WASHINGTON, _December 8, 1885_.
_To the Congress of the United States_:
Your assembling is clouded by a sense of public bereavement, caused by
the recent and sudden death of Thomas A. Hendricks, Vice-President of
the United States. His distinguished public services, his complete
integrity and devotion to every duty, and his personal virtues will find
honorable record in his country's history.
Ample and repeated proofs of the esteem and confidence in which he was
held by his fellow-countrymen were manifested by his election to offices
of the most important trust and highest dignity; and at length, full of
years and honors, he has been laid at rest amid universal sorrow and
benediction.
The Constitution, which requires those chosen to legislate for the
people to annually meet in the discharge of their solemn trust, also
requires the President to give to Congress information of the state of
the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall
deem necessary and expedient. At the threshold of a compliance with
these constitutional directions it is well for us to bear in mind that
our usefulness to the people's interests will be promoted by a constant
appreciation of the scope and character of our respective duties as they
relate to Federal legislation. While the Executive may recommend such
measures as he shall deem expedient, the responsibility for legislative
action must and should rest upon those selected by the people to make
their laws.
Contemplation of the grave and responsible functions assigned to the
respective branches of the Government under the Constitution will
disclose the partitions of power between our respective departments and
their necessary independence, and also the need for the exercise of all
the power intrusted to each in that spirit of comity and cooperation
which is essential to the proper fulfillment of the patriotic
obligations which rest upon us as faithful servants of the people.
The jealous watchfulness of our constituencies, great and small,
supplements their suffrages, and before the tribunal they establish
every public servant should be judged.
It is gratifying to announce that the relations of the United States
with all foreign powers continue to be friendly. Our position after
nearly a century of successful constitutional government, maintenance of
good faith in all our engagements, the avoidance of complications with
other nations, and our consistent and amicable attitude toward the
strong and weak alike furnish proof of a political disposition which
renders professions of good will unnecessary. There are no questions of
difficulty pending with any foreign government.
The Argentine Government has revived the long dormant question of the
Falkland Islands by claiming from the United States indemnity for their
loss, attributed to the action of the commander of the sloop of war
_Lexington_ in breaking up a piratical colony on those islands in
1831, and their subsequent occupation by Great Britain. In view of the
ample justification for the act of the _Lexington_ and the derelict
condition of the islands before and after their alleged occupation by
Argentine colonists, this Government considers the claim as wholly
groundless.
Question has arisen with the Government of Austria-Hungary touching
the representation of the United States at Vienna. Having under my
constitutional prerogative appointed an estimable citizen of unimpeached
probity and competence as minister at that court, the Government of
Austria-Hungary invited this Government to take cognizance of certain
exceptions, based upon allegations against the personal acceptability
of Mr. Keiley, the appointed envoy, asking that in view thereof the
appointment should be withdrawn. The reasons advanced were such as
could not be acquiesced in without violation of my oath of office
and the precepts of the Constitution, since they necessarily involved a
limitation in favor of a foreign government upon the right of selection
by the Executive and required such an application of a religious test
as a qualification for office under the United States as would have
resulted in the practical disfranchisement of a large class of our
citizens and the abandonment of a vital principle in our Government. The
Austro-Hungarian Government finally decided not to receive Mr. Keiley as
the envoy of the United States, and that gentleman has since resigned
his commission, leaving the post vacant. I have made no new nomination,
and the interests of this Government at Vienna are now in the care of
the secretary of legation, acting as chargé d'affaires _ad interim_.
Early in March last war broke out in Central America, caused by the
attempt of Guatemala to consolidate the several States into a single
government. In these contests between our neighboring States the United
States forebore to interfere actively, but lent the aid of their
friendly offices in deprecation of war and to promote peace and concord
among the belligerents, and by such counsel contributed importantly to
the restoration of tranquillity in that locality.
Emergencies growing out of civil war in the United States of Colombia
demanded of the Government at the beginning of this Administration
the employment of armed forces to fulfill its guaranties under the
thirty-fifth article of the treaty of 1846, in order to keep the transit
open across the Isthmus of Panama. Desirous of exercising only the
powers expressly reserved to us by the treaty, and mindful of the rights
of Colombia, the forces sent to the Isthmus were instructed to confine
their action to "positively and efficaciously" preventing the transit
and its accessories from being "interrupted or embarrassed."
The execution of this delicate and responsible task necessarily involved
police control where the local authority was temporarily powerless, but
always in aid of the sovereignty of Colombia.
The prompt and successful fulfillment of its duty by this Government was
highly appreciated by the Government of Colombia, and has been followed
by expressions of its satisfaction.
High praise is due to the officers and men engaged in this service.
The restoration of peace on the Isthmus by the reestablishment of the
constituted Government there being thus accomplished, the forces of the
United States were withdrawn.
Pending these occurrences a question of much importance was presented by
decrees of the Colombian Government proclaiming the closure of certain
ports then in the hands of insurgents and declaring vessels held by
the revolutionists to be piratical and liable to capture by any power.
To neither of these propositions could the United States assent. An
effective closure of ports not in the possession of the Government, but
held by hostile partisans, could not be recognized; neither could the
vessels of insurgents against the legitimate sovereignty be deemed
_hostes humani generis_ within the precepts of international law,
whatever might be the definition and penalty of their acts under the
municipal law of the State against whose authority they were in revolt.
The denial by this Government of the Colombian propositions did not,
however, imply the admission of a belligerent status on the part of the
insurgents.
The Colombian Government has expressed its willingness to negotiate
conventions for the adjustment by arbitration of claims by foreign
citizens arising out of the destruction of the city of Aspinwall by the
insurrectionary forces.
The interest of the United States in a practicable transit for ships
across the strip of land separating the Atlantic from the Pacific has
been repeatedly manifested during the last half century.
My immediate predecessor caused to be negotiated with Nicaragua a treaty
for the construction, by and at the sole cost of the United States,
of a canal through Nicaraguan territory, and laid it before the Senate.
Pending the action of that body thereon, I withdrew the treaty for
reexamination. Attentive consideration of its provisions leads me to
withhold it from resubmission to the Senate.
Maintaining, as I do, the tenets of a line of precedents from
Washington's day, which proscribe entangling alliances with foreign
states, I do not favor a policy of acquisition of new and distant
territory or the incorporation of remote interests with our own.
The laws of progress are vital and organic, and we must be conscious of
that irresistible tide of commercial expansion which, as the concomitant
of our active civilization, day by day is being urged onward by those
increasing facilities of production, transportation, and communication
to which steam and electricity have given birth; but our duty in the
present instructs us to address ourselves mainly to the development of
the vast resources of the great area committed to our charge and to
the cultivation of the arts of peace within our own borders, though
jealously alert in preventing the American hemisphere from being
involved in the political problems and complications of distant
governments. Therefore I am unable to recommend propositions involving
paramount privileges of ownership or right outside of our own territory,
when coupled with absolute and unlimited engagements to defend the
territorial integrity of the state where such interests lie. While the
general project of connecting the two oceans by means of a canal is to
be encouraged, I am of opinion that any scheme to that end to be
considered with favor should be free from the features alluded to.
The Tehuantepec route is declared by engineers of the highest repute and
by competent scientists to afford an entirely practicable transit for
vessels and cargoes, by means of a ship railway, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. The obvious advantages of such a route, if feasible, over
others more remote from the axial lines of traffic between Europe and
the Pacific, and particularly between the Valley of the Mississippi and
the western coast of North and South America, are deserving of
consideration.
Whatever highway may be constructed across the barrier dividing the two
greatest maritime areas of the world must be for the world's benefit--a
trust for mankind, to be removed from the chance of domination by any
single power, nor become a point of invitation for hostilities or a
prize for warlike ambition. An engagement combining the construction,
ownership, and operation of such a work by this Government, with an
offensive and defensive alliance for its protection, with the foreign
state whose responsibilities and rights we would share is, in my
judgment, inconsistent with such dedication to universal and neutral
use, and would, moreover, entail measures for its realization beyond the
scope of our national polity or present means.
The lapse of years has abundantly confirmed the wisdom and foresight
of those earlier Administrations which, long before the conditions of
maritime intercourse were changed and enlarged by the progress of the
age, proclaimed the vital need of interoceanic transit across the
American Isthmus and consecrated it in advance to the common use of
mankind by their positive declarations and through the formal obligation
of treaties. Toward such realization the efforts of my Administration
will be applied, ever bearing in mind the principles on which it must
rest, and which were declared in no uncertain tones by Mr. Cass, who,
while Secretary of State, in 1858, announced that "what the United
States want in Central America, next to the happiness of its people,
is the security and neutrality of the interoceanic routes which lead
through it."
The construction of three transcontinental lines of railway, all in
successful operation, wholly within our territory, and uniting the
Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, has been accompanied by results of a
most interesting and impressive nature, and has created new conditions,
not in the routes of commerce only, but in political geography, which
powerfully affect our relations toward and necessarily increase our
interests in any transisthmian route which may be opened and employed
for the ends of peace and traffic, or, in other contingencies, for uses
inimical to both.
Transportation is a factor in the cost of commodities scarcely second to
that of their production, and weighs as heavily upon the consumer.
Our experience already has proven the great importance of having the
competition between land carriage and water carriage fully developed,
each acting as a protection to the public against the tendencies to
monopoly which are inherent in the consolidation of wealth and power in
the hands of vast corporations.
These suggestions may serve to emphasize what I have already said on the
score of the necessity of a neutralization of any interoceanic transit;
and this can only be accomplished by making the uses of the route open
to all nations and subject to the ambitions and warlike necessities of
none.
The drawings and report of a recent survey of the Nicaragua Canal route,
made by Chief Engineer Menocal, will be communicated for your
information.
The claims of citizens of the United States for losses by reason of the
late military operations of Chile in Peru and Bolivia are the subject of
negotiation for a claims convention with Chile, providing for their
submission to arbitration.
The harmony of our relations with China is fully sustained.
In the application of the acts lately passed to execute the treaty of
1880, restrictive of the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United
States, individual cases of hardship have occurred beyond the power of
the Executive to remedy, and calling for judicial determination.
The condition of the Chinese question in the Western States and
Territories is, despite this restrictive legislation, far from being
satisfactory. The recent outbreak in Wyoming Territory, where numbers of
unoffending Chinamen, indisputably within the protection of the treaties
and the law, were murdered by a mob, and the still more recent
threatened outbreak of the same character in Washington Territory, are
fresh in the minds of all, and there is apprehension lest the bitterness
of feeling against the Mongolian race on the Pacific Slope may find vent
in similar lawless demonstrations. All the power of this Government
should be exerted to maintain the amplest good faith toward China in the
treatment of these men, and the inflexible sternness of the law in
bringing the wrongdoers to justice should be insisted upon.
Every effort has been made by this Government to prevent these violent
outbreaks and to aid the representatives of China in their investigation
of these outrages; and it is but just to say that they are traceable to
the lawlessness of men not citizens of the United States engaged in
competition with Chinese laborers.
Race prejudice is the chief factor in originating these disturbances,
and it exists in a large part of our domain, jeopardizing our domestic
peace and the good relationship we strive to maintain with China.
The admitted right of a government to prevent the influx of elements
hostile to its internal peace and security may not be questioned, even
where there is no treaty stipulation on the subject. That the exclusion
of Chinese labor is demanded in other countries where like conditions
prevail is strongly evidenced in the Dominion of Canada, where Chinese
immigration is now regulated by laws more exclusive than our own. If
existing laws are inadequate to compass the end in view, I shall be
prepared to give earnest consideration to any further remedial measures,
within the treaty limits, which the wisdom of Congress may devise.
The independent State of the Kongo has been organized as a government
under the sovereignty of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, who
assumes its chief magistracy in his personal character only, without
making the new State a dependency of Belgium. It is fortunate that a
benighted region, owing all it has of quickening civilization to the
beneficence and philanthropic spirit of this monarch, should have the
advantage and security of his benevolent supervision.
The action taken by this Government last year in being the first to
recognize the flag of the International Association of the Kongo has
been followed by formal recognition of the new nationality which
succeeds to its sovereign powers.
A conference of delegates of the principal commercial nations was held
at Berlin last winter to discuss methods whereby the Kongo basin might
be kept open to the world's trade. Delegates attended on behalf of the
United States on the understanding that their part should be merely
deliberative, without imparting to the results any binding character
so far as the United States were concerned. This reserve was due to
the indisposition of this Government to share in any disposal by an
international congress of jurisdictional questions in remote foreign
territories. The results of the conference were embodied in a formal act
of the nature of an international convention, which laid down certain
obligations purporting to be binding on the signatories, subject to
ratification within one year. Notwithstanding the reservation under
which the delegates of the United States attended, their signatures
were attached to the general act in the same manner as those of the
plenipotentiaries of other governments, thus making the United States
appear, without reserve or qualification, as signatories to a joint
international engagement imposing on the signers the conservation of the
territorial integrity of distant regions where we have no established
interests or control.
This Government does not, however, regard its reservation of liberty
of action in the premises as at all impaired; and holding that an
engagement to share in the obligation of enforcing neutrality in the
remote valley of the Kongo would be an alliance whose responsibilities
we are not in a position to assume, I abstain from asking the sanction
of the Senate to that general act.
The correspondence will be laid before you, and the instructive and
interesting report of the agent sent by this Government to the Kongo
country and his recommendations for the establishment of commercial
agencies on the African coast are also submitted for your consideration.
The commission appointed by my predecessor last winter to visit the
Central and South American countries and report on the methods of
enlarging the commercial relations of the United States therewith has
submitted reports, which will be laid before you.
No opportunity has been omitted to testify the friendliness of this
Government toward Korea, whose entrance into the family of treaty powers
the United States were the first to recognize. I regard with favor the
application made by the Korean Government to be allowed to employ
American officers as military instructors, to which the assent of
Congress becomes necessary, and I am happy to say this request has the
concurrent sanction of China and Japan.
The arrest and imprisonment of Julio R. Santos, a citizen of the United
States, by the authorities of Ecuador gave rise to a contention with
that Government, in which his right to be released or to have a speedy
and impartial trial on announced charges and with all guaranties of
defense stipulated by treaty was insisted upon by us. After an elaborate
correspondence and repeated and earnest representations on our part Mr.
Santos was, after an alleged trial and conviction, eventually included
in a general decree of amnesty and pardoned by the Ecuadorian Executive
and released, leaving the question of his American citizenship denied by
the Ecuadorian Government, but insisted upon by our own.
The amount adjudged by the late French and American Claims Commission to
be due from the United States to French claimants on account of injuries
suffered by them during the War of Secession, having been appropriated
by the last Congress, has been duly paid to the French Government.
The act of February 25, 1885, provided for a preliminary search of the
records of French prize courts for evidence bearing on the claims of
American citizens against France for spoliations committed prior to
1801. The duty has been performed, and the report of the agent will be
laid before you.
I regret to say that the restrictions upon the importation of our pork
into France continue, notwithstanding the abundant demonstration of the
absence of sanitary danger in its use; but I entertain strong hopes that
with a better understanding of the matter this vexatious prohibition
will be removed. It would be pleasing to be able to say as much with
respect to Germany, Austria, and other countries, where such food
products are absolutely excluded, without present prospect of reasonable
change.
The interpretation of our existing treaties of naturalization by Germany
during the past year has attracted attention by reason of an apparent
tendency on the part of the Imperial Government to extend the scope of
the residential restrictions to which returning naturalized citizens of
German origin are asserted to be liable under the laws of the Empire.
The temperate and just attitude taken by this Government with regard to
this class of questions will doubtless lead to a satisfactory
understanding.
The dispute of Germany and Spain relative to the domination of the
Caroline Islands has attracted the attention of this Government by
reason of extensive interests of American citizens having grown up in
those parts during the past thirty years, and because the question of
ownership involves jurisdiction of matters affecting the status of our
citizens under civil and criminal law. While standing wholly aloof from
the proprietary issues raised between powers to both of which the United
States are friendly, this Government expects that nothing in the present
contention shall unfavorably affect our citizens carrying on a peaceful
commerce or there domiciled, and has so informed the Governments of
Spain and Germany.
The marked good will between the United States and Great Britain has
been maintained during the past year.
The termination of the fishing clauses of the treaty of Washington, in
pursuance of the joint resolution of March 3, 1883, must have resulted
in the abrupt cessation on the 1st of July of this year, in the midst
of their ventures, of the operations of citizens of the United States
engaged in fishing in British American waters but for a diplomatic
understanding reached with Her Majesty's Government in June last,
whereby assurance was obtained that no interruption of those operations
should take place during the current fishing season.
In the interest of good neighborhood and of the commercial intercourse
of adjacent communities, the question of the North American fisheries is
one of much importance. Following out the intimation given by me when
the extensory arrangement above described was negotiated, I recommend
that the Congress provide for the appointment of a commission in which
the Governments of the United States and Great Britain shall be
respectively represented, charged with the consideration and settlement,
upon a just, equitable, and honorable basis, of the entire question of
the fishing rights of the two Governments and their respective citizens
on the coasts of the United States and British North America. The
fishing interests being intimately related to other general questions
dependent upon contiguity and intercourse, consideration thereof in all
their equities might also properly come within the purview of such a
commission, and the fullest latitude of expression on both sides should
be permitted.
The correspondence in relation to the fishing rights will be submitted.
The arctic exploring steamer _Alert_, which was generously given by
Her Majesty's Government to aid in the relief of the Greely expedition,
was, after the successful attainment of that humane purpose, returned to
Great Britain, in pursuance of the authority conferred by the act of
March 3, 1885.
The inadequacy of the existing engagements for extradition between
the United States and Great Britain has been long apparent. The tenth
article of the treaty of 1842, one of the earliest compacts in this
regard entered into by us, stipulated for surrender in respect of a
limited number of offenses. Other crimes no less inimical to the social
welfare should be embraced and the procedure of extradition brought in
harmony with present international practice. Negotiations with Her
Majesty's Government for an enlarged treaty of extradition have been
pending since 1870, and I entertain strong hopes that a satisfactory
result may be soon attained.
The frontier line between Alaska and British Columbia, as defined by
the treaty of cession with Russia, follows the demarcation assigned
in a prior treaty between Great Britain and Russia. Modern exploration
discloses that this ancient boundary is impracticable as a geographical
fact. In the unsettled condition of that region the question has lacked
importance, but the discovery of mineral wealth in the territory the
line is supposed to traverse admonishes that the time has come when an
accurate knowledge of the boundary is needful to avert jurisdictional
complications. I recommend, therefore, that provision be made for a
preliminary reconnoissance by officers of the United States, to the end
of acquiring more precise information on the subject. I have invited
Her Majesty's Government to consider with us the adoption of a more
convenient line, to be established by meridian observations or by known
geographical features without the necessity of an expensive survey of
the whole.
The late insurrectionary movements in Hayti having been quelled, the
Government of that Republic has made prompt provision for adjudicating
the losses suffered by foreigners because of hostilities there, and the
claims of certain citizens of the United States will be in this manner
determined.
The long-pending claims of two citizens of the United States, Pelletier
and Lazare, have been disposed of by arbitration, and an award in favor
of each claimant has been made, which by the terms of the engagement is
final. It remains for Congress to provide for the payment of the
stipulated moiety of the expenses.
A question arose with Hayti during the past year by reason of the
exceptional treatment of an American citizen, Mr. Van Bokkelen, a
resident of Port-au-Prince, who, on suit by creditors residing in the
United States, was sentenced to imprisonment, and, under the operation
of a Haytian statute, was denied relief secured to a native Haytian.
This Government asserted his treaty right to equal treatment with
natives of Hayti in all suits at law. Our contention was denied by the
Haytian Government, which, however, while still professing to maintain
the ground taken against Mr. Van Bokkelen's right, terminated the
controversy by setting him at liberty without explanation.
An international conference to consider the means of arresting the
spread of cholera and other epidemic diseases was held at Rome in May
last, and adjourned to meet again on further notice. An expert delegate
on behalf of the United States has attended its sessions and will submit
a report.
Our relations with Mexico continue to be most cordial, as befits
those of neighbors between whom the strongest ties of friendship and
commercial intimacy exist, as the natural and growing consequence of our
similarity of institutions and geographical propinquity.
The relocation of the boundary line between the United States and Mexico
westward of the Rio Grande, under the convention of July 29, 1882, has
been unavoidably delayed, but I apprehend no difficulty in securing a
prolongation of the period for its accomplishment.
The lately concluded commercial treaty with Mexico still awaits the
stipulated legislation to carry its provisions into effect, for which
one year's additional time has been secured by a supplementary article
signed in February last and since ratified on both sides.
As this convention, so important to the commercial welfare of the
two adjoining countries, has been constitutionally confirmed by the
treaty-making branch, I express the hope that legislation needed to make
it effective may not be long delayed.
The large influx of capital and enterprise to Mexico from the United
States continues to aid in the development of the resources and in
augmenting the material well-being of our sister Republic. Lines of
railway, penetrating to the heart and capital of the country, bring
the two peoples into mutually beneficial intercourse, and enlarged
facilities of transit add to profitable commerce, create new markets,
and furnish avenues to otherwise isolated communities.
I have already adverted to the suggested construction of a ship railway
across the narrow formation of the territory of Mexico at Tehuantepec.
With the gradual recovery of Peru from the effects of her late
disastrous conflict with Chile, and with the restoration of civil
authority in that distracted country, it is hoped that pending war
claims of our citizens will be adjusted.
In conformity with notification given by the Government of Peru, the
existing treaties of commerce and extradition between the United States
and that country will terminate March 31, 1886.
Our good relationship with Russia continues.
An officer of the Navy, detailed for the purpose, is now on his way to
Siberia bearing the testimonials voted by Congress to those who
generously succored the survivors of the unfortunate _Jeannette_
expedition.
It is gratifying to advert to the cordiality of our intercourse with
Spain.
The long-pending claim of the owners of the ship _Masonic_ for loss
suffered through the admitted dereliction of the Spanish authorities in
the Philippine Islands has been adjusted by arbitration and an indemnity
awarded. The principle of arbitration in such cases, to which the United
States have long and consistently adhered, thus receives a fresh and
gratifying confirmation.
Other questions with Spain have been disposed of or are under diplomatic
consideration with a view to just and honorable settlement.
The operation of the commercial agreement with Spain of January
2-February 13, 1884, has been found inadequate to the commercial needs
of the United States and the Spanish Antilles, and the terms of the
agreement are subjected to conflicting interpretations in those islands.
Negotiations have been instituted at Madrid for a full treaty not open
to these objections and in the line of the general policy touching the
neighborly intercourse of proximate communities, to which I elsewhere
advert, and aiming, moreover, at the removal of existing burdens and
annoying restrictions; and although a satisfactory termination is
promised, I am compelled to delay its announcement.
An international copyright conference was held at Berne in September, on
the invitation of the Swiss Government. The envoy of the United States
attended as a delegate, but refrained from committing this Government to
the results, even by signing the recommendatory protocol adopted. The
interesting and important subject of international copyright has been
before you for several years. Action is certainly desirable to effect
the object in view; and while there may be question as to the relative
advantage of treating it by legislation or by specific treaty, the
matured views of the Berne conference can not fail to aid your
consideration of the subject.
The termination of the commercial treaty of 1862 between the United
States and Turkey has been sought by that Government. While there is
question as to the sufficiency of the notice of termination given, yet
as the commercial rights of our citizens in Turkey come under the
favored-nation guaranties of the prior treaty of 1830, and as equal
treatment is admitted by the Porte, no inconvenience can result from the
assent of this Government to the revision of the Ottoman tariffs, in
which the treaty powers have been invited to join.
Questions concerning our citizens in Turkey may be affected by the
Porte's nonacquiescence in the right of expatriation and by the
imposition of religious tests as a condition of residence, in which
this Government can not concur. The United States must hold in their
intercourse with every power that the status of their citizens is to be
respected and equal civil privileges accorded to them without regard
to creed, and affected by no considerations save those growing out of
domiciliary return to the land of original allegiance or of unfulfilled
personal obligations which may survive, under municipal laws, after such
voluntary return.
The negotiation with Venezuela relative to the rehearing of the awards
of the mixed commission constituted under the treaty of 1866 was resumed
in view of the recent acquiescence of the Venezuelan envoy in the
principal point advanced by this Government, that the effects of the old
treaty could only be set aside by the operation of a new convention. A
result in substantial accord with the advisory suggestions contained in
the joint resolution of March 3, 1883, has been agreed upon and will
shortly be submitted to the Senate for ratification.
Under section 3659 of the Revised Statutes all funds held in trust by
the United States and the annual interest accruing thereon, when not
otherwise required by treaty, are to be invested in stocks of the United
States bearing a rate of interest not less than 5 per cent per annum.
There being now no procurable stocks paying so high a rate of interest,
the letter of the statute is at present inapplicable, but its spirit is
subserved by continuing to make investments of this nature in current
stocks bearing the highest interest now paid. The statute, however,
makes no provision for the disposal of such accretions. It being
contrary to the general rule of this Government to allow interest on
claims, I recommend the repeal of the provision in question and the
disposition, under a uniform rule, of the present accumulations from
investment of trust funds.
The inadequacy of existing legislation touching citizenship and
naturalization demands your consideration.
While recognizing the right of expatriation, no statutory provision
exists providing means for renouncing citizenship by an American
citizen, native born or naturalized, nor for terminating and vacating
an improper acquisition of citizenship. Even a fraudulent decree of
naturalization can not now be canceled. The privilege and franchise of
American citizenship should be granted with care, and extended to those
only who intend in good faith to assume its duties and responsibilities
when attaining its privileges and benefits. It should be withheld from
those who merely go through the forms of naturalization with the intent
of escaping the duties of their original allegiance without taking upon
themselves those of their new status, or who may acquire the rights of
American citizenship for no other than a hostile purpose toward their
original governments. These evils have had many flagrant illustrations.
I regard with favor the suggestion put forth by one of my predecessors
that provision be made for a central bureau of record of the decrees of
naturalization granted by the various courts throughout the United
States now invested with that power.
The rights which spring from domicile in the United States, especially
when coupled with a declaration of intention to become a citizen, are
worthy of definition by statute. The stranger coming hither with intent
to remain, establishing his residence in our midst, contributing to the
general welfare, and by his voluntary act declaring his purpose to
assume the responsibilities of citizenship, thereby gains an inchoate
status which legislation may properly define. The laws of certain
States and Territories admit a domiciled alien to the local franchise,
conferring on him the rights of citizenship to a degree which places him
in the anomalous position of being a citizen of a State and yet not of
the United States within the purview of Federal and international law.
It is important within the scope of national legislation to define this
right of alien domicile as distinguished from Federal naturalization.
The commercial relations of the United States with their immediate
neighbors and with important areas of traffic near our shores suggest
especially liberal intercourse between them and us.
Following the treaty of 1883 with Mexico, which rested on the basis of a
reciprocal exemption from customs duties, other similar treaties were
initiated by my predecessor.
Recognizing the need of less obstructed traffic with Cuba and Puerto
Rico, and met by the desire of Spain to succor languishing interests
in the Antilles, steps were taken to attain those ends by a treaty of
commerce. A similar treaty was afterwards signed by the Dominican
Republic. Subsequently overtures were made by Her Britannic Majesty's
Government for a like mutual extension of commercial intercourse with
the British West Indian and South American dependencies, but without
result.
On taking office I withdrew for reexamination the treaties signed with
Spain and Santo Domingo, then pending before the Senate. The result has
been to satisfy me of the inexpediency of entering into engagements of
this character not covering the entire traffic.
These treaties contemplated the surrender by the United States of large
revenues for inadequate considerations. Upon sugar alone duties were
surrendered to an amount far exceeding all the advantages offered in
exchange. Even were it intended to relieve our consumers, it was evident
that so long as the exemption but partially covered our importation such
relief would be illusory. To relinquish a revenue so essential seemed
highly improvident at a time when new and large drains upon the Treasury
were contemplated. Moreover, embarrassing questions would have arisen
under the favored-nation clauses of treaties with other nations.
As a further objection, it is evident that tariff regulation by treaty
diminishes that independent control over its own revenues which is
essential for the safety and welfare of any government. Emergency
calling for an increase of taxation may at any time arise, and no
engagement with a foreign power should exist to hamper the action of the
Government.
By the fourteenth section of the shipping act approved June 26, 1884,
certain reductions and contingent exemptions from tonnage dues were made
as to vessels entering ports of the United States from any foreign port
in North and Central America, the West India Islands, the Bahamas and
Bermudas, Mexico, and the Isthmus as far as Aspinwall and Panama. The
Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, and Sweden and
Norway have asserted, under the favored-nation clause in their treaties
with the United States, a claim to like treatment in respect of vessels
coming to the United States from their home ports. This Government,
however, holds that the privileges granted by the act are purely
geographical, inuring to any vessel of any foreign power that may choose
to engage in traffic between this country and any port within the
defined zone, and no warrant exists under the most-favored-nation clause
for the extension of the privileges in question to vessels sailing to
this country from ports outside the limitation of the act.
Undoubtedly the relations of commerce with our near neighbors, whose
territories form so long a frontier line difficult to be guarded, and
who find in our country, and equally offer to us, natural markets,
demand special and considerate treatment. It rests with Congress to
consider what legislative action may increase facilities of intercourse
which contiguity makes natural and desirable.
I earnestly urge that Congress recast the appropriations for the
maintenance of the diplomatic and consular service on a footing
commensurate with the importance of our national interests. At every
post where a representative is necessary the salary should be so graded
as to permit him to live with comfort. With the assignment of adequate
salaries the so-called notarial extraofficial fees, which our officers
abroad are now permitted to treat as personal perquisites, should be
done away with. Every act requiring the certification and seal of the
officer should be taxable at schedule rates and the fee therefor
returned to the Treasury. By restoring these revenues to the public use
the consular service would be self-supporting, even with a liberal
increase of the present low salaries.
In further prevention of abuses a system of consular inspection should
be instituted.
The appointment of a limited number of secretaries of legation at large,
to be assigned to duty wherever necessary, and in particular for
temporary service at missions which for any cause may be without a head,
should also be authorized.
I favor also authorization for the detail of officers of the regular
service as military or naval attachés at legations.
Some foreign governments do not recognize the union of consular with
diplomatic functions. Italy and Venezuela will only receive the
appointee in one of his two capacities, but this does not prevent the
requirement of a bond and submission to the responsibilities of an
office whose duties he can not discharge. The superadded title of
consul-general should be abandoned at all missions.
I deem it expedient that a well-devised measure for the reorganization
of the extraterritorial courts in Oriental countries should replace the
present system, which labors under the disadvantage of combining
judicial and executive functions in the same office.
In several Oriental countries generous offers have been made of
premises for housing the legations of the United States. A grant of
land for that purpose was made some years since by Japan, and has been
referred to in the annual messages of my predecessor. The Siamese
Government has made a gift to the United States of commodious quarters
in Bangkok. In Korea the late minister was permitted to purchase a
building from the Government for legation use. In China the premises
rented for the legation are favored as to local charges. At Tangier
the house occupied by our representative has been for many years the
property of this Government, having been given for that purpose in 1822
by the Sultan of Morocco. I approve the suggestion heretofore made,
that, in view of the conditions of life and administration in the
Eastern countries, the legation buildings in China, Japan, Korea, Siam,
and perhaps Persia, should be owned and furnished by the Government
with a view to permanency and security. To this end I recommend that
authority be given to accept the gifts adverted to in Japan and Siam,
and to purchase in the other countries named, with provision for
furniture and repairs. A considerable saving in rentals would result.
The World's Industrial Exposition, held at New Orleans last winter, with
the assistance of the Federal Government, attracted a large number of
foreign exhibits, and proved of great value in spreading among the
concourse of visitors from Mexico and Central and South America a wider
knowledge of the varied manufactures and productions of this country and
their availability in exchange for the productions of those regions.
Past Congresses have had under consideration the advisability of
abolishing the discrimination made by the tariff laws in favor of the
works of American artists. The odium of the policy which subjects to
a high rate of duty the paintings of foreign artists and exempts the
productions of American artists residing abroad, and who receive
gratuitously advantages and instruction, is visited upon our citizens
engaged in art culture in Europe, and has caused them with practical
unanimity to favor the abolition of such an ungracious distinction; and
in their interest, and for other obvious reasons, I strongly recommend
it.
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury fully exhibits the condition
of the public finances and of the several branches of the Government
connected with his Department. The suggestions of the Secretary relating
to the practical operations of this important Department, and his
recommendations in the direction of simplification and economy,
particularly in the work of collecting customs duties, are especially
urged upon the attention of Congress.
The ordinary receipts from all sources for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1885, were $322,690,706.38. Of this sum $181,471,939.34 was received
from customs and $112,498,725.54 from internal revenue. The total
receipts, as given above, were $24,829,163.54 less than those for the
year ended June 30, 1884. This diminution embraces a falling off of
$13,595,550.42 in the receipts from customs and $9,687,346.97 in the
receipts from internal revenue.
The total ordinary expenditures of the Government for the fiscal year
were $260,226,935.50, leaving a surplus in the Treasury at the close of
the year of $63,463,771.27. This is $40,929,854.32 less than the surplus
reported at the close of the previous year.
The expenditures are classified as follows:
For civil expenses $23,826,942.11
For foreign intercourse 5,439,609.11
For Indians 6,552,494.63
For pensions 56,102,267.49
For the military, including river and harbor 42,670,578.47
improvements and arsenals
For the Navy, including vessels, machinery, and 16,021,079.69
improvements of navy-yards
For interest on the public debt 51,386,256.47
For the District of Columbia 3,499,650.95
For miscellaneous expenditures, including public 54,728,056.21
buildings, light-houses, and collecting the revenue
The amount paid on the public debt during the fiscal year ended June 30,
1885, was $45,993,235.43, and there has been paid since that date and up
to November 1, 1885, the sum of $369,828, leaving the amount of the debt
at the last-named date $1,514,475,860.47. There was, however, at that
time in the Treasury, applicable to the general purposes of the
Government, the sum of $66,818,292.38.
The total receipts for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 1886,
ascertained to October 1, 1885, and estimated for the remainder of the
year, are $315,000,000. The expenditures ascertained and estimated for
the same time are $245,000,000, leaving a surplus at the close of the
year estimated at $70,000,000.
The value of the exports from the United States to foreign countries
during the last fiscal year was as follows:
Domestic merchandise $726,682,946.00
Foreign merchandise 15,506,809.00
742,189,755.00
Gold 8,477,892.00
Silver 33,753,633.00
784,421,280.00
Some of the principal exports, with their values and the percentage they
respectively bear to the total exportation, are given as follows:
Articles. Value. Percentage.
Cotton and cotton manufactures $213,799,049 29.42
Breadstuffs 160,370,821 22.07
Provisions 107,332,456 14.77
Oils--mineral, vegetable, and animal 54,326,202 7.48
Tobacco and its manufactures 24,767,305 3.41
Wood and its manufactures 21,464,322 2.95
Our imports during the year were as follows:
Merchandise $579,580,053.80
Gold 26,691,696.00
Silver 16,550,627.00
622,822,376.80
The following are given as prominent articles of import during the year,
with their values and the percentage they bear to the total importation:
Articles. Value. Percentage.
Sugar and molasses $76,738,713 13.29
Coffee 46,723,318 8.09
Wool and its manufactures 44,656,482 7.73
Silk and its manufactures 40,393,002 6.99
Chemicals, dyes, drugs, and medicines 35,070,816 6.07
Iron and steel and their manufactures 34,563,689 5.98
Flax, hemp, jute, and their manufactures 32,854,874 5.69
Cotton and its manufactures 28,152,001 4.88
Hides and skins other than fur skins 20,586,443 3.56
Of the entire amount of duties collected 70 per cent was collected from
the following articles of import:
Percentage.
Sugar and molasses 29
Wool and its manufactures 15
Silk and its manufactures 8
Iron and steel and their manufactures 7
Cotton manufactures 6
Flax, hemp, and jute, and their manufactures 5
The fact that our revenues are in excess of the actual needs of an
economical administration of the Government justifies a reduction in the
amount exacted from the people for its support. Our Government is but
the means established by the will of a free people by which certain
principles are applied which they have adopted for their benefit and
protection; and it is never better administered and its true spirit is
never better observed than when the people's taxation for its support is
scrupulously limited to the actual necessity of expenditure and
distributed according to a just and equitable plan.
The proposition with which we have to deal is the reduction of the
revenue received by the Government, and indirectly paid by the people,
from customs duties. The question of free trade is not involved, nor is
there now any occasion for the general discussion of the wisdom or
expediency of a protective system.
Justice and fairness dictate that in any modification of our present
laws relating to revenue the industries and interests which have
been encouraged by such laws, and in which our citizens have large
investments, should not be ruthlessly injured or destroyed. We should
also deal with the subject in such manner as to protect the interests of
American labor, which is the capital of our workingmen. Its stability
and proper remuneration furnish the most justifiable pretext for a
protective policy.
Within these limitations a certain reduction should be made in our
customs revenue. The amount of such reduction having been determined,
the inquiry follows, Where can it best be remitted and what articles can
best be released from duty in the interest of our citizens?
I think the reduction should be made in the revenue derived from a
tax upon the imported necessaries of life. We thus directly lessen the
cost of living in every family of the land and release to the people in
every humble home a larger measure of the rewards of frugal industry.
During the year ended November 1, 1885, 145 national banks were
organized, with an aggregate capital of $16,938,000, and circulating
notes have been issued to them amounting to $4,274,910. The whole number
of these banks in existence on the day above mentioned was 2,727.
The very limited amount of circulating notes issued by our national
banks, compared with the amount the law permits them to issue upon a
deposit of bonds for their redemption, indicates that the volume of our
circulating medium may be largely increased through this
instrumentality.
Nothing more important than the present condition of our currency and
coinage can claim your attention.
Since February, 1878, the Government has, under the compulsory
provisions of law, purchased silver bullion and coined the same at the
rate of more than $2,000,000 every month. By this process up to the
present date 215,759,431 silver dollars have been coined.
A reasonable appreciation of a delegation of power to the General
Government would limit its exercise, without express restrictive words,
to the people's needs and the requirements of the public welfare.
Upon this theory the authority to "coin money" given to Congress by the
Constitution, if it permits the purchase by the Government of bullion
for coinage in any event, does not justify such purchase and coinage to
an extent beyond the amount needed for a sufficient circulating medium.
The desire to utilize the silver product of the country should not lead
to a misuse or the perversion of this power.
The necessity for such an addition to the silver currency of the nation
as is compelled by the silver-coinage act is negatived by the fact that
up to the present time only about 50,000,000 of the silver dollars so
coined have actually found their way into circulation, leaving more than
165,000,000 in the possession of the Government, the custody of which
has entailed a considerable expense for the construction of vaults for
its deposit. Against this latter amount there are outstanding silver
certificates amounting to about $93,000,000.
Every month two millions of gold in the public Treasury are paid out for
two millions or more of silver dollars, to be added to the idle mass
already accumulated.
If continued long enough, this operation will result in the substitution
of silver for all the gold the Government owns applicable to its general
purposes. It will not do to rely upon the customs receipts of the
Government to make good this drain of gold, because the silver thus
coined having been made legal tender for all debts and dues, public and
private, at times during the last six months 58 per cent of the receipts
for duties has been in silver or silver certificates, while the average
within that period has been 20 per cent. The proportion of silver and
its certificates received by the Government will probably increase as
time goes on, for the reason that the nearer the period approaches when
it will be obliged to offer silver in payment of its obligations the
greater inducement there will be to hoard gold against depreciation in
the value of silver or for the purpose of speculating.
This hoarding of gold has already begun.
When the time comes that gold has been withdrawn from circulation, then
will be apparent the difference between the real value of the silver
dollar and a dollar in gold, and the two coins will part company.
Gold, still the standard of value and necessary in our dealings with
other countries, will be at a premium over silver; banks which have
substituted gold for the deposits of their customers may pay them with
silver bought with such gold, thus making a handsome profit; rich
speculators will sell their hoarded gold to their neighbors who need it
to liquidate their foreign debts, at a ruinous premium over silver, and
the laboring men and women of the land, most defenseless of all, will
find that the dollar received for the wage of their toil has sadly
shrunk in its purchasing power. It may be said that the latter result
will be but temporary, and that ultimately the price of labor will be
adjusted to the change; but even if this takes place the wage-worker
can not possibly gain, but must inevitably lose, since the price he is
compelled to pay for his living will not only be measured in a coin
heavily depreciated and fluctuating and uncertain in its value, but
this uncertainty in the value of the purchasing medium will be made
the pretext for an advance in prices beyond that justified by actual
depreciation.
The words uttered in 1834 by Daniel Webster in the Senate of the United
States are true to-day:
The very man of all others who has the deepest interest in a sound
currency, and who suffers most by mischievous legislation in money
matters, is the man who earns his daily bread by his daily toil.
The most distinguished advocate of bimetallism, discussing our silver
coinage, has lately written:
No American citizen's hand has yet felt the sensation of cheapness,
either in receiving or expending the silver-act dollars.
And those who live by labor or legitimate trade never will feel that
sensation of cheapness. However plenty silver dollars may become, they
will not be distributed as gifts among the people; and if the laboring
man should receive four depreciated dollars where he now receives but
two, he will pay in the depreciated coin more than double the price he
now pays for all the necessaries and comforts of life.
Those who do not fear any disastrous consequences arising from the
continued compulsory coinage of silver as now directed by law, and who
suppose that the addition to the currency of the country intended as its
result will be a public benefit, are reminded that history demonstrates
that the point is easily reached in the attempt to float at the same
time two sorts of money of different excellence when the better will
cease to be in general circulation. The hoarding of gold which has
already taken place indicates that we shall not escape the usual
experience in such cases. So if this silver coinage be continued we may
reasonably expect that gold and its equivalent will abandon the field of
circulation to silver alone. This of course must produce a severe
contraction of our circulating medium, instead of adding to it.
It will not be disputed that any attempt on the part of the Government
to cause the circulation of silver dollars worth 80 cents side by
side with gold dollars worth 100 cents, even within the limit that
legislation does not run counter to the laws of trade, to be successful
must be seconded by the confidence of the people that both coins will
retain the same purchasing power and be interchangeable at will.
A special effort has been made by the Secretary of the Treasury to
increase the amount of our silver coin in circulation; but the fact
that a large share of the limited amount thus put out has soon returned
to the public Treasury in payment of duties leads to the belief that the
people do not now desire to keep it in hand, and this, with the evident
disposition to hoard gold, gives rise to the suspicion that there
already exists a lack of confidence among the people touching our
financial processes. There is certainly not enough silver now in
circulation to cause uneasiness, and the whole amount coined and now on
hand might after a time be absorbed by the people without apprehension;
but it is the ceaseless stream that threatens to overflow the land which
causes fear and uncertainty.
What has been thus far submitted upon this subject relates almost
entirely to considerations of a home nature, unconnected with the
bearing which the policies of other nations have upon the question. But
it is perfectly apparent that a line of action in regard to our currency
can not wisely be settled upon or persisted in without considering the
attitude on the subject of other countries with whom we maintain
intercourse through commerce, trade, and travel. An acknowledgment of
this fact is found in the act by virtue of which our silver is
compulsorily coined. It provides that--
The President shall invite the governments of the countries composing
the Latin Union, so called, and of such other European nations as he may
deem advisable, to join the United States in a conference to adopt a
common ratio between gold and silver for the purpose of establishing
internationally the use of bimetallic money and securing fixity of
relative value between those metals.
This conference absolutely failed, and a similar fate has awaited all
subsequent efforts in the same direction. And still we continue our
coinage of silver at a ratio different from that of any other nation.
The most vital part of the silver-coinage act remains inoperative and
unexecuted, and without an ally or friend we battle upon the silver
field in an illogical and losing contest.