 Section 6 of State of the Union Addresses, 1885 through 1888. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording by Doug Fajardo. Grover Cleveland, December 6, 1886, Part 3. The affairs of the Postal Service show marked in gratifying improvement during the past year. A particular account of its transactions and condition is given in the report of the Postmaster General, which will be laid before you. The reduction of the rate of letter postage in 1883, rendering the postal revenues inadequate to sustain the expenditures, and business depression also contributing, resulted in an excess of cost for the fiscal year and in June 30, 1885, of $8.13 million. An additional check upon receipts, by doubling the measure of weight in rating sealed correspondence, and diminishing one half the charge for newspaper carriage, was imposed by legislation, which took effect with the beginning of the past fiscal year. While the constant demand of our territorial development and growing population for the extension and increase of mail facilities and machinery necessitates steady annual advance in outlay, and the careful estimate of a year ago upon the rates of expenditure then existing, contemplated the unavoidable augmentation of the deficiency in the last fiscal year by nearly $2 million. The anticipated revenue for the last year failed of realization by about $64,000. But proper measures of economy have so satisfactorily limited the growth of expenditure that the total deficiency, in fact, fell below that of 1885. And at this time the increase of revenue is in a gaining ratio over the increase of costs, demonstrating the sufficiency of the present rates of postage ultimately to sustain the service. This is the more pleasing because our people enjoy now both cheaper postage proportionally to distances and a faster and more costly service than any other upon the globe. Retrenchment has been affected in the cost of supplies. Some expenditures, unwarranted by law, have ceased, and the outlays for mail carriage have been subjected to beneficial scrutiny. At the close of the last fiscal year the expensive transportation on star routes stood at an annual rate of costs less by over $560,000 than at the close of the previous year and steamboat and mail messenger service at nearly $200,000 less. The service has been in the meantime enlarged and extended by the establishment of new offices, increase of routes of carriage, expansion of carrier delivery conveniences, and additions to the railway mail facilities in accordance with the growing exigencies of the country and the long-established policy of the government. The postmaster general calls attention to the existing law for compensating railroads and expresses the opinion that a method may be devised which will prove more just to the carriers and beneficial to the government, and the subject appears worthy of your early consideration. The differences which arose during the year with certain of the ocean steamship companies have terminated by the acquiescence of all in the policy of the government approved by the Congress in the postal appropriation at its last session. And the department now enjoys the utmost service afforded by all vessels which sail from our ports upon either ocean, a service generally adequate to the needs of our intercourse. Petitions have, however, been presented to the department by numerous merchants and manufacturers for the establishment of a direct service to the Argentine Republic and for semi-monthly dispatches to the Empire of Brazil, and the subject is commended to your consideration. It is an obvious duty to provide the means of postal communication which our commerce requires, and with prudent forecast of results, the wise extension of it may lead to stimulating intercourse and become the harbinger of a profitable traffic which will open new avenues for the disposition of the products of our industry. The circumstances of the countries at the far south of our continent are such as to invite our enterprise and afford the promise of sufficient advantages to justify an unusual effort to bring about the closer relations which greater freedom of communication would tend to establish. I suggest that, as distinguished from a grant or subsidy for the mere benefit of any line of trade or travel, whatever outlay may be required to secure additional postal service, necessary and proper, and not otherwise attainable, should be regarded as within the limit of legitimate compensation for such service. The extension of the free delivery service, as suggested by the Postmaster General, has herefore received my sanction, and it is to be hoped a suitable enactment may soon be agreed upon. The request for an appropriation sufficient to enable the general inspection of fourth class offices has my approbation. I renew my approval of the recommendation of the Postmaster General that another assistant be provided for the post office department, and I invite your attention to the several other recommendations in his report. The conduct of the Department of Justice for the last fiscal year is fully detailed in the report of the Attorney General, and I invite the earnest attention of the Congress to the same and do consideration of the recommendations therein contained. In the report submitted by this officer to the last session of the Congress, he strongly recommended the erection of a penitentiary for the confinement of prisoners convicted and sentenced in the United States courts, and he repeats the recommendation in his report for the last year. This is a matter of very great importance, and should at once receive congressional action. United States prisoners are now confined in more than 30 different state prisons and penitentiaries, scattered in every part of the country. They are subjected to nearly as many different modes of treatment and discipline, and are far too much removed from the control and regulation of the government. So far as they are entitled to humane treatment and an opportunity for improvement and reformation, the government is responsible to them and society that these things are forthcoming. But this duty can scarcely be discharged without more absolute control and direction than is possible under the present system. Many of our good citizens have interested themselves with the most beneficial results in the question of prison reform. The general government should be in a situation, since there must be United States prisoners, to furnish important aid in this movement and should be able to illustrate what may be practically done in the direction of this reform and to present an example in the treatment and improvement of its prisoners worthy of imitation. With prisons under its own control, the government could deal with a somewhat vexed question of convict labor. So far as its convicts were concerned, according to a plan of its own adoption, and with due regard to the rights and interests of our laboring citizens, instead of sometimes aiding in the operation of a system which causes among them irritation and discontent. Upon consideration of this subject, it might be thought wise to erect more than one of these institutions, located in such places as would best subserve the purposes of convenience and economy in transportation. The considerable cost of maintaining these convicts as at present in state institutions would be saved by the adoption of the plan proposed, and by employing them in the manufacture of such articles as were needed for use by the government, quite a large pecuniary benefit would be realized in partial return for our outlay. I again urge a change in the federal judicial system to meet the wants of the people and obviate the delays necessarily attending the present condition of affairs in our courts. All are agreed that something should be done, and much favor is shown by those well able to advise to the plan suggested by the Attorney General at the last session of the Congress, and recommended in my last annual message. This recommendation is here renewed, together with another made at the same time, touching a change in the matter of compensating district attorneys and marshals, and the latter subject is commended to the Congress for its action in the interest of economy to the government and humanity, fairness, and justice to our people. The report of the Secretary of the Interior presents a comprehensive summary of the work of the various branches of the public service connected with his department, and the suggestions and recommendations which it contains for the improvement of the service should receive your careful consideration. The exhibit made of the condition of our Indian population, and the progress of the work for their enlightenment, notwithstanding the many embarrassments which hinder the better administration of this important branch of the service, is a gratifying and hopeful one. The funds appropriated for the Indian service for the fiscal year just passed, with the available income from Indian land and trust monies, amounting in all to $7,850,775.12, were ample for the service under the conditions and restrictions of laws regulating their expenditure. There remained a balance on hand on June 30, 1886, of $1,663.30, of which $1,337,768.21 are permanent funds for the fulfillment of treaties and other like purposes, and the remainder, $322,255.09, is subject to be carried to the surplus fund as required by law. The estimates presented for appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year amount to $5,608,873.64, or $442,386.20 less than those laid before Congress last year. The present system of agencies, while absolutely necessary and well-adopted for the management of our Indian affairs and for the ensuing view when it was adopted, is, in the present stage of Indian management, inadequate, standing alone for the accomplishment of an object which has become pressing in its importance. The more rapid transition from tribal organizations to citizenship of such portions of the Indians as are capable of civilized life. When the existing system was adopted, the Indian race was outside of the limits of organized states and territories, and beyond the immediate reach and operation of civilization, and all efforts were mainly directed to the maintenance of friendly relations and the preservation of peace and quiet on the frontier. All this is now changed. There is no such thing as the Indian frontier. Civilization, with a busy hum of industry and the influences of Christianity, surrounds these people at every point. None of the tribes are outside of the bounds of organized government and society, except that the territorial system has not been extended over that portion of the country known as the Indian territory. As a race, the Indians are no longer hostile, but may be considered as submissive to the control of the government. Few of them only are troublesome. Except the fragments of several bands, all are now gathered upon reservations. It is no longer possible for them to subsist by the chase and the spontaneous productions of the earth. With an abundance of land, if furnished with a means and implements for profitable husbandry, their life of entire dependence upon government rations from day to day is no longer defensible. Their inclination, long fostered by a defective system of control, is to cling to the habits and customs of their ancestors and struggle with persistence against the change of life which their altered circumstances press upon them. But barbarism and civilization cannot live together. It is impossible that such incongruous conditions should coexist on the same soil. They are a portion of our people, are under the authority of our government, and have a peculiar claim upon, and are entitled to, the fostering care and protection of the nation. The government cannot relieve itself of this responsibility until they are so far trained and civilized as to be able to wholly manage and care for themselves. The paths in which they should walk must be clearly marked out for them, and they must be led or guided until they are familiar with the way and competent to assume the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. Progress in this great work will continue only at the present slow pace and at great expense unless the system and methods of management are improved to meet the change conditions and urgent demands of the service. The agents, having general charge and supervision in many cases of more than 5,000 Indians scattered over large reservations and burdened with the details of accountability for funds and supplies, have time to look after the industrial training and improvement of a few Indians only. The many are neglected and remain idle and dependent, conditions not favorable for progress and civilization. The compensation allowed these agents, and the conditions of the service, are not calculated to secure for the work men who are fitted by ability and skill to properly plan and intelligently direct the methods best adopted to produce the most speedy results and permanent benefits. Hence the necessity for a supplemental agency or system directed to the end of promoting the general and more rapid transition of the tribes from habits and customs of barbarism to the ways of civilization. With an anxious desire to devise some plan of operation by which to secure the welfare of the Indians and to relieve the treasury as far as possible from the support of an idle and dependent population, I recommended in my previous annual message the passage of a law authorizing the appointment of a commission as an instrumentality auxiliary to those already established for the care of the Indians. It was designed that this commission should be composed of six intelligent and capable persons, three to be detailed from the army, having practical ideas upon the subject of the treatment of Indians and interested in their welfare, and that it should be charged under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior with a management of such affairs of detail as cannot, with a present organization, be properly and successfully conducted, and which present different phases as the Indian themselves differ in their progress, needs, disposition, and capacity for improvement or immediate self-support. By the aid of such a commission, much unwise and useless expenditure of money, waste of materials, and unavailing efforts might be avoided, and it is hoped that this or some measure which the wisdom of Congress may better devise to supply the deficiency of the present system may receive your consideration and the appropriate legislation be provided. The time is ripe for the work of such an agency. There is less opposition to the education and training of the Indian youth, as shown by the increased attendance upon the schools, and there is a yielding tendency for the individual holding of lands. Development and advancement in these directions are essential and should have every encouragement. As the rising generation are taught the language of civilization and trained in the habits of industry, they should assume that duties, privileges, and responsibilities of citizenship. No obstacle should hinder the location and settlement of any Indian willing to take land in severality. On the contrary, the inclination to do so should be stimulated at all times when proper and expedient. But there is no authority of law for making allotments on some of the reservations, and on others the allotments provided for are so small that the Indians, though ready and desiring to settle down, are not willing to accept such small areas when their reservations contain ample lands to afford them homesteads of sufficient size to meet their present and future needs. These inequalities of existing special laws and treaties should be corrected, and some general legislation on the subject should be provided so that the more progressive members of the different tribes may be settled upon their homesteads, and, by their example, lead others to follow, breaking away from tribal customs and substituting therefore the love of home, the interest of the family, and the rule of the state. The Indian character and nature are such that they are not easily led while brooding over unadjusted wrongs. This is especially so regarding their lands. Matters arising from the construction and operation of railroads across some of the reservations and claims of title and right of occupancy set up by white persons to some of the best land within other reservations require legislation for their final adjustment. The settlement of these matters will remove many embarrassments to progress in the work of leading the Indians to the adoption of our institutions and bringing them under the operation, the influence, and the protection of the universal laws of our country. The recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner 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 residents 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 reach of all the enterprising industries 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 residents 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 soil 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 underchanged conditions of communication and transportation, have been so evaded and violated that their benefit 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 cultivations, 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 affect the restoration of 2,790,000 acres additional, besides which 4 million acres have been withheld from reservation and the rights of entry thereon maintained. I recommend the repeal of the Preemption and Timber Culture Act, 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 5 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 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 enclose 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 hardy-hood of the pretenses by which in some cases such enclosures are justified are fully detailed in the report of the Secretary of the Interior. The removal of the fences still remaining which enclose 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 one million 18,735 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 and 57 cents. 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 saved 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 cannot 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 conceitably 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 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 9000 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% of these are pensioners, while of the entire number of men furnished for the late war, something like 20%, 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 scared 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 will claim, work in 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 a 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 a desire to indulge this feeling of consideration, I cannot 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 cannot 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, trademarks, 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, trademarks, designs, and labels, was 25,619, a number also quite largely in excess of that of any previous 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 endorsement of the person 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 a judge 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, not necessarily within the domain of federal regulation. I am of the opinion that this suggestion is worthy the intention of 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 pleuronemonia 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 entrusted to his care. The continued operation of the law relating to our civil service has added the most convincing proof 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 Cabell 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 impractical 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 guarantee 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 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 them in 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% 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% 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 therefore 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 safekeeping 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 legislatures 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. Section 7 of State of the Union Addresses, 1885-1888. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Elsie Selwyn, Grover Cleveland, December 6, 1887. To the Congress of the United States, you are confronted at the threshold of your legislative duties with the condition of 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 through the careful and economical maintenance of the government which protects him it is plain that the exaction of more than this is indefensible exhaustion and a culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice. This wrongly 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 in 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. This condition of our treasury is not altogether new and has more than once of late been submitted to the people's representatives in the congress who along can apply a remedy and yet the situation still continues with aggravated incidents more than ever presaging financial convulsion and widespread disaster. On the 30th day of June 1885 the excess of revenues over public expenditures after complying with the annual requirement of the Sinking Fund Act was $17,859,735.84. During the year ended June 30th, 1886 such excess amounted to $49,405,545.20 and during the year ended June 30th, 1887 it reached the sum of $55,567,849.54 The annual contributions to the Sinking Fund during the three years above specified amounting in the aggregate to $138,058,320.94 and deducted from the surplus as stated were made by calling in for that purpose outstanding 3% bonds of the government. During the six months prior to June 30th, 1887 the surplus revenue had grown so large by repeated accumulations and was feared the withdrawal of this great sum of money needed by the people would so affect the business of the country that the sum of $79,864,100 of such surplus was applied to the payment of the principal in interest of the 3% bonds still outstanding and which were then payable at the option of the government. The precarious condition of the financial affairs among the people still needing relief immediately after the 30th day of June 1887 the remainder of the 3% bonds then outstanding amounting with principal in interest to the sum of $18,877,500 were called in and applied to the Sinking Fund contribution for the current fiscal year. Notwithstanding these operations of the Treasury Department representations of distress in business circles not only continued but increased an absolute peril seemed at hand and these circumstances the contribution to the Sinking Fund for the current fiscal year was at once completed by the expenditure of $27,684,283.55. In the purchase of government bonds not yet due to bearing four and four and a half percent interest the premium paid there on averaging about 24% for the former and 8% for the latter. In addition to this the interest accruing during the current year upon the outstanding bonded indebtedness of the government was to some extent anticipated and banks selected as depositories of public money were permitted to somewhat increase their deposits. While the expedience thus employed to release to the people the money lying idle in the Treasury served to avert immediate danger our surplus revenues have continued to accumulate the excess for the present year amounting on the first day of December to $55,258,701.19 and estimated to reach the sum of $113 million on the 30th of June next at which dated is expected that this sum added to the prior accumulations will swell the surplus in the Treasury to $140 million. There seems to be no assurance that with such a withdrawal from the use of the people circulating medium our business community may not in the near future be subjected to the same distress which was quite lately produced from the same cause. And while the functions of our national Treasury should be few and simple and while it is best condition would be reached I believe by its entire disconnection with private business interests yet when by perversion of its purposes it idly holds money uselessly subtracted from the channels of trade there seems to be reason for the claim that some legitimate means should be devised by the government to restore an emergency without waste or extravagance such money to its place among the people. If such an emergency arises there now exists no clear and undoubted executive power of relief here to for the redemption of 3% bonds which were payable at the option of the government has afforded a means for the disbursement of the excess of our revenues but these bonds have all been retired and there are no bonds outstanding the payment of which we have a right to insist upon. The contribution to the sinking fund which furnishes the occasion for expenditure in the purchase of bonds has already been made for the current year so that there is no outlet in that direction. In the present state of legislation the only pretense of any existing executive power to restore at this time any part of our surplus revenues to the people by its expenditure consists in the supposition that the Secretary of Treasury may enter the market and purchase the bonds of the government not yet do at a rate of premium to be agreed upon. The only provision of law from which such a power could be derived is found in the appropriation bill passed a number of years ago and it is subject to the suspicion that it was intended as temporary and limited in its application instead of conferring a continuing discretion and authority. No condition on to exist which would justify the grant of power to a single official upon his judgment of its necessity to withhold from or release to the business of the people in an unusual manner money held on the treasury and thus affect at his will the financial situation in the country. And if it is deemed wise to lodge in the Secretary of Treasury the authority in the present juncture to purchase bonds it should be plainly vested and provided as far as possible with such checks and limitations as will define this official's right and discretion and at the same time relieve him from undue responsibility. And considering the question of purchasing bonds as a means of restoring to circulation the surplus money accumulating in the treasury it should be born in mind that premiums must of course be paid upon such purchase that there may be a large part of these bonds held as investments which cannot be purchased at any price and that combinations among holders who are willing to sell may unreasonably enhance the cost of such bonds to the government. It has been suggested that the present bonded debt might be refunded at a less rate of interest in the difference between the old and new security paid in cash thus finding use for the surplus in the treasury. The success of this plan it is apparent must depend upon the volition of the holders of the present bonds and it is not entirely certain that the inducement which must be offered them would result in more financial benefit to the government than the purchase of bonds while the latter proposition would reduce the principle of the debt by actual payment instead of extending it. The proposition to deposit the money held by the government and banks throughout the country for use by the people is it seems to me exceedingly objectionable in principle as establishing too close a relationship between the operations of the government treasury and the business of the country in too extensive a commingling of their money thus fostering an unnatural reliance in private business upon public funds. If this scheme should be adopted it should only be done as a temporary expedient to meet an urgent necessity. Legislative and executive effort should generally be in the opposite direction and should have a tendency to divorce as much and as fast as can be safely done the treasury department from private enterprise. Of course it is not expected that unnecessary and extravagant appropriations will be made for the purpose of avoiding the accumulation of an excess revenue. Such expenditure besides the demoralization of all just conceptions the public duty which it entails stimulates a habit of reckless and providence not in the least consistent with the mission of our people or the high and beneficial purposes of our government. I have deemed it my duty to thus bring to the knowledge of my countrymen as well to the attention of their representatives charged with the responsibility of legislative relief the gravity of our financial situation. The failure of the Congress here to for to provide against the dangers which was quite evident the very nature of the difficulty must necessarily produce caused a condition of financial distress and apprehension since your last adjournment which taxed to the utmost all the authority and expedience within executive control and thus appear not to be exhausted. If disaster results from the continued inaction of Congress the responsibility must rest where it belongs. Though the situation thus far considered is fraught with danger which should be fully realized and though it presents features of wrong to the people as well as peril to the country it is but a result growing out of a perfectly palpable and apparent cause constantly reproducing the same alarming circumstances a congested national treasury in a depleted monetary condition in the business of the country and need hardly be stated that while the present situation demands a remedy we can only be saved from a like predicament in the future by the removal of its cause. Our scheme of taxation by means of which this needless surplus is taken from the people and put into the public treasury consists of a tariff or duty levied upon importations from abroad in internal revenue taxes levied upon the consumption of tobacco, a spirit choice, and mock flickers. It must be conceded that none of the things subjected to internal revenue taxation are strictly speaking necessaries. There appears to be no just complaint of this taxation by the consumers of these articles and there seems to be nothing so well able to bear the burden without hardship to any portion of the people. But our present tariff laws, the vicious, inequitable, and illogical source of unnecessary taxation ought to be at once revised and amended. These laws, as their primary and plain effect, raise the price to consumers of all articles imported and subject to duty by precisely the sum paid for such duties. Thus the amount of the duty measures the tax paid by those who purchase for use these imported articles. Many of these things, however, are raised or manufactured in our own country and the duties now levied upon foreign goods and products are called protection to these home manufacturers because they render it possible for those of our people who are manufacturers to make these taxed articles and sell them for a price equal to that demanded for the imported goods that have paid customs duty. And so it happens that while comparatively, if you use the imported articles, millions of our people who never use and never saw any of the foreign products purchase and use things of the same kind made in this country and pay therefore nearly are quite the same enhanced price which the duty adds to the imported articles. Those who buy imports pay the duty charge thereon into the public treasury, but the great majority of our citizens who buy domestic articles of the same class pay a sum at least approximately equal to this duty to the home manufacturer. This reference to the operation of our tariff laws is not made by way of instruction, but in order that we may be constantly reminded of the manner in which they impose a burden upon those who consume domestic products as well as those who consume imported articles and thus create a tax upon our people. It is not proposed to entirely relieve the country of this taxation, it must be extensively continued as the source of the government's income. And in a readjustment of our tariff, the interests of American labor engaged in manufacturers should be carefully considered as well as the preservation of our manufacturers. It may be called protection or by any other name, but relief from the hardships and dangers of our present tariff laws should be devised with a special precaution against imperiling the existence of our manufacturing interests. But this existence should not mean a condition which, without regard to the public welfare or a national exceedency, must always ensure the realization of immense profits instead of moderately profitable returns. As the volume and diversity of our national activities increased, new recruits are added to those who desire a continuation of the advantages, which they can see the present system of tariff taxation directly affords them. So stubbornly have all efforts to reform the present condition been resisted by those of our fellow citizens thus engaged that they can hardly complain of the suspicion entertained to a certain extent that there exists an organized combination all along the line to maintain their advantage. We are in the midst of centennial celebrations and with becoming pride we rejoice in American's go and ingenuity, an American energy and enterprise, and in the wonderful natural advantages and resources developed by a century's national growth. Yet when an attempt is made to justify a scheme which permits a tax to be laid upon every consumer in the land for the benefit of our manufacturers, quite beyond a reasonable demand for governmental regard, it suits the purposes of advocacy to call our manufacturers infant industries still needing the highest and greatest degree of favor in fostering care that can be wrong from federal legislation. It is also said that the increase in the price of domestic manufacturers resulting from the present tariff is necessary in order that higher wages may be paid to our working men employed in manufacturers, then are paid for what is called the popper labor of Europe. All will acknowledge the force of an argument which involves the welfare and liberal compensation of our laboring people. Our labor is honorable in the eyes of every American citizen and as it lies with the foundation of our development and progress it is entitled without affectation or hypocrisy to the utmost regard. The standard of our laborer's life should not be measured by that of any other country less favored and they are entitled to their full share of all our advantages. By the last census it is made to appear that of the 17,392,099 of our population engaged in all kinds of industry, 7,67493 are employed in agriculture, 4,074,238 in professional and personal service, 2,934,876 of whom are domestic servants and laborers, while 1,810,256 are employed in trade and transportation and 3,837,112 are classed as employed in manufacturing and mining. For present purposes however the last number given should be considerably reduced. Without attempting to enumerate all it would be considered that there should be deducted from those which includes 375,143 carpenters and joiners, 285,401 milliners, dressmakers and seamstresses, 172,726 blacksmiths, 133,756 tailors and tailoresses, 102,473 masons, 76,241 butchers, 41,309 bakers, 22,083 plasterers and 4,891 engaged in manufacturing agricultural implements amounting in the aggregate to 1,214 and 23 leaving 2,623 and 84 persons employed in such manufacturing industries as are claimed to be benefited by a high tariff. To these the appeal is made to save their employment and maintain their wages by resisting a change. There should be no disposition to answer such suggestions by the allegation that they are a minority among those who labor and therefore should forego an advantage in the interest of low prices for the majority. Their compensation as it may be affected by the operation of tariff laws should at all times be scrupulously kept in view and yet with slight reflection they will not overlook the fact that they are consumers with the rest, that they too have their own wants and those of their families to supply from their earnings and that the price of the necessaries of life as well as the amount of their wages will regulate the measure of their welfare and comfort. But the reduction of taxation demanded should be so measured as not to necessitate or justify either the loss of employment by the working man or the lessening of his wages. And the profits still remaining to the manufacturer after a necessary readjustment should furnish no excuse for the sacrifice of the interests of his employees either in their opportunity to work or in the demunation of their compensation. Nor can the worker and manufacturers fail to understand that while a high tariff is claimed to be necessary to allow the payment of remunerative wages, it certainly results in a very large increase in the price of nearly all sorts of manufacturers which in almost countless forms he needs for the use of himself and his family. He receives at the desk of his employer his wages and perhaps before he reaches his home is obliged in a purpose for the family use of an article which embraces his own labor to return in the payment of the increase in price which the tariff permits the hard earned compensation of many days of toil. The farmer and the agricultureist, who manufacture nothing but who pay the increased price which the tariff imposes upon every agricultural implement, upon all he wears and upon all he uses and owns except the increase of his flocks and herds and such things as his husbandry produces from the soil, is invited to aid in maintaining the present situation. And he is told that a high duty out imported wool is necessary for the benefit of those who have sheep to shear in order that the price of their wool may be increased. They of course are not reminded that the farmer who has no sheep is by this scheme obliged in his purchases of clothing and wool and goods to pay a tribute to his fellow farmer as well as to the manufacturer and merchant. Nor is any mention made of the fact that the sheep owners themselves in their households must wear clothing and use other articles manufactured from the wool they sell at tariff prices. And thus, as consumers must return their share of this increased price to the tradesmen. I think it may be fairly assumed that a large proportion of the sheep owned by the farmers throughout the country are found in small flocks numbering from 25 to 50. The duty on the grade of imported wool which these sheep yield is 10 cents each pound if of the value of 30 cents or less than 12 cents if of the value of more than 30 cents. If the liberal estimate of 6 pounds be allowed for each fleece, the duty thereon would be 60 or 72 cents, and this may be taken as the utmost enhancement of its price to the farmer by reason of this duty. $18 would thus represent the increased price of the wool from 25 sheep in $36 that from the wool of 50 sheep, and at present values this addition would amount to about one-third of its price. If upon its sale the farmer receives this or less a tariff profit, the wool leaves his hands charged with precisely that sum, which in all its changes will adhere to it until it reaches the customer. When manufactured into cloth and other goods and material for use, its cost is not only increased to the extent of the farmer's tariff profit, but a further sum has been added for the benefit of the manufacturer upon the operation of other tariff laws. In the meantime, the day arrives when the farmer finds it necessary to purchase wool and goods and material to clothe himself and the family for the winter. When he faces the tradesmen for that purpose, he discovers that he is obliged not only to return in the way of increased prices, his tariff profit on the wool he sold, in which then perhaps lies before him in manufactured form, but that he must add a considerable sum there to meet a further increase in cost caused by a tariff duty on the manufacturer. Thus in the end he is aroused to the fact that he is paid upon a moderate purchase as a result of the tariff scheme, which when he sold his wool seemed so profitable, an increase in price more than sufficient to sweep away all the tariff profit he received upon the wool he produced and sold. When the number of farmers engaged in wool raising is compared with all the farmers in the country and the small proportion they bear to our population is considered, when it is made apparent that in the case of a large part of those who own the sheep, the benefit of the present tariff on the wool is illusory, and above all, when it must be conceded that the increase of the cost of living caused by such tariff becomes a burden upon those with moderate means in the poor, the employed and the unemployed, the sick and the well, and the young and the old, and that it constitutes attacks which would lead to an increase in profit. The effect with relentless grasp is fastened upon the clothing of every man, woman, and child in the land, reasons are suggested why the removal or reduction of this duty should be included in a revision of our tariff laws. In speaking of the increased cost to the consumer of our home manufacturers resulting from a duty laid upon imported article the same description, the fact does not ever look to that competition among our domestic producers sometimes has the effect of keeping the price of their products below the highest limit allowed by such duty, but it is notorious that this competition is too often strangled by combinations quite prevalent at this time, and frequently called trusts, which have for their object the regulation of the supply and price of commodities made and sold by members of the combination. The people can hardly hope for any consideration in the operation of these selfish schemes. If, however, in the absence of such combination, a healthy and free competition reduces the price of any particular dutyable article of home production below the limit, which it might otherwise reach under our tariff laws, and if with such reduced price its manufacturer continues to thrive, it is entirely evident that one thing has been discovered which should be carefully scrutinized in an effort to reduce taxation. The necessity of combination to maintain the price of any commodity to the tariff point furnishes proof that someone is willing to accept lower prices for such commodity, and that such prices are remunerative, and lower prices produced by competition prove the same thing, and that's where either of these conditions exist a case would seem to be presented for an easy reduction of taxation. The considerations which have been presented touching our tariff laws are intended only to enforce an earnest recommendation, that the surplus revenues of the government be prevented by the reduction of our customs duties, and at the same time to emphasize a suggestion that in accomplishing this purpose we may discharge a double duty toward people by granting to them a measure of relief from tariff taxation, and quarters where it is most needed, and from sources where it can be most fairly and justly accorded. Nor can the presentation made of such considerations be with any degree of fairness regarded as evidence of unfriendliness toward our manufacturing interests, or of any lack of appreciation of their value and importance. These interests constitute a leading and most substantial element of our national greatness and furnish the proud proof of our country's progress. But if in the emergency that presses upon us our manufacturers are asked to surrender something for the public good, into avert disaster their patriotism, as well as a grateful recognition of advantages already afforded, should lead them to willing cooperation. No demand is made that they shall forgo all the benefits of governmental regard, but they cannot fail to be admonished to their duty, as well as their enlightened self-interest and safety, when they are reminded of the fact that financial panic and collapse to which the present condition tends, afford no greater shelter or protection to our manufacturers than to other important enterprises. Opportunity for safe, careful, and deliberate reform is now offered, and none of us should be unmindful of a time when an abused and irritated people, heedless of those who have resisted timely and reasonable relief, may insist upon a radical and sweeping rectification of their wrongs. The difficulty attending a wise and fair revision of our tariff laws is not underestimated. It will require on the part of the Congress great labor and care, and especially a broad and national contemplation of the subject in a patriotic disregard for such local and selfish claims as are unreasonable and reckless of the welfare of the entire country. Under our present laws more than 4,000 articles are subject to duty. Many of these do not in any way compete with our other manufacturers, and many are hardly worth attention on subjects of revenue. A considerable reduction can be made in the aggregate by adding them to the free list. The taxation of luxuries presents no features of hardship, but the necessaries of life used and consumed by all the people, the duty upon which adds to the cost of living in every home, should be greatly cheapened. The radical reduction of the duties opposed upon raw material used in manufacturers, or its free importation is of course an important factor in any effort to reduce the price of these necessaries. It would not only relieve them from the increased cost caused by the tariff on such material, but the manufactured product being thus cheapened in that part of the tariff now laid upon such product as compensation to our manufacturers for the present price of raw material could be accordingly modified. Such reduction or free importation would serve besides to largely reduce the revenue. It is not apparent how such a change could have any injurious effect upon our manufacturers. On the contrary, it would appear to give them a better chance in foreign markets with the manufacturers of other countries who cheapen their wares by free material. Thus, our people might have the opportunity of extending their sales beyond the limits of home consumption, saving them from the depression, interruption in business and loss caused by a glutted domestic market and affording their employees more certain and steady labor with its resulting quiet and contentment. The question thus imperatively presented for solution should be approached in a spirit higher than partisanship and considered in the light of that regard for patriotic duty which should characterize the action of those entrusted with the wheel of a confiding people. But the obligation to declared party policy in principle is not wanting to urge prompt and effective action. Both of the great political parties now represented in the government have by repeated and authoritative declarations condemned the condition of our laws which permit the collection from the people of unnecessary revenue and have in the most solemn manner promised its correction. And neither citizens nor partisans are our countrymen in a mood to condone the deliberate violation of these pledges. Our progress toward a wide conclusion will not be improved by dwelling upon the theories of protection and free trade. This savers too much of bandying epithets. It is a condition which confronts us, not a theory. Relief from this condition may involve a slight reduction of the advantages which we award our home productions, but the entire withdrawal of such advantages should not be contemplated. The question of free trade is absolutely irrelevant, and the persistent claim made in certain quarters that all the efforts to relieve the people from unjust and unnecessary taxation are schemes of so-called free traders is mischievous and far removed from any consideration for the public good. This symbol on plain duty which we owe the people is to reduce taxation to the necessary expenses of an economical operation of the government and to restore to the business of the country the money which we hold in the treasury through the perversion of governmental powers. These things can and should be done with safety to all our industries, without danger to the opportunity for remunerative labour which our working men need and with benefit to them and all our people by cheapening their means of subsistence and increasing the measure of their comforts. The Constitution provides that the President shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union. It has been the custom of the executive and compliance of this provision to annually exhibit to the Congress at the opening of its session the general condition of the country and to detail with some particularity the operations of different executive departments. It would be especially agreeable to follow this course at the present time and call attention to the valuable accomplishments of these departments during the last fiscal year. But I am so much impressed with the paramount importance of the subject to which this communication has thus far been devoted that I shall forego the addition of any other topic and only urge upon your immediate consideration the State of the Union as shown in the present condition of our treasury and our general fiscal situation upon which every element of our safety and prosperity depends. Reports of the heads of departments which will be submitted contain full and explicit information touching the transaction that the business entrusted to them and such recommendations relating to legislation and the public interest as they deem advisable. I ask for these reports and recommendations to the deliberate examination and action of the legislative branch of the government. There are other subjects not embraced in the departmental reports demanding legislative consideration in which I should be glad to submit some of them however have been earnestly presented in previous messages and as to them I beg leave to repeat prior recommendations. As the law makes no provision for any report from the Department of State a brief history of the transactions of that important department together with other matters which it may hereafter be deemed essential to commend to the intention of the Congress may furnish the occasion for a future communication. End of section 7