of the Secretary of the Interior in relation to the Five Civilized Tribes.
It is noteworthy that the general condition of the Indians shows marked
progress. But one outbreak of a serious character occurred during the year,
and that among the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, which happily has been
suppressed.
While it has not yet been practicable to enforce all the provisions of the
act of June 28, 1898, "for the protection of the people of the Indian
Territory, and for other purposes," it is having a salutary effect upon the
nations composing the five tribes. The Dawes Commission reports that the
most gratifying results and greater advance toward the attainment of the
objects of the Government have been secured in the past year than in any
previous year. I can not too strongly indorse the recommendation of the
commission and of the Secretary of the Interior for the necessity of
providing for the education of the 30,000 white children resident in the
Indian Territory.
The Department of Agriculture has been active in the past year. Explorers
have been sent to many of the countries of the Eastern and Western
hemispheres for seeds and plants that may be useful to the United States,
and with the further view of opening up markets for our surplus products.
The Forestry Division of the Department is giving special attention to the
treeless regions of our country and is introducing species specially
adapted to semiarid regions. Forest fires, which seriously interfere with
production, especially in irrigated regions, are being studied, that losses
from this cause may be avoided. The Department is inquiring into the use
and abuse of water in many States of the West, and collating information
regarding the laws of the States, the decisions of the courts, and the
customs of the people in this regard, so that uniformity may be secured.
Experiment stations are becoming more effective every year. The annual
appropriation of $720,000 by Congress is supplemented by $400,000 from the
States. Nation-wide experiments have been conducted to ascertain the
suitableness as to soil and climate and States for growing sugar beets. The
number of sugar factories has been doubled in the past two years, and the
ability of the United States to produce its own sugar from this source has
been clearly demonstrated.
The Weather Bureau forecast and observation stations have been extended
around the Caribbean Sea, to give early warning of the approach of
hurricanes from the south seas to our fleets and merchant marine.
In the year 1900 will occur the centennial anniversary of the founding of
the city of Washington for the permanent capital of the Government of the
United States by authority of an act of Congress approved July 16, 1790. In
May, 1800, the archives and general offices of the Federal Government were
removed to this place. On the 17th of November, 1800, the National Congress
met here for the first time and assumed exclusive control of the Federal
district and city. This interesting event assumes all the more significance
when we recall the circumstances attending the choosing of the site, the
naming of the capital in honor of the Father of his Country, and the
interest taken by him in the adoption of plans for its future development
on a magnificent scale.
These original plans have been wrought out with a constant progress and a
signal success even beyond anything their framers could have foreseen. The
people of the country are justly proud of the distinctive beauty and
government of the capital and of the rare instruments of science and
education which here find their natural home.
A movement lately inaugurated by the citizens to have the anniversary
celebrated with fitting ceremonies, including, perhaps, the establishment
of a handsome permanent memorial to mark so historical an occasion and to
give it more than local recognition, has met with general favor on the part
of the public.
I recommend to the Congress the granting of an appropriation for this
purpose and the appointment of a committee from its respective bodies. It
might also be advisable to authorize the President to appoint a committee
from the country at large, which, acting with the Congressional and
District of Columbia committees, can complete the plans for an appropriate
national celebration.
The alien contract law is shown by experience to need some amendment; a
measure providing better protection for seamen is proposed; the rightful
application of the eight-hour law for the benefit of labor and of the
principle of arbitration are suggested for consideration; and I commend
these subjects to the careful attention of the Congress.
The several departmental reports will be laid before you. They give in
great detail the conduct of the affairs of the Government during the past
year and discuss many questions upon which the Congress may feel called
upon to act.
***
State of the Union Address
William McKinley
December 5, 1899
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
At the threshold of your deliberations you are called to mourn with your
countrymen the death of Vice-President Hobart, who passed from this life on
the morning of November 21 last. His great soul now rests in eternal peace.
His private life was pure and elevated, while his public career was ever
distinguished by large capacity, stainless integrity, and exalted motives.
He has been removed from the high office which he honored and dignified,
but his lofty character, his devotion to duty, his honesty of purpose, and
noble virtues remain with us as a priceless legacy and example.
The Fifty-sixth Congress convenes in its first regular session with the
country in a condition of unusual prosperity, of universal good will among
the people at home, and in relations of peace and friendship with every
government of the world. Our foreign commerce has shown great increase in
volume and value. The combined imports and exports for the year are the
largest ever shown by a single year in all our history. Our exports for
1899 alone exceeded by more than a billion dollars our imports and exports
combined in 1870. The imports per capita are 20 per cent less than in 1870,
while the exports per capita are 58 per cent more than in 1870, showing the
enlarged capacity of the United States to satisfy the wants of its own
increasing population, as well as to contribute to those of the peoples of
other nations.
Exports of agricultural products were $784,776,142. Of manufactured
products we exported in value $339,592,146, being larger than any previous
year. It is a noteworthy fact that the only years in all our history when
the products of our manufactories sold abroad exceeded those bought abroad
were 1898 and 1899.
Government receipts from all sources for the fiscal year ended June 30,
1899, including $11,798,314,14, part payment of the Central Pacific
Railroad indebtedness, aggregated $610,982,004.35. Customs receipts were
$206,128,481.75, and those from internal revenue $273,437,161.51.
For the fiscal year the expenditures were $700,093,564.02, leaving a
deficit of $89,111,559.67.
The Secretary of the Treasury estimates that the receipts for the current
fiscal year will aggregate $640,958,112, and upon the basis of present
appropriations the expenditures will aggregate $600,958,112, leaving a
surplus of $40,000,000.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1899, the internal-revenue receipts were
increased about $100,000,000.
The present gratifying strength of the Treasury is shown by the fact that
on December 1, 1899, the available cash balance was $278,004,837.72, Of
which $239,744,905.36 was in gold coin and bullion. The conditions of
confidence which prevail throughout the country have brought gold into more
general use and customs receipts are now almost entirely paid in that
coin.
The strong position of the Treasury with respect to cash on hand and the
favorable showing made by the revenues have made it possible for the
Secretary of the Treasury to take action under the provisions of section
3694, Revised Statutes, relating to the sinking fund. Receipts exceeded
expenditures for the first five months of the current fiscal year by
$13,413,389.91, and, as mentioned above, the Secretary of the Treasury
estimates that there will be a surplus of approximately $40,000,000 at the
end of the year. Under such conditions it was deemed advisable and proper
to resume compliance with the provisions of the sinking-fund law, which for
eight years has not been done because of deficiencies in the revenues. The
Treasury Department therefore offered to purchase during November
$25,000,000 of the 5 per cent loan of 1904, or the 4 per cent funded loan
of 1907, at the current market price. The amount offered and purchased
during November was $18,408,600. The premium paid by the Government on such
purchases was $2,263,521 and the net saving in interest was about
$2,885,000. The success of this operation was sufficient to induce the
Government to continue the offer to purchase bonds to and including the 23d
day of December, instant, unless the remainder of the $25,000,000 called
for should be presented in the meantime for redemption.
Increased activity in industry, with its welcome attendant--a larger
employment for labor at higher wages--gives to the body of the people a
larger power to absorb the circulating medium. It is further true that year
by year, with larger areas of land under cultivation, the increasing volume
of agricultural products, cotton, corn, and wheat, calls for a larger
volume of money supply. This is especially noticeable at the
crop-harvesting and crop-moving period.
In its earlier history the National Banking Act seemed to prove a
reasonable avenue through which needful additions to the circulation could
from time to time be made. Changing conditions have apparently rendered it
now inoperative to that end. The high margin in bond securities required,
resulting from large premiums which Government bonds command in the market,
or the tax on note issues, or both operating together, appear to be the
influences which impair its public utility.
The attention of Congress is respectfully invited to this important matter,
with the view of ascertaining whether or not such reasonable modifications
can be made in the National Banking Act as will render its service in the
particulars here referred to more responsive to the people's needs. I again
urge that national banks be authorized to organize with a capital of
$25,000.
I urgently recommend that to support the existing gold standard, and to
maintain "the parity in value of the coins of the two metals (gold and
silver) and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the market and
in the payment of debts," the Secretary of the Treasury be given additional
power and charged with the duty to sell United States bonds and to employ
such other effective means as may be necessary to these ends. The authority
should include the power to sell bonds on long and short time, as
conditions may require, and should provide for a rate of interest lower
than that fixed by the act of January 14, 1875. While there is now no
commercial fright which withdraws gold from the Government, but, on the
contrary, such widespread confidence that gold seeks the Treasury demanding
paper money in exchange, yet the very situation points to the present as
the most fitting time to make adequate provision to insure the continuance
of the gold standard and of public confidence in the ability and purpose of
the Government to meet all its obligations in the money which the civilized
world recognizes as the best. The financial transactions of the Government
are conducted upon a gold basis. We receive gold when we sell United States
bonds and use gold for their payment. We are maintaining the parity of all
the money issued or coined by authority of the Government. We are doing
these things with the means at hand. Happily at the present time we are not
compelled to resort to loans to supply gold. It has been done in the past,
however, and may have to be done in the future. It behooves us, therefore,
to provide at once the best means to meet the emergency when it arises, and
the best means are those which are the most certain and economical. Those
now authorized have the virtue neither of directness nor economy. We have
already eliminated one of the causes of our financial plight and
embarrassment during the years 1893, 1894, 1895, and 1896. Our receipts now
equal our expenditures; deficient revenues no longer create alarm Let us
remove the only remaining cause by conferring the full and necessary power
on the Secretary of the Treasury and impose upon him the duty to uphold the
present gold standard and preserve the coins of the two metals on a parity
with each other, which is the repeatedly declared policy of the United
States.
In this connection I repeat my former recommendations that a portion of the
gold holdings shall be placed in a trust fund from which greenbacks shall
be redeemed upon presentation, but when once redeemed shall not thereafter
be paid out except for gold.
The value of an American merchant marine to the extension of our commercial
trade and the strengthening of our power upon the sea invites the immediate
action of the Congress. Our national development will be one-sided and
unsatisfactory so long as the remarkable growth of our inland industries
remains unaccompanied by progress on the seas. There is no lack of
constitutional authority for legislation which shall give to the country
maritime strength commensurate with its industrial achievements and with
its rank among the nations of the earth,
The past year has recorded exceptional activity in our shipyards, and the
promises of continual prosperity in shipbuilding are abundant. Advanced
legislation for the protection of our seamen has been enacted. Our coast
trade, under regulations wisely framed at the beginning of the Government
and since, shows results for the past fiscal year unequaled in our records
or those of any other power. We shall fail to realize our opportunities,
however, if we complacently regard only matters at home and blind ourselves
to the necessity of securing our share in the valuable carrying trade of
the world.
Last year American vessels transported a smaller share of our exports and
imports than during any former year in all our history, and the measure of
our dependence upon foreign shipping was painfully manifested to our
people. Without any choice of our own, but from necessity, the Departments
of the Government charged with military and naval operations in the East
and West Indies had to obtain from foreign flags merchant vessels essential
for those operations.
The other great nations have not hesitated to adopt the required means to
develop their shipping as a factor in national defense and as one of the
surest and speediest means of obtaining for their producers a share in
foreign markets. Like vigilance and effort on our part cannot fail to
improve our situation, which is regarded with humiliation at home and with
surprise abroad. Even the seeming sacrifices, which at the beginning may be
involved, will be offset later by more than equivalent gains.
The expense is as nothing compared to the advantage to be achieved. The
reestablishment of our merchant marine involves in a large measure our
continued industrial progress and the extension of our commercial triumphs.
I am satisfied the judgment of the country favors the policy of aid to our
merchant marine, which will broaden our commerce and markets and upbuild
our sea-carrying capacity for the products of agriculture and manufacture;
which, with the increase of our Navy, mean more work and wages to our
countrymen, as well as a safeguard to American interests in every part of
the world.
Combinations of capital organized into trusts to control the conditions of
trade among our citizens, to stifle competition, limit production, and
determine the prices of products used and consumed by the people, are
justly provoking public discussion, and should early claim the attention of
the Congress.
The Industrial Commission, created by the act of the Congress of June 18,
1898, has been engaged in extended hearings upon the disputed questions
involved in the subject of combinations in restraint of trade and
competition. They have not yet completed their investigation of this
subject, and the conclusions and recommendations at which they may arrive
are undetermined.
The subject is one giving rise to many divergent views as to the nature and
variety or cause and extent of the injuries to the public which may result
from large combinations concentrating more or less numerous enterprises and
establishments, which previously to the formation of the combination were
carried on separately.
It is universally conceded that combinations which engross or control the
market of any particular kind of merchandise or commodity necessary to the
general community, by suppressing natural and ordinary competition, whereby
prices are unduly enhanced to the general consumer, are obnoxious not only
to the common law but also to the public welfare. There must be a remedy
for the evils involved in such organizations. If the present law can be
extended more certainly to control or check these monopolies or trusts, it
should be done without delay. Whatever power the Congress possesses over
this most important subject should be promptly ascertained and asserted.
President Harrison in his annual message of December 3, 1889, says: Earnest
attention should be given by Congress to a consideration of the question
how far the restraint of those combinations of capital commonly called
"trusts" is matter of Federal jurisdiction. When organized, as they often
are, to crush out all healthy competition and to monopolize the production
or sale of an article of commerce and general necessity they are dangerous
conspiracies against the public good, and should be made the subject of
prohibitory and even penal legislation. An act to protect trade and
commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies was passed by Congress
on the 2d of July, 1890. The provisions of this statute are comprehensive
and stringent. It declares every contract or combination, in the form of a
trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in the restraint of trade or commerce
among the several States or with foreign nations, to be unlawful. It
denominates as a criminal every person who makes any such contract or
engages in any such combination or conspiracy, and provides a punishment by
fine or imprisonment. It invests the several circuit courts of the United
States with jurisdiction to prevent and restrain violations of the act, and
makes it the duty of the several United States district attorneys, under
the direction of the Attorney General, to institute proceedings in equity
to prevent and restrain such violations. It further confers upon any person
who shall be injured in his business or property by any other person or
corporation by reason of anything forbidden or declared to be unlawful by
the act, the power to sue therefore in any circuit court of the United
States without respect to the amount in controversy, and to recover
threefold the damages by him sustained and the costs of the suit, including
reasonable attorney fees. It will be perceived that the act is aimed at
every kind of combination in the nature of a trust or monopoly in restraint
of interstate or international commerce.
The prosecution by the United States of offenses under the act of 1890 has
been frequently resorted to in the Federal courts, and notable efforts in
the restraint of interstate commerce, such as the Trans-Missouri Freight
Association and the joint Traffic Association, have been successfully
opposed and suppressed.
President Cleveland in his annual message of December 7, 1896--more than
six years subsequent to the enactment of this law--after stating the
evils of these trust combinations, says: Though Congress has attempted to
deal with this matter by legislation, the laws passed for that purpose thus
far have proved ineffective, not because of any lack of disposition or
attempt to enforce them, but simply because the laws themselves as
interpreted by the courts do not reach the difficulty. If the
insufficiencies of existing laws can be remedied by further legislation, it
should be done. The fact must be recognized, however, that all Federal
legislation on this subject may fall short of its purpose because of
inherent obstacles, and also because of the complex character of our
governmental system, which, while making the Federal authority supreme
within its sphere, has carefully limited that sphere by metes and bounds
which cannot be transgressed. The decision of our highest court on this
precise question renders it quite doubtful whether the evils of trusts and
monopolies may be adequately treated through Federal action, unless they
seek directly and purposely to include in their objects transportation or
intercourse between States or between the United States and foreign
countries. It does not follow, however, that this is the limit of the
remedy that may be applied. Even though it may be found that Federal
authority is not broad enough to fully reach the case, there can be no
doubt of the power of the several States to act effectively in the
premises, and there should be no reason to doubt their willingness to
judiciously exercise such power. The State legislation to which President
Cleveland looked for relief from the evils of trusts has failed to
accomplish fully that object. This is probably due to a great extent to the
fact that different States take different views as to the proper way to
discriminate between evil and injurious combinations and those associations
which are beneficial and necessary to the business prosperity of the
country. The great diversity of treatment in different States arising from
this cause and the intimate relations of all parts of the country to each
other without regarding State lines in the conduct of business have made
the enforcement of State laws difficult.
It is apparent that uniformity of legislation upon this subject in the
several States is much to be desired. It is to be hoped that such
uniformity founded in a wise and just discrimination between what is
injurious and what is useful and necessary in business operations may be
obtained and that means may be found for the Congress within the
limitations of its constitutional power so to supplement an effective code
of State legislation as to make a complete system of laws throughout the
United States adequate to compel a general observance of the salutary rules
to which I have referred.
The whole question is so important and far-reaching that I am sure no part
of it will be lightly considered, but every phase of it will have the
studied deliberation of the Congress, resulting in wise and judicious
action.
A review of our relations with foreign States is presented with such
recommendations as are deemed appropriate.
The long-pending boundary dispute between the Argentine Republic and Chile
was settled in March last by the award of an arbitral commission, on which
the United States minister at Buenos Ayres served as umpire.
Progress has been made toward the conclusion of a convention of extradition
with the Argentine Republic. Having been advised and consented to by the
United States Senate and ratified by Argentina, it only awaits the
adjustment of some slight changes in the text before exchange.