of the General Land Office looking to the better protection of public lands
and of the public surveys, the preservation of national forests, the
adjudication of grants to States and corporations and of private land
claims, and the increased efficiency of the public-land service are
commended to the attention of Congress. To secure the widest distribution
of public lands in limited quantities among settlers for residence and
cultivation, and thus make the greatest number of individual homes, was the
primary object of the public-land legislation in the early days of the
Republic. This system was a simple one. It commenced with an admirable
scheme of public surveys, by which the humblest citizen could identify the
tract upon which he wished to establish his home. The price of lands was
placed within the reach of all the enterprising, industrious, and honest
pioneer citizens of the country. It was soon, however, found that the
object of the laws was perverted, under the system of cash sales, from a
distribution of land among the people to an accumulation of land capital by
wealthy and speculative persons. To check this tendency a preference right
of purchase was given to settlers on the land, a plan which culminated in
the general preemption act of 1841. The foundation of this system was
actual residence and cultivation. Twenty years later the homestead law was
devised to more surely place actual homes in the possession of actual
cultivators of the soil. The land was given without price, the sole
conditions being residence, improvement, and cultivation. Other laws have
followed, each designed to encourage the acquirement and use of land in
limited individual quantities. But in later years these laws, through
vicious administrative methods and under changed conditions of
communication and transportation, have been so evaded and violated that
their beneficent purpose is threatened with entire defeat. The methods of
such evasions and violations are set forth in detail in the reports of the
Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner of the General Land Office. The
rapid appropriation of our public lands without bona fide settlements or
cultivation, and not only without intention of residence, but for the
purpose of their aggregation in large holdings, in many cases in the hands
of foreigners, invites the serious and immediate attention of the
Congress.
The energies of the Land Department have been devoted during the present
Administration to remedy defects and correct abuses in the public-land
service. The results of these efforts are so largely in the nature of
reforms in the processes and methods of our land system as to prevent
adequate estimate; but it appears by a compilation from the reports of the
Commissioner of the General Land Office that the immediate effect in
leading cases which have come to a final termination has been the
restoration to the mass of public lands of 2,750,000 acres; that 2,370,000
acres are embraced in investigations now pending before the Department or
the courts, and that the action of Congress has been asked to effect the
restoration of 2,790,000 acres additional; besides which 4,000,000 acres
have been withheld from reservation and the rights of entry thereon
maintained.
I recommend the repeal of the preemption and timber-culture acts, and that
the homestead laws be so amended as to better secure compliance with their
requirements of residence, improvement, and cultivation for the period of
five years from date of entry, without commutation or provision for
speculative relinquishment. I also recommend the repeal of the desert-land
laws unless it shall be the pleasure of the Congress to so amend these laws
as to render them less liable to abuses. As the chief motive for an evasion
of the laws and the principal cause of their result in land accumulation
instead of land distribution is the facility with which transfers are made
of the right intended to be secured to settlers, it may be deemed advisable
to provide by legislation some guards and checks upon the alienation of
homestead rights and lands covered thereby until patents issue.
Last year an Executive proclamation was issued directing the removal of
fences which inclosed the public domain. Many of these have been removed in
obedience to such order, but much of the public land still remains within
the lines of these unlawful fences. The ingenious methods resorted to in
order to continue these trespasses and the hardihood of the pretenses by
which in some cases such inclosures are justified are fully detailed in the
report of the Secretary of the Interior.
The removal of the fences still remaining which inclose public lands will
be enforced with all the authority and means with which the executive
branch of the Government is or shall be invested by the Congress for that
purpose.
The report of the Commissioner of Pensions contains a detailed and most
satisfactory exhibit of the operations of the Pension Bureau during the
last fiscal year. The amount of work done was the largest in any year since
the organization of the Bureau, and it has been done at less cost than
during the previous year in every division.
On the 30th day of June, 1886, there were 365,783 pensioners on the rolls
of the Bureau.
Since 1861 there have been 1,018,735 applications for pensions filed, of
which 78,834 were based upon service in the War of 1812. There were 621,754
of these applications allowed, including 60,178 to the soldiers of 1812 and
their widows.
The total amount paid for pensions since 1861 is $808,624,811.57.
The number of new pensions allowed during the year ended June 30, 1886, is
40,857, a larger number than has been allowed in any year save one since
1861. The names of 2,229 pensioners which had been previously dropped from
the rolls were restored during the year, and after deducting those dropped
within the same time for various causes a net increase remains for the year
of 20,658 names.
From January 1, 1861, to December 1, 1885, 1,967 private pension acts had
been passed. Since the last-mentioned date, and during the last session of
the Congress, 644 such acts became laws.
It seems to me that no one can examine our pension establishment and its
operations without being convinced that through its instrumentality justice
can be very nearly done to all who are entitled under present laws to the
pension bounty of the Government.
But it is undeniable that cases exist, well entitled to relief, in which
the Pension Bureau is powerless to aid. The really worthy cases of this
class are such as only lack by misfortune the kind or quantity of proof
which the law and regulations of the Bureau require, or which, though their
merit is apparent, for some other reason can not be justly dealt with
through general laws. These conditions fully justify application to the
Congress and special enactments. But resort to the Congress for a special
pension act to overrule the deliberate and careful determination of the
Pension Bureau on the merits or to secure favorable action when it could
not be expected under the most liberal execution of general laws, it must
be admitted opens the door to the allowance of questionable claims and
presents to the legislative and executive branches of the Government
applications concededly not within the law and plainly devoid of merit, but
so surrounded by sentiment and patriotic feeling that they are hard to
resist. I suppose it will not be denied that many claims for pension are
made without merit and that many have been allowed upon fraudulent
representations. This has been declared from the Pension Bureau, not only
in this but in prior Administrations.
The usefulness and the justice of any system for the distribution of
pensions depend upon the equality and uniformity of its operation.
It will be seen from the report of the Commissioner that there are now paid
by the Government 131 different rates of pension.
He estimates from the best information he can obtain that 9,000 of those
who have served in the Army and Navy of the United States are now
supported, in whole or in part, from public funds or by organized
charities, exclusive of those in soldiers' homes under the direction and
control of the Government. Only 13 per cent of these are pensioners, while
of the entire number of men furnished for the late war something like 20
per cent, including their widows and relatives, have been or now are in
receipt of pensions.
The American people, with a patriotic and grateful regard for our
ex-soldiers, too broad and too sacred to be monopolized by any special
advocates, are not only willing but anxious that equal and exact justice
should be done to all honest claimants for pensions. In their sight the
friendless and destitute soldier, dependent on public charity, if otherwise
entitled, has precisely the same right to share in the provision made for
those who fought their country's battles as those better able, through
friends and influence, to push their claims. Every pension that is granted
under our present plan upon any other grounds than actual service and
injury or disease incurred in such service, and every instance of the many
in which pensions are increased on other grounds than the merits of the
claim, work an injustice to the brave and crippled, but poor and
friendless, soldier, who is entirely neglected or who must be content with
the smallest sum allowed under general laws.
There are far too many neighborhoods in which are found glaring cases of
inequality of treatment in the matter of pensions, and they are largely due
to a yielding in the Pension Bureau to importunity on the part of those,
other than the pensioner, who are especially interested, or they arise from
special acts passed for the benefit of individuals.
The men who fought side by side should stand side by side when they
participate in a grateful nation's kind remembrance.
Every consideration of fairness and justice to our ex-soldiers and the
protection of the patriotic instinct of our citizens from perversion and
violation point to the adoption of a pension system broad and comprehensive
enough to cover every contingency, and which shall make unnecessary an
objectionable volume of special legislation.
As long as we adhere to the principle of granting pensions for service, and
disability as the result of the service, the allowance of pensions should
be restricted to cases presenting these features.
Every patriotic heart responds to a tender consideration for those who,
having served their country long and well, are reduced to destitution and
dependence, not as an incident of their service, but with advancing age or
through sickness or misfortune. We are all tempted by the contemplation of
such a condition to supply relief, and are often impatient of the
limitations of public duty. Yielding to no one in the desire to indulge
this feeling of consideration, I can not rid myself of the conviction that
if these ex-soldiers are to be relieved they and their cause are entitled
to the benefit of an enactment under which relief may be claimed as a
right, and that such relief should be granted under the sanction of law,
not in evasion of it; nor should such worthy objects of care, all equally
entitled, be remitted to the unequal operation of sympathy or the tender
mercies of social and political influence, with their unjust
discriminations.
The discharged soldiers and sailors of the country are our fellow-citizens,
and interested with us in the passage and faithful execution of wholesome
laws. They can not be swerved from their duty of citizenship by artful
appeals to their spirit of brotherhood born of common peril and suffering,
nor will they exact as a test of devotion to their welfare a willingness to
neglect public duty in their behalf.
On the 4th of March, 1885, the current business of the Patent Office was,
on an average, five and a half months in arrears, and in several divisions
more than twelve months behind. At the close of the last fiscal year such
current work was but three months in arrears, and it is asserted and
believed that in the next few months the delay in obtaining an examination
of an application for a patent will be but nominal.
The number of applications for patents during the last fiscal year,
including reissues, designs, trade-marks, and labels, equals 40,678, which
is considerably in excess of the number received during any preceding
year.
The receipts of the Patent Office during the year aggregate $1,205,167.80,
enabling the office to turn into the Treasury a surplus revenue, over and
above all expenditures, of about $163,710.30.
The number of patents granted during the last fiscal year, including
reissues, trade-marks, designs, and labels, was 25,619, a number also quite
largely in excess of that of any preceding year.
The report of the Commissioner shows the office to be in a prosperous
condition and constantly increasing in its business. No increase of force
is asked for.
The amount estimated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, was
$890,760. The amount estimated for the year ending June 30, 1887, was
$853,960. The amount estimated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888, is
$778,770.
The Secretary of the Interior suggests a change in the plan for the payment
of the indebtedness of the Pacific subsidized roads to the Government. His
suggestion has the unanimous indorsement of the persons selected by the
Government to act as directors of these roads and protect the interests of
the United States in the board of direction. In considering the plan
proposed the sole matters which should be taken into account, in my
opinion, are the situation of the Government as a creditor and the surest
way to secure the payment of the principal and interest of its debt.
By a recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States it has been
adjudged that the laws of the several States are inoperative to regulate
rates of transportation upon railroads if such regulation interferes with
the rate of carriage from one State into another. This important field of
control and regulation having been thus left entirely unoccupied, the
expediency of Federal action upon the subject is worthy of consideration.
The relations of labor to capital and of laboring men to their employers
are of the utmost concern to every patriotic citizen. When these are
strained and distorted, unjustifiable claims are apt to be insisted upon by
both interests, and in the controversy which results the welfare of all and
the prosperity of the country are jeopardized. Any intervention of the
General Government, within the limits of its constitutional authority, to
avert such a condition should be willingly accorded.
In a special message transmitted to the Congress at its last session I
suggested the enlargement of our present Labor Bureau and adding to its
present functions the power of arbitration in cases where differences arise
between employer and employed. When these differences reach such a stage as
to result in the interruption of commerce between the States, the
application of this remedy by the General Government might be regarded as
entirely within its constitutional powers. And I think we might reasonably
hope that such arbitrators, if carefully selected and if entitled to the
confidence of the parties to be affected, would be voluntarily called to
the settlement of controversies of less extent and not necessarily within
the domain of Federal regulation.
I am of the opinion that this suggestion is worthy the attention of the
Congress.
But after all has been done by the passage of laws, either Federal or
State, to relieve a situation full of solicitude, much more remains to be
accomplished by the reinstatement and cultivation of a true American
sentiment which recognizes the equality of American citizenship. This, in
the light of our traditions and in loyalty to the spirit of our
institutions, would teach that a hearty cooperation on the part of all
interests is the surest path to national greatness and the happiness of all
our people; that capital should, in recognition of the brotherhood of our
citizenship and in a spirit of American fairness, generously accord to
labor its just compensation and consideration, and that contented labor is
capital's best protection and faithful ally. It would teach, too, that the
diverse situations of our people are inseparable from our civilization;
that every citizen should in his sphere be a contributor to the general
good; that capital does not necessarily tend to the oppression of labor,
and that violent disturbances and disorders alienate from their promoters
true American sympathy and kindly feeling.
The Department of Agriculture, representing the oldest and largest of our
national industries, is subserving well the purposes of its organization.
By the introduction of new subjects of farming enterprise and by opening
new sources of agricultural wealth and the dissemination of early
information concerning production and prices it has contributed largely to
the country's prosperity. Through this agency advanced thought and
investigation touching the subjects it has in charge should, among other
things, be practically applied to the home production at a low cost of
articles of food which are now imported from abroad. Such an innovation
will necessarily, of course, in the beginning be within the domain of
intelligent experiment, and the subject in every stage should receive all
possible encouragement from the Government.
The interests of millions of our citizens engaged in agriculture are
involved in an enlargement and improvement of the results of their labor,
and a zealous regard for their welfare should be a willing tribute to those
whose productive returns are a main source of our progress and power.
The existence of pleuro-pneumonia among the cattle of various States has
led to burdensome and in some cases disastrous restrictions in an important
branch of our commerce, threatening to affect the quantity and quality of
our food supply. This is a matter of such importance and of such
far-reaching consequences that I hope it will engage the serious attention
of the Congress, to the end that such a remedy may be applied as the limits
of a constitutional delegation of power to the General Government will
permit.
I commend to the consideration of the Congress the report of the
Commissioner and his suggestions concerning the interest intrusted to his
care.
The continued operation of the law relating to our civil service has added
the most convincing proofs of its necessity and usefulness. It is a fact
worthy of note that every public officer who has a just idea of his duty to
the people testifies to the value of this reform. Its staunchest, friends
are found among those who understand it best, and its warmest supporters
are those who are restrained and protected by its requirements.
The meaning of such restraint and protection is not appreciated by those
who want places under the Government regardless of merit and efficiency,
nor by those who insist that the selection of such places should rest upon
a proper credential showing active partisan work. They mean to public
officers, if not their lives, the only opportunity afforded them to attend
to public business, and they mean to the good people of the country the
better performance of the work of their Government.
It is exceedingly strange that the scope and nature of this reform are so
little understood and that so many things not included within its plan are
called by its name. When cavil yields more fully to examination, the system
will have large additions to the number of its friends.
Our civil-service reform may be imperfect in some of its details; it may be
misunderstood and opposed; it may not always be faithfully applied; its
designs may sometimes miscarry through mistake or willful intent; it may
sometimes tremble under the assaults of its enemies or languish under the
misguided zeal of impracticable friends; but if the people of this country
ever submit to the banishment of its underlying principle from the
operation of their Government they will abandon the surest guaranty of the
safety and success of American institutions.
I invoke for this reform the cheerful and ungrudging support of the
Congress. I renew my recommendation made last year that the salaries of the
Commissioners be made equal to other officers of the Government having like
duties and responsibilities, and I hope that such reasonable appropriations
may be made as will enable them to increase the usefulness of the cause
they have in charge.
I desire to call the attention of the Congress to a plain duty which the
Government owes to the depositors in the Freedman's Savings and Trust
Company.
This company was chartered by the Congress for the benefit of the most
illiterate and humble of our people, and with the intention of encouraging
in them industry and thrift. Most of its branches were presided over by
officers holding the commissions and clothed in the uniform of the United
States. These and other circumstances reasonably, I think, led these simple
people to suppose that the invitation to deposit their hard-earned savings
in this institution implied an undertaking on the part of their Government
that their money should be safely kept for them.
When this company failed, it was liable in the sum of $2,939,925.22 to
61,131 depositors. Dividends amounting in the aggregate to 62 per cent have
been declared, and the sum called for and paid of such dividends seems to
be $1,648,181.72. This sum deducted from the entire amount of deposits
leaves $1,291,744.50 still unpaid. Past experience has shown that quite a
large part of this sum will not be called for. There are assets still on
hand amounting to the estimated sum of $16,000.
I think the remaining 38 per cent of such of these deposits as have
claimants should be paid by the Government, upon principles of equity and
fairness.
The report of the commissioner, soon to be laid before Congress, will give
more satisfactory details on this subject.
The control of the affairs of the District of Columbia having been placed
in the hands of purely executive officers, while the Congress still retains
all legislative authority relating to its government, it becomes my duty to
make known the most pressing needs of the District and recommend their
consideration.
The laws of the District appear to be in an uncertain and unsatisfactory
condition, and their codification or revision is much needed.
During the past year one of the bridges leading from the District to the
State of Virginia became unfit for use, and travel upon it was forbidden.
This leads me to suggest that the improvement of all the bridges crossing
the Potomac and its branches from the city of Washington is worthy the
attention of Congress.
The Commissioners of the District represent that the laws regulating the
sale of liquor and granting licenses therefor should be at once amended,
and that legislation is needed to consolidate, define, and enlarge the
scope and powers of charitable and penal institutions within the District.
I suggest that the Commissioners be clothed with the power to make, within
fixed limitations, police regulations. I believe this power granted and
carefully guarded would tend to subserve the good order of the
municipality.
It seems that trouble still exists growing out of the occupation of the
streets and avenues by certain railroads having their termini in the city.
It is very important that such laws should be enacted upon this subject as
will secure to the railroads all the facilities they require for the
transaction of their business and at the same time protect citizens from
injury to their persons or property.
The Commissioners again complain that the accommodations afforded them for
the necessary offices for District business and for the safe-keeping of
valuable books and papers are entirely insufficient. I recommend that this
condition of affairs be remedied by the Congress, and that suitable
quarters be furnished for the needs of the District government.
In conclusion I earnestly invoke such wise action on the part of the
people's legislators as will subserve the public good and demonstrate
during the remaining days of the Congress as at present organized its
ability and inclination to so meet the people's needs that it shall be
gratefully remembered by an expectant constituency.
***
State of the Union Address
Grover Cleveland
December 6, 1887
To the Congress of the United States:
You are confronted at the threshold of your legislative duties with a
condition of the national finances which imperatively demands immediate and
careful consideration.
The amount of money annually exacted, through the operation of present
laws, from the industries and necessities of the people largely exceeds the
sum necessary to meet the expenses of the Government.
When we consider that the theory of our institutions guarantees to every
citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his industry and
enterprise, with only such deduction as may be his share toward the careful
and economical maintenance of the Government which protects him, it is
plain that the exaction of more than this is indefensible extortion and a
culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice. This wrong inflicted
upon those who bear the burden of national taxation, like other wrongs,
multiplies a brood of evil consequences. The public Treasury, which should
only exist as a conduit conveying the people's tribute to its legitimate
objects of expenditure, becomes a hoarding place for money needlessly
withdrawn from trade and the people's use, thus crippling our national
energies, suspending our country's development, preventing investment in
productive enterprise, threatening financial disturbance, and inviting
schemes of public plunder.