In the meantime, and unless Congress otherwise direct, I shall not oppose
the landing of any telegraphic cable which complies with and assents to the
points above enumerated, but will feel it my duty to prevent the landing of
any which does not conform to the first and second points as stated, and
which will not stipulate to concede to this Government the precedence in
the transmission of its official messages and will not enter into a
satisfactory arrangement with regard to its charges.
Among the pressing and important subjects to which, in my opinion, the
attention of Congress should be directed are those relating to fraudulent
naturalization and expatriation.
The United States, with great liberality, offers its citizenship to all who
in good faith comply with the requirements of law. These requirements are
as simple and upon as favorable terms to the emigrant as the high privilege
to which he is admitted can or should permit. I do not propose any
additional requirements to those which the law now demands; but the very
simplicity and the want of unnecessary formality in our law have made
fraudulent naturalization not infrequent, to the discredit and injury of
all honest citizens, whether native or naturalized. Cases of this character
are continually being brought to the notice of the Government by our
representatives abroad, and also those of persons resident in other
countries, most frequently those who, if they have remained in this country
long enough to entitle them to become naturalized, have generally not much
overpassed that period, and have returned to the country of their origin,
where they reside, avoiding all duties to the United States by their
absence, and claiming to be exempt from all duties to the country of their
nativity and of their residence by reason of their alleged naturalization.
It is due to this Government itself and to the great mass of the
naturalized citizens who entirely, both in name and in fact, become
citizens of the United States that the high privilege of citizenship of the
United States should not be held by fraud or in derogation of the laws and
of the good name of every honest citizen. On many occasions it has been
brought to the knowledge of the Government that certificates of
naturalization are held and protection or interference claimed by parties
who admit that not only they were not within the United States at the time
of the pretended naturalization, but that they have never resided in the
United States; in others the certificate and record of the court show on
their face that the person claiming to be naturalized had not resided the
required time in the United States; in others it is admitted upon
examination that the requirements of law have not been complied with; in
some cases, even, such certificates have been matter of purchase. These are
not isolated cases, arising at rare intervals, but of common occurrence,
and which are reported from all quarters of the globe. Such occurrences can
not, and do not, fail to reflect upon the Government and injure all honest
citizens. Such a fraud being discovered, however, there is no practicable
means within the control of the Government by which the record of
naturalization can be vacated; and should the certificate be taken up, as
it usually is, by the diplomatic and consular representatives of the
Government to whom it may have been presented, there is nothing to prevent
the person claiming to have been naturalized from obtaining a new
certificate from the court in place of that which has been taken from him.
The evil has become so great and of such frequent occurrence that I can not
too earnestly recommend that some effective measures be adopted to provide
a proper remedy and means for the vacating of any record thus fraudulently
made, and of punishing the guilty parties to the transaction.
In this connection I refer also to the question of expatriation and the
election of nationality.
The United States was foremost in upholding the right of expatriation, and
was principally instrumental in overthrowing the doctrine of perpetual
allegiance. Congress has declared the right of expatriation to be a natural
and inherent right of all people; but while many other nations have enacted
laws providing what formalities shall be necessary to work a change of
allegiance, the United States has enacted no provisions of law and has in
no respect marked out how and when expatriation may be accomplished by its
citizens. Instances are brought to the attention of the Government where
citizens of the United States, either naturalized or native born, have
formally become citizens or subjects of foreign powers, but who,
nevertheless, in the absence of any provisions of legislation on this
question, when involved in difficulties or when it seems to be their
interest, claim to be citizens of the United States and demand the
intervention of a Government which they have long since abandoned and to
which for years they have rendered no service nor held themselves in any
way amenable.
In other cases naturalized citizens, immediately after naturalization, have
returned to their native country; have become engaged in business; have
accepted offices or pursuits inconsistent with American citizenship, and
evidence no intent to return to the United States until called upon to
discharge some duty to the country where they are residing, when at once
they assert their citizenship and call upon the representatives of the
Government to aid them in their unjust pretensions. It is but justice to
all bona fide citizens that no doubt should exist on such questions, and
that Congress should determine by enactment of law how expatriation may be
accomplished and change of citizenship be established.
I also invite your attention to the necessity of regulating by law the
status of American women who may marry foreigners, and of defining more
fully that of children born in a foreign country of American parents who
may reside abroad; and also of some further provision regulating or giving
legal effect to marriages of American citizens contracted in foreign
countries. The correspondence submitted herewith shows a few of the
constantly occurring questions on these points presented to the
consideration of the Government. There are few subjects to engage the
attention of Congress on which more delicate relations or more important
interests are dependent.
In the month of July last the building erected for the Department of State
was taken possession of and occupied by that Department. I am happy to
announce that the archives and valuable papers of the Government in the
custody of that Department are now safely deposited and properly cared
for.
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury shows the receipts from customs
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874, to have been $163,103,833.69, and
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875, to have been $157,267,722.35, a
decrease for the last fiscal year of $5,936,111.34. Receipts from internal
revenue for the year ending the 30th of June, 1874, were $102,409,784.90,
and for the year ending June 30, 1875, $110,007,493.58; increase,
$7,597,708.68.
The report also shows a complete history of the workings of the Department
for the last year, and contains recommendations for reforms and for
legislation which I concur in, but can not comment on so fully as I should
like to do if space would permit, but will confine myself to a few
suggestions which I look upon as vital to the best interests of the whole
people--coming within the purview of "Treasury;" I mean specie resumption.
Too much stress can not be laid upon this question, and I hope Congress may
be induced, at the earliest day practicable, to insure the consummation of
the act of the last Congress, at its last session, to bring about specie
resumption "on and after the 1st of January, 1879," at furthest. It would
be a great blessing if this could be consummated even at an earlier day.
Nothing seems to me more certain than that a full, healthy, and permanent
reaction can not take place in favor of the industries and financial
welfare of the country until we return to a measure of values recognized
throughout the civilized world. While we use a currency not equivalent to
this standard the world's recognized standard, specie, becomes a commodity
like the products of the soil, the surplus seeking a market wherever there
is a demand for it.
Under our present system we should want none, nor would we have any, were
it not that customs dues must be paid in coin and because of the pledge to
pay interest on the public debt in coin. The yield of precious metals would
flow out for the purchase of foreign productions and the United States
"hewers of wood and drawers of water," because of wiser legislation on the
subject of finance by the nations with whom we have dealings. I am not
prepared to say that I can suggest the best legislation to secure the end
most heartily recommended. It will be a source of great gratification to me
to be able to approve any measure of Congress looking effectively toward
securing "resumption."
Unlimited inflation would probably bring about specie payments more
speedily than any legislation looking to redemption of the legal-tenders in
coin; but it would be at the expense of honor. The legal-tenders would have
no value beyond settling present liabilities, or, properly speaking,
repudiating them. They would buy nothing after debts were all settled.
There are a few measures which seem to me important in this connection and
which I commend to your earnest consideration:
A repeal of so much of the legal-tender act as makes these notes receivable
for debts contracted after a date to be fixed in the act itself, say not
later than the 1st of January, 1877. We should then have quotations at real
values, not fictitious ones. Gold would no longer be at a premium, but
currency at a discount. A healthy reaction would set in at once, and with
it a desire to make the currency equal to what it purports to be. The
merchants, manufacturers, and tradesmen of every calling could do business
on a fair margin of profit, the money to be received having an unvarying
value. Laborers and all classes who work for stipulated pay or salary would
receive more for their income, because extra profits would no longer be
charged by the capitalists to compensate for the risk of a downward
fluctuation in the value of the currency.
Second. That the Secretary of the Treasury be authorized to redeem, say,
not to exceed $2,000,000 monthly of legal-tender notes, by issuing in their
stead a long bond, bearing interest at the rate of 3.65 per cent per annum,
of denominations ranging from $50 up to $1,000 each. This would in time
reduce the legal-tender notes to a volume that could be kept afloat without
demanding redemption in large sums suddenly.
Third. That additional power be given to the Secretary of the Treasury to
accumulate gold for final redemption, either by increasing revenue,
curtailing expenses, or both (it is preferable to do both); and I recommend
that reduction of expenditures be made wherever it can be done without
impairing Government obligations or crippling the due execution thereof.
One measure for increasing the revenue--and the only one I think of--is the
restoration of the duty on tea and coffee. These duties would add probably
$18,000,000 to the present amount received from imports, and would in no
way increase the prices paid for those articles by the consumers.
These articles are the products of countries collecting revenue from
exports, and as we, the largest consumers, reduce the duties they
proportionately increase them. With this addition to the revenue, many
duties now collected, and which give but an insignificant return for the
cost of collection, might be remitted, and to the direct advantage of
consumers at home.
I would mention those articles which enter into manufactures of all sorts.
All duty paid upon such articles goes directly to the cost of the article
when manufactured here, and must be paid for by the consumers. These duties
not only come from the consumers at home, but act as a protection to
foreign manufacturers of the same completed articles in our own and distant
markets.
I will suggest or mention another subject bearing upon the problem of "how
to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to accumulate balances." It is to
devise some better method of verifying claims against the Government than
at present exists through the Court of Claims, especially those claims
growing out of the late war. Nothing is more certain than that a very large
percentage of the amounts passed and paid are either wholly fraudulent or
are far in excess of the real losses sustained. The large amount of losses
proven--on good testimony according to existing laws, by affidavits of
fictitious or unscrupulous persons--to have been sustained on small farms
and plantations are not only far beyond the possible yield of those places
for any one year, but, as everyone knows who has had experience in tilling
the soil and who has visited the scenes of these spoliations, are in many
instances more than the individual claimants were ever worth, including
their personal and real estate.
The report of the Attorney-General, which will be submitted to Congress at
an early day, will contain a detailed history of awards made and of claim
pending of the class here referred to.
The report of the Secretary of War, accompanying this message, gives a
detailed account of Army operations for the year just passed, expenses for
maintenance, etc., with recommendations for legislation to which I
respectfully invite your attention. To some of these I invite special
attention:
First. The necessity of making $300,000 of the appropriation for the
Subsistence Department available before the beginning of the next fiscal
year. Without this provision troops at points distant from supply
production must either go without food or existing laws must be violated.
It is not attended with cost to the Treasury.
Second. His recommendation for the enactment of a system of annuities for
the families of deceased officers by voluntary deductions from the monthly
pay of officers. This again is not attended with burden upon the Treasury,
and would for the future relieve much distress which every old army officer
has witnessed in the past--of officers dying suddenly or being killed,
leaving families without even the means of reaching their friends, if
fortunate enough to have friends to aid them.
Third. The repeal of the law abolishing mileage, and a return to the old
system.
Fourth. The trial with torpedoes under the Corps of Engineers, and
appropriation for the same. Should war ever occur between the United States
and any maritime power, torpedoes will be among if not the most effective
and cheapest auxiliary for the defense of harbors, and also in aggressive
operations, that we can have. Hence it is advisable to learn by experiment
their best construction and application, as well as effect.
Fifth. A permanent organization for the Signal-Service Corps. This service
has now become a necessity of peace as well as war, under the advancement
made by the present able management.
Sixth. A renewal of the appropriation for compiling the official records of
the war, etc.
The condition of our Navy at this time is a subject of satisfaction. It
does not contain, it is true, any of the powerful cruising ironclads which
make so much of the maritime strength of some other nations, but neither
our continental situation nor our foreign policy requires that we should
have a large number of ships of this character, while this situation and
the nature of our ports combine to make those of other nations little
dangerous to us under any circumstances.
Our Navy does contain, however, a considerable number of ironclads of the
monitor class, which, though not properly cruisers, are powerful and
effective for harbor defense and for operations near our own shores. Of
these all the single-turreted ones, fifteen in number, have been
substantially rebuilt, their rotten wooden beams replaced with iron, their
hulls strengthened, and their engines and machinery thoroughly repaired, so
that they are now in the most efficient condition and ready for sea as soon
as they can be manned and put in commission.
The five double-turreted ironclads belonging to our Navy, by far the most
powerful of our ships for fighting purposes, are also in hand undergoing
complete repairs, and could be ready for sea in periods varying from four
to six months. With these completed according to the present design and our
two iron torpedo boats now ready, our ironclad fleet will be, for the
purposes of defense at home, equal to any force that can readily be brought
against it.
Of our wooden navy also cruisers of various sizes, to the number of about
forty, including those now in commission, are in the Atlantic, and could be
ready for duty as fast as men could be enlisted for those not already in
commission. Of these, one-third are in effect new ships, and though some of
the remainder need considerable repairs to their boilers and machinery,
they all are, or can readily be made, effective.
This constitutes a fleet of more than fifty war ships, of which fifteen are
ironclad, now in hand on the Atlantic coast. The Navy has been brought to
this condition by a judicious and practical application of what could be
spared from the current appropriations of the last few years and from that
made to meet the possible emergency of two years ago. It has been done
quietly, without proclamation or display, and though it has necessarily
straitened the Department in its ordinary expenditure, and, as far as the
ironclads are concerned, has added nothing to the cruising force of the
Navy, yet the result is not the less satisfactory because it is to be found
in a great increase of real rather than apparent force. The expenses
incurred in the maintenance of an effective naval force in all its branches
are necessarily large, but such force is essential to our position,
relations, and character, and affects seriously the weight of our
principles and policy throughout the whole sphere of national
responsibilities.
The estimates for the regular support of this branch of the service for the
next year amount to a little less in the aggregate than those made for the
current year; but some additional appropriations are asked for objects not
included in the ordinary maintenance of the Navy, but believed to be of
pressing importance at this time. It would, in my opinion, be wise at once
to afford sufficient means for the immediate completion of the five
double-turreted monitors now undergoing repairs, which must otherwise
advance slowly, and only as money can be spared from current expenses.
Supplemented by these, our Navy, armed with the destructive weapons of
modern warfare, manned by our seamen, and in charge of our instructed
officers, will present a force powerful for the home purposes of a
responsible though peaceful nation.
The report of the Postmaster-General herewith transmitted gives a full
history of the workings of the Department for the year just past. It will
be observed that the deficiency to be supplied from the General Treasury is
increased over the amount required for the preceding year. In a country so
vast in area as the United States, with large portions sparsely settled, it
must be expected that this important service will be more or less a burden
upon the Treasury for many years to come. But there is no branch of the
public service which interests the whole people more than that of cheap and
rapid transmission of the mails to every inhabited part of our territory.
Next to the free school, the post-office is the great educator of the
people, and it may well receive the support of the General Government.
The subsidy of $150,000 per annum given to vessels of the United States for
carrying the mails between New York and Rio de Janeiro having ceased on the
30th day of September last, we are without direct mail facilities with the
South American States. This is greatly to be regretted, and I do not
hesitate to recommend the authorization of a renewal of that contract, and
also that the service may be increased from monthly to semi-monthly trips.
The commercial advantages to be gained by a direct line of American
steamers to the South American States will far outweigh the expense of the
service.
By act of Congress approved March 3, 1875, almost all matter, whether
properly mail matter or not, may be sent any distance through the mails, in
packages not exceeding 4 pounds in weight, for the sum of 16 cents per
pound. So far as the transmission of real mail matter goes, this would seem
entirely proper; but I suggest that the law be so amended as to exclude
from the mails merchandise of all descriptions, and limit this
transportation to articles enumerated, and which may be classed as mail
matter proper.
The discovery of gold in the Black Hills, a portion of the Sioux
Reservation, has had the effect to induce a large emigration of miners to
that point. Thus far the effort to protect the treaty rights of the Indians
to that section has been successful, but the next year will certainly
witness a large increase of such emigration. The negotiations for the
relinquishment of the gold fields having failed, it will be necessary for
Congress to adopt some measures to relieve the embarrassment growing out of
the causes named. The Secretary of the Interior suggests that the supplies
now appropriated for the sustenance of that people, being no longer
obligatory under the treaty of 1868, but simply a gratuity, may be issued
or withheld at his discretion.
The condition of the Indian Territory, to which I have referred in several
of my former annual messages, remains practically unchanged. The Secretary
of the Interior has taken measures to obtain a full report of the condition
of that Territory, and will make it the subject of a special report at an
early day. It may then be necessary to make some further recommendation in
regard to legislation for the government of that Territory.
The steady growth and increase of the business of the Patent Office
indicates in some measure the progress of the industrial activity of the
country. The receipts of the office are in excess of its expenditures, and
the office generally is in a prosperous and satisfactory condition.
The report of the General Land Office shows that there were 2,459,601 acres
less disposed of during this than during the last year. More than one-half
of this decrease was in lands disposed of under the homestead and
timber-culture laws. The cause of this decrease is supposed to be found in
the grasshopper scourge and the droughts which prevailed so extensively in
some of the frontier States and Territories during that time as to
discourage and deter entries by actual settlers. The cash receipts were
less by $690,322.23 than during the preceding year.
The entire surveyed area of the public domain is 680,253,094 acres, of
which 26,077,531 acres were surveyed during the past year, leaving
1,154,471,762 acres still unsurveyed.
The report of the Commissioner presents many interesting suggestions in
regard to the management and disposition of the public domain and the
modification of existing laws, the apparent importance of which should
insure for them the careful consideration of Congress.
The number of pensioners still continues to decrease, the highest number
having been reached during the year ending June 30, 1873. During the last
year 11,557 names were added to the rolls, and 12,977 were dropped
therefrom, showing a net decrease of 1,420. But while the number of
pensioners has decreased, the annual amount due on the pension rolls has
increased $44,733.13. This is caused by the greatly increased average rate
of pensions, which, by the liberal legislation of Congress, has increased
from $90.26 in 1872 to $103.91 in 1875 to each invalid pensioner, an
increase in the average rate of 15 per cent in the three years. During the
year ending June 30, 1875, there was paid on account of pensions, including
the expenses of disbursement, $29,683,116, being $910,632 less than was
paid the preceding year. This reduction in amount of expenditures was
produced by the decrease in the amount of arrearages due on allowed claims
and on pensions the rate of which was increased by the legislation of the
preceding session of Congress. At the close of the last fiscal year there
were on the pension rolls 234,821 persons, of whom 210,363 were army
pensioners, 105,478 being invalids and 104,885 widows and dependent
relatives; 3,420 were navy pensioners, of whom 1,636 were invalids and
1,784 widows and dependent relatives; 21,038 were pensioners of the War of
1812, 15,875 of whom were survivors and 5,163 were widows.
It is estimated that $29,535,000 will be required for the payment of
pensions for the next fiscal year, an amount $965,000 less than the
estimate for the present year.
The geological explorations have been prosecuted with energy during the
year, covering an area of about 40,000 square miles in the Territories of
Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, developing the agricultural and mineral
resources and furnishing interesting scientific and topographical details
of that region.
The method for the treatment of the Indians adopted at the beginning of my
first term has been steadily pursued, and with satisfactory and encouraging
results. It has been productive of evident improvement in the condition of
that race, and will be continued, with only such modifications as further
experience may indicate to be necessary.
The board heretofore appointed to take charge of the articles and materials
pertaining to the War, the Navy, the Treasury, the Interior, and the
Post-Office Departments, and the Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian
Institution, and the Commission of Food Fishes, to be contributed, under
the legislation of last session, to the international exhibition to be held
at Philadelphia during the centennial year 1876, has been diligent in the
discharge of the duties which have devolved upon it; and the preparations
so far made with the means at command give assurance that the governmental
contribution will be made one of the marked characteristics of the
exhibition. The board has observed commendable economy in the matter of the
erection of a building for the governmental exhibit, the expense of which
it is estimated will not exceed, say, $80,000. This amount has been
withdrawn, under the law, from the appropriations of five of the principal
Departments, which leaves some of those Departments without sufficient
means to render their respective practical exhibits complete and
satisfactory. The exhibition being an international one, and the Government
being a voluntary contributor, it is my opinion that its contribution
should be of a character, in quality and extent, to sustain the dignity and
credit of so distinguished a contributor. The advantages to the country of
a creditable display are, in an international point of view, of the first
importance, while an indifferent or uncreditable participation by the
Government would be humiliating to the patriotic feelings of our people
themselves. I commend the estimates of the board for the necessary
additional appropriations to the favorable consideration of Congress.
The powers of Europe almost without exception, many of the South American
States, and even the more distant Eastern powers have manifested their
friendly sentiments toward the United States and the interest of the world
in our progress by taking steps to join with us in celebrating the
centennial of the nation, and I strongly recommend that a more national
importance be given to this exhibition by such legislation and by such
appropriation as will insure its success. Its value in bringing to our
shores innumerable useful works of art and skill, the commingling of the
citizens of foreign countries and our own, and the interchange of ideas and
manufactures will far exceed any pecuniary outlay we may make.
I transmit herewith the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, together
with the reports of the Commissioners, the board of audit, and the board of
health of the District of Columbia, to all of which I invite your
attention.
The Bureau of Agriculture has accomplished much in disseminating useful
knowledge to the agriculturist, and also in introducing new and useful
productions adapted to our soil and climate, and is worthy of the continued
encouragement of the Government.
The report of the Commissioner of Education, which accompanies the report
of the Secretary of the Interior, shows a gratifying progress in
educational matters.
In nearly every annual message that I have had the honor of transmitting to
Congress I have called attention to the anomalous, not to say scandalous,
condition of affairs existing in the Territory of Utah, and have asked for
definite legislation to correct it. That polygamy should exist in a free,
enlightened, and Christian country, without the power to punish so flagrant
a crime against decency and morality, seems preposterous. True, there is no
law to sustain this unnatural vice; but what is needed is a law to punish
it as a crime, and at the same time to fix the status of the innocent
children, the offspring of this system, and of the possibly innocent plural
wives. But as an institution polygamy should be banished from the land.
While this is being done I invite the attention of Congress to another,
though perhaps no less an evil--the importation of Chinese women, but few
of whom are brought to our shores to pursue honorable or useful
occupations.
Observations while visiting the Territories of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado
during the past autumn convinced me that existing laws regulating the
disposition of public lands, timber, etc., and probably the mining laws
themselves, are very defective and should be carefully amended, and at an
early day. Territory where cultivation of the soil can only be followed by
irrigation, and where irrigation is not practicable the lands can only be
used as pasturage, and this only where stock can reach water (to quench its
thirst), can not be governed by the same laws as to entries as lands every
acre of which is an independent estate by itself.
Land must be held in larger quantities to justify the expense of conducting
water upon it to make it fruitful, or to justify utilizing it as pasturage.
The timber in most of the Territories is principally confined to the
mountain regions, which are held for entry in small quantities only, and as
mineral lands. The timber is the property of the United States, for the
disposal of which there is now no adequate law. The settler must become a
consumer of this timber, whether he lives upon the plain or engages in
working the mines. Hence every man becomes either a trespasser himself or
knowingly a patron of trespassers.
My opportunities for observation were not sufficient to justify me in
recommending specific legislation on these subjects, but I do recommend
that a joint committee of the two Houses of Congress, sufficiently large to
be divided into subcommittees, be organized to visit all the mining States
and Territories during the coming summer, and that the committee shall
report to Congress at the next session such laws or amendments to laws as
it may deem necessary to secure the best interests of the Government and
the people of these Territories, who are doing so much for their
development.
I am sure the citizens occupying the territory described do not wish to be
trespassers, nor will they be if legal ways are provided for them to become
owners of these actual necessities of their position.
As this will be the last annual message which I shall have the honor of
transmitting to Congress before my successor is chosen, I will repeat or
recapitulate the questions which I deem of vital importance which may be
legislated upon and settled at this session:
First. That the States shall be required to afford the opportunity of a
good common-school education to every child within their limits.
Second. No sectarian tenets shall ever be taught in any school supported in
whole or in part by the State, nation, or by the proceeds of any tax levied
upon any community. Make education compulsory so far as to deprive all
persons who can not read and write from becoming voters after the year
1890, disfranchising none, however, on grounds of illiteracy who may be
voters at the time this amendment takes effect.
Third. Declare church and state forever separate and distinct, but each
free within their proper spheres; and that all church property shall bear
its own proportion of taxation.
Fourth. Drive out licensed immorality, such as polygamy and the importation
of women for illegitimate purposes. To recur again to the centennial year,
it would seem as though now, as we are about to begin the second century of
our national existence, would be a most fitting time for these reforms.
Fifth. Enact such laws as will insure a speedy return to a sound currency,
such as will command the respect of the world.
Believing that these views will commend themselves to the great majority of
the right-thinking and patriotic citizens of the United States, I submit
the rest to Congress.