Section 1 of State of the Union Addresses by the United States Presidents, 1893 through 1896. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Grover Cleveland, December 4, 1893, Part 1 To the Congress of the United States, the constitutional duty which requires the President from time to time to give to the Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient, is fittingly entered upon by commending to the Congress a careful examination of the detailed statements and well-supported recommendations containing the reports of the heads of departments who are chiefly charged with the executive work of the government. In an effort to abridge this communication as much as is consistent with its purpose, I shall supplement a brief reference to the contents of these departmental reports by the mention of such executive business and incidents as are not embraced therein by such recommendations as appear to be at this particular time appropriate. While our foreign relations have not at all times during the past year been entirely free from perplexity, no embarrassing situation remains that will not yield to the spirit of fairness and love of justice which joined with consistent firmness characterized a truly American foreign policy. My predecessor, having accepted the office of arbitrator of the long-standing Missions Boundary Dispute, tendered to the President by the Argentine Republic and Brazil, it has been my agreeable duty to receive the Special Envoy's commission by those states to lay before me evidence and arguments in behalf of the respective governments. The outbreak of domestic hostilities in the Republic of Brazil found the United States alert to watch the interests of our citizens in that country with which we carry on important commerce. Several vessels of our new Navy are now and for some time have been stationed at Rio de Janeiro, the struggle being between the established government which controls the machinery of administration and with which we maintain friendly relations and certain officers of the Navy employing the vessels of their command in an attack upon the national capital and chief seaport. Lacking it does the elements of divided administration, I have failed to see that the insurgents can reasonably claim recognition as belligerents. Thus far the position of our government has been that of an attentive but impartial observer of the unfortunate conflict. Emphasizing our fixed policy of impartial neutrality in such a condition of affairs as now exists, I deemed it necessary to disavow in a manner not to be misunderstood, the unauthorized action of our late Navy commander in those waters in saluting the revolted Brazilian Admiral, the indisposed accountants in act calculated to give gratuitous sanction to the local insurrection. The convention between our government and Chile having for its object the settlement and adjustment of the demand of the two countries against each other has been made effective by the organization of the claims commission provided for. The two governments failing to agree upon the third member of the commission, the good offices of the President of the Swiss Republic were invoked as provided in the treaty, and the selection of the Swiss representative in this country to complete the organization was gratifyingly alike to the United States and Chile. The vexatious question of so-called legation asylum for offenders against the state and its laws was presented anew in Chile by the unauthorized action of the late United States minister and receiving in his official residence two persons who had just failed an attempt at revolution and against whom criminal charges were pending growing out of a former abortive disturbance. The doctrine of asylum as applied to this case is not sanctioned by the best precedence and when allowed tends to encourage sedition and strife. Under no circumstances can the representatives of this government be permitted under the ill defund fiction of extra-teriority to interrupt the administration of criminal justice in the countries to which they are accredited. The temperate demand having been made by the Chilean government for the correction of this conduct in the instance mentioned, the minister was instructed no longer to refer the offenders. The legislation of last year known as the Geary Law requiring the registration of all Chinese laborers entitled to residence in the United States and the deportation of all not complying with the provisions of the act within the time prescribed met with much opposition from Chinamen in this country. Acting upon the advice of eminent counsel that the law was unconstitutional the great mass of Chinese laborers pending judicial inquiry as to its validity in good faith declined to apply for the certificates required by its provisions. The test case upon proceeding by habeas corpus was brought before the Supreme Court and on May 15, 1893 the decision was made by that tribunal sustaining the law. It is believed that under the recent amendment of the act extending the time for registration the Chinese laborers there too entitled who desired to reside in this country will now avail themselves of the renewed privilege thus afforded of establishing by lawful procedure the right to remain and that thereby the necessity of enforced deportation may to a great degree be avoided. It has devolved upon the United States minister at Peking as Dean of the diplomatic body and in the absence of a representative of Sweden and Norway to press upon the Chinese government reparation for the recent murder of Swedish missionaries at Sung Poo. The question is of vital interest to all countries whose citizens engage in missionary work in the interior. By article 12 of the General Act of Brussels signed July 2, 1890 for the suppression of the slave trade and the restriction of certain injurious commerce in the independent state of the Congo and in the adjacent zone of Central Africa, the United States and the other signatory powers agreed to adopt appropriate means for the punishment of persons selling arms and ammunitions to the natives and for the confiscation of the inhibited articles. It being the plain duty of this government to aid in suppressing the nefarious traffic, impairing as it does the praiseworthy and civilizing efforts now in progress in that region, I recommend that an act be passed prohibiting the sale of arms and intoxicants to natives in the regulated zone by our citizens. Costa Rica has lately testified its friendliness by surrendering to the United States in the absence of a convention of extradition, but upon duly submitted evidence of criminality, a noted fugitive from justice. It is trusted that the negotiation of a treaty with that country to meet recurring cases of this kind will soon be accomplished. In my opinion treaties for reciprocal extradition should be concluded with all those countries with which the United States has not already conventional arrangements of that character. I've deemed it fitting to express to the governments of Costa Rica and Columbia the kindly desire of the United States to see their pending boundary dispute finally closed by arbitration and conformity with the spirit of the treaty concluded between them some years ago. Our relations with the French Republic continue to be intimate and cordial. I sincerely hope that the extradition treaty with that country as amended by the Senate will soon be operative. While occasional questions affecting our naturalized citizens returning to the land of their birth have arisen in our intercourse with Germany, our relations with that country continue satisfactory. The questions affecting our relations with Great Britain have been treated in the spirit of friendliness. Negotiations are in progress between the two governments with a view to such concurrent action as will make the award and regulations agreed upon by the Bering Sea Tribunal of arbitration practically effective. And it is not doubted that Great Britain will cooperate freely with this country for the accomplishment of that purpose. The dispute growing out of the discriminating tolls imposed in the well and canal upon cargoes of cereals bound to and from the lake ports of the United States was adjusted by the substitution of a more equitable schedule of charges. And my predecessor thereupon suspended his proclamation imposing discriminating tolls upon British transit through our canals. A request for additions to the list of extraditable offenses covered by the existing treaty between the two countries is under consideration. During the past year an American citizen employed in a subordinate commercial position in Haiti after suffering a protracted imprisonment on an unfounded charge of smuggling was finally liberated on judicial examination. Upon urgent representation to the Haitian government a suitable indemnity was paid to the sufferer. By law of Haiti a sailing vessel having discharged her cargo has refused clearance until the duties on such cargo have been paid. The hardship of this measure upon American shipowners who conduct the bulk of a carrying trade of that country has been insisted on with a view of securing the removal of this cause of complaint. Upon receiving authentic information of the firing upon an American mail steamer touching at the port of Amapala because her captain refused to deliver up a passenger in transit from Nicaragua to Amapala upon demand of the military authorities of Honduras are ministered to that country under instructions protested against the Wanton Act and demanded satisfaction. The government of Honduras actuated by a sense of justice in the spirit of the utmost friendship promptly disavowed the illegal conduct of its officers and expressed sincere regret for the occurrence. It is constantly anticipated that a satisfactory adjustment will soon be reached of the questions arising out of the seizure and use of American vessels by insurgents in Honduras and the subsequent denial by the successful government of commercial privileges to those vessels on that account. A notable part of the southeasterly coast of Liberia between the Cavali and San Pedro rivers which for nearly half a century has been generally recognized as belonging to that Republic by session and purchase has been claimed to be under the protectorate of France in virtue of agreements entered into by the native tribes over whom Liberia's control has not been well maintained. More recent negotiations between the Liberian representative and the French government resulted in the signature at Paris of a treaty whereby as an adjustment certain Liberian territory is ceded to France. This convention at last advices had not been ratified by the Liberian legislature and executive. Feeling a sympathetic interest in the fortunes of the little commonwealth, the establishment and development of which were largely aided by the benevolence of our countrymen in which constitutes the only independently sovereign state on the west coast of Africa. This government has suggested to the French government its earnest concern west territorial impairment in Liberia should take place without her unconstrained consent. Our relations with Mexico continue to be that close and friendly nature which should always characterize the intercourse of two neighboring republics. The work of relocating the monuments marking the boundary between the two countries from Paso del Norte to the Pacific is now nearly completed. The commission recently organized under the conventions of 1884 and 1889 it is expected will speedily settle disputes growing out of the shifting currents of the Rio Grande River east of El Paso. Nicaragua has recently passed through two revolutions. The party at first successful having in turn been displaced by another. Our newly appointed minister by his timely good offices aided in the peaceful adjustment of the controversy involved in the first conflict. The large American interest established in that country in connection with the Nicaragua canal were not molested. The canal company has unfortunately become financially seriously embarrassed but a generous treatment had been extended to it by the government of Nicaragua. The states are especially interested in the successful achievement of the vast undertaking that company has in charge. That it should be accomplished under distinctively American auspices and its enjoyment assured not only to the vessels of this country as a channel of communication between our Atlantic and Pacific seaboard but to the ships of the world and the interests of civilization is a proposition which in my judgment does not admit a question. Guatemala has also been visited by the political vicitudes which have afflicted her Central American neighbors but the dissolution of its legislature and the proclamation of a dictatorship have been unattended with civil war. An extradition treaty with Norway has recently been exchanged and proclaimed. The extradition treaty with Russia signed in March 1887 and amended and confirmed by the Senate in February last was duly proclaimed last June led by a desire to compose differences and contribute to the restoration of water in Samoa which for some years previous have been the scene of conflicting foreign pretensions in native strife. The United States departing from its policy consecrated by a century of observance entered four years into the Treaty of Berlin thereby becoming jointly bound with England and Germany to establish and maintain Alietoa La Pepa as king of Samoa. The treaty provided for a foreign court of justice a municipal court for the district of Apia with a foreign president thereof authorized to advise the king a tribunal for the settlement of native and foreign land titles and a revenue system for the kingdom. It entailed upon the three powers that part of the cost of the new government not met by the revenue of the islands. Early in the life of this triple protectorate the native dissensions it was designed to quell revive. Rivals defied the authority of the new king fusing to pay taxes and demanding the election of a ruler by native suffrage. Metafa and aspiring to the throne and a large number of his native adherents were an open rebellion on one of the islands. Quite lately at the request of the other powers and in fulfillment of its treaty obligation this government agreed to unite in a joint military movement of such dimensions as would probably secure the surrender of the insurgents without bloodshed. The warship Philadelphia was accordingly put under orders for Samoa. But before she arrived the threatened conflict was precipitated by King Malietoa's attack upon the insurgent camp. Metafa was defeated and a number of his men killed. The British and German naval vessels present subsequently secured the surrender of Metafa and his adherents. The defeated chief and ten of his principal supporters were deported to a German island of the martial group where they are held as prisoners under the joint responsibility and cost of the three powers. This incident in the events leading up to it will illustrate the impolicy of entangling alliances with foreign powers. More than fifteen years ago this government preferred a claim against Spain in behalf of one of our citizens for property seized and confiscated in Cuba. In 1886 the claim was adjusted. Spain agreeing to pay unconditionally as a fair indemnity one million five hundred thousand dollars. A respectful but earnest note was recently passed to the Spanish government insisting upon fulfillment of its long neglected obligation. Other claims preferred by the United States against Spain in behalf of American citizens for property confiscated in Cuba have been pending for many years. At the time Spain's title to the Caroline Islands was confirmed by arbitration that government agreed that the rights which had been acquired there by American missionaries should be recognized and respected. It is sincerely hope that this pledge will be observed by allowing our missionaries who were removed from Panope to a place of safety by United States warship during the late troubles between the Spanish garrison and the natives to return to their field of usefulness. The reproduced Caravelle Santa Maria built by Spain and sent to the Colombian exposition has now been presented to the United States in token of amnesty and in commemoration of the event it was designed to celebrate. I recommend that in accepting this gift Congress make grateful recognition of the sincere friendship which prompted it. Important matters have demanded attention in our relations with the Ottoman port. The firing and partial destruction by an unrestrained mob of one of the school buildings of Anatolia College was established by citizens of the United States at Marvosan and the apparent indifference of the Turkish government to the outrage notwithstanding the complicity of some of its officials called for earnest remonstrance which was followed by promise of reparation and punishment of the offenders. Indemnity for the injury to the buildings has already been paid permission to rebuild given registration of the school property in the name of owner secured and efficient protection guaranteed. Information received a maltreatment suffered by an inoffensive American woman engaged in missionary work in Turkish Kurdistan was followed by such representations to the port as resulted in the issuance of orders for the punishment of her assailants. The removal of a delinquent official and the adoption of measures for the protection of our citizens engaged in mission and other lawful work in that quarter. Turkey complains that her Armenian subjects obtained citizenship in this country not to identify themselves in good faith with our people but with the intention of returning to the land of their birth and their engaging in sedition. This complaint is not wholly without foundation. A journal published in this country in the Armenian language openly counsels readers to arm organize and participate in movements for the subversion of Turkish authority in the Asiatic provinces. The Ottoman government has announced its intention to expel from its dominions Armenians who have obtained naturalization in the United States since 1868. The right to exclude any or all classes of aliens is an attribute of sovereignty. It is a right asserted and to a limited extent enforced by the United States with the sanction of our highest court. There being no naturalization treaty between the United States and Turkey our minister at Constantinople has been instructed that while recognizing the right of the government to enforce its declared policy against naturalized Armenians he is expected to protect them from unnecessary harshness of treatment. In view of the impaired financial resources of Venezuela consequent upon the recent revolution there a modified arrangement for the satisfaction of the awards of the late Revisery Claims Commission in progressive installments has been assented to and payments are being regularly made there under. The boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Diana is yet unadjusted. A restoration of diplomatic intercourse between that Republic and Great Britain and reference of the question to impartial arbitration would be a most gratifying consummation. The ratification by Venezuela of the convention for the arbitration of the long deferred claim of the Venezuelan transportation company is awaited. It is hardly necessary for me to state that the questions arising from our relations with Hawaii have caused serious embarrassment prior to the installation of the present administration the existing government of Hawaii had been suddenly overthrown in a treaty of annexation had been negotiated between the provisional government of the islands and the United States and submitted to the senate for ratification. This treaty I withdrew for examination and dispatched the honorable James A. Blount of Georgia to Honolulu as a special commissioner to make an impartial investigation of the circumstances attending the change of government and of all the conditions bearing upon the subject of the treaty. After a thorough and exhaustive examination Mr. Blount submitted to me his report showing beyond all question that the constitutional government of Hawaii had been subverted with the active aid of our representative to that government and through the intimidation caused by the presence of an armed naval force of the United States which was landed for that purpose at the insistence of our minister. Upon the facts developed it seemed to me the only honorable course for our government to pursue was to undo the wrong that had been done by those representing us into restore as far as practicable the status existing at the time of our forcible intervention with a view of accomplishing this result within the constitutional limits of executive power and recognizing all our obligations and responsibilities growing out of any change conditions brought about by our unjustifiable interference. Our present minister at Honolulu has received appropriate instructions to that end thus far no information on the accomplishment of any definite results has been received from him. Additional devices are soon expected. When received they will be promptly sent to the Congress together with all other information at hand accompanied by a special executive message fully detailing all the facts necessary to a complete understanding of the case and presenting a history of all the material events leading up to the present situation. By a concurrent resolution passed by the Senate February 14th 1890 and by the House of Representatives on the 3rd of April following the President has requested right from time to time as fit occasions may arise negotiation with any government with which the United States has or may have diplomatic relations to the end that any differences or disputes arising between the two governments which can be adjusted by diplomatic agency may be referred to arbitration and be peaceably adjusted by such means. April 18th 1890 the International American Conference of Washington by resolution expressed the wish that all controversies between the Republics of America and the nations of Europe might be settled by arbitration and recommended that the government of each nation represented in that conference should communicate this wish to all friendly powers. A favorable response has been received from Great Britain in the shape of a resolution adopted by Parliament July 16th last cordially sympathizing with the purpose and view and expressing the hope that Her Majesty's government will lend ready cooperation to the government of the United States upon the basis of the current resolution above quoted It affords me signal pleasure to lay this Parliamentary resolution before the Congress and to express my sincere gratification that the sentiment of two great and kindred nations is thus authoritatively manifested in favor of the rational and peaceable settlement of international quarrels by honorable resort arbitration. Since the passage of the act of March 3rd 1893 authorizing the President to raise the grade of our envoys to correspond with the rank in which foreign countries accredit their agents here, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany have conferred upon the representatives at this capital the title of ambassador and I have responded by accrediting the agents of the United States in those countries with the same title. A like elevation of mission is announced by Russia and when made will be similarly met the step fittingly comports with the position the United States holds in the family of nations. During my former administration I took occasion to recommend a recast of the laws relating to the Councilor's service in order that it might become a more efficient agency and the promotion of the interest it was intended to subserve. The duties and powers of consuls have been expanded with the growing requirements of our foreign trade. Discharging important duties affecting our commerce in American citizens abroad and in certain countries exercising judicial functions these officers should be men of character, intelligence and ability. Upon proof that the legislation of our obscures copyright to American citizens on equal footing with its own the privileges of our copyright laws have been extended by proclamation to subjects of that country. End of section one. Section number two of State of the Union addresses by United States Presidents 1893 through 1896. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Grover Cleveland December 4th 1893 Part 2. The Secretary of the Treasury reports that the receipts of the government from all sources during the fiscal year and at June 30th 1893 amounted to 461 million $16,561.94 and its expenditures to 459,374,674 dollars and 29 cents. There was collected from customs 205,355,016 dollars and 73 cents. The federal revenue 161 million, 27,623 dollars and 93 cents. Our dutyable imports amounted to 421,856,711 an increase of 52,453,907 over the proceeding year. And importations free of duty amounted to 444,544,211 a decrease from the proceeding year of 13,455,447. Internal revenue receipts exceeded those of the preceding year by 7,147,455 dollars and 32 cents. The total tax collected on distilled spirits was 94,720,260 dollars and 55 cents. On manufactured tobacco 31,889,711 dollars and 74 cents. And on fermented liquors 548,983,07 cents. We exported merchandise during the year amounting to 847,665,194 dollars. A decrease of 182,612,954 dollars from the proceeding year. The amount of gold exported was larger than any previous year in the history of the government amounting to 108,680,844 dollars and exceeding the amount exported during the proceeding year by 58,485,517 dollars. The sum paid from the treasury for sugar bounty was 9,375,130 dollars and 88 cents. An increase over the proceeding year of 2,033,053 dollars and 9 cents. It is estimated upon the basis of present revenue laws that the receipts of the government for the year ending June 30,1894 will be 430,121,365 dollars and 38 cents. And its expenditures 458,121,365 dollars and 28 cents. Resulting in a deficiency of 28 million dollars. On the first day of November 1893 the amount of money of all kinds in circulation or not included in treasury holdings was 1,718,518, 544,682 an increase for the year of 112,404,947 dollars. Estimating our population at 67,426,000 at the time mentioned the per capita circulation was 25 dollars and 49 cents. On the same date there was in the treasury gold bullion amounting to 96,657,273 dollars and silver bullion which was purchased at a cost of 126,261,553 dollars. The purchases of silver under the law of July 14,1890 during the last fiscal year aggregate at 54,08162,595 ounces which cost 45,531,374 dollars and 53 cents. The total amount of silver purchased from the time that law became operative until the repeal of its purchasing clause on the first day of November 1893 was 168,674,590,465 ounces which cost 155,930,940 dollars and 84 cents. Between the first day of March 1873 and the first day of November 1893 the government purchased under all laws 503,003,717 ounces of silver at a cost of 516,622,948 dollars. The silver dollars that have been coined under the act of July 14,1890 number 36,087,285 The Sanyorich arising from such coinage was $6,977,998.39 leaving on hand in the mince 140,699,760 fine ounces of silver which cost 126,758,218 dollars. Our total coinage of all metals during the last fiscal year consisted of 97,280,875 pieces valued at $43,685,178.80 of which there was 30,038,140 in gold coin. $5,343,715 in silver dollars. $7,717,220 and 90 cents in subsidiary silver coin and $1,086,102 and 90 cents in minor coins. The production of precious metals in the United States was estimated to be $1,596,375 fine ounces of gold of the commercial and coinage value of $33,000,000 and $58,000,000 fine ounces of silver of the bullion or market value of $50,750,000 and of the coinage value of $74,989,900. It is estimated that on the first day of July 1893 the metallic stock of money in the United States consisting of coin and bullion amounted to $1,213,559,169 of which $597,697,685 was gold and $615,861,484 was silver. 119 national banks were organized during the year ending October 31,1893 with a capital of $11,230,000 46 went into voluntary liquidation and 158 suspended 65 of the suspended banks were in solven 86 resumed business and seven remain in the hands of the bank examiners with prospects of speedy resumption Of the new banks organized, 44 were located in the eastern states, 41 west of the Mississippi River and 34 in the central and southern states. The total number of national banks in existence on October 31, 1893 was $3,796 having an aggregate capital of $695,558,120 The net increase in the circulation of these banks during the year was $36,886,972 The recent repeal of the provision of law requiring the purchase of silver bullion by the government as a feature of our monetary scheme has made an entire change in the complexion of our currency affairs. I do not doubt that the ultimate result of this action will be most salutary and far-reaching. In the nature of things, however it is impossible to know at this time precisely what conditions will be brought about by the change, or what if any supplementary legislation may in the light of such conditions appear to be essential or expedient. Of course, after the recent financial perturbation, time is necessary for the re-establishment of business confidence. When, however, through this restored confidence, the money which has been frightened into hoarding places is returned to trade and enterprise, a survey of the situation will probably disclose a safe path leading to a permanently sound currency abundantly sufficient to meet every requirement of our increasing population and business. In pursuit of this object we should resolutely turn away from alluring and temporary expedience determined to be content with nothing less than a lasting and comprehensive financial plan. In these circumstances I am convinced that a reasonable delay in dealing with this subject instead of being injurious will increase the probability of wise action. The monetary conference which assembled at Brussels upon our invitation was adjourned to the 30th day of November of the present year. The considerations just stated in the fact that a definite proposition from us seemed to be expected upon the reassembling of the conference led me to express a willingness to have the meeting still further postponed. It seems to me that it would be wise to give general authority to the president to invite other nations to such a conference at any time when there should be a fair prospect of accomplishing an international agreement on the subject of coinage. I desire also to explicitly suggest the wisdom of amending the existing statutes in regard to the issuance of government bonds. The authority now vested in the secretary of the treasury to issue bonds is not as clear as it should be and the bonds authorized are disadvantageous to the government both as to the time of the maturity and rate of interest. The superintendent of immigration through the secretary of the treasury reports that during the last fiscal year there arrived at our ports 440,793 immigrants. Of these 1,063 were not permitted to land under the limitations of the law. And 577 were returned to the countries from once they came by reason of their having become public charges. The total arrivals were 141,034 less than for the previous year. The secretary in his report gives an account of the operation of the marine hospital service and of the good work done under its supervision in preventing the entrance and spread of contagious diseases. The admonitions of the last two years touching our public health and the demonstrated danger of the introduction of contagious diseases from foreign ports have invested the subject of national quarantine with increased interest. A more general and harmonious system then now exists acting promptly and directly everywhere and constantly operating by preventative means to shield our country from the invasion of disease and at the same time having due regard to the rights and duties of local agencies would I believe add greatly to the safety of our people. The secretary of war reports that the strength of the army on the 30th day of September last was 25,778 enlisted men and 2,144 officers. The total expenditures of the department for the year ending June 30th, 1893 amounted to $51,966,074.89 of this sum of $92,581.95 was for salaries and contingent expenses 23,377,828 dollars and 35 cents for the support of the military establishment $6,773.18 for miscellaneous objects and $518,631 in 41 cents for public works this latter sum includes $15,296,876 and 46 cents for river and harbor improvements and $3,266,141 in 20 cents for fortifications and other works of defense. The total enrollment of the militia of the several states was on the 31st of October of the current year, 112,597 officers and enlisted men. The officers of the army detailed for the inspection and instruction of this reserve of our military force report that increased interest and market progress are apparent in the discipline and efficiency of the organization. Neither Indian outbreaks nor domestic violence have called the army into service during the year and the only active military duty required of it has been in the Department of Texas where violations of the neutrality laws of the United States and Mexico were promptly and efficiently dealt with by the troops eliciting the warm approval of the civil and military authorities of both countries. The operation of wise laws and influences of civilization constantly tending to relieve the country from the dangers of Indian hostilities together with the increasing ability of the states through the efficiency of the National Guard organizations to protect their citizens from domestic violence lead to the suggestion that the time is fast approaching when there should be a reorganization of our army on the lines of the present necessities of the military. This change contemplates neither increase in number nor added expense but a redistribution of the force and an encouragement of measures tending to greater efficiency among the men in improvement of the service. The adoption of battalion formations for infantry regiments, the strengthening of the artillery force, the abandonment of smaller and unnecessary posts and the important and accessible stations all promised to promote the usefulness of the army. In the judgment of army officers with but few exceptions the operation of the law forbidding the reenlistment of men after ten years service has not proved its wisdom and while the arguments that led to its adoption were not without merit the experience of the year constraints me to join in the recommendation for its repeal. It is gratifying to note that we had begun to attain complete results in the comprehensive scheme of sea coast defense and fortification entered upon eight years ago. A large sum has been already expended but the cost of maintenance will be inconsiderable as compared with the expense of construction and ordinance. At the end of the current calendar year the war department will have nine 12 inch guns, 20 10 inch and 34 8 inch guns ready to be mounted on gun whiffs and carriages and 75 12 inch waters. In addition to the product of the army gun factory now completed at Water Valet the government has contracted with private parties for the purchase of 100 guns of these calibers the first of which should be delivered to the department for test before July 1st 1894. The manufacture of heavy ordinance keeps pace with current needs but to render these guns available for the purposes they are designed to meet, emplacements must be prepared for them. Progress has been made in this direction and it is desirable that Congress by adequate appropriation should provide for the uninterrupted prosecution of this necessary work. After much preliminary work and exhaustive examination in accordance with the requirements of the law the board pointed to selective magazine rifle of modern types to replace the obsolete Springfield rifle of the infantry service completed its labors during the last year and the work of manufacturers now in progress at the National Armory at Springfield. It is confidently expected that by the end of the current year our infantry will be supplied with a weapon equal to that of the most progressive armies of the world. The work on the projected Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park has been prosecuted with zeal and judgment and its opening will be celebrated during the coming year. Over nine square miles of the Chickamauga battlefield have been acquired 25 miles of roadway have been constructed permanent tablets have been placed at many historical points while the invitation to the states to mark the positions of their troops participating in the battle has been very generally accepted. The work of locating and preserving the lines of battle at the Gettysburg battlefield is making satisfactory progress on the plans directed by the last Congress. The reports of the military academy at West Point and the several schools of special instruction of officers showed market advance in the education of the army and a commendable ambition among its officers to excel in the military profession and to fit themselves for the highest service to the country. Under the supervision of adjutant general Robert Williams, lately retired the Bureau of Military Information has become well established and is performing a service that will put in possession of the government time of war most valuable information and at all times serve a purpose of great utility in keeping the army advised of the world's progress in all matters pertaining to the art of war. The report of the Attorney General contains the usual summary of the affairs and proceedings of the Department of Justice for the last year. Together with certain recommendations as to needed legislation on various subjects I cannot too heartily endorse the proposition that the fee system is applicable to the compensation of United States attorneys, marshals, clerks of federal courts and the United States commissioners should be abolished with as little delay as possible. It is clearly in the interest of the community that the business of the courts both civil and criminal shall be as small and as inexpensively transacted as the ends of justice will allow. The system is therefore thoroughly vicious which makes the compensation of court officials depend on the volume of such business and thus creates a conflict between a proper execution of the law and private gain which cannot fail to be dangerous to the rights and freedom of the citizen and an irresistible temptation to the unjustifiable expenditure of public funds. In addition to this reform another was inaugurated which would give to United States commissioners the final disposition of petty offenses within the great of misdemeanors especially these coming under the internal revenue laws a great advance would be made toward a more decent administration of the criminal law. In my first message to Congress dated December 8 1885 I strongly considered somewhat at length to the evils of the present system. Since that time the criminal business of the federal courts and the expense attending it have enormously increased. The number of criminal prosecutions pending in the circuit and district courts of the United States on the first day of July 1885 was 3,808 of which 1,884 were for violations of the internal revenue laws while the number of such prosecutions pending on the first day of July 1893 was 9,500 of which 4,200 were for violations of the internal revenue laws. The expense of the United States courts exclusive of judges salaries for the year ending July 1 1885 was 2,874,733 dollars and 11 cents and for the year ending July 1 1893 4,528,676 dollars and 87 cents. It is therefore apparent that the reasons given in 1885 for a change in the manner of enforcing the federal criminal law have gained cogency and strength by lapse of time. I also heartily join the Attorney General in recommending legislation fixing degrees of the crime of murder within federal jurisdiction as has been done in many of the states. Authorizing rits of error on behalf of the government in cases where final judgment is rendered against the sufficiency of an indictment or against the government upon any other question arising before actual trial limiting the right of review in cases of felony punishable only by fine and imprisonment to the circuit court of appeals and making speedy provision for the construction of such prisons and reformatories as may be necessary for the confinement of United States convicts. The report of the Postmaster General contains a detailed statement of the operations of the post office department during the last fiscal year and much interesting information touching this important branch of the public service. The business of the males indicates with absolute certainty the condition of the business of the country and depression in financial affairs inevitably and quickly reduces the postal revenues. Therefore a larger discrepancy than usual between the post office receipts and expenditures is the expected and unavoidable result of the distressing stringency which has prevailed throughout the country during much of the time covered by the Postmaster General's report. At a date when better times were anticipated it was estimated by his predecessor that the deficiency on the 30th day of June 1893 would be but a little over a million and a half dollars. It amounted however to more than five millions. At the same time and under the influence of like anticipations estimates were made for the current fiscal year ending June 30th 1894 which exhibited a surplus of revenue over expenditures of $872,245.71. But now in view of the actual receipts and expenditures during that part of the current fiscal year already expired the present Postmaster General estimates that at its close of a surplus there will be a deficiency of nearly $8 million. The post office receipts for the last fiscal year amounted to $75,896,933.16 and its expenditures to $81,074,104.90 This post office deficiency would disappear or be immensely decreased if less matter were carried free through the mail an item of which is upwards of 300 tons of seeds and grain from the agricultural department. The total number of post offices and the United States on the 30th day of June 1893 was $68,403 an increase of $1,284 over the preceding year. Of these $3,360 were presidential an increase in that class of 204 over the preceding year. 42 free delivery offices were added during the year to those already existing making a total of 610 cities and towns provided with free delivery on June 30th 1893 93 other cities and towns were now entitled to the service under the law but it has not been accorded them on account of insufficient funds to meet the expenses of its establishment. I am decidedly of the opinion that the provisions of the present law permit as general an introduction of this feature of mail service as is necessary or justifiable and that it ought not to be extended to smaller communities than are now designated. The expenses of free delivery for the fiscal year ending June 30th 1894 will be more than $11 million in under legislation now existing. There must be a constant increase in this item of expenditure. There were 6,401 additions to the domestic money order offices during the last fiscal year being the largest increase in any year since the inauguration of the system. The total number of these offices at the close of the year was 18,434. There were 13,309,735 money orders issued from these offices being an increase over the preceding year of 1,240,293. And the value of these orders amounted to $7,576,433.65 an increase of $7,509,632 in 58 cents. There were also issued during the year postal notes amounting to $12,903,776.73 During the year international money order offices were added to those already provided making a total of 2,407 in operation on June 30th 1893. The number of international money orders issued during the year was 1,055,999 an increase over the preceding year of 72,525 and their value was $16,341,837.86 an increase of $2,221,506.31 The number of orders paid was $300,917 an increase over the preceding year of 13,503 and their value was $5,283,375.70 an increase of $94,094.83 From the foregoing statements it appears that the total issue of money orders in postal notes for the year amounted to $156,822,348 in 24 cents The number of letters and packages mail during the year for special delivery was 3,375,693 an increase over the preceding year of nearly 22 percent. The special delivery stamps used upon these letters and packages amounted to $337,569.30 and the messenger's fees paid for their delivery amounted to $256,592.71 Leaving a profit to the government of $80,976.59 The railway mail service not only adds to the promptness of mail delivery at all offices, but it is the special service for mentality which puts the smaller and way places in the service on an equality in that regard with the larger and terminal offices. This branch of the postal service has therefore received much attention from the postmaster general and though it is gratifying to know that it is in a condition of high efficiency and great usefulness I am led to agree with the postmaster general that there is room for its further department. They are now connected to the post office establishment 28,324 employees who are in the classified service. The head of this great department gives conclusive evidence of the value of civil service reform when after an experience that renders his judgment on the subject absolutely reliable. He expresses the opinion that without the benefit of the system it would be impossible to conduct the vast business entrusted to him. I desire to commend as especially worthy of prompt attention the suggestions of the postmaster general relating to a more sensible and business like organization and a better distribution of responsibilities in his department. The report of the secretary of the navy contains a history of the operations of his department during the past year and exhibits a most gratifying condition of the personnel of our navy. He presents a satisfactory account of the progress which has been made in the construction of vessels and makes a number of recommendations to which attention is especially invited. During the past six months the demands for cruising vessels have been many an urgent. There have been revolutions calling for vessels to protect American interests in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Argentina and Brazil while the condition of affairs in Honolulu has required the constant presence of one or more ships. With all these calls upon our navy it becomes necessary in order to make up a sufficient fleet to patrol the Bering Sea under the modus vivende agreed upon with Great Britain to detail to that service one vessel from the fish commission and three from the revenue marine. Progress in the construction of new vessels has not been as rapid as was anticipated. There have been delays in the completion of unarmored vessels but for the most part they have been such as are constantly occurring even in countries having the largest experience in naval shipbuilding. The most serious delays however have been in the work upon armored ships. The trouble has been the failure of contractors to deliver armor as agreed. The difficulty seemed now however to have been all overcome and armor is being delivered with satisfactory promptness. As a result of the experience acquired by shipbuilders and designers and material men it is believed that the dates when vessels will be completed can now be estimated with reasonable accuracy. Great guns, rapid-fire guns, torpedoes and powder are being promptly supplied. The following vessels of the new Navy have been completed and are now ready for service. The double turreted coast defense monitor, Mianto Noma, the double turreted coast defense monitor Monterey, the armored cruiser New York, the protected cruisers Baltimore, Chicago Philadelphia, Newark, San Francisco, Charleston Atlanta and Boston, the cruiser Detroit, the gun boats Yorktown, Concord, Bennington, Machias Castine and Petrel, the dispatch vessel Dolphin, the practice vessel Bancroft and the dynamite gun boat Vesuvius. Of these the Bancroft, Machias, Detroit and Castine have been placed in commission during the current calendar year. The following vessels are in process of construction. The second-class battleships Maine and Texas, the cruisers Montgomery and Marblehead and the coast defense monitors Terror, Puritan, Amphitrite and Mananak all of which will be completed within one year. The harbor defense ram Katahdin and the protected cruisers Columbia, Minneapolis, Columbia, Cincinnati and Raleigh all of which will be completed prior to July 1st, 1895. The first-class battleships Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts and Oregon will be completed February 1st, 1896 and the armored cruiser Brooklyn which will be completed by August 1st of that year. It is also expected that three gun boats authorized by the last Congress will be completed in less than two years. Since 1886 Congress has at each session authorized the building of one or more vessels and the Secretary of the Navy presents an earnest plea for the continuance of this plan. He recommends the authorization of at least one battleship and six torpedo boats. While I am distinctly in favor of consistently pursuing the policy we had inaugurated of building up a thorough and efficient Navy, I cannot refrain from the suggestion that the Congress should carefully take into account the number of unfinished vessels on our hands and the depleted condition of our Treasury in considering the propriety of an appropriation at this time to begin new work. The method of employing mechanical labor at Navy yards through boards of labor and making efficiency the sole test by which laborers are employed and continued as producing the best results and the Secretary is earnestly devoting himself to its development. Attention is invited to the statements of his report in regard to the workings of the system. End of Section 2. Section 3 of State of the Union Addresses by United States Presidents, 1893 through 1896. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Grover Cleveland, December 4, 1893 Part 3. The Secretary of the Interior has the supervision of so many important subjects that his report is of a special value and interest. On the 30th day of June 1893 there were on the pension rolls 166,000 12 names an increase of 89,944 over the number on the rolls June 30, 1892. Of these there were 17 widows and daughters of revolutionary soldiers, 86 survivors of the war of 1812, 5,425 widows of soldiers of that war, 21,518 survivors and widows of the Mexican war, 3882 survivors and widows of Indian wars, 284 army nurses, and 475,645 survivors and widows and children of deceased soldiers and sailors of a war of the rebellion. The latter number represents those pension on account of disabilities or death to army in Navy service. The number of persons remaining on the rolls June 30, 1893 who were pensioned under the act of June 27, 1890 which allows pensions on account of death and disability not chargeable to army service was 459,155. The number added to the rolls during the year was 123,634 and the number dropped was 33,690 The first payments on pensions allowed during the year amounted to 33,756,549 dollars and 98 cents. This includes arrears or the accumulation between the time for which the allowance of pension dates and the time of actually granting the certificate. Although the law of 1890 permits pensions for disabilities not related to military service, yet as a requisite to its benefits a disability must exist in capacitating applicants from the performance of manual labor to such a degree as to render them unable to earn a support. The execution of this law in its early stages does not seem to have been in accord with its true intention but for the close of the last administration and authoritative construction was given to the statute and since that time this construction has been followed. This has had the effect of limiting the operation of the law to its intended purpose. The discovery having been made that many names have been put on the pension roll by means of wholesale and gigantic frauds. The commissioners suspended payments upon a number of pensions which seem to be fraudulent or unauthorized pending a complete examination giving notice to the pensioners in order that they might have an opportunity to establish if possible the justice of their claims notwithstanding apparent invalidity. This I understand is the practice which has for a long time prevailed in the pension bureau but after entering upon these recent investigations the commissioner modified this rule so as not to allow until after a complete examination interference with the payment the pension apparently not altogether void but which merely had been fixed at a rate higher than that authorized by law. I am unable to understand why frauds in the pension roll should not be exposed and corrected with thoroughness and vigor. Every name fraudulently put on these rolls is a wicked imposition upon the kindly sentiment in which pensions have their origin. Every fraudulent pensioner has become a bad citizen. This oath in support of a pension has made perjury more common and false and undeserving pensioners rob the people not only of their money but of the patriotic sentiment which the survivors of a war fought for the preservation of the union ought to inspire. Thousands of neighborhoods have their well known fraudulent pensioners and recent developments by the bureau establish appalling conspiracies to accomplish pension frauds by no means the least wrong done is to brave and deserving pensioners who certainly ought not to be condemned to such association. Those who attempt in the line of duty to rectify these wrongs should not be accused of enmity or indifference to the claims of honest veterans. The sum expended on account of pensions for the year ending June 30th, 1893 was 156,740,467 dollars and 14 cents. The commissioner estimates that 165 million dollars will be required to pay pensions during the year ending June 30th, 1894. The conditions of the Indians in their ultimate fate are subjects which are related to a sacred duty of the government in which strongly appeal to the sense of justice and the sympathy of our people. Our Indians number about 248,000 most of them are located on 161 reservations containing 86,116,531 acres of land. About 110,000 of these Indians have to a large degree adopted civilized customs. Lands in severality have been allotted to many of them. Such allotments have been made to 10,000 individuals during the last fiscal year, embracing about 1 million acres. The number of Indian government schools opened during the year was 195, an increase of 12 over the preceding year. Of this total 170 were on reservations, of which 73 were boarding schools and 97 were day schools. 20 boarding schools and 5 day schools supported by the government were not located on reservations. The total number of Indian children enrolled during the year as attendance of all schools was 21,138 an increase of 1,231 over the enrollment for the previous year. I'm sure that secular education and moral and religious teaching must be important factors in any effort to save the Indian and lead him to civilization. I believe too that the relinquishment of tribal relations and the holding of land in severality may in favorable conditions aid this consummation. It seems to me however that allotments of land in severality ought to be made with great care and circumspection. We have hastily done before the Indian knows its meaning while yet he has little or no idea of tilling a farm and no conception of thrift. There is great danger that a reservation life in tribal relations may be exchanged for the pauperism of civilization instead of its independence and elevation. The solution of the Indian problem depends very largely upon good administration. The personal fitness of agents and their adaptability to the peculiar duty of caring for their awards are of the most importance. The law providing that except in special cases, army officer shall be detailed as Indian agents. It is hoped will provide a successful experiment. There is danger of great abuses creeping into the prosecution of claims for Indian depredations and I recommend that every possible safeguard be provided against the enforcement of unjust and fictitious claims of this description. The appropriations on account of the Indian Bureau for the year ending June 30, 1894, amount to $7,954,962 in $0.99, a decrease as compared with the year preceding it of $387,131 in $0.95. The vast area of land which but a short time ago constituted the public domain is rapidly falling into private hands. It is certain that in the transfer of the beneficent attention of the government to supply from its domain homes to the industrious and worthy home seekers is often frustrated. Though the speculator who stands with extortionate purpose between the land office and those who with their families are invited by the government to settle on the public lands is a despicable character who ought not to be tolerated yet it is difficult to thwart his schemes. The recent opening to settlement of the lands in the Cherokee outlet embracing an area of 6,500,000 acres is the most care in framing the regulations governing the selection of locations and notwithstanding the presence of United States troops furnished in exhibition though perhaps in a modified degree of the mad scramble of violence in the fraudulent occupation which have accompanied previous openings of public land. I concur with the secretary in the belief that these outrageous incidents cannot be entirely prevented without a change in the laws on the subject and I hope his recommendations in that direction will be favorably considered. I especially commend to the attention of the Congress the statements contained in the secretary's report concerning forestry the time has come when efficient measures should be taken for the preservation of our forests from indiscriminate and remedy less destruction. The report of the secretary of agriculture will be found exceedingly interesting especially to that large part of our citizens intimately concerned in agricultural occupations. On the seventh day of March 1893 there were upon its payrolls 2,430 employees. The number has been reduced to 1,850 persons in view of a depleted public treasury and the imperative demand of the people for economy and the administration of their government. The secretary has entered upon the task of rationally reducing expenditures by the elimination from the payrolls of all persons not needed for an efficient conduct of the affairs of the department. During the first quarter of the present year the expenses of the department aggregated 345,876,000 dollars and 76 cents as against 402,012 dollars and 42 cents for the corresponding period of the fiscal year ending on 30th 1893. The secretary makes apparent his intention to continue this rate of reduction by submitting estimates for the next fiscal year less by 994,280 dollars than those for the present year. Among the heads of divisions in this department the changes have been exceedingly few. Three vacancies occurred from death and resignations have been filled by the promotion of assistance in the same divisions. These promotions of experienced and faithful assistance have not only been in the interest of efficient work but have suggested to those in the department who look for retention and promotion, that merit and devotion to duty are their best reliance. The amount appropriated for the Bureau of Animal Industry for the current fiscal year is 850,000 dollars. The estimate for the ensuing year is 700,000 dollars. The regulations of 1892 concerning Texas fever have been enforced during the last year and the large stockyards of the country have been kept free from infection. Occasional local outbreaks have been largely such as could have been effectually guarded against by the owners of the affected cattle. While contagious pleuronemonia in cattle has been eradicated, animal tuberculosis, a disease widespread and more dangerous to human life than pleuronemonia is still prevalent. Investigations have been made during the past year as to the means of its communication and the method of its correct diagnosis. Much progress has been made in this direction by the studies of the Division of Animal Pathology, but work ought to be extended in cooperation with local authorities till the danger to human life arising from this cause is reduced to a minimum. The number of animals arriving from Canada during the year and inspected by Bureau officers was 462,092 and the number from transatlantic countries was 1,297. No contagious diseases were found among the imported animals. The total number of inspections of cattle for export during the past fiscal year was 611,542. The exports show a falling off of about 25% from the preceding year, the decrease occurring entirely in the last half of the year. This suggests that the falling off may have been largely due to an increase in the price of American export cattle. During the year ending June 30th, 1893, exports of inspected pork aggregated 10,677,410 pounds, as against 38,152,874 pounds for the preceding year. The falling off in this export was not confined however to inspected pork. The total quantity exported for 1892 being 665,490,616 pounds while in 1893 it was only 526,308,695 pounds. I joined the Secretary in recommending that hereafter each applicant for the position of inspector or assistant inspector in the Bureau of Animal Industry be required as a conditioned precedent to his appointment to exhibit to the United States Civil Service Commission his diploma from an established regular and reputable veterinary college in that this be supplemented by such an examination in veterinary science as the commission may prescribe. The loss of agricultural products from the United States for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1892, attained the enormous figure of $800 million in round numbers being 78.7% of our total exports. In the last fiscal year this aggregate was greatly reduced but nevertheless reached $615 million being 75.1% of all American commodities exported. A review of our agricultural exports with special reference to their destination will show that in almost every line the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland absorbs by far the largest proportion of cattle the total exports aggregated in value for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1893. $26 million of which Great Britain took considerably over $25 million of beef products of all kinds our total exports were $28 million of which Great Britain took $24 million of pork products the total exports were $84 million of which Great Britain took $53 million and breadstuffs cotton and minor products like proportion sent to the same destination are shown. The work of the statistical division of the Department of Agriculture deals with all that relates to the economics of farming. The main purpose of its monthly reports is to keep the farmers informed as fully as possible of all matters having any influence upon the world's markets in which their products find sale its publications relate especially to the commercial side of farming it is therefore of profound importance and vital concern to the farmers of the United States who represent nearly one half of our population and also of direct interest to the whole country that the work of this division be efficiently performed and that the information that has gathered be probably diffused. It is a matter for congratulation to know that the Secretary will not spare any effort to make this part of his work thoroughly useful. In the year 1839 the Congress appropriated $1,000 to be taken from the patent office funds for the purpose of collecting and distributing rare and improved varieties of seeds and for prosecuting agricultural investigations and procuring agricultural statistics. From the small beginning the seed division of the Department of Agriculture has grown to its present unwieldy and unjustifiably extravagant proportions. During the last fiscal year the cost of seeds purchased was $66,548 and 61 cents. The remainder of an appropriation of $135,000 was expended in putting them up and distributing them. It surely never could have entered the minds of those who first sanctioned appropriations of public money for the purchase of new and improved variety of seeds for gratuitous distribution that from this would grow large appropriations for the purchase and distribution by members of Congress of ordinary seeds, bulbs and cuttings which are common in all the states and territories and everywhere easily obtainable prices. In each state and territory an agricultural experiment station has been established. These stations by their very character and name are the proper agencies to experiment with and test new variety of seeds and yet this indiscriminate and wasteful distribution by legislation and legislators continues answering no purpose unless it be to remind constituents that the representatives are willing to remember them with these at public cost. Under the sanction of existing legislation there was sent out from the agricultural department during the last fiscal year enough of cabbage seed to plant 19,200 acres of land, a sufficient quantity of beans to plant 4,000 acres, beet seed enough to plant 2,500 acres, sweet corn enough to plant 7,800 acres, sufficient cucumber seed to cover 2,025 acres with vines and enough musk melon and watermelon seeds to plant 2,675 acres. The total quantity of flour and vegetable seeds thus distributed was contained in more than 9 million packages and they were sufficient and planted to cover 89,596 acres of land. In view of these facts this enormous expenditure without legitimate returns of benefit ought to be abolished. Anticipating a consummation so manifestly in the interest of good administration more than $100,000 has been stricken from the estimate made to cover this object for the year ending June 30th, 1895 and the secretary recommends that the remaining $35,000 of the estimate be confined strictly to the purchase of new and improved varieties of seeds and that these be distributed through experimental stations. Thus the seed will be tested and after the test has been completed by the experiment station the propagation of the useful varieties and the rejection of the valueless may safely be left to the common sense of the people. The continued intelligent execution of the civil service law and the increasing approval by the people of its operation are most gratifying. The recent extension of its limitations and regulations to the employees at free delivery post offices which has been honestly and promptly accomplished by the commission with the hardy cooperation of the postmaster general is an immensely important advance in the usefulness of the system. I am if possible more than ever convinced of the incalculable benefits conferred by the civil service law not only in its effect upon the public service but also what is even more important in its effect in elevating the tone of political life generally. The course of civil service reform in this country instructively and interestingly illustrates how strong a hold a movement gains upon our people which has underlying it a sentiment of justice and right in which at the same time promises better administration of the government. The law embodying this reform found its way to our statute books more from fear of the popular sentiment existing in its favor than from any love for the reform itself on the part of legislators and it has lived and grown and flourished in spite of the covert as well as open hostility of spoilsmen and notwithstanding the quarrelous impracticability of many self constituted guardians beneath all the vagaries and sublimated theories which are attracted to it there underlies this reform a sturdy common sense principal not only suited to this mundane sphere but whose application people are more and more recognizing to be absolutely essential to the most successful operation of their government if not to its perpetuity it seems to me to be entirely inconsistent with character of this reform as well as with its best enforcement to oblige the commission to rely for clerical assistance upon clerks detailed from other departments there ought not to be such a condition in any department that clerks hired to do work there can be spared to habitually work at another place and it does not accord with a sensible view of civil service reform that person should be employed on the theory that their labor is necessary in one department when in point of fact their services are devoted to entirely different work in another department I earnestly urge that the clerks necessary to carry on the work of the commission be regularly put upon its roster and that the system of obliging the commissioners to rely upon the services of clerks belonging to other departments be discontinued this ought not to increase the expense to the government while it would certainly be more consistent and add greatly to the efficiency of the commission economy and public expenditure is a duty that cannot innocently be neglected by those entrusted with the control of money drawn from the people for public uses must be confessed that are apparently endless resources the familiarity of our people with immense accumulations of wealth the growing sentiment among them that the expenditure of public money should in some manner be to their immediate personal advantage the indirect and almost stealthy manner in which a large part of our taxes is exacted in a degenerated sense of official accountability have led to growing extravagance in governmental appropriations at this time when a depleted public treasury confronts us when many of our people are engaged in a hard struggle for the necessaries of life and when enforced economy is pressing upon the great mass of our countrymen I desire to urge with all the earnestness at my command that congressional legislation be so limited by strict economy as to exhibit an appreciation of the condition of the treasury and a sympathy with the straightened circumstances of our fellow citizens the duty of public economy is also of immense importance to its intimate and necessary relation to the task now in hand of providing revenue to meet government expenditures and yet reducing the people's burden of federal taxation after a hard struggle tariff reform is directly before us nothing so important claims our attention nothing so clearly presents itself as both an opportunity and a duty to deserve the gratitudes of our fellow citizens and a duty imposed upon us by our oft repeated professions and by the emphatic mandate of the people after full discussion our countrymen have spoken in favor of this reform they have confided the work of its accomplishment to the hands of those who are solemnly pledged to it if there is anything in the theory of a representation in public places of the people and their desires if public officers are really the servants of the people and if political promises and professions have any binding force our failure to give the relief so long await it will be sheer recreancy nothing should intervene to distract our attention or disturb our effort until this reform is accomplished by wise and careful legislation while we should staunchly adhere to the principle that only the necessity of revenue justifies the imposition of tariff duties and other federal taxation and that they should be limited by strict economy we cannot close our eyes to the fact that conditions have grown up among us in which justice and fairness call for discriminating care and the distribution of such duties and taxation as the emergencies of our government actually demand manifestly if we are to aid the people directly through tariff reform one of its most obvious features should be a reduction in present tariff charges upon the necessaries of life the benefits of such a reduction would be palpable and substantial seen and felt by thousands who would be better fed and better clothed and better sheltered these gifts should be the willing benefactions of a government whose highest function is the promotion of the welfare of the people not less closely related to our people's prosperity and well-being is the removal of restrictions upon the importation of the raw materials necessary to our manufacturers the world should be open to our national ingenuity and enterprise this cannot be what federal legislation through the imposition of high tariff forbids to American manufacturers as cheap materials as those used by their competitors it is quite obvious that the enhancement of the price of our manufactured products resulting from this policy not only confines the market for these products with their own borders to the direct disadvantage of our manufacturers but also increases their cost to our citizens the interests of labor are certainly though indirectly involved in this feature of our tariff system the sharp competition and active struggle among our manufacturers to supply the limited demand for their goods soon fill the narrow market to which they are confined then follows the suspension of work in mills and factories a discharge of employees and distress in the homes of our working men even if the often disproved assertion could be made that a lower rate of wages would result from free raw materials and low tariff duties the intelligence of our workmen leads them quickly to discover that their steady employment permitted by free raw materials is the most important factor in their relation to tariff legislation a measure has been prepared by the appropriate congressional committee embodying tariff reform on the basis of what we are here and suggested which will be promptly submitted for legislative action it is the result of much patriotic and unselfish work when I believe it deals with its subject consistently and as thoroughly as existing conditions permit I'm satisfied that the reduced tariff duties provided for in the proposed legislation added to existing internal revenue taxation will in the near future though perhaps not immediately new to meet the needs of the government the committee after full consideration and to provide against a temporary deficiency which may exist before the business of the country adjusts itself to the new tariff schedules have wisely embraced in their plan a few additional internal revenue taxes including a small tax upon incomes derived from certain corporate investments these new adjustments are not only absolutely just and easily born but they had the further merit of being such as can be remitted without unfavorable business disturbance whenever the necessity of their imposition no longer exists in my great desire for the success of this measure I cannot restrain the suggestion that its success can only be attained by means of unselfish counsel on the part of the friends of tariff reform and as a result of their willingness to subordinate personal desires and ambitions to the general good the local budget by the proposed reform are so numerous and so varied that if all are insisted upon the legislation embodying the reform must inevitably fail in conclusion my intense feeling of responsibility and tells me to invoke for the manifold interests of a generous and confiding people the most scrupulous care and to pledge my willing support to every legislative effort for the advancement of the greatness and prosperity of our beloved country section 3