at which the necessities of commerce, local and general,

will be best accommodated. The amount appropriated is thought to be

quite inadequate for the purpose intended. The cost of the work, when

finished, will be very great, owing to the want of natural advantages

for a site at any point on the coast between the designated limits,

and it has not been thought to be advisable to undertake the work

without a larger appropriation. I commend the matter to the attention

of Congress.

The completion of the new building for the War Department is urgently

needed, and the estimates for continuing its construction are

especially recommended.

The collections of books, specimens, and records constituting the Army

Medical Museum and Library are of national importance. The library

now contains about 51,500 volumes and 57,000 pamphlets relating to

medicine, surgery, and allied topics. The contents of the Army Medical

Museum consist of 22,000 specimens, and are unique in the completeness

with which both military surgery and the diseases of armies are

illustrated. Their destruction would be an irreparable loss, not only

to the United States, but to the world. There are filed in the Record

and Pension Division over 16,000 bound volumes of hospital records,

together with a great quantity of papers, embracing the original

records of the hospitals of our armies during the civil war. Aside

from their historical value, these records are daily searched for

evidence needed in the settlement of large numbers of pension and

other claims, for the protection of the Government against attempted

frauds, as well as for the benefit of honest claimants. These valuable

collections are now in a building which is peculiarly exposed to the

danger of destruction by fire. It is therefore earnestly recommended

that an appropriation be made for a new fireproof building, adequate

for the present needs and reasonable future expansion of these

valuable collections. Such a building should be absolutely fireproof;

no expenditure for mere architectural display is required. It is

believed that a suitable structure can be erected at a cost not to

exceed $250,000.

I commend to the attention of Congress the great services of the

Commander in Chief of our armies during the war for the Union, whose

wise, firm, and patriotic conduct did so much to bring that momentous

conflict to a close. The legislation of the United States contains

many precedents for the recognition of distinguished military merit,

authorizing rank and emoluments to be conferred for eminent services

to the country. An act of Congress authorizing the appointment of

a Captain-General of the Army, with suitable provisions relating to

compensation, retirement, and other details, would, in my judgment,

be altogether fitting and proper, and would be warmly approved by the

country.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy exhibits the successful and

satisfactory management of that Department during the last fiscal

year. The total expenditures for the year were $12,916,639.45, leaving

unexpended at the close of the year $2,141,682.23 of the amount of

available appropriations. The appropriations for the present fiscal

year, ending June 30, 1881, are $15,095,061.45, and the total

estimates for the next fiscal year, ending June 30, 1882, are

$15,953,751.61. The amount drawn by warrant from July 1, 1880, to

November 1, 1880, is $5,041,570.45.

The recommendation of the Secretary of the Navy that provision be made

for the establishment of some form of civil government for the people

of Alaska is approved. At present there is no protection of persons or

property in that Territory except such as is afforded by the officers

of the United States ship _Jamestown_. This vessel was dispatched to

Sitka because of the fear that without the immediate presence of the

national authority there was impending danger of anarchy. The steps

taken to restore order have been accepted in good faith by both white

and Indian inhabitants, and the necessity for this method of restraint

does not, in my opinion, now exist. If, however, the _Jamestown_

should be withdrawn, leaving the people, as at present, without the

ordinary judicial and administrative authority of organized local

government, serious consequences might ensue.

The laws provide only for the collection of revenue, the protection of

public property, and the transmission of the mails. The problem is to

supply a local rule for a population so scattered and so peculiar in

its origin and condition. The natives are reported to be teachable and

self-supporting, and if properly instructed doubtless would advance

rapidly in civilization, and a new factor of prosperity would be added

to the national life. I therefore recommend the requisite legislation

upon this subject.

The Secretary of the Navy has taken steps toward the establishment

of naval coaling stations at the Isthmus of Panama, to meet the

requirements of our commercial relations with Central and South

America, which are rapidly growing in importance. Locations eminently

suitable, both as regards our naval purposes and the uses of commerce,

have been selected, one on the east side of the Isthmus, at Chiriqui

Lagoon, in the Caribbean Sea, and the other on the Pacific coast, at

the Bay of Golfito. The only safe harbors, sufficiently commodious, on

the Isthmus are at these points, and the distance between them is less

than 100 miles. The report of the Secretary of the Navy concludes with

valuable suggestions with respect to the building up of our merchant

marine service, which deserve the favorable consideration of Congress.

The report of the Postmaster-General exhibits the continual growth and

the high state of efficiency of the postal service. The operations

of no Department of the Government, perhaps, represent with greater

exactness the increase in the population and the business of the

country. In 1860 the postal receipts were $8,518,067.40; in 1880 the

receipts were $33,315,479.34. All the inhabitants of the country are

directly and personally interested in having proper mail facilities,

and naturally watch the Post-Office very closely. This careful

oversight on the part of the people has proved a constant stimulus

to improvement. During the past year there was an increase of 2,134

post-offices, and the mail routes were extended 27,177 miles, making

an additional annual transportation of 10,804,191 miles. The

revenues of the postal service for the ensuing year are estimated

at $38,845,174.10, and the expenditures at $42,475,932, leaving a

deficiency to be appropriated out of the Treasury of $3,630,757.90.

The Universal Postal Union has received the accession of almost all

the countries and colonies of the world maintaining organized postal

services, and it is confidently expected that all the other countries

and colonies now outside the union will soon unite therewith, thus

realizing the grand idea and aim of the founders of the union of

forming, for purposes of international mail communication, a single

postal territory, embracing the world, with complete uniformity

of postal charges and conditions of international exchange for all

descriptions of correspondence. To enable the United States to do its

full share of this great work, additional legislation is asked by the

Postmaster-General, to whose recommendations especial attention is

called.

The suggestion of the Postmaster-General that it would be wise to

encourage, by appropriate legislation, the establishment of American

lines of steamers by our own citizens to carry the mails between our

own ports and those of Mexico, Central America, South America, and of

transpacific countries is commended to the serious consideration of

Congress.

The attention of Congress is also invited to the suggestions of the

Postmaster-General in regard to postal savings.

The necessity for additional provision to aid in the transaction of

the business of the Federal courts becomes each year more apparent.

The dockets of the Supreme Court and of the circuit courts in the

greater number of the circuits are encumbered with the constant

accession of cases. In the former court, and in many instances in

the circuit courts, years intervene before it is practicable to bring

cases to hearing.

The Attorney-General recommends the establishment of an intermediate

court of errors and appeals. It is recommended that the number of

judges of the circuit court in each circuit, with the exception of the

second circuit, should be increased by the addition of another

judge; in the second circuit, that two should be added; and that an

intermediate appellate court should be formed in each circuit, to

consist of the circuit judges and the circuit justice, and that in the

event of the absence of either of these judges the place of the absent

judge should be supplied by the judge of one of the district courts

in the circuit. Such an appellate court could be safely invested with

large jurisdiction, and its decisions would satisfy suitors in many

cases where appeals would still be allowed to the Supreme Court.

The expense incurred for this intermediate court will require a

very moderate increase of the appropriations for the expenses of the

Department of Justice. This recommendation is commended to the careful

consideration of Congress.

It is evident that a delay of justice, in many instances oppressive

and disastrous to suitors, now necessarily occurs in the Federal

courts, which will in this way be remedied.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior presents an elaborate

account of the operations of that Department during the past year. It

gives me great pleasure to say that our Indian affairs appear to be in

a more hopeful condition now than ever before. The Indians have made

gratifying progress in agriculture, herding, and mechanical pursuits.

Many who were a few years ago in hostile conflict with the Government

are quietly settling down on farms where they hope to make their

permanent homes, building houses and engaging in the occupations of

civilized life. The introduction of the freighting business among them

has been remarkably fruitful of good results, in giving many of

them congenial and remunerative employment and in stimulating their

ambition to earn their own support. Their honesty, fidelity, and

efficiency as carriers are highly praised. The organization of a

police force of Indians has been equally successful in maintaining law

and order upon the reservations and in exercising a wholesome moral

influence among the Indians themselves. I concur with the Secretary

of the Interior in the recommendation that the pay of this force be

increased, as an inducement to the best class of young men to enter

it.

Much care and attention has been devoted to the enlargement of

educational facilities for the Indians. The means available for this

important object have been very inadequate. A few additional boarding

schools at Indian agencies have been established and the erection

of buildings has been begun for several more; but an increase of the

appropriations for this interesting undertaking is greatly needed to

accommodate the large number of Indian children of school age. The

number offered by their parents from all parts of the country for

education in the Government schools is much larger than can be

accommodated with the means at present available for that purpose. The

number of Indian pupils at the normal school at Hampton, Va., under

the direction of General Armstrong, has been considerably increased,

and their progress is highly encouraging. The Indian school

established by the Interior Department in 1879 at Carlisle, Pa., under

the direction of Captain Pratt, has been equally successful. It has

now nearly 200 pupils of both sexes, representing a great variety

of the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains. The pupils in both these

institutions receive not only an elementary English education, but

are also instructed in housework, agriculture, and useful mechanical

pursuits. A similar school was established this year at Forest Grove,

Oreg., for the education of Indian youth on the Pacific Coast. In

addition to this, thirty-six Indian boys and girls were selected

from the Eastern Cherokees and placed in boarding schools in North

Carolina, where they are to receive an elementary English education

and training in industrial pursuits. The interest shown by Indian

parents, even among the so-called wild tribes, in the education of

their children is very gratifying, and gives promise that the results

accomplished by the efforts now making will be of lasting benefit.

The expenses of Indian education have so far been drawn from the

permanent civilization fund at the disposal of the Department of the

Interior, but the fund is now so much reduced that the continuance

of this beneficial work will in the future depend on specific

appropriations by Congress for the purpose; and I venture to express

the hope that Congress will not permit institutions so fruitful of

good results to perish for want of means for their support. On the

contrary, an increase of the number of such schools appears to me

highly advisable.

The past year has been unusually free from disturbances among the

Indian tribes. An agreement has been made with the Utes by which they

surrender their large reservation in Colorado in consideration of

an annuity to be paid to them, and agree to settle in severalty

on certain lands designated for that purpose, as farmers, holding

individual title to their land in fee-simple, inalienable for a

certain period. In this way a costly Indian war has been avoided,

which at one time seemed imminent, and for the first time in the

history of the country an Indian nation has given up its tribal

existence to be settled in severalty and to live as individuals under

the common protection of the laws of the country.

The conduct of the Indians throughout the country during the past

year, with but few noteworthy exceptions, has been orderly and

peaceful. The guerrilla warfare carried on for two years by Victoria

and his band of Southern Apaches has virtually come to an end by the

death of that chief and most of his followers on Mexican soil. The

disturbances caused on our northern frontier by Sitting Bull and his

men, who had taken refuge in the British dominions, are also likely

to cease. A large majority of his followers have surrendered to our

military forces, and the remainder are apparently in progress of

disintegration.

I concur with the Secretary of the Interior in expressing the earnest

hope that Congress will at this session take favorable action on

the bill providing for the allotment of lands on the different

reservations in severalty to the Indians, with patents conferring

fee-simple title inalienable for a certain period, and the eventual

disposition of the residue of the reservations for general settlement,

with the consent and for the benefit of the Indians, placing the

latter under the equal protection of the laws of the country. This

measure, together with a vigorous prosecution of our educational

efforts, will work the most important and effective advance toward the

solution of the Indian problem, in preparing for the gradual merging

of our Indian population in the great body of American citizenship.

A large increase is reported in the disposal of public lands for

settlement during the past year, which marks the prosperous growth of

our agricultural industry and a vigorous movement of population toward

our unoccupied lands. As this movement proceeds, the codification

of our land laws, as well as proper legislation to regulate the

disposition of public lands, become of more pressing necessity, and I

therefore invite the consideration of Congress to the report and the

accompanying draft of a bill made by the Public Lands Commission,

which were communicated by me to Congress at the last session. Early

action upon this important subject is highly desirable.

The attention of Congress is again asked to the wasteful depredations

committed on our public timber lands and the rapid and indiscriminate

destruction of our forests. The urgent necessity for legislation to

this end is now generally recognized. In view of the lawless character

of the depredations committed and the disastrous consequences which

will inevitably follow their continuance, legislation has again and

again been recommended to arrest the evil and to preserve for the

people of our Western States and Territories the timber needed for

domestic and other essential uses.

The report of the Director of the Geological Survey is a document

of unusual interest. The consolidation of the various geological and

geographical surveys and exploring enterprises, each of which has

heretofore operated upon an independent plan, without concert, can

not fail to be of great benefit to all those industries of the country

which depend upon the development of our mineral resources. The labors

of the scientific men, of recognized merit, who compose the corps

of the Geological Survey, during the first season of their field

operations and inquiries, appear to have been very comprehensive,

and will soon be communicated to Congress in a number of volumes.

The Director of the Survey recommends that the investigations carried

on by his bureau, which so far have been confined to the so-called

public-land States and Territories, be extended over the entire country,

and that the necessary appropriation be made for this purpose. This

would be particularly beneficial to the iron, coal, and other mining

interests of the Mississippi Valley and of the Eastern and Southern

States. The subject is commended to the careful consideration of

Congress.

The Secretary of the Interior asks attention to the want of room in

the public buildings of the capital, now existing and in progress of

construction, for the accommodation of the clerical force employed and

of the public records. Necessity has compelled the renting of private

buildings in different parts of the city for the location of public

offices, for which a large amount of rent is annually paid, while the

separation of offices belonging to the same Department impedes the

transaction of current business. The Secretary suggests that the

blocks surrounding Lafayette Square on the east, north, and west be

purchased as the sites for new edifices for the accommodation of the

Government offices, leaving the square itself intact, and that if such

buildings were constructed upon a harmonious plan of architecture

they would add much to the beauty of the national capital, and would,

together with the Treasury and the new State, Navy, and War Department

building, form one of the most imposing groups of public edifices in

the world.

The Commissioner of Agriculture expresses the confident belief that

his efforts in behalf of the production of our own sugar and tea have

been encouragingly rewarded. The importance of the results attained

have attracted marked attention at home and have received the special

consideration of foreign nations. The successful cultivation of our

own tea and the manufacture of our own sugar would make a difference

of many millions of dollars annually in the wealth of the nation.

The report of the Commissioner asks attention particularly to the

continued prevalence of an infectious and contagious cattle

disease known and dreaded in Europe and Asia as cattle plague, or

pleuro-pneumonia. A mild type of this disease in certain sections

of our country is the occasion of great loss to our farmers and of

serious disturbance to our trade with Great Britain, which furnishes

a market for most of our live stock and dressed meats. The value of

neat cattle exported from the United States for the eight months ended

August 31, 1880, was more than $12,000,000, and nearly double the

value for the same period in 1879--an unexampled increase of export

trade. Your early attention is solicited to this important matter.

The Commissioner of Education reports a continued increase of public

interest in educational affairs, and that the public schools generally

throughout the country are well sustained. Industrial training

is attracting deserved attention, and colleges for instruction,

theoretical and practical, in agriculture and mechanic arts, including

the Government schools recently established for the instruction

of Indian youth, are gaining steadily in public estimation. The

Commissioner asks special attention to the depredations committed on

the lands reserved for the future support of public instruction, and

to the very great need of help from the nation for schools in the

Territories and in the Southern States. The recommendation heretofore

made is repeated and urged, that an educational fund be set apart from

the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands annually, the

income of which and the remainder of the net annual proceeds to

be distributed on some satisfactory plan to the States and the

Territories and the District of Columbia.

The success of the public schools of the District of Columbia, and

the progress made, under the intelligent direction of the board

of education and the superintendent, in supplying the educational

requirements of the District with thoroughly trained and efficient

teachers, is very gratifying. The acts of Congress, from time to time,

donating public lands to the several States and Territories in aid

of educational interests have proved to be wise measures of public

policy, resulting in great and lasting benefit. It would seem to be a

matter of simple justice to extend the benefits of this legislation,

the wisdom of which has been so fully vindicated by experience, to the

District of Columbia.

I again commend the general interests of the District of Columbia

to the favorable consideration of Congress. The affairs of the

District, as shown by the report of the Commissioners, are in a very

satisfactory condition.

In my annual messages heretofore and in my special message of December

19, 1879, I have urged upon the attention of Congress the necessity of

reclaiming the marshes of the Potomac adjacent to the capital, and I

am constrained by its importance to advert again to the subject. These

flats embrace an area of several hundred acres. They are an impediment

to the drainage of the city and seriously impair its health. It is

believed that with this substantial improvement of its river front the

capital would be in all respects one of the most attractive cities

in the world. Aside from its permanent population, this city is

necessarily the place of residence of persons from every section of

the country engaged in the public service. Many others reside here

temporarily for the transaction of business with the Government.

It should not be forgotten that the land acquired will probably be

worth the cost of reclaiming it and that the navigation of the river

will be greatly improved. I therefore again invite the attention of

Congress to the importance of prompt provision for this much needed

and too long delayed improvement.

The water supply of the city is inadequate. In addition to the

ordinary use throughout the city, the consumption by Government is

necessarily very great in the navy-yard, arsenal, and the various

Departments, and a large quantity is required for the proper

preservation of the numerous parks and the cleansing of sewers. I

recommend that this subject receive the early attention of Congress,

and that in making provision for an increased supply such means be

adopted as will have in view the future growth of the city. Temporary

expedients for such a purpose can not but be wasteful of money,

and therefore unwise. A more ample reservoir, with corresponding

facilities for keeping it filled, should, in my judgment, be

constructed. I commend again to the attention of Congress the subject

of the removal from their present location of the depots of the

several railroads entering the city; and I renew the recommendations

of my former messages in behalf of the erection of a building for the

Congressional Library, the completion of the Washington Monument, and

of liberal appropriations in support of the benevolent, reformatory,

and penal institutions of the District.

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, _December 9, 1880_.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to

ratification, a convention for the establishment, on fixed and uniform

bases, of the exercise of the right of protection in Morocco, and for

the settlement of certain questions connected therewith, between His

Excellency the President of the United States of America; His Majesty

the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia; His Majesty the Emperor of

Austria, King of Hungary; His Majesty the King of the Belgians;

His Majesty the King of Denmark; His Majesty the King of Spain; His

Excellency the President of the French Republic; Her Majesty the Queen

of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; His Majesty the

King of Italy; His Majesty the Sultan of Morocco; His Majesty the King

of the Netherlands; His Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves,

and His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, signed at Madrid on the

3d day of July last.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 13, 1880_.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

The accompanying documents, received from the Commissioner of

Agriculture, are transmitted to the Senate in reply to the resolution

of the 7th instant, relating to contagious diseases of cattle.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 5, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

I transmit, for the consideration of the Senate with a view to

ratification, a convention between the United States of America

and the Empire of Japan, providing for the reimbursement of certain

specified expenses which may be incurred by either country in

consequence of the shipwreck on its coasts of the vessels of the

other.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 5, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

In response to the resolution of the Senate of June 21, 1879, I

herewith transmit reports[42] received from the Secretary of the

Interior and the Secretary of War.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 42: Transmitting statements of the number of soldiers and

civilians killed and wounded, number of Indians killed, value of

property destroyed, and expenses incurred by the United States in

certain Indian wars from 1865 to 1879.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 10, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate, two

treaties[43] signed at Peking on the 17th of November, 1880, by

the commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States and China,

respectively, together with a letter of the Secretary of State in

relation thereto, and accompanying papers.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 43: (1) Regulation of Chinese immigration into the United

States (2) commercial intercourse and judicial procedure.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 10, 1881_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I submit herewith, for the information of the House of

Representatives, copies of correspondence with the Department of State

relating to an invitation extended by the French Republic to this

Government to send one or more delegates to represent it at an

international congress of electricians to be held at Paris on the 15th

day of September, 1881. It appears from the same correspondence that

an international exhibition of electricity is to be held at the palace

of the Champs Élysées, in Paris, from August 15, 1881, to the 15th

of November following, and it is therefore suggested by the French

authorities that it might be well to invest the delegates selected to

take part in the international congress with the additional character

of commissioners to the international exhibition of electricity.

In view of the important scientific, industrial, and commercial

interests designed to be promoted by the proposed international

congress of electricians and exhibition of electricity, I submit the

subject to your favorable consideration and recommend that a suitable

appropriation be made to enable this Government to accept the

foregoing invitation by appointing one or more delegates to attend the

congress in question.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 18, 1881_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to submit herewith the report of the Public

Lands Commission, embracing the history and a codification of the

public-land laws; and I desire earnestly to invite the attention of

Congress to this important subject.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 20, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate a letter from the Secretary of

State, with accompanying papers, in relation to the recent effort of

the Government of the United States to bring about peace between Chile

and Peru and, Bolivia.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 1, 1881_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the request of a large number of intelligent

and benevolent citizens, and believing that it was warranted by the

extraordinary circumstances of the case, on the 18th day of December,

1880, I appointed a commission consisting of George Crook and Nelson

A. Miles, brigadier-generals in the Army; William Stickney, of

the District of Columbia, and Walter Allen, of Massachusetts,

and requested them to confer with the Ponca Indians in the Indian

Territory, and, if in their judgment it was advisable, also with that

part of the tribe which remained in Dakota, and "to ascertain the

facts in regard to their removal and present condition so far as was

necessary to determine the question as to what justice and humanity

required should be done by the Government of the United States, and to

report their conclusions and recommendations in the premises."

The commission, in pursuance of these instructions, having visited the

Ponca Indians at their homes in the Indian Territory and in Dakota

and made a careful investigation of the subject referred to them, have

reported their conclusions and recommendations, and I now submit their

report, together with the testimony taken, for the consideration of

Congress. A minority report by Mr. Allen is also herewith submitted.

On the 27th of December, 1880, a delegation of Ponca chiefs from the

Indian Territory presented to the Executive a declaration of their

wishes, in which they stated that it was their desire "to remain on

the lands now occupied by the Poncas in the Indian Territory" and "to

relinquish all their right and interest in the lands formerly owned

and occupied by the Ponca tribe in the State of Nebraska and the

Territory of Dakota;" and the declaration sets forth the compensation

which they will accept for the lands to be surrendered and for the

injuries done to the tribe by their removal to the Indian Territory.

This declaration, agreeably to the request of the chiefs making it, is

herewith transmitted to Congress.

The public attention has frequently been called to the injustice and

wrong which the Ponca tribe of Indians has suffered at the hands of

the Government of the United States. This subject was first brought

before Congress and the country by the Secretary of the Interior in

his annual report for the year 1877, in which he said:

The case of the Poncas seems entitled to especial

consideration at the hands of Congress. They have always been

friendly to the whites. It is said, and, as far as I have been

able to learn, truthfully, that no Ponca ever killed a

white man. The orders of the Government have always met with

obedient compliance at their hands. Their removal from their

old homes on the Missouri River was to them a great hardship.

They had been born and raised there. They had houses there in

which they lived according to their ideas of comfort. Many

of them had engaged in agriculture and possessed cattle and

agricultural implements. They were very reluctant to leave all

this, but when Congress had resolved upon their removal they

finally overcame that reluctance and obeyed. Considering

their constant good conduct, their obedient spirit, and the

sacrifices they have made, they are certainly entitled to

more than ordinary care at the hands of the Government, and I

urgently recommend that liberal provision be made to aid them

in their new settlement.

In the same volume the report of E.A. Howard, the agent of the Poncas,

is published, which contains the following:

* * * * *

I am of the opinion that the removal of the Poncas from the

northern climate of Dakota to the southern climate of the

Indian Territory at the season of the year it was done will

prove a mistake, and that a great mortality will surely follow

among the people when they shall have been here for a time and

become poisoned with the malaria of the climate. Already the

effects of the climate may be seen upon them in the _ennui_

that seems to have settled upon each and in the large number

now sick.

It is a matter of astonishment to me that the Government

should have ordered the removal of the Ponca Indians from

Dakota to the Indian Territory without having first made

some provision for their settlement and comfort. Before their

removal was carried into effect an appropriation should have

been made by Congress sufficient to have located them in their

new home, by building a comfortable house for the occupancy

of every family of the tribe. As the case now is, no

appropriation has been made by Congress, except for a sum but

little more than sufficient to remove them; no houses have

been built for their use, and the result is that these people

have been placed on an uncultivated reservation to live in

their tents as best they may, and await further legislative

action.

* * * * *

These Indians claim that the Government had no right to move

them from their reservation without first obtaining from them

by purchase or treaty the title which they had acquired

from the Government, and for which they rendered a valuable

consideration. They claim that the date of the settlement of

their tribe upon the land composing their old reservation is

prehistoric; that they were all born there, and that their

ancestors from generations back beyond their knowledge were

born and lived upon its soil, and that they finally acquired

a complete and perfect title from the Government by a treaty

made with the "Great Father" at Washington, which they claim

made it as legitimately theirs as is the home of the white man

acquired by gift or purchase.

* * * * *

The subject was again referred to in similar terms in the annual

report of the Interior Department for 1878, in the reports of the

Commissioner of Indian Affairs and of the agent for the Poncas, and in

1879 the Secretary of the Interior said:

That the Poncas were grievously wronged by their removal from

their location on the Missouri River to the Indian Territory,

their old reservation having, by a mistake in making the Sioux

treaty, been transferred to the Sioux, has been at length and

repeatedly set forth in my reports, as well as those of the

Commissioner of Indian Affairs. All that could be subsequently

done by this Department in the absence of new legislation to

repair that wrong and to indemnify them for their losses

has been done with more than ordinary solicitude. They were

permitted to select a new location for themselves in the

Indian Territory, the Quapaw Reserve, to which they had first

been taken, being objectionable to them. They chose a tract of

country on the Arkansas River and the Salt Fork northwest of

the Pawnee Reserve. I visited their new reservation personally

to satisfy myself of their condition. The lands they now

occupy are among the very best in the Indian Territory in

point of fertility, well watered and well timbered, and

admirably adapted for agriculture as well as stock raising. In

this respect their new reservation is unquestionably superior

to that which they left behind them on the Missouri River.

Seventy houses have been built by and for them, of far better

quality than the miserable huts they formerly occupied in

Dakota, and the construction of a larger number is now in

progress, so that, as the agent reports, every Ponca family

will be comfortably housed before January. A very liberal

allowance of agricultural implements and stock cattle has been

given them, and if they apply themselves to agricultural work

there is no doubt that their condition will soon be far more

prosperous than it has ever been before. During the first

year after their removal to the Indian Territory they lost

a comparatively large number of their people by death, in

consequence of the change of climate, which is greatly to

be deplored; but their sanitary condition is now very much

improved. The death rate among them during the present year

has been very low, and the number of cases of sickness

is constantly decreasing. It is thought that they are now

sufficiently acclimated to be out of danger.

* * * * *

A committee of the Senate, after a very full investigation of the

subject, on the 31st of May, 1880, reported their conclusions to the

Senate, and both the majority and minority of the committee agreed

that "a great wrong had been done to the Ponca Indians." The majority

of the committee say:

* * * * *

Nothing can strengthen the Government in a just policy to the

Indians so much as a demonstration of its willingness to do

ample and complete justice whenever it can be shown that it

has inflicted a wrong upon a weak and trusting tribe. It is

impossible for the United States to hope for any confidence to

be reposed in them by the Indians until there shall be shown

on their part a readiness to do justice.

The minority report is equally explicit as to the duty of the

Government to repair the wrong done the Poncas. It says:

* * * * *

We should be more prompt and anxious because they are weak

and we are strong. In my judgment we should be liberal to the

verge of lavishness in the expenditure of our money to improve

their condition, so that they and all others may know that,

although, like all nations and all men, we may do wrong, we

are willing to make ample reparation.

The report of the commission appointed by me, of which General

Crook was chairman, and the testimony taken by them and their

investigations, add very little to what was already contained in the

official reports of the Secretary of the Interior and the report of

the Senate committee touching the injustice done to the Poncas by

their removal to the Indian Territory. Happily, however, the evidence

reported by the commission and their recommendations point out

conclusively the true measures of redress which the Government of the

United States ought now to adopt.

The commission in their conclusions omit to state the important facts

as to the present condition of the Poncas in the Indian Territory, but

the evidence they have reported shows clearly and conclusively

that the Poncas now residing in that Territory, 521 in number, are

satisfied with their new homes; that they are healthy, comfortable,

and contented, and that they have freely and firmly decided to adhere

to the choice announced in their letter of October 25, 1880, and

in the declaration of December 27, 1880, to remain in the Indian

Territory and not to return to Dakota.

The evidence reported also shows that the fragment of the Ponca

tribe--perhaps 150 in number--which is still in Dakota and Nebraska

prefer to remain on their old reservation.

In view of these facts I am convinced that the recommendations of the

commission, together with the declaration of the chiefs of December

last, if substantially followed, will afford a solution of the Ponca

question which is consistent with the wishes and interests of

both branches of the tribe, with the settled Indian policy of the

Government, and, as nearly as is now practicable, with the demands of

justice.

Our general Indian policy for the future should embrace the following

leading ideas:

1. The Indians should be prepared for citizenship by giving to their

young of both sexes that industrial and general education which

is required to enable them to be self-supporting and capable of

self-protection in a civilized community.

2. Lands should be allotted to the Indians in severalty, inalienable

for a certain period.

3. The Indians should have a fair compensation for their lands not

required for individual allotments, the amount to be invested, with

suitable safeguards, for their benefit.

4. With these prerequisites secured, the Indians should be

made citizens and invested with the rights and charged with the

responsibilities of citizenship.

It is therefore recommended that legislation be adopted in relation to

the Ponca Indians, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to secure

to the individual members of the Ponca tribe, in severalty, sufficient

land for their support, inalienable for a term of years and until the

restriction upon alienation may be removed by the President. Ample

time and opportunity should be given to the members of the tribe

freely to choose their allotments either on their old or their new

reservation.

Full compensation should be made for the lands to be relinquished, for

their losses by the Sioux depredations and by reason of their removal

to the Indian Territory, the amount not to be less than the sums named

in the declaration of the chiefs made December 27, 1880.

In short, nothing should be left undone to show to the Indians that

the Government of the United States regards their rights as equally

sacred with those of its citizens.

The time has come when the policy should be to place the Indians as

rapidly as practicable on the same footing with the other permanent

inhabitants of our country.

I do not undertake to apportion the blame for the injustice done to

the Poncas. Whether the Executive or Congress or the public is chiefly

in fault is not now a question of practical importance. As the Chief

Executive at the time when the wrong was consummated, I am deeply

sensible that enough of the responsibility for that wrong justly

attaches to me to make it my particular duty and earnest desire to

do all I can to give to these injured people that measure of redress

which is required alike by justice and by humanity.

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 2, 1881_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for consideration and appropriate action by

Congress, a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, in relation to the

proposed establishment of naval stations of the United States on the

American Isthmus. In this paper the current testimony of prominent

officers of this Government for a long series of years, as to the

feasibility and necessity of establishing such stations and the great

advantage to flow therefrom to the naval and commercial interests

of the United States, is clearly set forth, and the considerations

adduced can not but commend themselves, I am confident, to the careful

attention of Congress. Convinced of the wisdom and propriety of the

suggestions thus presented, I recommend to Congress the appropriation

of the sum named by the Secretary of the Navy, to be at his disposal

at once, for expenditure as soon as suitable arrangements can be made

to the proposed end.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1881_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the Navy,

with reference to the dispatch of a vessel for the relief of the

_Jeannette_ polar expedition, and commend the recommendations of the

Secretary to the prompt and favorable action of Congress.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 14, 1881_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit the final report addressed to me by the

commissioners appointed under the act of Congress approved July 19,

1876, authorizing the repavement of that part of Pennsylvania avenue

lying between the Treasury Department and the Capitol Grounds.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _February 17, 1881_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in response to

the resolution addressed to him by the House of Representatives of the

31st of January ultimo, on the subject of international action for the

restoration of silver to full use as money.

The prospect of an early international conference, promising valuable

results in accordance with the interests of this country, is such that

I recommend to the immediate attention of Congress an appropriation

providing for the proper representation of this Government at such

conference.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _February 21, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of 15th of June, 1880,

requesting the Secretary of State to report to that body at its next

regular session what changes, if any, of the laws regulating the

management of the Department of State, or of the divisions and the

bureaus thereof, are necessary or would be beneficial in promoting the

efficiency or economy of its administration or management, and also to

make report concerning the mode of keeping the departmental accounts,

the checks and safeguards upon expenditures, and the administrative

or clerical changes for the better which may suggest themselves as

expedient, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State

upon the subjects embraced in that resolution so far as they touch the

Department of State.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 25, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate with a view

to advising and consenting to the ratification thereof, a convention

for the extradition of criminals, between the United States of America

and the United States of Colombia, signed at Bogotá on the 3d of

January, 1881. I also transmit certain correspondence touching the

negotiation of said convention.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 25, 1881._

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for its consideration with a view

to ratification in due course, a convention supplementary to the

consular convention of May 8, 1878, between the United States of

America and His Majesty the King of Italy, concluded in the city of

Washington on the 24th of February, 1881.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 28, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a copy of proclamation[44] for the convening of an

extra session of the Senate of the United States at the Capitol, in

the city of Washington, on the 4th day of March next, at noon.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 44: See pp. 639-640.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 28, 1881_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a copy of a letter addressed to the chairman of

the Civil Service Commission on the 3d of December last, requesting

to be furnished with a report upon the result in the post-office

and custom-house in the city of New York of the application of the

civil-service rules requiring open competitive examinations for

appointments and promotions, together with the report of Hon. Dorman

B. Eaton, the chairman of the Commission, in response.

The report presents a very gratifying statement of the results of

the application of the rules referred to in the two largest and most

important local offices in the civil service of the Government. The

subject is one of great importance to the people of the whole country.

I would commend the suggestions and recommendation of the chairman of

the Commission to the careful consideration of Congress.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 28, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the

20th ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying

papers.[45]

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 45: Correspondence relative to the sending to the United

States by foreign governments of criminals, paupers, and insane

persons.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 3, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to inform the Senate that Hon. Benjamin Harrison,

Senator elect from the State of Indiana, has resigned his office as a

member of the Commission for the Improvement of the Mississippi River,

and the same has been accepted to take effect March 3, 1881.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 3, 1881_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to inform the Senate that Hon. John Sherman, Senator

elect from the State of Ohio, has resigned the position of Secretary

of the Treasury, and that said resignation has been accepted to take

effect at the close of the present day.

R.B. HAYES.

VETO MESSAGE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 3, 1881_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

Having considered the bill entitled "An act to facilitate the

refunding of the national debt," I am constrained to return it to the

House of Representatives, in which it originated, with the following

statement of my objections to its passage:

The imperative necessity for prompt action and the pressure of public

duties in this closing week of my term of office compel me to refrain

from any attempt to make a full and satisfactory presentation of the

objections to the bill.

The importance of the passage at the present session of Congress of a

suitable measure for the refunding of the national debt which is

about to mature is generally recognized. It has been urged upon the

attention of Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury and in my last

annual message. If successfully accomplished, it will secure a large

decrease in the annual interest payment of the nation, and I earnestly

recommend, if the bill before me shall fail, that another measure for

this purpose be adopted before the present Congress adjourns.

While, in my opinion, it would be unwise to authorize the Secretary of

the Treasury, in his discretion, to offer to the public bonds bearing

3-1/2 per cent interest in aid of refunding, I should not deem it my

duty to interpose my constitutional objection to the passage of the

present bill if it did not contain, in its fifth section, provisions

which, in my judgment, seriously impair the value and tend to the

destruction of the present national banking system of the country.

This system has now been in operation almost twenty years. No safer or

more beneficial banking system was ever established. Its advantages

as a business are free to all who have the necessary capital. It

furnishes a currency to the public which for convenience and security

of the bill holder has probably never been equaled by that of any

other banking system. Its notes are secured by the deposit with the

Government of the interest-bearing bonds of the United States.

The section of the bill before me which relates to the national

banking system, and to which objection is made, is not an essential

part of a refunding measure. It is as follows:

SEC. 5. From and after the 1st day of July, 1881, the 3 per

cent bonds authorized by the first section of this act shall

be the only bonds receivable as security for national-bank

circulation or as security for the safe-keeping and prompt

payment of the public money deposited with such banks; but

when any such bonds deposited for the purposes aforesaid shall

be designated for purchase or redemption by the Secretary

of the Treasury, the banking association depositing the same

shall have the right to substitute other issues of the bonds

of the United States in lieu thereof: _Provided_, That no bond

upon which interest has ceased shall be accepted or shall be

continued on deposit as security for circulation or for

the safe-keeping of the public money; and in case bonds so

deposited shall not be withdrawn, as provided by law, within

thirty days after the interest has ceased thereon, the banking

association depositing the same shall be subject to the

liabilities and proceedings on the part of the Comptroller

provided for in section 5234 of the Revised Statutes of the

United States: _And provided further_, That section 4 of the

act of June 20, 1874, entitled "An act fixing the amount of

United States notes, providing for a redistribution of the

national-bank currency, and for other purposes," be, and the

same is hereby, repealed, and sections 5159 and 5160 of the

Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same are

hereby, reenacted.

Under this section it is obvious that no additional banks will

hereafter be organized, except possibly in a few cities or localities

where the prevailing rates of interest in ordinary business are

extremely low. No new banks can be organized and no increase of the

capital of existing banks can be obtained except by the purchase and

deposit of 3 per cent bonds. No other bonds of the United States can

be used for the purpose. The one thousand millions of other bonds

recently issued by the United States, and bearing a higher rate of

interest than 3 per cent, and therefore a better security for the bill

holder, can not after the 1st of July next be received as security

for bank circulation. This is a radical change in the banking law. It

takes from the banks the right they have heretofore had under the law

to purchase and deposit as security for their circulation any of the

bonds issued by the United States, and deprives the bill holder of the

best security which the banks are able to give by requiring them

to deposit bonds having the least value of any bonds issued by the

Government.

The average rate of taxation of capital employed in banking is more

than double the rate of taxation upon capital employed in other

legitimate business. Under these circumstances, to amend the banking

law so as to deprive the banks of the privilege of securing their

notes by the most valuable bonds issued by the Government will, it is

believed, in a large part of the country, be a practical prohibition

of the organization of new banks and prevent the existing banks from

enlarging their capital. The national banking system, if continued at

all, will be a monopoly in the hands of those already engaged in it,

who may purchase the Government bonds bearing a more favorable rate of

interest than the 3 per cent bonds prior to next July.

To prevent the further organization of banks is to put in jeopardy the

whole system, by taking from it that feature which makes it, as it

now is, a banking system free upon the same terms to all who wish

to engage in it. Even the existing banks will be in danger of being

driven from business by the additional disadvantages to which they

will be subjected by this bill. In short, I can not but regard

the fifth section of the bill as a step in the direction of the

destruction of the national banking system.

Our country, after a long period of business depression, has just

entered upon a career of unexampled prosperity.

The withdrawal of the currency from circulation of the national

banks, and the enforced winding up of the banks in consequence, would

inevitably bring serious embarrassment and disaster to the business

of the country. Banks of issue are essential instruments of modern

commerce. If the present efficient and admirable system of banking is

broken down, it will inevitably be followed by a recurrence to other

and inferior methods of banking. Any measure looking to such a result

will be a disturbing element in our financial system. It will destroy

confidence and surely check the growing prosperity of the country.

Believing that a measure for refunding the national debt is not

necessarily connected with the national banking law, and that any

refunding act would defeat its own object if it imperiled the national

banking system or seriously impaired its usefulness, and convinced

that section 5 of the bill before me would, if it should become a

law, work great harm, I herewith return the bill to the House of

Representatives for that further consideration which is provided for

in the Constitution.

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas objects of interest to the United States require that the

Senate should be convened at 12 o'clock on the 4th of March next to

receive and act upon such communications as may be made to it on the

part of the Executive:

Now, therefore, I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United

States, have considered it to be my duty to issue this my

proclamation, declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the

Senate of the United States to convene for the transaction of business

at the Capitol, in the city of Washington, on the 4th day of March

next, at 12 o'clock at noon on that day, of which all who shall

at that time be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby

required to take notice.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washington,

the 28th day of February, A.D. 1881, and of the Independence of the

United States of America the one hundred and fifth.

R.B. HAYES.

By the President:

WM. M. EVARTS,

_Secretary of State_.

EXECUTIVE ORDER.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 22, 1881_.

The SECRETARY OF WAR:

In view of the well-known fact that the sale of intoxicating liquors

in the Army of the United States is the cause of much demoralization

among both officers and men, and that it gives rise to a large

proportion of the cases before general and garrison courts-martial,

involving great expense and serious injury to the service--

_It is therefore directed_, That the Secretary of War take suitable

steps, as far as practicable consistently with vested rights, to

prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage at the camps,

forts, and other posts of the Army.

R.B. HAYES.