 Section 11 of State of the Union Addresses, 1869 to 1876. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. State of the Union Address, Ulysses S. Grant, December 7, 1875, Part 2. Among the pressing and important subjects, to which in my opinion the attention of Congress should be directed, are those relating to fraudulent naturalization and expatriation. The United States, with great liberality, offers its citizenship to all who in good faith comply with the requirements of law. These requirements are as simple and upon as favorable terms to the emigrant as the high privilege to which he is admitted, can or should permit. I do not propose any additional requirements to those which the law now demands, but the very simplicity and the want of unnecessary formality in our law have made fraudulent naturalization not infrequent to the discredit and injury of all honest citizens, whether native or naturalized. Cases of this character are continually being brought to the notice of the government by our representatives abroad, and also those of persons resident in other countries, most frequently those who, if they have remained in this country long enough to entitle them to become naturalized, have generally not much overpassed that period, and have returned to the country of their origin where they reside, avoiding all duties to the United States by their absence, and claiming to be exempt from all duties to the country over their nativity and of their residence by reason of their alleged naturalization. It is due to this government itself, and to the great mass of the naturalized citizens who entirely, both in name and in fact, become citizens of the United States, that the high privilege of citizenship of the United States should not be held by fraud or in derogation of the laws and of the good name of every honest citizen. On many occasions it has been brought to the knowledge of the government that certificates of naturalization are held and protection or interference claimed by parties, who admit that not only they were not within the United States at the time of the pretended naturalization but that they have never resided in the United States. In others the certificate and record of the court show on their face that the person claiming to be naturalized had not resided the required time in the United States. In others it is admitted upon examination that the requirement of law have not been complied with. In some cases even such certificates have been matter of purchase. These are not isolated cases arising at rare intervals but of common occurrence and which are reported from all quarters of the globe. Such occurrences cannot and do not fail to reflect upon the government and injure all honest citizens. Such a fraud being discovered however there is no practicable means within the control of the government by which the record of naturalization can be vacated. And should the certificate be taken up as it usually is by the diplomatic and consular representatives of the government to whom it may be presented, there is nothing to prevent the person claiming to have been naturalized from obtaining a new certificate from the court in place of that which has been taken from him. The evil has become so great and of such frequent occurrence that I cannot too earnestly recommend that some effective measures be adopted to provide a proper remedy and means for the vacating of any record thus fraudulently made and of punishing the guilty parties to the transaction. In this connection I refer also to the question of expatriation and the election of nationality. The United States was foremost in upholding the right of expatriation and was principally instrumental in overthrowing the doctrine of perpetual allegiance. Congress has declared the right of expatriation to be a natural and inherent right of all people. But while many other nations have enacted laws, providing what formalities shall be necessary to work a change of allegiance, the United States has enacted no provisions of law and has in no respect marked out how and when expatriation may be accomplished by its citizens. Instances are brought to the attention of the government where citizens of the United States, either naturalized or native born, have formally become citizens or subjects of foreign powers, but who nevertheless in the absence of any provisions of legislation on this question, when involved in difficulties or when it seems to be their best interest claim to be the citizens of the United States and demand the intervention of a government which they have long since abandoned and to which for years they have rendered no service or held themselves in any way amenable. In other cases naturalized citizens immediately after naturalization have returned to their native country, have become engaged in business, have accepted offices or pursuits inconsistent with American citizenship and evidence no intent to return to the United States until called upon to discharge some duty to the country where they are residing. When at once they assert their citizenship and call upon the representatives of the government to aid them in their unjust pretensions. It is but justice to all bona fide citizens that no doubt should exist on such questions and that Congress should determine the enactment of law how expatriation may be accomplished and change of citizenship be established. I also invite your attention to the necessity of regulating by law the status of American women who may marry foreigners and of defining more fully that of children born in a foreign country of American parents who may reside abroad and also of some further provisions regulating or giving legal effect to marriages of American citizens contracted in foreign countries. The correspondence submitted herewith shows a few of the constantly occurring questions on these points presented to the consideration of the government. There are few subjects to engage the attention of Congress on which more delicate relations or more important interests are dependent. In the month of July last, the building erected for the Department of State was taken possession of and occupied by that department. I am happy to announce that the archives and valuable papers of the government in the custody of that department are now safely deposited and properly cared for. The report of the Secretary of the Treasury shows the receipts from customs for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874 to have been 163,133,833.69 and for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875 to have been 157,267,722.35, a decrease for the last fiscal year of 5,936,111.34. Receipts from internal revenue for the year ending June 30, 1874 were 102,409,784.90 and for the year ending June 30, 1875 110,74493.58, increase $7,597,708.68. The report also shows a complete history of the workings of the department for the last year and contains recommendations for reforms and for legislation which I concur in, but cannot comment on so fully as I should like to do if space would permit, but will confine myself to a few suggestions which I look upon as vital to the best interests of the whole people coming within the purview of Treasury. I mean, species resumption. Too much stress cannot be laid upon this question and I hope Congress may be induced at the earliest day practicable to ensure the consummation of the act of the last Congress at its last session to bring about species resumption on and after the first of January 1879 at furthest. It would be a great blessing if this could be consummated even at an earlier day. Nothing seems to me more certain than a full healthy and permanent reaction cannot take place in favor of the industries and financial welfare of the country until we return to a measure of values recognized throughout the civilized world. While we use a currency not equivalent to this standard, the world's recognized standard, species, becomes a commodity like the products of the soil, the surplus seeking a market, wherever there is a demand for it. Under our present system, we should want none, nor would we have any, where it not that customs dues must be paid in coin and because of the pledge to pay interest on the public debt in coin. The yield of precious metals would flow out for the purchase of foreign productions and the United States hewers of wood and drawers of water because of wiser legislation on the subject of finance by the nations with whom we have dealings. I am not prepared to say that I can suggest the best legislation to secure the end most heartily recommended. It will be a source of great gratification to me to be able to approve any measure of Congress looking effectively towards securing resumption. Unlimited inflation would probably bring about species payments more speedily than any legislation looking to redemption of the legal tenders in coin, but it would be at the expense of honor. The legal tenders would have no value beyond settling present liabilities or, properly speaking, repudiating them. They would buy nothing after debts were all settled. There are a few measures which seem to me important in this connection and which I commend to your earnest consideration. A repeal of so much of the legal tender. Act as makes these notes receivable for debts contracted after a date to be fixed in the act itself. Say, not later than the 1st of January 1877. We should then have quotations at real values, not fictitious ones. Gold will no longer be at a premium, but currency at a discount. A healthy reaction would set in at once and with it a desire to make the currency equal to what it purports to be. The merchants, manufacturers, and tradesmen of every calling could do business on a fair margin of profit, the money to be received having an unvarying value. Laborers and all classes who work for stipulated pay or salary would receive more for their income, because extra profits would no longer be charged by the capitalists to compensate for the risk of a downward fluctuation in the value of the currency. Second, that the Secretary of the Treasury be authorized to redeem, say, not to exceed $2 million monthly of legal tender notes by issuing in their stead a long bond. Bearing interest at the rate of 3.65% per annum of denominations ranging from $50 up to $1000 each. This would in time reduce the legal tender notes to a volume that could be kept afloat without demanding redemption in large sums suddenly. Third, that additional power be given to the Secretary of the Treasury to accumulate gold for final redemption, either by increasing revenue, curtailing expenses, or both. It is preferable to do both, and I recommend that reduction of expenditures be made wherever it can be done without impairing government obligations or crippling the due execution thereof. One measure for increasing the revenue, and the only one I think of, is the restoration of the duty on tea and coffee. These duties would add probably $18 million to the present amount received from imports and would in no way increase the prices paid for those articles by the consumers. These articles are the products of countries collecting revenue from exports, and as we, the largest consumers, reduce the duties they proportionately increase them. With this addition to the revenue, many duties now collected, and which give but an insignificant return for the cost of collection, might be remitted, and to the direct advantage of consumers at home. I would mention those articles which enter into manufacturers of all sorts. All duty paid upon such articles goes directly to the cost of the article when manufactured here and must be paid for by the consumers. These duties not only come from the consumers at home, but act as a protection to foreign manufacturers of the same completed articles in our own and distant markets. I will suggest or mention another subject bearing upon the problem of how to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to accumulate balances. It is to devise some better method of verifying claims against the government than at present exists, through the Court of Claims, especially those claims growing out of the late war. Nothing is more certain than that a very large percentage of the amounts passed and paid are either wholly fraudulent or are far in excess of the real losses sustained. The large amount of losses proven, on good testimony according to existing laws, by affidavits of fictitious or unscrupulous persons, to have been sustained on small farms and plantations are not only far beyond the possible yield of those places for any one year, but as everyone knows who has had experience in tilling the soil and who has visited the scenes of these spoilsations are in many instances more than the individual claimants ever were worth, including their personal and real estate. The report of the Attorney General, which will be submitted to Congress at an early day, will contain a detailed history of awards made and of claim pending on the class here referred to. The report of the Secretary of War accompanying this message gives a detailed account of Army operations for the year just passed, expenses for maintenance, etc., with recommendations for legislation to which I respectfully invite your attention. To some of these I invite special attention. First, the necessity of making $300,000 of the appropriation for the subsistence department available before the beginning of the next fiscal year. Without this provision, troops at points distant from supply production must either go without food or existing laws must be violated. It is not attended with cost to the Treasury. Second, his recommendation for the enactment of a system of annuities for the families of deceased officers by voluntary deductions from the monthly pay of officers. This again is not attended with burden upon the Treasury and would for the future relieve much distress which every old Army officer has witnessed in the past. Of officers dying suddenly or being killed leaving families without even the means of reaching their friends if fortunate enough to have friends to aid them. Third, the repeal of the law abolishing mileage and a return to the old system. Fourth, the trial with torpedoes under the Corps of Engineers and appropriation for the same. Should war ever occur between the United States and any maritime power torpedoes will be among if not the most effective and cheapest auxiliary for the defense of harbors and also in aggressive operations that we can have. Hence, it is advisable to learn by experiment their best construction and application as well as effect. Fifth, a permanent organization for the signal service Corps. This service has now become a necessity of peace as well as war under the advancement made by the present able management. Sixth, a renewal of the appropriation for compiling the official records of the war, etc. The condition of our Navy at this time is a subject of satisfaction. It does not contain, it is true, any of the powerful cruising iron clads which make so much of the maritime strength of some other nations. But neither our continental situation nor our foreign policy requires that we should have a large number of ships of this character while this situation and the nature of our ports combine to make those of other nations little dangerous to us under any circumstances. Our Navy does contain, however, a considerable number of iron clads of the monitor class which though not properly cruisers are powerful and effective for harbor defense and for operations near our own shores. Of these, all the single turreted ones, 15 in number, have been substantially rebuilt, their rotten wooden beams replaced with iron, their holes strengthened, and their engines and machinery thoroughly repaired, so that they are now in the most efficient condition and ready for sea as soon as they can be manned and put in commission. The five double turreted iron clads belonging to our Navy, by far the most powerful of our ships for fighting purposes, are also in hand undergoing complete repairs and could be ready for sea in periods varying from four to six months. With these completed, according to the present design, and our two iron torpedo boats now ready, our iron clad fleet will be, for the purposes of defense at home, equal to any force that can readily be brought against it. Of our wooden Navy, also cruisers of various sizes to the number of about 40, including those now in commission, are in the Atlantic and could be ready for duty as fast as men could be enlisted for those not already in commission. Of these, one third are in effect new ships, and though some of the remainder need considerable repairs to their boilers and machinery, they are all, or can readily be made, effective. This constitutes a fleet of more than 50 warships, of which 15 are iron clad, now in hand on the Atlantic coast. The Navy has been brought to this condition by a judicious and practical application of what could be spared from the current appropriations of the last few years, and from that made to meet the possible emergency of two years ago. It has been done quietly, without proclamation or display, and though it has necessarily straightened the department in its ordinary expenditure, and as far as the iron clads are concerned, has added nothing to the cruising force of the Navy. Yet the result is not the less satisfactory because it is to be found in a great increase of real rather than apparent force. The expenses incurred in the maintenance of an effective naval force in all its branches are necessarily large, but such force is essential to our position, relations and character, and affects seriously the weights of our principles and policy throughout the whole sphere of national responsibilities. The estimates for the regular support of this branch of the service for the next year amount to a little less in the aggregate than those made for the current year, but some additional appropriations are asked for objects not included in the ordinary maintenance of the Navy, but believed to be of pressing importance at this time. It would, in my opinion, be wise at once to afford sufficient means for the immediate completion of the five double-curreted monitors now undergoing repairs, which must otherwise advance slowly, and only as money can be spared from current expenses. Supplemented by these, our Navy, armed with the destructive weapons of modern warfare, manned by our seamen, and in charge of our instructed officers, will present a force powerful for the home purposes of a responsible, though peaceful, nation. The report of the Postmaster General, herewith transmitted, gives a full history of the workings of the department for the year just passed. It will be observed that the deficiency to be supplied from the General Treasury is increased over the amount required for the preceding year. In a country so vast an area as the United States, with large portions sparsely settled, it must be expected that this important service will be more or less a burden upon the Treasury for many years to come. But there is no branch of the public service which interests the whole people more than that of cheap and rapid transmission of the males to every inhabited part of our territory. Next to the free school. The Post Office is the great educator of the people, and it may well receive the support of the General Government. The subsidy of $150,000 per annum, given to vessels of the United States for carrying the males between New York and Rio de Janeiro, having ceased on the 30th day of September last, we are without direct mail facilities with the South American states. This is greatly to be regretted, and I do not hesitate to recommend the authorization of a renewal of that contract, and also that the service may be increased from monthly to semi-monthly trips. The commercial advantage is to be gained by a direct line of American steamers to the South American states will far outweigh the expense of the service. By act of Congress approved March 3, 1875, almost all matter, whether properly mail matter or not, may be sent any distance through the males in packages not exceeding for pounds and weight for the sum of 16 cents per pound. So far as the transmission of real mail matter goes, this would seem entirely proper, but I suggest that the law be so amended as to exclude from the males merchandise of all descriptions, and limit this transportation to articles enumerated and which must be classed as mail matter proper. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills, a portion of the Sioux Reservation, has had the effect to induce a large emigration of minors to that point. Thus far the effort to protect the treaty rights of the Indians to that section has been successful, but the next year will certainly witness a large increase of such emigration. The negotiations for the relinquishment of the gold fields having failed, it will be necessary for Congress to adopt some measures to relieve the embarrassment growing out of the causes named. The Secretary of the Interior suggests that the supplies now appropriated for the sustenance of that people, being no longer obligatory under the Treaty of 1868, but simply a gratuity, may be issued or withheld at his discretion. The condition of the Indian territory to which I have referred in several of my former annual messages remains practically unchanged. The Secretary of the Interior has taken measures to obtain a full report of the condition of that territory, and will make it the subject of a special report at an early day. It may then be necessary to make some further recommendation in regard to legislation for the government of that territory. The steady growth and increase of the business of the patent office indicates in some measure the progress of the industrial activity of the country. The receipts of the office are in excess of its expenditures, and the office generally is in a prosperous and satisfactory condition. The report of the General Land Office shows that there were 2,459,601 acres less disposed of during this than during the last year. More than one half of this decrease was in lands disposed of under the homestead and timber culture laws. The cause of this decrease is supposed to be found in the grasshopper scourge, and the droughts, which prevailed so extensively in some of the frontier states and territories during that time as to discourage and deter entries by actual settlers. The cash receipts were less by $690,322.23 than during the preceding year. The entire surveyed area of the public domain is 680,253,094 acres, of which 26,077,531 acres were surveyed during the past year, leaving $1,154,471,660. The report of the Commissioner presents many interesting suggestions in regard to the management and disposition of the public domain and the modification of existing laws, the apparent importance of which should ensure for them the careful consideration of Congress. The number of pensioners still continues to decrease, the highest number having been reached during the year ending June 30, 1873. During the last year, 11,557 names were added to the rolls and 12,977 were dropped therefrom, showing a net decrease of 1,420, but while the number of pensioners has decreased, the annual amount due on the pension rolls has increased $44,733.13. This is caused by the greatly increased average rate of pensions, which by the liberal legislation of Congress has increased from $90.26 in 1872 to $103.91 in 1875 to each invalid pensioner, an increase in the average rate of 15% in the three years. During the year ending June 30, 1875, there was paid on account of pensions, including the expenses of disbursement, $29,683,116, being $910,632 less than was paid the preceding year. This reduction in the amount of expenditures was produced by the decrease in the amount of arrearages due on allowed claims and on pensions, the rate of which was increased by the legislation of the preceding session of Congress. At the close of the last fiscal year, there were on the pension rolls 234,821 persons of whom 210,363 were army pensioners, 105,478 being invalids and 104,885 widows and dependent relatives. 3,420 were navy pensioners, of whom 1,636 were invalids and 1,784 widows and dependent relatives. 21,038 were pensioners of the War of 1812, 15,875 of whom were survivors, and 5,163 were widows. It is estimated that $29,535,000 will be required for the payment of pensions for the next fiscal year and amount $965,000 less than the estimate for the present year. The geological explorations have been prosecuted with energy during the year, covering an area of about 40,000 square miles in the territories of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, developing the agricultural and mineral resources and furnishing interesting scientific and topographical details of that region. The method for the treatment of the Indians adopted at the beginning of my first term has been steadily pursued and with satisfactory and encouraging results. It has been productive of evident improvement in the condition of that race and will be continued with only such modifications as further experience may indicate to be necessary. The Board here too fore appointed to take charge of the articles and materials pertaining to the war, the Navy, the Treasury, the Interior and the Post Office Departments and the Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian Institution and the Commission of Food Fishes, to be contributed under the legislation of the last session to the International Exhibition to be held at Philadelphia during the centennial year 1876, has been diligent in the discharge of the duties which have devolved upon it, and the preparations so far made with the means that command give assurance that the governmental contribution will be made one of the market characteristics of the exhibition. The Board has observed commendable economy in the matter of the erection of a building for the governmental exhibit, the expense of which it is estimated will not exceed, say, $80,000. This amount has been withdrawn under the law from the appropriations of five of the principal departments, which leaves some of those departments without sufficient means to render their respective practical exhibits complete and satisfactory. The exhibition being an international one, and the government being a voluntary contributor, it is my opinion that its contribution should be of a character in quality and extent to sustain the dignity and credit of so distinguished a contributor. The advantages to the country of a creditable display are in an international point of view of the first importance, while indifferent or uncreditable participation by the government would be humiliating to the patriotic feelings of our people themselves. I commend the estimates of the Board for the necessary additional appropriations to the favorable consideration of Congress. The powers of Europe, almost without exception, many of the South American states and even the more distant Eastern powers, have manifested their friendly sentiments toward the United States, and the interest of the world in our progress by taking steps to join with us in celebrating the centennial of the nation, and I strongly recommend that a more national importance be given to this exhibition by such legislation and by such appropriation as will ensure its success. Its value in bringing to our shores innumerable useful works of art and skill, the commingling of the citizens of foreign countries and our own, and the interchange of ideas and manufacturers will far exceed any pecuniary outlay we may make. I transmit herewith the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, together with the reports of the commissioners, the Board of Audit, and the Board of Health of the District of Columbia, to all of which I invite your attention. The Bureau of Agriculture has accomplished much in disseminating useful knowledge to the agriculturalist, and also in introducing new and useful productions adapted to our soil and climate, and is worthy of the continued encouragement of the government. The report of the Commissioner of Education, which accompanies the report of the Secretary of the Interior, shows a gratifying progress in educational matters. In nearly every annual message that I have had the honor of transmitting to Congress, I have called attention to the anomalous, not to say scandalous condition of affairs, existing in the territory of Utah, and have asked for definite legislation to correct it. That polygamy should exist in a free, enlightened, and Christian country without the power to punish so flagrant a crime against decency and morality seems preposterous. True, there is no law to sustain this unnatural vice, but what is needed is a law to punish it as a crime, and at the same time to fix the status of the innocent children, the offspring of this system, and of the possibly innocent plural wives. But as an institution, polygamy should be banished from the land. While this is being done, I invite the attention of Congress to another, though perhaps no less an evil, the importation of Chinese women, but few of whom are brought to our shores to pursue honorable or useful occupations. Observations while visiting the territories of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado during the past autumn convinced me that existing laws, regulating the disposition of public lands, timber, etc., and probably the mining laws themselves are very defective and should be carefully amended at an early day. Territory where cultivation of the soil can only be followed by irrigation, and where irrigation is not practicable, the lands can only be used as pastures, and this only where stock can reach water to quench its thirst. Cannot be governed by the same laws as to entries as lands every acre of which is an independent estate by itself. Land must be held in larger quantities to justify the expense of conducting water upon it to make it fruitful, or to justify utilizing it as a pasture. The timber in most of the territories is principally confined to the mountain regions, which are held for entry in small quantities only, and as mineral lands. The timber is the property of the United States, for the disposal of which there is now no adequate law. The settler must become a consumer of this timber, whether he lives upon the plain or engages in working the mines. Hence, every man becomes either a trespasser himself or knowingly a patron of trespassers. My opportunities for observation were not sufficient to justify me in recommending specific legislation on these subjects. But I do recommend that a joint committee of the two Houses of Congress, sufficiently large to be divided into subcommittees, be organized to visit all the mining states and territories during the coming summer, and that the committee shall report to Congress at the next session such laws or amendments to laws as it may deem necessary to secure the best interests of the government and the people of these territories who are doing so much for their development. I am sure the citizens occupying the territory described do not wish to be trespassers, nor will they be if legal ways are provided for them to become owners of these actual necessities of their position. As this will be the last annual message which I shall have the honor of transmitting to Congress before my successor is chosen, I will repeat or recapitulate the questions which I deem of vital importance which may be legislated upon and settled at this session. First, that the states shall be required to afford the opportunity of a good common school education to every child within their limits. Second, no sectarian tenets shall ever be taught in any school supported in whole or in part by the state, nation, or by the proceeds of any tax levied upon any community. Make education compulsory, so far as to deprive all persons who cannot read and write from becoming voters after the year 1890. Disenfranchising none, however, on grounds of illiteracy who may be voters at the time this amendment takes effect. Third, declare church and state forever separate and distinct, but each free within their proper spheres, and that all church property shall bear its own proportion of taxation. Fourth, drive out licensed immortality, such as polygamy and the importation of women for illegitimate purposes. To weaker again to the centennial year, it was seen as though now as we are about to begin the second century of our national existence would be a most fitting time for these reforms. Fifth, enact such laws as will ensure a speedy return to a sound currency, such as will command the respect of the world. Believing that these views will commend themselves to the great majority of the right thinking and patriotic citizens of the United States, I submit the rest to Congress. U.S. Grant December 7 1875 Section 12 of State of the Union Addresses 1869-1876 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. State of the Union Address Ulysses S. Grant December 5 1876 To the Senate and House of Representatives In submitting my eighth and last annual message to Congress, it seems proper that I should refer to and in some degree recapitulate the events and official acts of the past eight years. It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training. From the age of seventeen I had never even witnessed the excitement attending a presidential campaign but twice, antecedent to my own candidacy, and at but one of them I was eligible as a voter. Under such circumstances it is but reasonable to suppose that errors of judgment must have occurred. Even had they not, differences of opinion between the executive, bound by an oath to the strict performance of his duties, and writers and debaters, must have arisen. It is not necessarily evidence of blunder on the part of the executive because there are these differences of views. Mistakes have been made, as all can see, and I admit, but it seems to me, often earned the selections made of the assistance appointed to aid in carrying out the various duties of administering the government in nearly every case. Selected without a personal acquaintance with the appointee but upon recommendations of the representatives chosen directly by the people. It is impossible, where so many trusts are to be allocated, that the right parties should be chosen in every instance. History shows that no administration from the time of Washington to the present has been free from these mistakes. But I leave comparisons to history, claiming only that I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, within the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent. My civil career commenced too at a most critical and difficult time. Less than four years before, the country had emerged from a conflict such as no other nation had ever survived. Nearly one half of the states had revolted against the government, and of those remaining faithful to the Union, a large percentage of the population sympathized with the rebellion and made an enemy in the rear. Almost as dangerous as the more honorable enemy in the front. The latter committed errors of judgment, but they maintained them openly and courageously. The former received the protection of the government they would see destroyed and reaped all the pecuniary advantage to be gained out of the then existing state of affairs. Many of them by obtaining contracts and by swindling the government in the delivery of their goods. Immediately on the cessation of the hostilities, the then noble president who carried the country so far through its perils fell a martyr to his patriotism at the hands of an assassin. The intervening time to my first inauguration was filled up with wranglings between Congress and the new executive as to the best mode of reconstruction. Or to speak plainly as to whether the control of the government should be thrown immediately into the hands of those who had so recently and persistently tried to destroy it, or whether the victors should continue to have an equal voice with them in this control. Reconstruction as finally agreed upon means this and only this, except that the late slave was enfranchised, giving an increase, as was supposed, to the union loving and union supporting votes. If free in the full sense of the word they would not disappoint this expectation. Hence at the beginning of my first administration the work of reconstruction, much embarrassed by the long delay, virtually commenced. It was the work of the legislative branch of the government. My province was wholly in approving their acts, which I did most heartily, urging the legislatures of states that had not yet done so to ratify the 15th amendment to the Constitution. The country was laboring under an enormous debt contracted in the suppression of rebellion and taxation was so oppressive as to discourage production. Another danger also threatened us a foreign war. The last difficulty had to be adjusted and was adjusted without a war, and in a manner highly honorable to all parties concerned. Taxes have been reduced within the last seven years, nearly $300 million, and the national debt has been reduced in the same time over $435 million. By refunding the 6% bonded debt for bonds bearing 5 and 4.5% interest respectively, the annual interest has been reduced from over $130 million in 1869 to but little over $100 million in 1876. The balance of trade has been changed from over $130 million against the United States in 1869 to more than $120 million in our favor in 1876. It is confidently believed that the balance of trade in favor of the United States will increase, not diminish, and that the pledge of Congress to resume specie payments in 1879 will be easily accomplished even in the absence of much desired further legislation on the subject. A policy has been adopted toward the Indian tribes, inhabiting a large portion of the territory of the United States which has been humane, and has substantially ended Indian hostilities in the whole land, except in a portion of Nebraska, and Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana territories, the Black Hills region, and approaches there too. Hostilities there have grown out of the avarice of the white man who has violated our treaty stipulations in his search for gold. The question might be asked why the government has not enforced obedience to the terms of the treaty prohibiting the occupation of the Black Hills region by whites. The answer is simple. The first immigrants to the Black Hills were removed by troops, but rumors of rich discoveries of gold took into that region increased numbers. Gold has actually been found in paying quantity, and an effort to remove the miners would only result in the desertion of the bulk of the troops that might be sent there to remove them. All difficulty in this matter has however been removed subject to the approval of Congress by a treaty ceding the Black Hills and approaches to settlement by citizens. The subject of Indian policy and treatment is so fully set forth by the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and my views so fully expressed therein that I refer to their reports and recommendations as my own. The relations of the United States with foreign powers continue on a friendly footing. Questions have arisen from time to time in the foreign relations of the government, but the United States have been happily free during the past year from the complications and embarrassments which have surrounded some of the foreign powers. The diplomatic correspondence submitted herewith contains information as to certain of the matters which have occupied the government. The cordiality which attends our relations with the powers of the earth has been plainly shown by the general participation of foreign nations in the exhibition which has just closed and by the exertions made by distant powers to show their interest in and friendly feelings toward the United States in the commemoration of the centennial of the nation. The government and the people of the United States have not only fully appreciated this exhibition of kindly feeling, but it may be justly and fairly expected that no small benefits will result both to ourselves and other nations from a better acquaintance, and a better appreciation of our mutual advantages and mutual wants. Congress, at its last session, saw fit to reduce the amount usually appropriated for foreign intercourse by withholding appropriations for representatives of the United States in certain foreign countries and for certain consular officers, and by reducing the amounts usually appropriated for certain other diplomatic posts, and thus necessitating a change in the grade of the representatives. For these reasons, immediately upon the passage of the bill, making appropriations for the diplomatic and consular service for the present fiscal year, instructions were issued to the representatives of the United States at Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, and to the consular officers for whom no appropriation has been made to close their respective legations and consulates, and seize from the performance of their duties, and in like manner, steps were immediately taken to substitute charged affairs for ministers resident in Portugal, Denmark, Greece, Switzerland and Paraguay. While thoroughly impressed with the wisdom of sound economy in the foreign service, as in other branches of the government, I cannot escape the conclusion that in some instances the withholding of appropriations will prove an expensive economy, and that the small retrenchment secured by a change of grade in certain diplomatic posts is not an adequate consideration for the loss of influence and importance which will attend our foreign representatives under this reduction. I am of the opinion that a re-examination of the subject will cause a change in some instances in the conclusions reached on these subjects at the last session of Congress. The Court of Commissioners of Alabama claims whose functions were continued by an act of the last session of Congress until the first day of January 1877 has carried on its laborers with diligence and general satisfaction. By a report from the clerk of the Court transmitted herewith, bearing date November 14, 1876, it appears that within the time now allowed by law the Court will have disposed of all the claims presented for adjudication. This report also contains a statement of the general results of the laborers of the Court to the date thereof. It is a cause of satisfaction that the method adopted for the satisfaction of the classes of claims submitted to the Court, which are of long standing and justly entitled to early consideration, should have proved successful and acceptable. It is with satisfaction that I am enabled to state that the work of the Joint Commission for determining the boundary line between the United States and British possessions from the northwest angle of the lake of the woods to the Rocky Mountains commenced in 1872 has been completed. The final agreements of the commissioners with the maps have been duly signed and the work of the commission is complete. The fixing of the boundary upon the Pacific Coast by the protocol of March 10, 1873, pursuant to the award of the Emperor of Germany by Article 34 of the Treaty of Washington, with the termination of the work of this commission, adjusts and fixes the entire boundary between the United States and the British possessions except as to the portion of territory ceded by Russia to the United States under the Treaty of 1867. The work entrusted to the commissioner and the officers of the army attached to the commission has been well and satisfactorily performed. The original of the final agreement of the commissioners signed upon the 29th of May 1876 with the original official lists of astronomical stations observed. The original official lists of monuments marking the international boundary line and the maps, records and general reports relating to the commission have been deposited in the Department of State. The official report of the commissioner on the part of the United States with the report of the chief astronomer of the United States will be submitted to Congress within a short time. I reserve for a separate communication to Congress, a statement of the condition of the questions which lately arose with Great Britain, respecting the surrender of fugitive criminals under the Treaty of 1842. The Ottoman government gave notice under date of January 15, 1874 of its desire to terminate the Treaty of 1862 concerning commerce and navigation pursuant to the provisions of the 22nd article thereof. Under this notice the treaty terminated upon the 5th day of June 1876. That government has invited negotiations toward the conclusion of a new treaty. By the act of Congress of March 23, 1874, the President was authorized when he should receive satisfactory information that the Ottoman government, or that of Egypt, had organized new tribunals likely to secure to citizens of the United States the same impartial justice enjoyed under the exercise of judicial functions by diplomatic and consular officers of the United States to suspend the operation of the act of June 22, 1860, and to accept for citizens of the United States the jurisdiction of the new tribunals. Satisfactory information having been received of the organization of such new tribunals in Egypt, I caused a proclamation to be issued upon the 27th of March last, suspending the operation of the act of June 22, 1860 in Egypt according to the provisions of the act. A copy of the proclamation accompanies this message. The United States has united with other powers in the organization of these courts. It is hoped that the jurisdictional questions which have arisen may be readily adjusted, that this advance in judicial reform may be hindered by no obstacles. The necessary legislation to carry into effect the convention respecting commercial reciprocity concluded with the Hawaiian Islands in 1875, having been had the proclamation to carry into effect the convention as provided by the act approved August 15, 1876 was duly issued upon the 9th day of September last. A copy thereof accompanies this message. The commotions which have been prevalent in Mexico for some time past, and which unhappily seem to be not yet wholly quieted, have led to complaints of citizens of the United States of injuries by persons in authority. It is hoped, however, that these will ultimately be adjusted to the satisfaction of both governments. The frontier of the United States in that quarter has not been exempt from acts of violence by citizens of one republic or those of the other. The frequency of these is supposed to be increased, and their adjustment made more difficult by the considerable changes in the course of the lower part of the Rio Grande River, which river is a part of the boundary between the two countries. These changes have placed on either side of that river portions of land which by existing conventions belong to the jurisdiction of the government on the opposite side of the river. The subject of adjustment of this cause of difficulty is under consideration between the two republics. The government of the United States of Colombia has paid the award in the case of the steamer Montijo, seized by authorities of that government some years since, and the amount has been transferred to the claimants. It is with satisfaction that I am able to announce that the Joint Commission for the Adjustment of Claims between the United States and Mexico under the Convention of 1868, the duration of which has been several times extended, has brought its labors to a close. From the report of the agent of the United States, which accompanies the paper transmitted herewith, it will be seen that within the time limited by the commission, 1,017 claims on the part of the citizens of the United States against Mexico were referred to the commission. Of these claims, 831 were dismissed or disallowed, and in 186 cases, awards were made in favor of the claimants against the Mexican Republic, amounting in the aggregate to $4,125,622.20. Within the same period, 998 claims on the part of the citizens of the Mexican Republic against the United States were referred to the commission. Of these claims, 831 were dismissed or disallowed, and in 167 cases, awards were made in favor of the claimants against the United States, amounting in the aggregate to $150,498.41. By the terms of the convention, the amount of these awards is to be deducted from the amount awarded in favor of our citizens against Mexico and the balance only to be paid by Mexico to the United States, leaving the United States to make provisions for this proportion of the awards in favor of its own citizens. I invite your attention to the legislation which will be necessary to provide for the payment. In this connection I am pleased to be able to express the acknowledgments due to Sir Edward Thornton, the umpire of the commission, who has given to the consideration of the large number of claims submitted to him much time, unwearyed patience, and the firmness and intelligence which are well known to belong to the accomplished representative of Great Britain, and which are likewise recognized by the representative in this country of the Republic of Mexico. Monthly payments of a very small part, on the amount due by the government of Venezuela to citizens of the United States on account of claims of the latter against the government, continued to be made with reasonable punctuality. The government has proposed to change the system which it has hitherto pursued in this respect by issuing bonds for part of the amount of the several claims. The proposition, however, could not, it is supposed, properly be accepted, at least without the consent of the holders of certificates of the indebtedness of Venezuela. These are so much dispersed that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain their disposition on the subject. In former messages I have called the attention of Congress to the necessity of legislation with regard to fraudulent naturalization, to the subject of expatriation and the election of nationality. The numbers of persons of foreign birth seeking a home in the United States, the ease and facility with which the honest emigrant may, after the lapse of a reasonable time, become possessed of all the privileges of citizenship of the United States, and the frequent occasions which induce such adopted citizens to return to the country of their birth, render the subject of naturalization and the safeguards which experience has proved necessary for the protection of the honest naturalized citizen of paramount importance. The very simplicity in the requirements of law on this question affords opportunity for fraud, and the want of uniformity in the proceedings and records of the various courts and in the forms of the certificates of naturalization issued affords a constant source of difficulty. I suggest no additional requirements to the acquisition of citizenship beyond those now existing, but I invite the earnest attention of Congress to the necessity and wisdom of some provisions regarding uniformity in the records and certificates and providing against the frauds which frequently take place, and for the vacating of a record of naturalization obtained in fraud. These provisions are needed, in aid and for the protection of the honest citizen of foreign birth, and for the want of which he is made to suffer not infrequently. The United States has insisted upon the right of expatriation and has obtained after a long struggle an admission of the principle contended for by acquiescence therein on the part of many foreign powers and by the conclusion of treaties on that subject. It is however but justice to the government, to which such naturalized citizens have formally owed allegiance, as well as to the United States, that certain fixed and definite rules should be adopted governing such cases and providing how expatriation may be accomplished. While emigrants in large numbers become citizens of the United States, it is also true that persons both nativeborn and naturalized, once citizens of the United States, either by formal acts or as the effect of a series of facts and circumstances abandon their citizenship and cease to be entitled to the protection of the United States, but continue on convenient occasions to assert a claim to protection in the absence of provisions on these questions. And in this connection I again invite your attention to the necessity of legislation concerning the marriages of American citizens contracted abroad and concerning the status of American women who may marry foreigners and have children born of American parents in a foreign country. The delicate and complicated questions continually occurring with reference to naturalization, expatriation and the status of such persons, as I have above referred to, induce me to earnestly direct your attention again to these subjects. In like manner, I repeat my recommendation that some means be provided for the hearing and determination of the just and subsisting claims of aliens upon the government of the United States within a reasonable limitation, and of such as may hereafter arise. While by existing provisions of law, the court of claims may in certain cases be resorted to by an alien claimant, the absence of any general provisions governing all such cases, and the want of a tribunal skilled in the disposition of such cases upon recognized, fixed and settled principles, either provides no remedy in many deserving cases or compels a consideration of such claims by Congress, or the executive department of the government. It is believed that other governments are in advance of the United States upon this question, and that the practice now adopted is entirely unsatisfactory. Congress, by an act approved the third day of March 1875, authorized the inhabitants of the territory of Colorado to form a state government with the name of the state of Colorado, and therein provided for the admission of said state when formed into the Union upon an equal footing with the original states. A constitution having been adopted and ratified by the people of that state, and the acting governor having certified to me the facts as provided by said act, together with a copy of such constitution and ordinances as provided for in the said act, and the provisions of the said act of Congress having been duly complied with, I issued a proclamation upon the first of August 1876, a copy of which is here to annexed. The report of the Secretary of War shows that the Army has been actively employed during the year, in subduing, at the request of the Indian Bureau, certain wild bans of the Sue Indian Nation, and in preserving the peace at the south during the election. The commission constituted under the act of July 24, 1876, to consider and report on the whole subject of the reform and reorganization of the Army, met in August last, and has collected a large mass of statistics and opinions bearing on the subject before it. These are now under consideration, and their report is progressing. I am advised, though, by the President of the Commission, that it will be impracticable to comply with the clause of the act requiring the report to be presented through me to Congress on the first day of this session, as there has not yet been time for that mature deliberation which the importance of the subject demands. Therefore I ask that the time of making the report be extended to the 29th day of January 1877. In accordance with the resolution of August 15, 1876, the Army regulations prepared under the act of March 1st, 1875, have not been promulgated, but are held until after the report of the above mentioned commission shall have been received and acted on. By the act of August 15, 1876, the cavalry force of the Army was increased by 2,500 men with the proviso that they should be discharged on the expiration of hostilities. Under this authority the cavalry regiments have been strengthened and a portion of them are now in the field pursuing the remnants of the Indians with whom they have been engaged during the summer. The estimates of the War Department are made up on the basis of the number of men authorized by law, and their requirements is shown by years of experience, and also with the purpose on the part of the Bureau officers to provide for all contingencies that may arise during the time for which the estimates are made. Exclusive of engineer estimates, presented in accordance with acts of Congress, calling for surveys and estimates for improvements of various localities. The estimates now presented are about 6 millions in excess of the appropriations for the years 1874-75 and 1875-76. This increase is asked in order to provide for the increased cavalry force, should their services be necessary, to prosecute economically work upon important public buildings, to provide for armament or fortifications and manufacture of small arms and to replenish the working stock in the supply departments. The appropriations for these last named have for the past few years been so limited that the accumulations in store will be entirely exhausted during the present year, and it will be necessary to at once begin to replenish them. I invite your special attention to the following recommendations of the Secretary of War. First, that the claims under the Act of July 4, 1864, for supplies taken by the Army during the war, be removed from the offices of the quartermaster and commissary generals and transferred to the Southern Claims Commission. These claims are of precisely similar nature to those now before the Southern Claims Commission and the War Department bureaus have not the clerical force for their examination nor proper machinery for investigating the loyalty of the claimants. Second, that Congress sanctioned the scheme of an annuity fund for the benefit of the families of deceased officers and that it also provide for the permanent organization of the signal service, both of which were recommended in my last annual message. Third, that the manufacturing operations of the Ordinance Department be concentrated at three arsenals and an armory, and that the remaining arsenals be sold and the proceeds applied to this object by the Ordinance Department. The appropriations for river and harbor improvements for the current year were five million fifteen thousand dollars. With my approval the Secretary of War directed that of this amount two million dollars should be expended and no new works should be gone and none prosecuted which were not of national importance. Subsequently this amount was increased to two million two hundred and thirty seven thousand six hundred dollars and the works are now progressing on this basis. The improvement of the south pass of the Mississippi River under James B. Eads and his associates is progressing favorably. At the present time there is a channel of twenty point three feet in depth between the jetties at the mouth of the pass and eighteen point five feet at the head of the pass. Neither channel however has the width required before payments can be made by the United States. The commission of engineer officers is now examining these works and their reports will be presented as soon as received. The report of the Secretary of the Navy shows that branch of the service to be in condition as effective as it is possible to keep it with the means and authority given the department. It is of course not possible to rival the costly and progressive establishments of great European powers with the old material of our Navy to which no increase has been authorized since the war except the eight small cruisers built to supply the place of others which had gone to decay. Yet the most has been done that was possible with the means at command and by substantially rebuilding some of our old ships with durable material and completely repairing and refitting our monitor fleet. The Navy has gradually so brought up that though it does not maintain its relative position among the progressive navies of the world. It is now in a condition more powerful and effective than it ever has been in time of peace. The complete repairs of our five heavy iron clads are only delayed on account of the inadequacy of the appropriations made last year for the working bureaus of the department which were actually less in amount than those made before the war. They are not withstanding the greatly enhanced price of labor and materials and the increase in the cost of the naval service growing out of the universal use and great expense of steam machinery. The money necessary for these repairs should be provided at once that they may be completed without further unnecessary delay and expense. When this is done, all the strength that there is in our Navy will be developed and useful to its full capacity and it will be powerful for purposes of defense and also for offensive action should the necessity for that arise within a reasonable distance from our shores. The fact that our Navy is not more modern and more powerful than it is has been made a cause of complaint against the Secretary of the Navy by persons who at the same time criticize and complain of his endeavors to bring the Navy that we have to its best and most efficient condition. But the good sense of the country will understand that it is really due to his practical action that we have at this time any effective naval force at command. The report of the Postmaster General shows the excess of expenditures, excluding expenditures on account of previous years, over receipts for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1876 to be $4,151,988.66. Estimated expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878 are $36,723,432.43. Estimated revenue for same period is $30,645,165, leaving estimated excess of expenditure to be appropriated as a deficiency of $6,078,267.43. The Postmaster General, like his predecessor, is convinced that a change in the basis of adjusting the salaries of Postmasters of the fourth class is necessary for the good of the service, as well as for the interests of the government, and urgently recommends that the compensation of the class of Postmasters above mentioned be based upon the business of their respective offices, as ascertained from the sworn returns to the auditor of stamps cancelled. A few Postmasters in the southern states have expressed great apprehension of their personal safety on account of their connection with the Postal Service, and have specially requested that their reports of apprehended danger should not be made public lest it should result in the loss of their lives. But no positive testimony of interference has been submitted, except in the case of a male messenger at Spartanburg in South Carolina, who reported that he had been violently driven away while in charge of the males on account of his political affiliations. An assistant superintendent of the Railway Male Service investigated this case, and reported that the messenger had disappeared from his post, leaving his work to be performed by a substitute. The Postmaster General thinks this case is sufficiently suggestive to justify him in recommending that a more severe punishment should be provided for the offense of assaulting any person in charge of the males or of retarding or otherwise obstructing them by threats of personal injury. A very gratifying result is presented in the fact that the deficiency of this department during the last fiscal year was reduced to $4,081,790.18 as against $6,169,938.88 of the preceding year. The difference can be traced to the large increase in its ordinary receipts, which greatly exceed the estimates therefore, and a slight decrease in its expenditures. The ordinary receipts of the Post Office Department for the past seven fiscal years have increased at an average of over 8% per annum, while the increase of expenditures for the same period has been but about 5.50% per annum, and the decrease of deficiency in the revenues has been at the rate of nearly 2% per annum. The report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, accompanying this message, will be found one of great interest, marking as it does the great progress of the last century in the variety of products of the soil, increased knowledge and skill in the labor of producing, saving, and manipulating the same to prepare them for the use of man, in the improvements in machinery to aid the agriculturalist in his labors, and in the knowledge of those scientific subjects necessary to a thorough system of economy in agricultural production, namely chemistry, botany, entomology, etc. A study of this report by those interested in agriculture, and deriving their support from it, will find it of value in pointing out those articles which are raised in greater quantity than the needs of the world require, and must sell therefore for less than the cost of production, and those which command a profit over cost of production because there is not an overproduction. I call special attention to the need of the department for a new gallery, for the reception of the exhibits returned from the Centennial Exhibition, including the exhibits donated by very many foreign nations, and to the recommendations of the Commissioner of Agriculture generally. The reports of the District Commissioners and the Board of Health are just received, too late to read them and to make recommendations thereon, and are herewith submitted. The International Exhibition held in Philadelphia this year, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of American independence, has proven a great success, and will no doubt be of enduring advantage to the country. It has shown great progress in the arts, sciences, and mechanical skill made in a single century, and demonstrated that we are but little behind all donations in any one branch, while in some we scarcely have a rival. It has served to, not only to bring peoples and products of skill and labour from all parts of the world together, but in bringing together people from all sections of our own country, which must prove a great benefit in the information imparted and pride of country engendered. It has been suggested by scientists interested in and connected with the Smithsonian Institution in a communication herewith that the government exhibit be removed to the capital, and a suitable building be erected or purchased for its accommodation as a permanent exhibit. I earnestly recommend this, and believing that Congress would second this view, I directed that all government exhibits at the Centennial Exhibition should remain where they are, except such as might be injured by remaining in a building not intended as a protection in inclement weather, or such as may be wanted by the department furnishing them until the question of permanent exhibition is acted on. Although the monies appropriated by Congress to enable the participation of the several executive departments in the International Exhibition of 1876 were not sufficient to carry out the undertaking to the full extent at first contemplated, it gives me pleasure to refer to the very efficient and creditable manner in which the board appointed from these several departments to provide an exhibition on the part of the government have discharged their duties with the funds placed at their command. Without a precedent to guide them in the preparation of such a display, the success of their labors were amply attested by the sustained attention which the contents of the government building attracted during the period of the exhibition from both foreign and native visitors. I am strongly impressed with the value of the collection made by the government, for the purposes of the exhibition, illustrating as it does the mineral resources of the country, the statistical and practical evidences of our growth as a nation, and the uses of the mechanical arts and the applications of applied science in the administration of the affairs of government. Many nations have voluntarily contributed their exhibits to the United States to increase the interest in any permanent exhibition Congress may provide for. For this act of generosity they should receive the thanks of the people and I respectfully suggest that a resolution of Congress to that effect be adopted. The attention of Congress cannot be too earnestly called to the necessity of throwing some greater safeguard over the method of choosing and declaring the election of a president. Under the present system there seems to be no provided remedy for contesting the election in any one state. The remedy is partially no doubt in the enlightenment of electors. The compulsory support of the free school and the disenfranchisement of all who cannot read and write the English language after a fixed probation would meet my hearty approval. I would not make the supply however to those already voters, but I would to all be coming so after the expiration of the probation fixed upon. Foreigners coming to this country to become citizens who are educated in their own language should acquire the requisite knowledge of ours during the necessary residence to obtain naturalization. If they did not take interest enough in our language to acquire sufficient knowledge of it to enable them to study the institutions and laws of the country intelligently, I would not confer upon them the right to make such laws, nor to select those who do. I append to this message for convenient reference a synopsis of administrative events and of all recommendations to Congress made by me during the last seven years. Time may show some of these recommendations not to have been wisely conceived, but I believe the larger part will do no discredit to the administration. One of these recommendations met with the united opposition of one political party in the Senate and with a strong opposition from the other. Namely, the treaty for the annexation of Santo Domingo to the United States, to which I will specially refer, maintaining as I do, that if my views had been concurred in, the country would be in a more prosperous condition today, both politically and financially. Santo Domingo is fertile, and upon its soil may be grown just those tropical products of which the United States use so much, and which are produced or prepared for market now by slave labor almost exclusively, namely sugar, coffee, dyewoods, mahogany, tropical fruits, tobacco, etc. About 75% of the exports of Cuba are consumed in the United States. A large percentage of the exports of Brazil also find the same market. These are paid for almost exclusively in coin. Legislation, particularly in Cuba, being unfavorable to a mutual exchange of the products of each country. Flowers shipped from the Mississippi River to Havana can pass by the very entrance to the city on its way to a port in Spain. There, pay a duty, fixed upon articles to be re-exported, transferred to a Spanish vessel, and brought back almost to the point of starting paying a second duty, and still leave a profit over what would be received by direct shipment. All that is produced in Cuba could be produced in Santo Domingo. Being a part of the United States, commerce between the island and mainland would be free. There would be no export duties on her shipments, nor import duties on those coming here. There would be no import duties upon the supplies, machinery, etc., going from the states. The effect that would have been produced upon Cuban commerce with these advantages to arrival is observable at a glance. The Cuban question would have been settled long ago in favor of free Cuba. Hundreds of American vessels would now be advantageously used in transporting the valuable woods and other products of the soil of the island to a market ending carrying supplies and emigrants to it. The island is but sparsely settled, while it has an area sufficient for the profitable employment of several millions of people. Soil would have soon fallen into the hands of the United States capitalists. The products are so valuable in commerce that emigration there would have been encouraged. The emancipated race of the South would have found their congenial home where their civil rights would not be disputed and where their labor would be so much sought after that the poorest among them could have found the means to go. Thus, in cases of great oppression and cruelty, such as has been practiced upon them in many places within the last eleven years, whole communities would have sought refuge in Santo Domingo. I do not suppose the whole race would have gone, nor is it desirable that they should go. Their labor is desirable, indispensable almost where they are now, but the possession of this territory would have left the negro master of the situation by enabling him to demand his rights at home on pain of finding them elsewhere. I do not present these views now as a recommendation for a renewal of the subject of annexation, but I do refer to it to vindicate my previous action in regard to it. With the present term of Congress, my official life terminates. It is not probable that public affairs will ever again receive attention from me, further than as a citizen of the Republic, always taking a deep interest in the honor, integrity and prosperity of the whole land. U.S. Grant, 1876. End of Section 12. End of State of the Union Addresses, 1869-1876.