countries of the East recently made its appearance in European ports with
which we are in constant communication.
The then Secretary of the Treasury, in pursuance of a proclamation of the
President, issued certain regulations restricting and for a time
prohibiting the importation of rags and the admission of baggage of
immigrants and of travelers arriving from infected quarters. Lest this
course may have been without strict warrant of law, I approve the
recommendation of the present Secretary that the Congress take action in
the premises, and I also recommend the immediate adoption of such measures
as will be likely to ward off the dreaded epidemic and to mitigate its
severity in case it shall unhappily extend to our shores.
The annual report of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia reviews
the operations of the several departments of its municipal government. I
ask your careful consideration of its suggestions in respect to
legislation, especially commending such as relate to a revision of the
civil and criminal code, the performance of labor by persons sentenced to
imprisonment in the jail, the construction and occupation of wharves along
the river front, and the erection of a suitable building for District
offices.
I recommend that in recognition of the eminent services of Ulysses S.
Grant, late General of the armies of the United States and twice President
of this nation, the Congress confer upon him a suitable pension.
Certain of the measures that seem to me necessary and expedient I have now,
in obedience to the Constitution, recommended for your adoption.
As respects others of no less importance I shall content myself with
renewing the recommendations already made to the Congress, without
restating the grounds upon which such recommendations were based.
The preservation of forests on the public domain, the granting of
Government aid for popular education, the amendment of the Federal
Constitution so as to make effective the disapproval by the President of
particular items in appropriation bills, the enactment of statutes in
regard to the filling of vacancies in the Presidential office, and the
determining of vexed questions respecting Presidential inability are
measures which may justly receive your serious consideration.
As the time draws nigh when I am to retire from the public service, I can
not refrain from expressing to the members of the National Legislature with
whom I have been brought into personal and official intercourse my sincere
appreciation of their unfailing courtesy and of their harmonious
cooperation with the Executive in so many measures calculated to promote
the best interests of the nation.
And to my fellow-citizens generally I acknowledge a deep sense of
obligation for the support which they have accorded me in my administration
of the executive department of this Government.
End of Project Gutenberg's State of the Union Addresses, by Chester A. Arthur