Section 7 of Railway Mail Rule IV is hereby amended by inserting in line

7, after the word "days," the following: "or until the emergency ceases."

BENJ. HARRISON.

SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 7, 1890_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The reports of the several Executive Departments, which will be laid

before Congress in the usual course, will exhibit in detail the

operations of the Government for the last fiscal year. Only the more

important incidents and results, and chiefly such as may be the

foundation of the recommendations I shall submit, will be referred to

in this annual message.

The vast and increasing business of the Government has been transacted

by the several Departments during the year with faithfulness, energy,

and success.

The revenues, amounting to above $450,000,000, have been collected and

disbursed without revealing, so far as I can ascertain, a single case

of defalcation or embezzlement. An earnest effort has been made to

stimulate a sense of responsibility and public duty in all officers and

employees of every grade, and the work done by them has almost wholly

escaped unfavorable criticism. I speak of these matters with freedom

because the credit of this good work is not mine, but is shared by

the heads of the several Departments with the great body of faithful

officers and employees who serve under them. The closest scrutiny of

Congress is invited to all the methods of administration and to every

item of expenditure.

The friendly relations of our country with the nations of Europe and of

the East have been undisturbed, while the ties of good will and common

interest that bind us to the States of the Western Hemisphere have been

notably strengthened by the conference held in this capital to consider

measures for the general welfare. Pursuant to the invitation authorized

by Congress, the representatives of every independent State of the

American continent and of Hayti met in conference in this capital in

October, 1889, and continued in session until the 19th of last April.

This important convocation marks a most interesting and influential

epoch in the history of the Western Hemisphere. It is noteworthy that

Brazil, invited while under an imperial form of government, shared

as a republic in the deliberations and results of the conference. The

recommendations of this conference were all transmitted to Congress

at the last session.

The International Marine Conference, which sat at Washington last

winter, reached a very gratifying result. The regulations suggested have

been brought to the attention of all the Governments represented, and

their general adoption is confidently expected. The legislation of

Congress at the last session is in conformity with the propositions of

the conference, and the proclamation therein provided for will be issued

when the other powers have given notice of their adhesion.

The Conference of Brussels, to devise means for suppressing the slave

trade in Africa, afforded an opportunity for a new expression of the

interest the American people feel in that great work. It soon became

evident that the measure proposed would tax the resources of the Kongo

Basin beyond the revenues available under the general act of Berlin of

1884. The United States, not being a party to that act, could not share

in its revision, but by a separate act the Independent State of the

Kongo was freed from the restrictions upon a customs revenue. The

demoralizing and destructive traffic in ardent spirits among the tribes

also claimed the earnest attention of the conference, and the delegates

of the United States were foremost in advocating measures for its

repression. An accord was reached the influence of which will be very

helpful and extend over a wide region. As soon as these measures shall

receive the sanction of the Netherlands, for a time withheld, the

general acts will be submitted for ratification by the Senate. Meanwhile

negotiations have been opened for a new and completed treaty of

friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the

Independent State of the Kongo.

Toward the end of the past year the only independent monarchical

government on the Western Continent, that of Brazil, ceased to exist,

and was succeeded by a republic. Diplomatic relations were at once

established with the new Government, but it was not completely

recognized until an opportunity had been afforded to ascertain that it

had popular approval and support. When the course of events had yielded

assurance of this fact, no time was lost in extending to the new

Government a full and cordial welcome into the family of American

Commonwealths. It is confidently believed that the good relations of the

two countries will be preserved and that the future will witness an

increased intimacy of intercourse and an expansion of their mutual

commerce.

The peace of Central America has again been disturbed through a

revolutionary change in Salvador, which was not recognized by other

States, and hostilities broke out between Salvador and Guatemala,

threatening to involve all Central America in conflict and to undo

the progress which had been made toward a union of their interests.

The efforts of this Government were promptly and zealously exerted

to compose their differences and through the active efforts of the

representative of the United States a provisional treaty of peace was

signed August 26, whereby the right of the Republic of Salvador to

choose its own rulers was recognized. General Ezeta, the chief of the

Provisional Government, has since been confirmed in the Presidency by

the Assembly, and diplomatic recognition duly followed.

The killing of General Barrundia on board the Pacific mail steamer

_Acapulco_, while anchored in transit in the port of San Jose de

Guatemala, demanded careful inquiry. Having failed in a revolutionary

attempt to invade Guatemala from Mexican territory, General Barrundia

took passage at Acapulco for Panama. The consent of the representatives

of the United States was sought to effect his seizure, first at

Champerico, where the steamer touched, and afterwards at San Jose.

The captain of the steamer refused to give up his passenger without a

written order from the United States minister. The latter furnished the

desired letter, stipulating as the condition of his action that General

Barrundia's life should be spared and that he should be tried only for

offenses growing out of his insurrectionary movements. This letter was

produced to the captain of the _Acapulco_ by the military commander at

San Jose as his warrant to take the passenger from the steamer. General

Barrundia resisted capture and was killed. It being evident that the

minister, Mr. Mizner, had exceeded the bounds of his authority in

intervening, in compliance with the demands of the Guatemalan

authorities, to authorize and effect, in violation of precedent, the

seizure on a vessel of the United States of a passenger in transit

charged with political offenses, in order that he might be tried for

such offenses under what was described as martial law. I was constrained

to disavow Mr. Mizner's act and recall him from his post.

The Nicaragua Canal project, under the control of our citizens, is

making most encouraging progress, all the preliminary conditions and

initial operations having been accomplished within the prescribed time.

During the past year negotiations have been renewed for the settlement

of the claims of American citizens against the Government of Chile,

principally growing out of the late war with Peru. The reports from our

minister at Santiago warrant the expectation of an early and

satisfactory adjustment.

Our relations with China, which have for several years occupied so

important a place in our diplomatic history, have called for careful

consideration and have been the subject of much correspondence.

The communications of the Chinese minister have brought into view the

whole subject of our conventional relations with his country, and at the

same time this Government, through its legation at Peking, has sought

to arrange various matters and complaints touching the interests and

protection of our citizens in China.

In pursuance of the concurrent resolution of October 1, 1890, I have

proposed to the Governments of Mexico and Great Britain to consider a

conventional regulation of the passage of Chinese laborers across our

southern and northern frontiers.

On the 22d day of August last Sir Edmund Monson, the arbitrator selected

under the treaty of December 6, 1888, rendered an award to the effect

that no compensation was due from the Danish Government to the United

States on account of what is commonly known as the Carlos Butterfield

claim.

Our relations with the French Republic continue to be cordial. Our

representative at that court has very diligently urged the removal of

the restrictions imposed upon our meat products, and it is believed that

substantial progress has been made toward a just settlement.

The Samoan treaty, signed last year at Berlin by the representatives of

the United States, Germany, and Great Britain, after due ratification

and exchange, has begun to produce salutary effects. The formation of

the government agreed upon will soon replace the disorder of the past by

a stable administration alike just to the natives and equitable to the

three powers most concerned in trade and intercourse with the Samoan

Islands. The chief justice has been chosen by the King of Sweden and

Norway on the invitation of the three powers, and will soon be

installed. The land commission and the municipal council are in process

of organization. A rational and evenly distributed scheme of taxation,

both municipal and upon imports, is in operation. Malietoa is respected

as King.

The new treaty of extradition with Great Britain, after due

ratification, was proclaimed on the 25th of last March. Its beneficial

working is already apparent.

The difference between the two Governments touching the fur-seal

question in the Bering Sea is not yet adjusted, as will be seen by the

correspondence which will soon be laid before the Congress. The offer

to submit the question to arbitration, as proposed by Her Majesty's

Government, has not been accepted, for the reason that the form of

submission proposed is not thought to be calculated to assure a

conclusion satisfactory to either party. It is sincerely hoped that

before the opening of another sealing season some arrangement may be

effected which will assure to the United States a property right derived

from Russia, which was not disregarded by any nation for more than

eighty years preceding the outbreak of the existing trouble.

In the tariff act a wrong was done to the Kingdom of Hawaii which I am

bound to presume was wholly unintentional. Duties were levied on certain

commodities which are included in the reciprocity treaty now existing

between the United States and the Kingdom of Hawaii, without indicating

the necessary exception in favor of that Kingdom. I hope Congress will

repair what might otherwise seem to be a breach of faith on the part of

this Government.

An award in favor of the United States in the matter of the claim of

Mr. Van Bokkelen against Hayti was rendered on the 4th of December,

1888, but owing to disorders then and afterwards prevailing in Hayti

the terms of payment were not observed. A new agreement as to the time

of payment has been approved and is now in force. Other just claims of

citizens of the United States for redress of wrongs suffered during the

late political conflict in Hayti will, it is hoped, speedily yield to

friendly treatment.

Propositions for the amendment of the treaty of extradition between the

United States and Italy are now under consideration.

You will be asked to provide the means of accepting the invitation of

the Italian Government to take part in an approaching conference to

consider the adoption of a universal prime meridian from which to reckon

longitude and time. As this proposal follows in the track of the reform

sought to be initiated by the Meridian Conference of Washington, held on

the invitation of this Government, the United States should manifest a

friendly interest in the Italian proposal.

In this connection I may refer with approval to the suggestion of my

predecessors that standing provision be made for accepting, whenever

deemed advisable, the frequent invitations of foreign governments to

share in conferences looking to the advancement of international reforms

in regard to science, sanitation, commercial laws and procedure, and

other matters affecting the intercourse and progress of modern

communities.

In the summer of 1889 an incident occurred which for some time

threatened to interrupt the cordiality of our relations with the

Government of Portugal. That Government seized the Delagoa Bay Railway,

which was constructed under a concession granted to an American citizen,

and at the same time annulled the charter. The concessionary, who had

embarked his fortune in the enterprise, having exhausted other means of

redress, was compelled to invoke the protection of his Government. Our

representations, made coincidently with those of the British Government,

whose subjects were also largely interested, happily resulted in the

recognition by Portugal of the propriety of submitting the claim for

indemnity growing out of its action to arbitration. This plan of

settlement having been agreed upon, the interested powers readily

concurred in the proposal to submit the case to the judgment of three

eminent jurists, to be designated by the President of the Swiss

Republic, who, upon the joint invitation of the Governments of the

United States, Great Britain, and Portugal, has selected persons well

qualified for the task before them.

The revision of our treaty relations with the Empire of Japan has

continued to be the subject of consideration and of correspondence.

The questions involved are both grave and delicate; and while it will be

my duty to see that the interests of the United States are not by any

changes exposed to undue discrimination, I sincerely hope that such

revision as Will satisfy the legitimate expectations of the Japanese

Government and maintain the present and long-existing friendly relations

between Japan and the United States will be effected.

The friendship between our country and Mexico, born of close

neighborhood and strengthened by many considerations of intimate

intercourse and reciprocal interest, has never been more conspicuous

than now nor more hopeful of increased benefit to both nations. The

intercourse of the two countries by rail, already great, is making

constant growth. The established lines and those recently projected add

to the intimacy of traffic and open new channels of access to fresh

areas of demand and supply. The importance of the Mexican railway system

will be further enhanced to a degree almost impossible to forecast if

it should become a link in the projected intercontinental railway.

I recommend that our mission in the City of Mexico be raised to the

first class.

The cordial character of our relations with Spain warrants the hope

that by the continuance of methods of friendly negotiation much may be

accomplished in the direction of an adjustment of pending questions and

of the increase of our trade. The extent and development of our trade

with the island of Cuba invest the commercial relations of the United

States and Spain with a peculiar importance. It is not doubted that a

special arrangement in regard to commerce, based upon the reciprocity

provision of the recent tariff act, would operate most beneficially for

both Governments. This subject is now receiving attention.

The restoration of the remains of John Ericsson to Sweden afforded a

gratifying occasion to honor the memory of the great inventor, to whose

genius our country owes so much, and to bear witness to the unbroken

friendship which has existed between the land which bore him and our

own, which claimed him as a citizen.

On the 2d of September last the commission appointed to revise the

proceedings of the commission under the claims convention between the

United States and Venezuela of 1866 brought its labors to a close

within the period fixed for that purpose. The proceedings of the late

commission were characterized by a spirit of impartiality and a high

sense of justice, and an incident which was for many years the subject

of discussion between the two Governments has been disposed of in

a manner alike honorable and satisfactory to both parties. For the

settlement of the claim of the Venezuela Steam Transportation Company,

which was the subject of a joint resolution adopted at the last session

of Congress, negotiations are still in progress, and their early

conclusion is anticipated.

The legislation of the past few years has evinced on the part of

Congress a growing realization of the importance of the consular service

in fostering our commercial relations abroad and in protecting the

domestic revenues. As the scope of operations expands increased

provision must be made to keep up the essential standard of efficiency.

The necessity of some adequate measure of supervision and inspection

has been so often presented that I need only commend the subject to

your attention.

The revenues of the Government from all sources for the fiscal year

ending June 30, 1890, were $463,963,080.55 and the total expenditures

for the same period were $358,618,584.52. The postal receipts have not

heretofore been included in the statement of these aggregates, and for

the purpose of comparison the sum of $60,882,097.92 should be deducted

from both sides of the account. The surplus for the year, including the

amount applied to the sinking fund, was $105,344,496.03. The receipts

for 1890 were $16,030,923.79 and the expenditures $15,739,871 in excess

of those of 1889. The customs receipts increased $5,835,842.88 and the

receipts from internal revenue $11,725,191.89, while on the side of

expenditures that for pensions was $19,312,075.96 in excess of the

preceding year.

The Treasury statement for the current fiscal year, partly actual

and partly estimated, is as follows: Receipts from all sources,

$406,000,000; total expenditures, $354,000,000, leaving a surplus of

$52,000,000, not taking the postal receipts into the account on either

side. The loss of revenue from customs for the last quarter is estimated

at $25,000,000, but from this is deducted a gain of about $16,000,000

realized during the first four months of the year.

For the year 1892 the total estimated receipts are $373,000,000 and the

estimated expenditures $357,852,209.42, leaving an estimated surplus

of $15,147,790.58, which, with a cash balance of $52,000,000 at the

beginning of the year, will give $67,147,790.58 as the sum available

for the redemption of outstanding bonds or other uses. The estimates of

receipts and expenditures for the Post-Office Department, being equal,

are not included in this statement on either side.

The act "directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of

Treasury notes thereon," approved July 14, 1890, has been administered

by the Secretary of the Treasury with an earnest purpose to get into

circulation at the earliest possible dates the full monthly amounts of

Treasury notes contemplated by its provisions and at the same time to

give to the market for the silver bullion such support as the law

contemplates. The recent depreciation in the price of silver has been

observed with regret. The rapid rise in price which anticipated and

followed the passage of the act was influenced in some degree by

speculation, and the recent reaction is in part the result of the same

cause and in part of the recent monetary disturbances. Some months of

further trial will be necessary to determine the permanent effect of the

recent legislation upon silver values, but it is gratifying to know that

the increased circulation secured by the act has exerted, and will

continue to exert, a most beneficial influence upon business and upon

general values.

While it has not been thought best to renew formally the suggestion of

an international conference looking to an agreement touching the full

use of silver for coinage at a uniform ratio, care has been taken to

observe closely any change in the situation abroad, and no favorable

opportunity will be lost to promote a result which it is confidently

believed would confer very large benefits upon the commerce of the

world.

The recent monetary disturbances in England are not unlikely to suggest

a reexamination of opinions upon this subject. Our very large supply of

gold will, if not lost by impulsive legislation in the supposed interest

of silver, give us a position of advantage in promoting a permanent and

safe international agreement for the free use of silver as a coin metal.

The efforts of the Secretary to increase the volume of money in

circulation by keeping down the Treasury surplus to the lowest

practicable limit have been unremitting and in a very high degree

successful. The tables presented by him showing the increase of money

in circulation during the last two decades, and especially the table

showing the increase during the nineteen months he has administered the

affairs of the Department, are interesting and instructive. The increase

of money in circulation during the nineteen months has been in the

aggregate $93,866,813, or about $1.50 per capita, and of this increase

only $7,100,000 was due to the recent silver legislation. That this

substantial and needed aid given to commerce resulted in an enormous

reduction of the public debt and of the annual interest charge is matter

of increased satisfaction. There have been purchased and redeemed since

March 4, 1889, 4 and 4-1/2 per cent bonds to the amount of $211,832,450,

at a cost of $246,620,741, resulting in the reduction of the annual

interest charge of $8,967,609 and a total saving of interest of

$51,576,706.

I notice with great pleasure the statement of the Secretary that the

receipts from internal revenue have increased during the last fiscal

year nearly $12,000,000, and that the cost of collecting this larger

revenue was less by $90,617 than for the same purpose in the preceding

year. The percentage of cost of collecting the customs revenue was less

for the last fiscal year than ever before.

The Customs Administration Board, provided for by the act of June 10,

1890, was selected with great care, and is composed in part of men whose

previous experience in the administration of the old customs regulations

had made them familiar with the evils to be remedied, and in part of men

whose legal and judicial acquirements and experience seemed to fit them

for the work of interpreting and applying the new statute. The chief aim

of the law is to secure honest valuations of all dutiable merchandise

and to make these valuations uniform at all our ports of entry. It had

been made manifest by a Congressional investigation that a system of

undervaluation had been long in use by certain classes of importers,

resulting not only in a great loss of revenue, but in a most intolerable

discrimination against honesty. It is not seen how this legislation,

when it is understood, can be regarded by the citizens of any country

having commercial dealings with us as unfriendly. If any duty is

supposed to be excessive, let the complaint be lodged there. It will

surely not be claimed by any well-disposed people that a remedy may be

sought and allowed in a system of quasi smuggling.

The report of the Secretary of War exhibits several gratifying results

attained during the year by wise and unostentatious methods. The

percentage of desertions from the Army (an evil for which both Congress

and the Department have long been seeking a remedy) has been reduced

during the past year 24 per cent, and for the months of August and

September, during which time the favorable effects of the act of June 16

were felt, 33 per cent, as compared with the same months of 1889.

The results attained by a reorganization and consolidation of the

divisions having charge of the hospital and service records of the

volunteer soldiers are very remarkable. This change was effected in

July, 1889, and at that time there were 40,654 cases awaiting attention,

more than half of these being calls from the Pension Office for

information necessary to the adjudication of pension claims. On the 30th

day of June last, though over 300,000 new calls had come in, there was

not a single case that had not been examined and answered.

I concur in the recommendations of the Secretary that adequate and

regular appropriations be continued for coast-defense works and

ordnance. Plans have been practically agreed upon, and there can be no

good reason for delaying the execution of them, while the defenseless

state of our great seaports furnishes an urgent reason for wise

expedition.

The encouragement that has been extended to the militia of the States,

generally and most appropriately designated the "National Guard," should

be continued and enlarged. These military organizations constitute in a

large sense the Army of the United States, while about five-sixths of

the annual cost of their maintenance is defrayed by the States.

The report of the Attorney-General is under the law submitted directly

to Congress, but as the Department of Justice is one of the Executive

Departments some reference to the work done is appropriate here.

A vigorous and in the main an effective effort has been made to bring to

trial and punishment all violators of the law, but at the same time care

has been taken that frivolous and technical offenses should not be used

to swell the fees of officers or to harass well-disposed citizens.

Especial attention is called to the facts connected with the prosecution

of violations of the election laws and of offenses against United States

officers. The number of convictions secured, very many of them upon

pleas of guilty, will, it is hoped, have a salutary restraining

influence. There have been several cases where postmasters appointed by

me have been subjected to violent interference in the discharge of their

official duties and to persecutions and personal violence of the most

extreme character. Some of these cases have been dealt with through the

Department of Justice, and in some cases the post-offices have been

abolished or suspended. I have directed the Postmaster-General to pursue

this course in all cases where other efforts failed to secure for any

postmaster not himself in fault an opportunity peacefully to exercise

the duties of his office. But such action will not supplant the efforts

of the Department of Justice to bring the particular offenders to

punishment.

The vacation by judicial decrees of fraudulent certificates of

naturalization, upon bills in equity filed by the Attorney-General

in the circuit court of the United States, is a new application of a

familiar equity jurisdiction. Nearly one hundred such decrees have been

taken during the year, the evidence disclosing that a very large number

of fraudulent certificates of naturalization have been issued. And in

this connection I beg to renew my recommendation that the laws be so

amended as to require a more full and searching inquiry into all the

facts necessary to naturalization before any certificates are granted.

It certainly is not too much to require that an application for American

citizenship shall be heard with as much care and recorded with as much

formality as are given to cases involving the pettiest property right.

At the last session I returned without my approval a bill entitled

"An act to prohibit bookmaking and pool selling in the District of

Columbia," and stated my objection to be that it did not prohibit but in

fact licensed what it purported to prohibit.[11] An effort will be made

under existing laws to suppress this evil, though it is not certain that

they will be found adequate.

The report of the Postmaster-General shows the most gratifying progress

in the important work committed to his direction, The business methods

have been greatly improved. A large economy in expenditures and an

increase of four and three-quarters millions in receipts have been

realized. The deficiency this year is $5,786,300, as against $6,350,183

last year, notwithstanding the great enlargement of the service.

Mail routes have been extended and quickened and greater accuracy and

dispatch in distribution and delivery have been attained. The report

will be found to be full of interest and suggestion, not only to

Congress, but to those thoughtful citizens who may be interested

to know what business methods can do for that department of public

administration which most nearly touches all our people.

The passage of the act to amend certain sections of the Revised Statutes

relating to lotteries, approved September 19, 1890, has been received

with great and deserved popular favor. The Post-Office Department and

the Department of Justice at once entered upon the enforcement of the

law with sympathetic vigor, and already the public mails have been

largely freed from the fraudulent and demoralizing appeals and

literature emanating from the lottery companies.

The construction and equipment of the new ships for the Navy have made

very satisfactory progress. Since March 4, 1889, nine new vessels have

been put in commission, and during this winter four more, including one

monitor, will be added. The construction of the other vessels authorized

is being pushed both in the Government and private yards with energy and

watched with the most scrupulous care.

The experiments conducted during the year to test the relative

resisting power of armor plates have been so valuable as to attract

great attention in Europe. The only part of the work upon the new ships

that is threatened by unusual delay is the armor plating, and every

effort is being made to reduce that to the minimum. It is a source of

congratulation that the anticipated influence of these modern vessels

upon the _esprit de corps_ of the officers and seamen has been fully

realized. Confidence and pride in the ship among the crew are equivalent

to a secondary battery. Your favorable consideration is invited to the

recommendations of the Secretary.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior exhibits with great fullness

and clearness the vast work of that Department and the satisfactory

results attained. The suggestions made by him are earnestly commended,

to the consideration of Congress, though they can not all be given

particular mention here.

The several acts of Congress looking to the reduction of the larger

Indian reservations, to the more rapid settlement of the Indians upon

individual allotments, and the restoration to the public domain of lands

in excess of their needs have been largely carried into effect so far as

the work was confided to the Executive. Agreements have been concluded

since March 4, 1889, involving the cession to the United States of about

14,726,000 acres of land. These contracts have, as required by law,

been submitted to Congress for ratification and for the appropriations

necessary to carry them into effect. Those with the Sisseton and

Wahpeton, Sac and Fox, Iowa, Pottawatomies and Absentee Shawnees, and

Coeur d'Alene tribes have not yet received the sanction of Congress.

Attention is also called to the fact that the appropriations made in the

case of the Sioux Indians have not covered all the stipulated payments.

This should be promptly corrected. If an agreement is confirmed, all of

its terms should be complied with without delay and full appropriations

should be made.

The policy outlined in my last annual message in relation to the

patenting of lands to settlers upon the public domain[12] has been

carried out in the administration of the Land Office. No general

suspicion or imputation of fraud has been allowed to delay the hearing

and adjudication of individual cases upon their merits. The purpose has

been to perfect the title of honest settlers with such promptness that

the value of the entry might not be swallowed up by the expense and

extortions to which delay subjected the claimant. The average monthly

issue of agricultural patents has been increased about 6,000.

The disability-pension act, which was approved on the 27th of June last,

has been put into operation as rapidly as was practicable. The increased

clerical force provided was selected and assigned to work, and a

considerable part of the force engaged in examinations in the field was

recalled and added to the working force of the office. The examination

and adjudication of claims have by reason of improved methods been more

rapid than ever before. There is no economy to the Government in delay,

while there is much hardship and injustice to the soldier. The

anticipated expenditure, while very large, will not, it is believed, be

in excess of the estimates made before the enactment of the law. This

liberal enlargement of the general law should suggest a more careful

scrutiny of bills for special relief, both as to the cases where relief

is granted and as to the amount allowed.

The increasing numbers and influence of the non-Mormon population of

Utah are observed with satisfaction. The recent letter of Wilford

Woodruff, president of the Mormon Church, in which he advised his people

"to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the laws of the

land," has attracted wide attention, and it is hoped that its influence

will be highly beneficial in restraining infractions of the laws of the

United States. But the fact should not be overlooked that the doctrine

or belief of the church that polygamous marriages are rightful and

supported by divine revelation remains unchanged. President Woodruff

does not renounce the doctrine, but refrains from teaching it, and

advises against the practice of it because the law is against it. Now,

it is quite true that the law should not attempt to deal with the faith

or belief of anyone; but it is quite another thing, and the only safe

thing, so to deal with the Territory of Utah as that those who believe

polygamy to be rightful shall not have the power to make it lawful.

The admission of the States of Wyoming and Idaho to the Union are events

full of interest and congratulation, not only to the people of those

States now happily endowed with a full participation in our privileges

and responsibilities, but to all our people. Another belt of States

stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The work of the Patent Office has won from all sources very high

commendation. The amount accomplished has been very largely increased,

and all the results have been such as to secure confidence and

consideration for the suggestions of the Commissioner.

The enumeration of the people of the United States under the provisions

of the act of March 1, 1889, has been completed, and the result will

be at once officially communicated to Congress. The completion of this

decennial enumeration devolves upon Congress the duty of making a new

apportionment of Representatives "among the several States according to

their respective numbers."

At the last session I had occasion to return with my objections several

bills making provisions for the erection of public buildings for the

reason that the expenditures contemplated were, in my opinion, greatly

in excess of any public need. No class of legislation is more liable

to abuse or to degenerate into an unseemly scramble about the public

Treasury than this. There should be exercised in this matter a wise

economy, based upon some responsible and impartial examination and

report as to each case, under a general law.

The report of the Secretary of Agriculture deserves especial attention

in view of the fact that the year has been marked in a very unusual

degree by agitation and organization among the farmers looking to an

increase in the profits of their business. It will be found that the

efforts of the Department have been intelligently and zealously devoted

to the promotion of the interests intrusted to its care.

A very substantial improvement in the market prices of the leading farm

products during the year is noticed. The price of wheat advanced from

81 cents in October, 1889, to $1.00-3/4 in October, 1890; corn from 31

cents to 50-1/4 cents; oats from 19-1/4 cents to 43 cents, and barley

from 63 cents to 78 cents. Meats showed a substantial but not so large

an increase. The export trade in live animals and fowls shows a very

large increase. The total value of such exports for the year ending June

30, 1890, was $33,000,000, and the increase over the preceding year was

over $15,000,000. Nearly 200,000 more cattle and over 45,000 more hogs

were exported than in the preceding year. The export trade in beef and

pork products and in dairy products was very largely increased, the

increase in the article of butter alone being from 15,504,978 pounds to

29,748,042 pounds, and the total increase in the value of meat and dairy

products exported being $34,000,000. This trade, so directly helpful

to the farmer, it is believed, will be yet further and very largely

increased when the system of inspection and sanitary supervision now

provided by law is brought fully into operation.

The efforts of the Secretary to establish the healthfulness of our meats

against the disparaging imputations that have been put upon them abroad

have resulted in substantial progress. Veterinary surgeons sent out by

the Department are now allowed to participate in the inspection of the

live cattle from this country landed at the English docks, and during

the several months they have been on duty no case of contagious

pleuro-pneumonia has been reported. This inspection abroad and the

domestic inspection of live animals and pork products provided for by

the act of August 30, 1890, will afford as perfect a guaranty for the

wholesomeness of our meats offered for foreign consumption as is

anywhere given to any food product, and its nonacceptance will quite

clearly reveal the real motive of any continued restriction of their

use, and that having been made clear the duty of the Executive will be

very plain.

The information given by the Secretary of the progress and prospects of

the beet-sugar industry is full of interest. It has already passed the

experimental stage and is a commercial success. The area over which the

sugar beet can be successfully cultivated is very large, and another

field crop of great value is offered to the choice of the farmer.

The Secretary of the Treasury concurs in the recommendation of the

Secretary of Agriculture that the official supervision provided by the

tariff law for sugar of domestic production shall be transferred to the

Department of Agriculture.

The law relating to the civil service has, so far as I can learn, been

executed by those having the power of appointment in the classified

service with fidelity and impartiality, and the service has been

increasingly satisfactory. The report of the Commission shows a large

amount of good work done during the year with very limited

appropriations.

I congratulate the Congress and the country upon the passage at the

first session of the Fifty-first Congress of an unusual number of laws

of very high importance. That the results of this legislation will be

the quickening and enlargement of our manufacturing industries, larger

and better markets for our breadstuffs and provisions both at home and

abroad, more constant employment and better wages for our working

people, and an increased supply of a safe currency for the transaction

of business, I do not doubt. Some of these measures were enacted at so

late a period that the beneficial effects upon commerce which were in

the contemplation of Congress have as yet but partially manifested

themselves.

The general trade and industrial conditions throughout the country

during the year have shown a marked improvement. For many years prior to

1888 the merchandise balances of foreign trade had been largely in our

favor, but during that year and the year following they turned against

us. It is very gratifying to know that the last fiscal year again shows

a balance in our favor of over $68,000,000. The bank clearings, which

furnish a good test of the volume of business transacted, for the first

ten months of the year 1890 show as compared with the same months of

1889 an increase for the whole country of about 8.4 per cent, while the

increase outside of the city of New York was over 13 per cent. During

the month of October the clearings of the whole country showed an

increase of 3.1 per cent over October, 1889, while outside of New York

the increase was 11.5 per cent. These figures show that the increase in

the volume of business was very general throughout the country. That

this larger business was being conducted upon a safe and profitable

basis is shown by the fact that there were 300 less failures reported

in October, 1890, than in the same month of the preceding year, with

liabilities diminished by about $5,000,000.

The value of our exports of domestic merchandise during the last year

was over $115,000,000 greater than the preceding year, and was only

exceeded once in our history. About $100,000,000 of this excess was in

agricultural products. The production of pig iron, always a good gauge

of general prosperity, is shown by a recent census bulletin to have been

153 per cent greater in 1890 than in 1880, and the production of steel

290 per cent greater. Mining in coal has had no limitation except that

resulting from deficient transportation. The general testimony is that

labor is everywhere fully employed, and the reports for the last year

show a smaller number of employees affected by strikes and lockouts than

in any year since 1884. The depression in the prices of agricultural

products had been greatly relieved and a buoyant and hopeful tone was

beginning to be felt by all our people.

These promising influences have been in some degree checked by the

surprising and very unfavorable monetary events which have recently

taken place in England. It is gratifying to know that these did not grow

in any degree out of the financial relations of London with our people

or out of any discredit attached to our securities held in that market.

The return of our bonds and stocks was caused by a money stringency

in England, not by any loss of value or credit in the securities

themselves. We could not, however, wholly escape the ill effects of a

foreign monetary agitation accompanied by such extraordinary incidents

as characterized this. It is not believed, however, that these evil

incidents, which have for the time unfavorably affected values in this

country, can long withstand the strong, safe, and wholesome influences

which are operating to give to our people profitable returns in all

branches of legitimate trade and industry. The apprehension that our

tariff may again and at once be subjected to important general changes

would undoubtedly add a depressing influence of the most serious

character.

The general tariff act has only partially gone into operation, some of

its important provisions being limited to take effect at dates yet in

the future. The general provisions of the law have been in force less

than sixty days. Its permanent effects upon trade and prices still

largely stand in conjecture. It is curious to note that the advance in

the prices of articles wholly unaffected by the tariff act was by many

hastily ascribed to that act. Notice was not taken of the fact that the

general tendency of the markets was upward, from influences wholly apart

from the recent tariff legislation. The enlargement of our currency by

the silver bill undoubtedly gave an upward tendency to trade and had

a marked effect on prices; but this natural and desired effect of the

silver legislation was by many erroneously attributed to the tariff act.

There is neither wisdom nor justice in the suggestion that the subject

of tariff revision shall be again opened before this law has had a

fair trial. It is quite true that every tariff schedule is subject to

objections. No bill was ever framed, I suppose, that in all of its rates

and classifications had the full approval even of a party caucus. Such

legislation is always and necessarily the product of compromise as to

details, and the present law is no exception. But in its general scope

and effect I think it will justify the support of those who believe that

American legislation should conserve and defend American trade and the

wages of American workmen.

The misinformation as to the terms of the act which has been so widely

disseminated at home and abroad will be corrected by experience, and the

evil auguries as to its results confounded by the market reports, the

savings banks, international trade balances, and the general prosperity

of our people. Already we begin to hear from abroad and from our

custom-houses that the prohibitory effect upon importations imputed to

the act is not justified. The imports at the port of New York for the

first three weeks of November were nearly 8 per cent greater than for

the same period in 1889 and 29 per cent greater than in the same period

of 1888. And so far from being an act to limit exports, I confidently

believe that under it we shall secure a larger and more profitable

participation in foreign trade than we have ever enjoyed, and that we

shall recover a proportionate participation in the ocean carrying trade

of the world.

The criticisms of the bill that have come to us from foreign sources

may well be rejected for repugnancy. If these critics really believe

that the adoption by us of a free-trade policy, or of tariff rates

having reference solely to revenue, would diminish the participation

of their own countries in the commerce of the world, their advocacy

and promotion, by speech and other forms of organized effort, of this

movement among our people is a rare exhibition of unselfishness in

trade. And, on the other hand, if they sincerely believe that the

adoption of a protective-tariff policy by this country inures to their

profit and our hurt, it is noticeably strange that they should lead the

outcry against the authors of a policy so helpful to their countrymen

and crown with their favor those who would snatch from them a

substantial share of a trade with other lands already inadequate to

their necessities.

There is no disposition among any of our people to promote prohibitory

or retaliatory legislation. Our policies are adopted not to the hurt of

others, but to secure for ourselves those advantages that fairly grow

out of our favored position as a nation. Our form of government, with

its incident of universal suffrage, makes it imperative that we shall

save our working people from the agitations and distresses which scant

work and wages that have no margin for comfort always beget. But after

all this is done it will be found that our markets are open to friendly

commercial exchanges of enormous value to the other great powers.

From the time of my induction into office the duty of using every

power and influence given by law to the executive department for the

development of larger markets for our products, especially our farm

products, has been kept constantly in mind, and no effort has been or

will be spared to promote that end. We are under no disadvantage in any

foreign market, except that we pay our workmen and workwomen better

wages than are paid elsewhere--better abstractly, better relatively to

the cost of the necessaries of life. I do not doubt that a very largely

increased foreign trade is accessible to us without bartering for it

either our home market for such products of the farm and shop as our own

people can supply or the wages of our working people.

In many of the products of wood and iron and in meats and bread-stuffs

we have advantages that only need better facilities of intercourse and

transportation to secure for them large foreign markets. The reciprocity

clause of the tariff act wisely and effectively opens the way to secure

a large reciprocal trade in exchange for the free admission to our ports

of certain products. The right of independent nations to make special

reciprocal trade concessions is well established, and does not

impair either the comity due to other powers or what is known as the

"favored-nation clause," so generally found in commercial treaties. What

is given to one for an adequate agreed consideration can not be claimed

by another freely. The state of the revenues was such that we could

dispense with any import duties upon coffee, tea, hides, and the lower

grades of sugar and molasses. That the large advantage resulting to the

countries producing and exporting these articles by placing them on the

free list entitled us to expect a fair return in the way of customs

concessions upon articles exported by us to them was so obvious that to

have gratuitously abandoned this opportunity to enlarge our trade would

have been an unpardonable error.

There were but two methods of maintaining control of this question open

to Congress--to place all of these articles upon the dutiable list,

subject to such treaty agreements as could be secured, or to place them

all presently upon the free list, but subject to the reimposition of

specified duties if the countries from which we received them should

refuse to give to us suitable reciprocal benefits. This latter method,

I think, possesses great advantages. It expresses in advance the consent

of Congress to reciprocity arrangements affecting these products, which

must otherwise have been delayed and unascertained until each treaty

was ratified by the Senate and the necessary legislation enacted by

Congress. Experience has shown that some treaties looking to reciprocal

trade have failed to secure a two-thirds vote in the Senate for

ratification, and others having passed that stage have for years awaited

the concurrence of the House and Senate in such modifications of our

revenue laws as were necessary to give effect to their provisions. We

now have the concurrence of both Houses in advance in a distinct and

definite offer of free entry to our ports of specific articles. The

Executive is not required to deal in conjecture as to what Congress will

accept. Indeed, this reciprocity provision is more than an offer. Our

part of the bargain is complete; delivery has been made; and when the

countries from which we receive sugar, coffee, tea, and hides have

placed on their free lists such of our products as shall be agreed

upon as an equivalent for our concession, a proclamation of that fact

completes the transaction; and in the meantime our own people have

free sugar, tea, coffee, and hides.

The indications thus far given are very hopeful of early and

favorable action by the countries from which we receive our large

imports of coffee and sugar, and it is confidently believed that if

steam communication with these countries can be promptly improved and

enlarged the next year will show a most gratifying increase in our

exports of breadstuffs provisions, as well as of some important lines

of manufactured goods.

In addition to the important bills that became laws before the

adjournment of the last session, some other bills of the highest

importance were well advanced toward a final vote and now stand upon the

calendars of the two Houses in favored positions. The present session

has a fixed limit, and if these measures are not now brought to a final

vote all the work that has been done upon them by this Congress is lost.

The proper consideration of these, of an apportionment bill, and of the

annual appropriation bills will require not only that no working day of

the session shall be lost, but that measures of minor and local interest

shall not be allowed to interrupt or retard the progress of those that

are of universal interest. In view of these conditions, I refrain from

bringing before you at this time some suggestions that would otherwise

be made, and most earnestly invoke your attention to the duty of

perfecting the important legislation now well advanced. To some of these

measures, which seem to me most important, I now briefly call your

attention.

I desire to repeat with added urgency the recommendations contained

in my last annual message in relation to the development of American

steamship lines.[13] The reciprocity clause of the tariff bill will be

largely limited and its benefits retarded and diminished if provision is

not contemporaneously made to encourage the establishment of first-class

steam communication between our ports and the ports of such nations as

may meet our overtures for enlarged commercial exchanges. The steamship,

carrying the mails statedly and frequently and offering to passengers a

comfortable, safe, and speedy transit, is the first condition of foreign

trade. It carries the order or the buyer, but not all that is ordered or

bought. It gives to the sailing vessels such cargoes as are not urgent

or perishable, and, indirectly at least, promotes that important adjunct

of commerce. There is now both in this country and in the nations of

Central and South America a state of expectation and confidence as to

increased trade that will give a double value to your prompt action upon

this question.

The present situation of our mail communication with Australia

illustrates the importance of early action by Congress. The Oceanic

Steamship Company maintains a line of steamers between San Francisco,

Sydney, and Auckland consisting of three vessels, two of which are of

United States registry and one of foreign registry. For the service done

by this line in carrying the mails we pay annually the sum of $46,000,

being, as estimated, the full sea and United States inland postage,

which is the limit fixed by law. The colonies of New South Wales and New

Zealand have been paying annually to these lines £37,000 for carrying

the mails from Sydney and Auckland to San Francisco. The contract under

which this payment has been made is now about to expire, and those

colonies have refused to renew the contract unless the United States

shall pay a more equitable proportion of the whole sum necessary to

maintain, the service.

I am advised by the Postmaster-General that the United States receives

for carrying the Australian mails, brought to San Francisco in these

steamers, by rail to Vancouver, an estimated annual income of $75,000.

while, as I have stated, we are paying out for the support of the

steamship line that brings this mail to us only $46,000, leaving an

annual surplus resulting from this service of $29,000. The trade of the

United States with Australia, which is in a considerable part carried by

these steamers, and the whole of which is practically dependent upon the

mail communication which they maintain, is largely in our favor. Our

total exports of merchandise to Australasian ports during the fiscal

year ending June 30, 1890, were $11,266,484, while the total imports of

merchandise from these ports were only $4,277,676. If we are not willing

to see this important steamship line withdrawn, or continued with

Vancouver substituted for San Francisco as the American terminal,

Congress should put it in the power of the Postmaster-General to make a

liberal increase in the amount now paid for the transportation of this

important mail.

The South Atlantic and Gulf ports occupy a very favored position toward

the new and important commerce which the reciprocity clause of the

tariff act and the postal shipping bill are designed to promote.

Steamship lines from these ports to some northern port of South America

will almost certainly effect a connection between the railroad systems

of the continents long before any continuous line of railroads can be

put into operation. The very large appropriation made at the last

session for the harbor of Galveston was justified, as it seemed to me,

by these considerations. The great Northwest will feel the advantage of

trunk lines to the South as well as to the East and of the new markets

opened for their surplus food products and for many of their

manufactured products.

I had occasion in May last to transmit to Congress a report adopted

by the International American Conference upon the subject of the

incorporation of an international American bank, with a view to

facilitating money exchanges between the States represented in that

conference.[14] Such an institution would greatly promote the trade we

are seeking to develop. I renew the recommendation that a careful and

well-guarded charter be granted. I do not think the powers granted

should include those ordinarily exercised by trust, guaranty, and

safe-deposit companies, or that more branches in the United States

should be authorized than are strictly necessary to accomplish the

object primarily in view, namely, convenient foreign exchanges. It is

quite important that prompt action should be taken in this matter,

in order that any appropriations for better communication with these

countries and any agreements that may be made for reciprocal trade

may not be hindered by the inconvenience of making exchanges through

European money centers or burdened by the tribute which is an incident

of that method of business.

The bill for the relief of the Supreme Court has after many years of

discussion reached a position where final action is easily attainable,

and it is hoped that any differences of opinion may be so harmonized as

to save the essential features of this very important measure. In this

connection I earnestly renew my recommendation that the salaries of the

judges of the United States district courts be so readjusted that none

of them shall receive less than $5,000 per annum.

The subject of the unadjusted Spanish and Mexican land grants and the

urgent necessity for providing some commission or tribunal for the trial

of questions of title growing out of them were twice brought by me to

the attention of Congress at the last session. Bills have been reported

from the proper committees in both Houses upon the subject, and I very

earnestly hope that this Congress will put an end to the delay which

has attended the settlement of the disputes as to the title between the

settlers and the claimants under these grants. These disputes retard the

prosperity and disturb the peace of large and important communities.

The governor of New Mexico in his last report to the Secretary of the

Interior suggests some modifications of the provisions of the pending

bills relating to the small holdings of farm lands. I commend to your

attention the suggestions of the Secretary of the Interior upon this

subject.

The enactment of a national bankrupt law I still regard as very

desirable. The Constitution having given to Congress jurisdiction of

this subject, it should be exercised and uniform rules provided for the

administration of the affairs of insolvent debtors. The inconveniences

resulting from the occasional and temporary exercise of this power by

Congress and from the conflicting State codes of insolvency which come

into force intermediately should be removed by the enactment of a

simple, inexpensive, and permanent national bankrupt law.

I also renew my recommendation in favor of legislation affording just

copyright protection to foreign authors on a footing of reciprocal

advantage for our authors abroad.

It may still be possible for this Congress to inaugurate by suitable

legislation a movement looking to uniformity and increased safety in the

use of couplers and brakes upon freight trains engaged in interstate

commerce. The chief difficulty in the way is to secure agreement

as to the best appliances, simplicity, effectiveness, and cost being

considered. This difficulty will only yield to legislation, which should

be based upon full inquiry and impartial tests. The purpose should be to

secure the cooperation of all well-disposed managers and owners; but the

fearful fact that every year's delay involves the sacrifice of 2,000

lives and the maiming of 20,000 young men should plead both with

Congress and the managers against any needless delay.

The subject of the conservation and equal distribution of the water

supply of the arid regions has had much attention from Congress, but has

not as yet been put upon a permanent and satisfactory basis. The urgency

of the subject does not grow out of any large present demand for the use

of these lands for agriculture, but out of the danger that the water

supply and the sites for the necessary catch basins may fall into the

hands of individuals or private corporations and be used to render

subservient the large areas dependent upon such supply. The owner of

the water is the owner of the lands, however the titles may run. All

unappropriated natural water sources and all necessary reservoir sites

should be held by the Government for the equal use at fair rates of the

homestead settlers who will eventually take up these lands. The United

States should not, in my opinion, undertake the construction of dams or

canals, but should limit its work to such surveys and observations as

will determine the water supply, both surface and subterranean, the

areas capable of irrigation, and the location and storage capacity

of reservoirs. This done, the use of the water and of the reservoir

sites might be granted to the respective States or Territories or to

individuals or associations upon the condition that the necessary

works should be constructed and the water furnished at fair rates

without discrimination, the rates to be subject to supervision by the

legislatures or by boards of water commissioners duly constituted. The

essential thing to be secured is the common and equal use at fair rates

of the accumulated water supply. It were almost better that these lands

should remain arid than that those who occupy them should become the

slaves of unrestrained monopolies controlling the one essential element

of land values and crop results.

The use of the telegraph by the Post-Office Department as a means for

the rapid transmission of written communications is, I believe, upon

proper terms, quite desirable. The Government does not own or operate

the railroads, and it should not, I think, own or operate the telegraph

lines. It does, however, seem to be quite practicable for the Government

to contract with the telegraph companies, as it does with railroad

companies, to carry at specified rates such communications as the

senders may designate for this method of transmission. I recommend that

such legislation be enacted as will enable the Post-Office Department

fairly to test by experiment the advantages of such a use of the

telegraph.

If any intelligent, and loyal company of American citizens were required

to catalogue the essential human conditions of national life, I do not

doubt that with absolute unanimity they would begin with "free and

honest elections." And it is gratifying to know that generally there is

a growing and nonpartisan demand for better election laws; but against

this sign of hope and progress must be set the depressing and undeniable

fact that election laws and methods are sometimes cunningly contrived to

secure minority control, while violence completes the shortcomings of

fraud.

In my last annual message I suggested that the development of the

existing law providing a Federal supervision of Congressional elections

offered an effective method of reforming these abuses.[15] The need

of such a law has manifested itself in many parts of the country, and

its wholesome restraints and penalties will be useful in all. The

constitutionality of such legislation has been affirmed by the Supreme

Court. Its probable effectiveness is evidenced by the character of the

opposition that is made to it. It has been denounced as if it were a

new exercise of Federal power and an invasion of the rights of States.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Congress has already fixed the

time for the election of members of Congress. It has declared that votes

for members of Congress must be by written or printed ballot; it has

provided for the appointment by the circuit courts in certain cases,

and upon the petition of a certain number of citizens, of election

supervisors, and made it their duty to supervise the registration of

voters conducted by the State officers; to challenge persons offering to

register; to personally inspect and scrutinize the registry lists, and

to affix their names to the lists for the purpose of identification and

the prevention of frauds; to attend at elections and remain with the

boxes till they are all cast and counted; to attach to the registry

lists and election returns any statement touching the accuracy and

fairness of the registry and election, and to take and transmit to

the Clerk of the House of Representatives any evidence of fraudulent

practices which may be presented to them. The same law provides for the

appointment of deputy United States marshals to attend at the polls,

support the supervisors in the discharge of their duties, and to arrest

persons violating the election laws. The provisions of this familiar

title of the Revised Statutes have been put into exercise by both the

great political parties, and in the North as well as in the South,

by the filing with the court of the petitions required by the law.

It is not, therefore, a question whether we shall have a Federal

election law, for we now have one and have had for nearly twenty years,

but whether we shall have an effective law. The present law stops just

short of effectiveness, for it surrenders to the local authorities all

control over the certification which establishes the _prima facie_ right

to a seat in the House of Representatives. This defect should be cured.

Equality of representation and the parity of the electors must be

maintained or everything that is valuable in our system of government is

lost. The qualifications of an elector must be sought in the law, not

in the opinions, prejudices, or fears of any class, however powerful.

The path of the elector to the ballot box must be free from the ambush

of fear and the enticements of fraud; the count so true and open that

none shall gainsay it. Such a law should be absolutely nonpartisan and

impartial. It should give the advantage to honesty and the control to

majorities. Surely there is nothing sectional about this creed, and if

it shall happen that the penalties of laws intended to enforce these

rights fall here and not there it is not because the law is sectional,

but because, happily, crime is local and not universal. Nor should it be

forgotten that every law, whether relating to elections or to any other

subject, whether enacted by the State or by the nation, has force behind

it; the courts, the marshal or constable, the _posse comitatus_, the

prison, are all and always behind the law.

One can not be justly charged with unfriendliness to any section or

class who seeks only to restrain violations of law and of personal

right. No community will find lawlessness profitable. No community can

afford to have it known that the officers who are charged with the

preservation of the public peace and the restraint of the criminal

classes are themselves the product of fraud or violence. The magistrate

is then without respect and the law without sanction. The floods of

lawlessness can not be leveed and made to run in one channel. The

killing of a United States marshal carrying a writ of arrest for an

election offense is full of prompting and suggestion to men who are

pursued by a city marshal for a crime against life or property.

But it is said that this legislation will revive race animosities, and

some have even suggested that when the peaceful methods of fraud are

made impossible they may be supplanted by intimidation and violence.

If the proposed law gives to any qualified elector by a hair's weight

more than his equal influence or detracts by so much from any other

qualified elector, it is fatally impeached. But if the law is equal and

the animosities it is to evoke grow out of the fact that some electors

have been accustomed to exercise the franchise for others as well

as for themselves, then these animosities ought not to be confessed

without shame, and can not be given any weight in the discussion without

dishonor. No choice is left to me but to enforce with vigor all laws

intended to secure to the citizen his constitutional rights and to

recommend that the inadequacies of such laws be promptly remedied. If to

promote with zeal and ready interest every project for the development

of its material interests, its rivers, harbors, mines, and factories,

and the intelligence, peace, and security under the law of its

communities and its homes is not accepted as sufficient evidence of

friendliness to any State or section, I can not add connivance at

election practices that not only disturb local results, but rob the

electors of other States and sections of their most priceless political

rights.

The preparation of the general appropriation bills should be conducted

with the greatest care and the closest scrutiny of expenditures.

Appropriations should be adequate to the needs of the public service,

but they should be absolutely free from prodigality.

I venture again to remind you that the brief time remaining for the

consideration of the important legislation now awaiting your attention

offers no margin for waste. If the present duty is discharged with

diligence, fidelity, and courage, the work of the Fifty-first Congress

may be confidently submitted to the considerate judgment of the people.

BENJ. HARRISON.

[Footnote 11: See pp. 93-94.]

[Footnote 12: See p. 49].

[Footnote 13: See pp. 56-58.]

[Footnote 14: See pp. 70-71.]

[Footnote 15: See p. 56.]

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 4, 1890_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 3d instant from the Secretary

of the Interior, accompanied by an agreement concluded by the Cherokee

Commission with the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes of Indians for the

cession of certain lands and for other purposes.

The agreement is submitted for the consideration of Congress, as

required by law.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 5, 1890_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, in response to the resolution of the House of

Representatives of the 24th of September last, a report of the Secretary

of State and accompanying correspondence, in relation to the killing of

General J. Martine Barrundia by Guatemalan officers on board the Pacific

mail steamer _Acapulco_ in the port of San Jose, Guatemala, on the 28th

of August last.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 17, 1890_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of State, in

relation to a report upon the subject of cholera made by Dr. E.O.

Shakespeare pursuant to the act of Congress approved March 3, 1885.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 17, 1890_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied

by a letter from the secretary of the American Society of Mechanical

Engineers, who transmits a memorial, addressed to the Government of the

United States, in relation to the late Captain John Ericsson.

The matter is presented for such action as the Congress may deem proper.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 17, 1890_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of War, accompanied by

a copy of a preliminary report of the board on gun factories and steel

forgings for high-power guns, appointed by me under the provisions of an

act entitled "An act making appropriations for fortifications," etc.,

approved August 18, 1890.

The report and accompanying papers are submitted for the information and

early attention of Congress.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 22, 1890_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter of the 18th instant from the Secretary

of the Interior, in relation to the disposition of timber on certain

Chippewa reservations in Wisconsin, together with copies of papers

relating thereto. The matter is presented for the action of Congress.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 23, 1890_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The Territorial legislature of Oklahoma, now in session, will adjourn by

limitation of law on to-morrow, the 24th instant. The act organizing the

Territory provided (section II) that certain chapters of the revised

statutes of Nebraska should be in force until after the adjournment of

the first session of the Territorial legislature.

The question of the location of the Territorial capital has so occupied

the time of the legislature and so distracted and divided its members

that no criminal code has been provided. It is urgently necessary that

Congress should at once, by joint resolution or otherwise, continue

the laws of Nebraska in force, and save pending criminal arrests and

prosecutions at least. The reconvening of the legislature does not

under the existing circumstances promise any relief.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 23, 1890_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter of the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied

by the report of the commission appointed by me by virtue of a provision

in the naval appropriation bill approved June 30, 1890, for the purpose

of selecting a suitable site "for a dry dock at some point on the shores

of the Pacific Ocean, or the waters connected therewith, north of the

parallel of latitude marking the northern boundary of California,

including the waters of Puget Sound and also Lakes Union and Washington,

in the State of Washington."

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 5, 1891_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In further response to the resolution of the House of Representatives

requesting me, if in my judgment not incompatible with the public

interest, to furnish to the House the correspondence since March 4,

1889, between the Government of the United States and the Government

of Great Britain touching the subjects in dispute in the Bering Sea,

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, which is

accompanied by the correspondence which has taken place since my

message of July 23, 1890.[16]

BENJ. HARRISON.

[Footnote 16: See p. 80.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 10, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a memorial of the legislative assembly of the

Territory of Oklahoma, asking an appropriation for the relief of the

destitute people of that Territory.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 16, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the report of the World's Columbian Commission, with

the accompanying papers.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 19, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 17th instant from the

Secretary of the Interior, submitting the agreement entered into between

the Crow Indians and the commission appointed to negotiate with them

for the sale to the United States of the western portion of their

reservation in Montana under the provisions of the act of September 25,

1890.

It is thought important by the Department that this matter receive the

consideration of Congress during the present session.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 26, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter of the Secretary of War, accompanied by

the final report of the board on gun factories and steel forgings for

high-power guns, and appendixes thereto.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 26, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter of the Secretary of the Interior,

accompanied by a letter from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who

transmits a draft of a bill for compensating the Indians of the Crow

Creek Reservation for the loss sustained by them by reason of their

receiving less land per capita in their diminished reservations than is

to be received by Indians occupying other diminished reservations.

The matter is presented for the early consideration of the Congress.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 31, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The sudden death of the Hon. William Windom, Secretary of the Treasury,

in New York, on the evening of the 29th instant, has directed my

attention to the present state of the law as to the filling of a vacancy

occasioned by the death of the head of a Department.

I transmit herewith an opinion of the Attorney-General, from which

it will be seen that under the statutes in force no officer in the

Treasury Department or other person designated by me can exercise the

duties of Secretary of the Treasury for a longer period than ten days.

This limitation is, I am sure, unwise, and necessarily involves in

such a case as that now presented undue haste and even indelicacy.

The President should not be required to take up the question of the

selection of a successor before the last offices of affection and

respect have been paid to the dead. If the proprieties of an occasion as

sad as that which now overshadows us are observed, possibly one-half of

the brief time allowed is gone before, with due regard to the decencies

of life, the President and those with whom he should advise can take up

the consideration of the grave duty of selecting a head for one of the

greatest Departments of the Government.

Hasty action by the Senate is also necessarily involved, and

geographical limitations are practically imposed by the necessity of

selecting some one who can reach the capital and take the necessary oath

of office before the expiration of the ten days.

It may be a very proper restriction of the power of the President in

this connection that he shall not designate for any great length of time

a person to discharge these important duties who has not been confirmed

by the Senate, but there would seem to be no reason why one of the

assistant secretaries of the Department wherein the vacancy exists might

not discharge the duties of Secretary until a successor is selected,

confirmed, and qualified. The inconvenience of this limitation was made

apparent at the time of the death of Secretary Folger. President Arthur

in that case allowed one of the assistant secretaries, who had been

designated to act in the absence of the Secretary, to continue in the

discharge of such duties for ten days, then designated the same person

to discharge the duties for a further term of ten days, and then made a

temporary appointment as Secretary, in order to secure the consideration

that he needed in filling this important place.

I recommend such a modification of the existing law as will permit the

first or sole assistant, or, in the case of the Treasury Department,

where the assistants are not graded, that one who may be designated by

the President, to discharge the duties of the head of the Department

until a successor is appointed and qualified.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 10, 1891_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith the correspondence called for by the resolution of

the Senate of the 6th instant, relating to the conduct of Commander

Reiter in connection with the arrest and killing of General Barrundia.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 13, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The Admiral of the Navy, David Dixon Porter, died at his residence

in the city of Washington this morning at 8.15 o'clock, in the

seventy-eighth year of his age. He entered the naval service as a

midshipman February 2, 1829, and had been since continuously in service,

having been made Admiral August 15, 1870. He was the son of Commodore

David Porter, one of the greatest of our naval commanders. His service

during the Civil War was conspicuously brilliant and successful, and

his death ends a very high and honorable career. His countrymen will

sincerely mourn his loss while they cherish with grateful pride the

memory of his deeds. To officers of the Navy his life will continue

to yield inspiration and encouragement.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., February 14, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the sixth annual report of the Commissioner of

Labor. This report relates to the cost of producing iron and steel and

the materials of which iron is made in the United States and in Europe,

and the earnings, the efficiency, and the cost of living of the men

employed in such production.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 14, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The death of William Tecumseh Sherman, which took place to-day at his

residence in the city of New York, at 1 o'clock and 50 minutes p.m., is

an event that will bring sorrow to the heart of every patriotic citizen.

No living American was so loved and venerated as he. To look upon his

face, to hear his name, was to have one's love of country intensified.

He served his country, not for fame, not out of a sense of professional

duty, but for love of the flag and of the beneficent civil institutions

of which it was the emblem. He was an ideal soldier, and shared to the

fullest the _esprit de corps_ of the Army; but he cherished the civil

institutions organized under the Constitution, and was a soldier only

that these might be perpetuated in undiminished usefulness and honor.

He was in nothing an imitator.

A profound student of military science and precedent, he drew from them

principles and suggestions, and so adapted them to novel conditions that

his campaigns will continue to be the profitable study of the military

profession throughout the world. His genial nature made him comrade to

every soldier of the great Union Army. No presence was so welcome and

inspiring at the camp fire or commandery as his. His career was

complete; his honors were full. He had received from the Government the

highest rank known to our military establishment and from the people

unstinted gratitude and love. No word of mine can add to his fame. His

death has followed in startling quickness that of the Admiral of the

Navy; and it is a sad and notable incident that when the Department

under which he served shall have put on the usual emblems of mourning

four of the eight Executive Departments will be simultaneously draped

in black, and one other has but today removed the crape from its walls.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State and accompanying

documents, in relation to the execution of letters rogatory in foreign

countries.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1891_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 9th

instant, a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied by the papers

relating to the commercial arrangement recently entered into with

Brazil.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 3, 1891_.

_To the Senate_:

In accordance with the resolution of the Senate of this date, I return

herewith Senate bill 1453, to provide for the purchase of a site and the

erection of a public building thereon at Saginaw, in the State of

Michigan.

BENJ. HARRISON.

VETO MESSAGES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 24, 1890_.

_To the Senate_:

I return to the Senate, in which it originated, with my objections, the

bill (No. 544) "to provide for the purchase of a site and the erection

of a public building thereon at Bar Harbor, in the State of Maine." The

statement of a few facts will show, I think, that the public needs do

not justify the contemplated expenditure of $75,000 for the erection

of a public building at Bar Harbor. Only one public office, the

post-office, is to be accommodated. It appears from a report of the

Postmaster-General that the rent paid by the United States for a room

containing 875 square feet of floor space was in 1888 $300 and the

expenditure for fuel and lights $60. One clerk was employed in the

office and no carriers. The gross postal receipts for that year were

$7,000. Bar Harbor is almost wholly a summer resort. The population of

the town of Eden, of which Bar Harbor forms a part, as taken by the

census enumerators, was less than 2,000. During one quarter of the year

this population is largely increased by summer residents and visitors,

but for the other three quarters is not much above the census

enumeration. The postal receipts for 1890 by quarters show that for more

than half the year the gross receipts of the post-office are about $8

per day. The salary of a janitor for the new building would be more than

twice the present cost to the Government of rent, fuel, and lights.

I can not believe that upon reconsideration the Congress will approve

the contemplated expenditure.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 26, 1891_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without my approval the bill (H.R. 12365) entitled

"An act to authorize Oklahoma City, in Oklahoma Territory, to issue

bonds to provide a right of way for the Choctaw Coal and Railway Company

through said city." This bill authorizes the corporation of Oklahoma

City to issue corporate bonds to the amount of $40,000 for the purpose

of providing the right of way for a railroad company through the city,

if the proposition shall receive the assent of a majority of the legal

voters at an election to be called for that purpose.

It is attempted to distinguish this case from the ordinary case of

a municipal grant to a railway company by the fact that this railway

company had located its line through the lands afterwards settled upon

under the town-site law before such settlement, and that the route thus

located cuts the plat of the city diagonally and in a way to be very

injurious to property interests.

Upon an examination of the facts it appears to me to be clear that no

legal location was made by the railway company prior to the acquisition

of the lands by the occupying settlers. Some preliminary surveys had

been made, but no map of location had been filed with the Secretary of

the Interior. If the rights of this company at this point of its road

as to right of way are derived from the general statute of the United

States upon that subject (U. S. Revised Statutes, Supplement, p. 87),

then section 4 distinctly saves the right of any settler who had located

prior to the filing of a profile of the road and the approval by the

Secretary of the Interior thereof. And if, on the other hand, the rights

of the company at the point indicated are derived from the act of

Congress of February 18, 1888, "to authorize the Choctaw Coal and

Railway Company to construct and operate a railway through the Indian

Territory, and for other purposes," section 6 of that act also plainly

protects the right of any occupying claimant. The latter statute, it

seems to me, was intended to grant a right of way only through Indian

lands, and if these lands were not such the general statute to which

I have referred would apply; but in either event the conclusion is the

same.

It appears from the report of the committee that its favorable action,

and, I must assume, the favorable action of Congress, proceeded upon the

theory that there was a real controversy, doubtful as to its issue, as

to the right of the railroad company to hold the line of its survey

through the city.

Stripped, then, of this claim the proposition is nakedly one to

authorize Oklahoma City to donate $40,000 to the Choctaw Coal and

Railway Company. The general statute of the United States prohibits

such grants, and this must stand until repealed as a continuing

expression of legislative opinion. If a departure from this rule is to

be allowed at all, certainly it should only be where the circumstances

are exceptional. Such circumstances, in my opinion, do not exist in

this case. Already I have received from other cities in the Territory

protests against special legislation of this sort, accompanied by the

suggestion that if this policy is admitted other cities shall also be

allowed to encourage the building of roads by donation.

Oklahoma City, according to the report of the Census Office, has a

population of about 4,100, and this donation would be equivalent to

nearly $10 per capita. Very little real estate, whether town-site or

country property, in this Territory is yet subject to assessment for

taxation. The people have not yet had time to accumulate, and Congress

has received appeals for aid to relieve a prevailing distress which the

Territorial authorities have found themselves unable to deal with. It

does not seem to me, in view of all these facts, that the wholesome rule

prescribed by the general statute should be departed from.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1891_.

_To the Senate_:

I return to the Senate without my approval the bill (S. 4620) "to

establish the Record and Pension Office of the War Department, and for

other purposes."

This bill proposes to change the designation of one of the divisions of

the War Department. It is now the "Record and Pension Division," and it

is proposed that it shall hereafter be the "Record and Pension Office"

of the War Department. The scope of the work assigned to this division

or office is not changed, but the organization now existing under

a classification made by the Secretary of War is by the bill made

permanent and put beyond the control of the Secretary. The change of

designation seems to have been intended to add dignity to the position,

and the effect of the bill is probably to require that the chief of this

office shall hereafter be appointed only by and with the advice and

consent of the Senate, though it is not clear that any provision is made

for a chief after the particular person designated in the bill has been

separated from the place or in case he is not appointed.

The real object of the bill is disclosed in the following clause:

The President is hereby authorized to nominate and, by and with the

advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint the officer now in charge

of said Record and Pension Division to be a colonel in the Army and

chief of said office.

It is fairly to be implied from the bill that in the opinion of Congress

the public interests would be promoted by making the contemplated change

in the grade of this office and by giving the rank and pay of a colonel

in the Army to the chief. A new and rather anomalous office is therefore

created--that of "colonel in the Army and chief of the Record and

Pension Office of the War Department"--but upon the condition that the

President shall nominate a particular person to fill it. I do not think

it is competent for Congress to designate the person who shall fill an

office created by law, and practically nothing remains of the bill under

consideration if this person is not to be appointed. The office is an

important one, connected with the active civil administration of the War

Department. I can not agree that the selection of the officer shall be

taken out of the discretion of the Executive, where the responsibility

for good administration necessarily rests. It is probably true that the

officer intended to be benefited is peculiarly deserving and has had

remarkable success in the discharge of the duties of the office; but

these are considerations for the appointing power, and might safely have

been left there.

If this particular appointment was backed by reasons so obvious as

to secure the support of both Houses of Congress, it should have been

assumed that these reasons could have been made obvious to the Executive

by the ordinary methods. In connection with the Army and Navy retired

lists, legislation akin to this has become quite frequent, too frequent

in my opinion; but these laws have been regarded as grants of pensions

rather than of offices.

If it is to be allowed that active places connected with the Executive

Departments can be created upon condition that particular persons are or

are not to be designated to fill them, the power of appointment might be

wholly diverted from the Executive to the Congress.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1891_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith without my approval the bill (S. 3270) "for the relief

of the administratrix of the estate of George W. Lawrence."

If I rightly construe this bill, it authorizes the Court of Claims to

give judgment in favor of the contractor with the United States for

the construction of the vessels named (_Agawam_ and _Pontoosuc_) for

the difference between the contract price and the actual cost to the

contractor of building the vessels, subject only to the condition that

nothing shall be allowed for any advance in the price of labor or

material unless such advance occurred during the prolonged term for

completing the work rendered necessary by delay resulting from the

action of the Government. The bill is somewhat obscure, but I have,

I think, correctly stated the legal effect of it.

Undoubtedly in contracts made for army and navy supplies and

construction during the early days of the war there was not infrequently

loss to the contractor by reason of the advance in the cost of labor

resulting from the withdrawal of so large a body of men for service in

the field and the indirect result of this upon the cost of material; but

I can not believe that it is the purpose of Congress to reopen such

contracts at this late day and to pay to the contractors the cost of the

work or material which they stipulated to do or deliver at fixed prices.

In the matter of another vessel constructed by this same claimant and

in the case of one other similar claim I approved bills at the last

session, but they carefully limited any finding by the Court of Claims

to such losses as necessarily resulted from the interference by the

Government with the progress of the work, thus creating delays and

enhanced cost.

In those cases the Government only undertook to make good losses

resulting directly and unavoidably from its own acts. If the principle

which seems to me to be embodied in the bill under consideration is

adopted, I do not see how the Congress can refuse in all cases of all

sorts of contracts to make good the losses resulting from appreciation

in the cost of labor and material. The expenditure that such a policy

would entail is incalculable, and the policy itself is, in my judgment,

indefensible. The bill at the last session for the relief of this

claimant in the case of another vessel constructed by him was, as I have

said, carefully put upon the lines I have indicated, and if this claim

could have been maintained upon, those lines I assume that the bill

would have been similar in its provisions.

BENJ. HARRISON.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas satisfactory proof has been presented to me that provision has

been made for adequate grounds and buildings for the uses of the World's

Columbian Exposition, and that a sum not less than $10,000,000, to be

used and expended for the purposes of said exposition, has been provided

in accordance with the conditions and requirements of section 10 of

an act entitled "An act to provide for celebrating the four hundredth

anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus by

holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures,

and the products of the soil, mine, and sea, in the city of Chicago,

in the State of Illinois," approved April 25, 1890:

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by

virtue of the authority vested in me by said act, do hereby declare and

proclaim that such international exhibition will be opened on the 1st

day of May, in the year 1893, in the city of Chicago, in the State of

Illinois, and will not be closed before the last Thursday in October of

the same year. And in the name of the Government and of the people of

the United States I do hereby invite all the nations of the earth to

take part in the commemoration of an event that is preeminent in human

history and of lasting interest to mankind by appointing representatives

thereto and sending such exhibits to the World's Columbian Exposition as

will most fitly and fully illustrate their resources, their industries,

and their progress in civilization.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of

the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 24th day of December, 1890, and of

the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth.

BENJ. HARRISON.

By the President:

JAMES G. BLAINE,

_Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, pursuant to section 3 of the act of Congress approved October

1, 1890, entitled "An act to reduce the revenue and equalize duties on

imports, and for other purposes," the Secretary of State of the United

States of America communicated to the Government of the United States of

Brazil the action of the Congress of the United States of America, with

a view to secure reciprocal trade, in declaring the articles enumerated

in said section 3, to wit, sugars, molasses, coffee, and hides, to be

exempt from duty upon their importation into the United States of

America; and

Whereas the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Brazil

at Washington has communicated to the Secretary of State the fact that,

in due reciprocity for and in consideration of the admission into the

United States of America free of all duty of the articles enumerated in

section 3 of said act, the Government of Brazil has by legal enactment

authorized the admission, from and after April 1, 1891, into all the

established ports of entry of Brazil, free of all duty, whether

national, state, or municipal, of the articles or merchandise named in

the following schedule, provided that the same be the product and

manufacture of the United States of America:

1.--SCHEDULE OF ARTICLES TO BE ADMITTED FREE INTO BRAZIL.

Wheat.

Wheat flour.

Corn or maize and the manufactures thereof, including corn meal and

starch.

Rye, rye flour, buckwheat, buckwheat flour, and barley.

Potatoes, beans, and pease.

Hay and oats.

Pork, salted, including pickled pork and bacon, except hams.

Fish, salted, dried, or pickled.

Cotton-seed oil.

Coal, anthracite and bituminous.

Rosin, tar, pitch, and turpentine.

Agricultural tools, implements, and machinery.

Mining and mechanical tools, implements, and machinery, including

stationary and portable engines and all machinery for manufacturing

and industrial purposes, except sewing machines.

Instruments and books for the arts and sciences.

Railway construction material and equipment.

And that the Government of Brazil has by legal enactment further

authorized the admission into all the established ports of entry of

Brazil, with a reduction of 25 per cent of the duty designated on the

respective article in the tariff now in force or which may hereafter

be adopted in the United States of Brazil, whether national, state,

or municipal, of the articles or merchandise named in the following

schedule, provided that the same be the product or manufacture of the

United States of America:

2.--SCHEDULE OF ARTICLES TO BE ADMITTED INTO BRAZIL, WITH A REDUCTION

OF DUTY OF 25 PER CENT.

Lard and substitutes therefor.

Bacon hams.

Butter and cheese.

Canned and preserved meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables.

Manufactures of cotton, including cotton clothing.

Manufactures of iron and steel, single or mixed, not included in the

foregoing free schedule.

Leather and the manufactures thereof, except boots and shoes.

Lumber, timber, and the manufactures of wood, including cooperage,

furniture of all kinds, wagons, carts, and carriages.

Manufactures of rubber.

And that the Government of Brazil has further provided that the laws

and regulations adopted to protect its revenue and prevent fraud in the

declarations and proof that the articles named in the foregoing schedules

are the product or manufacture of the United States of America shall

place no undue restrictions on the importer nor impose any additional

charges or fees therefor on the articles imported;

And whereas the Secretary of State has, by my direction, given assurance

to the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Brazil at

Washington that this action of the Government of Brazil in granting

exemption of duties to the products and manufactures of the United

States of America is accepted as a due reciprocity for the action of

Congress as set forth in section 3 of said act:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the

United States of America, have caused the above-stated modifications of

the tariff law of Brazil to be made public for the information of the

citizens of the United States of America.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of

the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 5th day of February, 1891, and of

the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and

fifteenth.

BENJ. HARRISON.

By the President:

JAMES G. BLAINE,

_Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it is provided by section 24 of an act approved March 3, 1891,

entitled "An act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other

purposes"--

That the President of the United States may from time to time set apart

and reserve in any State or Territory having public land bearing

forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with

timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public

reservations; and the President shall by public proclamation declare

the establishment of such reservations and limits thereof.

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by

virtue of the power in me vested, do hereby make known and proclaim that

there has been and is hereby reserved from entry or settlement and set

apart for a public forest reservation all that tract of land situate in

the State of Wyoming contained within the following-described

boundaries:

Beginning at a point on the parallel of 44° 50' where said parallel is

intersected by the meridian of 110° west longitude; thence due east

along said parallel to the meridian of 109° 30' west longitude; thence

due south along said meridian to the forty-fourth parallel of north

latitude; thence due west along said parallel to its point of

intersection with the west boundary of the State of Wyoming; thence due

north along said boundary line to its intersection with the south

boundary of the Yellowstone National Park.

Warning is hereby expressly given to all persons not to enter or make

settlement upon the tract of land reserved by this proclamation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of

the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A.D.1891, and of

the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth.

BENJ. HARRISON.

By the President:

JAMES G. BLAINE,

_Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

The following provisions of the laws of the United States are hereby

published for the information of all concerned:

Section 1956, Revised Statutes, chapter 3, Title XXIII, enacts that--

No person shall kill any otter, mink, marten, sable, or fur seal, or

other fur-bearing animal within the limits of Alaska Territory or in

the waters thereof; and every person guilty thereof shall for each

offense be fined not less than $200 nor more than $1,000, or imprisoned

not more than six months, or both; and all vessels, their tackle,

apparel, furniture, and cargo, found engaged in violation of this

section shall be forfeited; but the Secretary of the Treasury shall

have power to authorize the killing of any such mink, marten, sable, or

other fur-bearing animal, except fur seals, under such regulations as

he may prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary to prevent

the killing of any fur seal and to provide for the execution of the

provisions of this section until it is otherwise provided by law, nor

shall he grant any special privileges under this section.

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