 Section 6 of State of the Union Addresses by United States Presidents. 1893 through 1896. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Grover Cleveland, December 3, 1894. Part 3. The report of the Secretary of the Interior exhibits the situation of the numerous and interesting branches of the public service connected with his department. I commend this report and the valuable recommendations of the Secretary to the careful attention of the Congress. The public land disposed of during the year amounted to 10,406,100.77 acres, including 28,876.05 acres of Indian lands. It is estimated that the public domain still remaining amounts to a little more than 600 million acres, including, however, about 360 million acres in Alaska, as well as military reservations in Railroad and other selections of lands yet unadjudicated. The total cash receipts from sale of lands amounted to $2,674,285.79, including $91,981.03 received for Indian lands. 35,000 patents were issued for agricultural lands, and 3,100 patents were issued to Indians on allotments of their holdings in severality. The land so allocated being ineliable by the Indian allotees for a period of 25 years after patent. There were certified and patented on account of Railroad and Wagon Road grants during the year. 865,556.45 acres of land, and at the close of the year 29 million acres were embraced in the list of selections made by Railroad and Wagon Road companies and awaited settlement. These selections of swamp lands, and that taken as indemnity, therefore, since the passage of the act providing for the same in 1849, amount to nearly or quite 80,500,000 acres, of which 58 million have been patented to states. About 138,000 acres were patented during the last year. Nearly 820,000 acres of school and education grants were approved during the year, and at its close, 1,250,363.81 acres remain unadjusted. It appears that the appropriation for the current year on account of special service for the protection of the public lands and the timber thereon is much less than those for previous years, and inadequate for an efficient performance of the work. A larger sum of money than has been appropriate during a number of years past on this account has been returned to the government as a result of the labors of those employed in the particular service mentioned. And I hope it will not be crippled by insufficient appropriation. I fully endorse the recommendation of the secretary that adequate protection be provided for our forest reserves and that a comprehensive forestry system be inaugurated. Such keepers and superintendents as are necessary to protect the forest or any reserve should be provided. I am of the opinion that there should be an abandonment of the policy sanctioned by present laws under which the government, for a very small consideration, is rapidly losing title to immense tracts of land covered with timber, which should be properly reserved as permanent sources of timber supply. The suggestion that a change be made in the manner of securing surveys of the public lands is especially worthy of consideration. I am satisfied that these surveys should be made by a core of competent surveyors under the immediate control and direction of the commissioner of the general land office. And exceedingly important recommendation of the secretary relates to the manner in which contests in litigated cases growing out of the efforts to obtain government land are determined. The entire testimony upon which these controversies depend in all their stages is taken before the local registers and receivers. Yet these officers have no power to subpoena witnesses or to enforce their attendance to testify. These cases, numbering three or four thousand annually, are sent by the local officers to the commissioner of the general land office for his action. The exigencies of his other duties oblige him to act upon the decisions of the registers and receivers without an opportunity of thorough personal examination. Nearly two thousand of these cases are appealed annually from the commissioner to the secretary of the interior. Burden with other important administrative duties, his determination of these appeals must be almost perfunctory and based upon the examination of others. Though this determination of the secretary operates as a final adjudication upon rights of very great importance. I concur in the opinion that the commissioner of the general land office should be relieved from the duty of deciding litigated land cases. That a nonpartisan court should be created to pass on such cases and that the decisions of this court should be final, at least so far as the decisions of the department are now final. The proposed court might be given authority to certify questions of law in matters of special importance to the Supreme Court of the United States or the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for decision. The creation of such a tribunal would expedite the disposal of cases and ensure decisions of a more satisfactory character. The registers and receivers who originally hear and decide these disputes should be invested with authority to compel witnesses to attend and testify before them. Though the condition of the Indians shows a steady and healthy progress, their situation is not satisfactory at all points. Some of them to whom allotments of land have been made or found to be unable or disinclined to follow agricultural pursuits or otherwise beneficially manage their land. This is especially true of the Cheyennes and Arapahos who as it appears by reports of their agent have in many instances never been located upon their allotments and in some cases do not even know where their allotments are. Their condition has deteriorated. They are not self-supporting and they live in camps and spend their time in idleness. I've always believed that allotments of reservation lands to Indians in severalality should be made sparingly or at least slowly and with the utmost caution. In these days when white agriculturalists and stockraisers of experience and intelligence find their lot a hard one, we ought not to expect Indians, unless far advanced in civilization and habits of industry, to support themselves on the small tracts of land usually allotted to them. If the self-supporting scheme by allotment fails, the wretched pauperism of the allates which results is worse than their original condition of regulated dependence. It is evident that the evil consequences of ill-advised allotment are intensified in cases where the fall step cannot be retraced on account of the purchase by the government of reservation lands remaining after allotments are made and the disposition of such remaining lands to settlers or purchasers from the government. I'm convinced that the proper solution of the Indian problem and the success of every step taken in that direction depend to a very large extent upon the intelligence and honesty of the reservation agents in the interest they have in their work. An agent fit it for his place can do much toward preparing the Indians under his charge for citizenship and allotment of their lands and his advice as to any manner concerning their welfare will not mislead. An unfit agent will make no effort to advance the Indians on his reservation toward civilization or preparation for allotment of lands in severality and his opinions as to their condition in this in other regards is heedless and valueless. The indications are that the detail of army officers as Indian agents will result in improved management on the reservations. Whenever allotments are made and any Indian on the reservation has previously settled upon a lot and cultivated it or shown a disposition to improve it in any way such lot should certainly be allotted to him and this should be made plainly obligatory by statute. In the light of experiencing considering the uncertainty of the Indian situation and its exigencies in the future I'm not only disposed to be very cautious in making allotments but I inclined to agree with the secretary of the interior in the opinion that when allotments are made the balance of reservation lands remaining after allotment instead of being bought by the government from the Indians and opened for settlement with such candles and unfair practices seem unavoidable should remain for a time at least as common land will be sold by the government on behalf of the Indians in an orderly way and at fixed prices to be determined by its location and desirability and at the proceeds less expenses should be held in trust for the benefit of the Indian proprietors. The intelligent Indian school management of the past year has been followed by gratifying results. Efforts have been made to advance the work in a sound and practical manner. Five institutes of Indian teachers have been held during the year and have proved very beneficial through the views exchanged and methods discussed particularly applicable to Indian education. Efforts are being made in the direction of a gradual reduction of the number of Indian contract schools so that in a comparatively short time they may give way altogether to government schools and it is hoped that the change may be so gradual as to be perfected without too great expense to the government or undue disregard of investments made by those who have established and who are maintaining such contract schools. The appropriation for the current year ending June 30th, 1895 applicable to the ordinary expenses of the Indian service amounts to $6,733,003.18 being less by $663,240.64 than the sum appropriated on the same account for the previous year. At the close of the last fiscal year on the 30th day of June 1894 there were 969,544 persons on our pension rolls being a net increase of 3,532 over the number reported at the end of the previous year. These pensioners may be classified as follows soldiers and sailors, survivors of all wars, 753,968, widows and relatives of deceased soldiers, 215,162, army nurses in the War of Rebellion, 414. Of these pensioners 32,039 are surviving soldiers of Indian and other wars prior to the late Civil War and the widows or relatives of such soldiers. The remainder, numbering 937,505 are receiving pensions on account of the rebellion and of these 469,344 are on the rolls under the authority of the Act of June 27th, 1890 sometimes called the dependent pension law. The total amount expended for pensions during the year was $139,804,461.05 leaving an unexpended balance from the sum appropriated of $25,205,712.65 The sum necessary to meet pension expenditures for the year ending June 30th, 1896 is estimated at $140,000,000. The commission of pensions is of the opinion that the year 1895 being the 30th after the close of the War of Rebellion must, according to all sensible human calculation, see the highest limit of the pension roll and that after that year it must begin to decline. The claims pending in the Bureau have decreased more than 90,000 during the year. A large portion of the new claims filed are for increase of pension by those now on the rolls. The number of certificates issued was 80,213. The names dropped from the rolls for all causes during the year numbered 37,951. Among our pensioners are nine widows and three daughters of soldiers of the Revolution and 45 survivors of the War of 1812. The bare faced and extensive pension frauds exposed under the direction of the courageous and generous veteran soldier now at the head of the Bureau leave no room for the claim that no purgation of our pension rolls was needed or that continued vigilance and prompt action are not necessary to the same end. The accusation that an effort to detect pension frauds is evidence of unfriendliness toward our worthy veterans and a denial of their claims to the generosity of the government suggests an unfortunate indifference to the commission of any offense which has for its motive the securing of a pension and indicates a willingness to be blind to the existence of mean and treacherous crimes which play upon demagogic fears and make sport of the patriotic impulse of a grateful people. The completion of the 11th census is now in charge of the Commissioner of Labor. The total disbursements on account of the work for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1894 amounted to 10,365,676.81. At the close of the year the number of persons employed in the census office was 679. At present there are about 400. The whole number of volumes necessary to comprehend the 11th census will be 25 and they will contain 22,270 printed pages. The assurance is confidently made that before the close of the present calendar year the material still incomplete will be practically in hand and the census can certainly be closed by the 4th of March, 1895. After that the revision and proofreading necessary to bring out the volumes will still be required. The text of the census volumes has been limited as far as possible to the analysis of the statistics presented. This method which is in accordance with law has caused more or less friction in some instances individual disappointment. For when the Commissioner of Labor took charge of the work he found much matter on hand which according to this rule he was compelled to discard. The census is being prepared according to the theory that it is designed to collect facts and certify them to the public, not to elaborate arguments or present personal views. The Secretary of Agriculture in his report reviews the operations of his department for the last fiscal year and makes recommendations for the further extension of its usefulness. He reports the saving and expenditures during the year of $600,000 which is covered back into the Treasury. This sum is 23% of the entire appropriation. A special study has been made of the demand for American farm products in all foreign markets, especially Great Britain. That country received from the United States during the nine months ending September 30th, 1894. 305,910 live beef cattle valued at $26,500,000 as against 182,611 cattle valued at $16,634,000 during the same period for 1893. During the first six months of 1894 the United Kingdom took also 112 million pounds of dressed beef from the United States, valued at nearly $10 million. The report shows that during the nine months immediately preceding September 30th, 1894, the United States exported to Great Britain 222,676 pounds of pork of apples, 1,900,000 bushels valued at $2,500,000, and of horses, 2,811, at an average value of $139 per head. There was a falling off in American wheat exports of 13,500,000 bushels, and the Secretary is inclined to believe that wheat may not in the future be the staple export cereal product of our country, but that corn will continue to advance in importance as an export on account of the new uses to which it is constantly being appropriated. The exports of agricultural products from the United States for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1894 amounted to $628,363,038, being 72.28% of American exports of every description, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain took more than 54% of all farm products, finding foreign markets. The Department of Agriculture has undertaken during the year two new and important lines of research. The first relates to grasses and forage plants with the purpose of instructing and familiarizing the people as to the distinctive grasses of the United States and teaching them how to introduce valuable foreign forage plants which may be adapted to this country. The Secretary relates to agricultural soils and crop production, involving the analysis of samples of soil from all sections of the American Union to demonstrate their adaptability to particular plants and crops. Mechanical analysis of soils may be of such inestimable utility that it is foremost in the new lines of agricultural research, and the Secretary therefore recommends that a division having it in charge be permanently established in the Department. The amount appropriated for the Weather Bureau was $951,100 of that sum, $138,500 or 14% has been saved and is returned to the Treasury. As illustrating the usefulness of this service, it may be here stated that the warnings, which were very generally given of two tropical storms occurring in September and October of the present year, resulted in detaining safely import 2,305 vessels valued at $36,183,913 laden with cargoes of probably still greater value. What is much more important and gratifying, many human lives on these ships were also undoubtedly saved. The appropriation to the Bureau of Animal Industry was $850,000 and the expenditures for the year were only $495,429.24, thus leaving unexpended $354,570.76. The inspection of beef animals for export and interstate trade has been continued and $12,944,056 head were inspected during the year at a cost of one and three-fourths cents per head against four and three-fourths cents for $1893. The amount of pork microscopically examined was 35,437,937 pounds against 20,677,410 pounds in the preceding year. The cost of this inspection has been diminished from eight and three-fourths of a cent per head in 1893 to six and a half cents in 1894. The expense of inspecting the pork sold in 1894 to Germany and France by the United States was $88,922.10. The quantity inspected was greater by 15 million pounds than during the preceding year, when the cost of such inspection was $172,367.08. The Secretary of Agriculture recommends that the law providing for the microscopic inspection of export and interstate meat be so amended as to compel owners of the meat inspected to pay the cost of such inspection. And I call attention to the arguments presented in this report in support of this recommendation. The live beef cattle exported and tagged during the year numbered 353,535. This is an increase of 69,533 head over the previous year. The sanitary inspection of cattle shipped to Europe has cost an average of ten and three-fourths cents for each animal, and the cost of inspecting southern cattle and the disinfection of cars and stockyards averages 2.7 cents per animal. The scientific inquiries of the Bureau of Animal Industry have progressed steadily during the year. Much tuberculin and malion have been furnished to state authorities for use in the agricultural colleges and experiment stations for the treatment of tuberculosis and glanders. Quite recently this department has published the results of its investigations of bovine tuberculosis, and its researches will be vigorously continued. Certain herds in the District of Columbia will be thoroughly inspected and will probably supply adequate scope for the department to intelligently prosecuted scientific work and furnish sufficient material for purposes of illustration, description, and definition. The sterilization of milk suspected of containing the bacilli of tuberculosis has been during the year thoroughly explained in the leaflet by Dr. D. E. Salman, the Chief of the Bureau, and given general circulation throughout the country. The Office of Experiment Stations, which is a part of the United States Department of Agriculture, has during the past year engaged itself almost wholly in preparing for publication works based upon the reports of agricultural experiment stations and other institutions for agricultural inquiry in the United States and foreign countries. The Secretary in his report for 1893 called attention to the fact that the appropriations made for the support of the experiment stations throughout the Union were the only monies taken out of the National Treasury by active Congress for which no accounting to federal authorities was required. Responding to this suggestion, the 53rd Congress in making the appropriation for the department present fiscal year provided that the Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe the form of annual financial statement required by Section 3 of Set Act of March 2, 1887, shall ascertain whether the expenditures under the appropriation hereby made are in accordance with the provisions of Set Act and shall make report thereon to Congress. In obedience to this law, the Department of Agriculture immediately sent out blank forms of expense accounts to each station and proposed this in addition to make, through trusted experts, systematic examination of the several stations during each year for the purpose of acquiring by personal investigation the detailed information necessary to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to make as the statute provides a satisfactory report to Congress. The boards of management of the several stations with great alacrity and cordiality have approved the amendment to the law providing the supervision of their expenditures anticipating that it will increase the efficiency of the stations and protect their directors and managers from loose charges concerning their use of public funds. Besides bringing the Department of Agriculture into closer and more confidential relations with the experimental stations and through their joint service largely increasing their usefulness to the agriculture of the country. Acting upon a recommendation contained in the report of 1893 Congress appropriated $10,000 to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to investigate and report upon the nutritive value of the various articles and commodities used for human food with special suggestions of full wholesome and edible rations less wasteful and more economical than those in common use. Under this appropriation the Department has prepared and now has nearly ready for distribution an elementary discussion of the nutritive value and pecuniary economy of food when we consider that fully one half of all the money earned by the wage earners of the civilized world is expended by them for food the importance and utility of such an investigation is apparent. The Department expended in the fiscal year 1893 $2,354,809.56 and out of that sum the total amount expended in scientific research was 45.6% but in the year ending June 30th 1894 out of a total expenditure of $1,948,988.38 the Department applied 51.8% of that sum to scientific work and investigation it is therefore very plainly observable that the economies which have been practiced in the administration of the Department have not been at the expense of scientific research. The recommendation contained in the report of the Secretary for 1893 that the vicious system of promiscuous free distribution of its departmental documents be abandoned is again urged. These publications may well be furnished without cost to public libraries, educational institutions and the officers and libraries of states and of the federal government but from all individuals applying for them a price covering the cost the document asked for should be required. Thus the publications and documents would be secured by those who really desire them for proper purposes. Half a million of copies of the report of the Secretary of Agriculture are printed for distribution at an annual cost of about $300,000. Large numbers of them are cumbering storerooms at the capital and the shelves of secondhand bookstores throughout the country. All this labor and waste might be avoided if the recommendations of the Secretary were adopted. The Secretary also again recommends the gratuitous distribution of seeds and that no money be appropriated for that purpose except to experiment stations. He reiterates the reasons given in his report for 1893 for discontinuing this unjustifiable gratuity and I fully concur in the conclusions which he has reached. The best service of the statistician of the Department of Agriculture is the ascertainment by diligence and care of the actual and real conditions favorable or unfavorable of the farmers and farms of the country and to seek the causes which produce these conditions to the end that the facts ascertain may guide their intelligent treatment. A further important utility and agricultural statistics is found in their elucidation of the relation of the supply of farm products to the demand for them in the markets of the United States and other world. It is deemed possible that an agricultural census may be taken each year through the agents of the Statistical Division of the Department. Such course is commended for trial by the chief of that division. Its scope would be, one, the area under each of the more important crops. Two, the aggregate products of each of such crops. Three, the quantity of wheat and corn in the hands of farmer at a date after the spring sowings and plantings before the beginning of harvest. And also the quantity of cotton and tobacco remaining in the hands of planters, either at the same date or at some other designated time. The cost of the work is estimated at $500,000. Owing to the peculiar quality of the statistician's work and the natural and acquired fitness necessary to its successful prosecution, the Secretary of Agriculture expresses the opinion that every person employed in gathering statistics under the chief of that division should be admitted to that service only after a thorough, exhaustive and successful examinations at the hand of the United States Civil Service Commission. This has led him to call for such an examination of candidates for the position of assistant statistician and also of candidates for chiefs of section in that division. The work done by the Department of Agriculture is very superficially dealt with in this communication. And I commend the report of the Secretary and the very important interest with which it deals to the careful attention of the Congress. The advantages to the public service of an inheritance to the principles of civil service reform are constantly more apparent and nothing is so encouraging to those in official life who honestly desire good government as the increasing appreciation by our people of these advantages. A vast majority of the voters of the land are ready to insist that the time and attention of those they select to reform for them, important public duties, should not be distracted by doling out minor offices. And they are going to be unanimous in regarding party organization as something that should be used in establishing party principles instead of dictating the distribution of public places as rewards of partisan activity. Numerous additional offices and places have lately been brought within civil service rules and regulations and some others will probably soon be included. The report of the commissioners will be submitted to the Congress and I invite careful attention to the recommendation it contains. I'm entirely convinced that we ought not to be longer without a national board of health or national health officer charged with no other duties than such as pertaining to the protection of our country from the invasion of pestilence and disease. This would involve the establishment by such board or officer of proper quarantine precautions or the necessary aid and counsel to local authorities on the subject, prompt advice and assistance to local boards of health or health officers and the suppression of contagious disease. And in cases where there are no such local boards or officers, the immediate direction by the national board or officers of measures of suppression, constant and authentic information concerning the health of foreign countries in all parts of our own country as related to contagious diseases and consideration of regulations to be enforced in foreign ports to prevent the introduction of contagion into our cities and the measures which should be adopted to secure their enforcement. There seems to be at this time a decided inclination to discuss measures of protection against contagious diseases in international conference with a view of adopting means of mutual assistance. The creation of such a national health establishment would greatly aid our standing in such conferences and improve our opportunities to avail ourselves of their benefits. I earnestly recommend the inauguration of a national board of health or similar national instrumentality, believe in the same to be a needed precaution against contagious disease and in the interest of the safety and health of our people. In virtue of a statute of the United States passed in 1888, I appointed in July last the Honorable John D. Kernan of the State of New York and the Honorable Nicholas E. Worthington of the State of Illinois to form with the Honorable Carol D. Wright, Commissioner of Labor, who was designated by said statute, a commission for the purpose of making careful inquiry into the causes of the controversies between certain railroads and their employees which had resulted in an extensive and destructive strike accompanied by much violence and dangerous disturbance with considerable loss of life and great destruction of property. The report of the commissioners has been submitted to me and will be transmitted to the Congress with the evidence taken upon their investigation. Their work has been done well and their standing in intelligence gives assurance that the report and suggestions they make are worthy of careful consideration. The tariff act passed at the last session of the Congress needs important amendments if it is to be executed effectively and with certainty. In addition to such necessary amendments as will not change rates of duty, I'm still very decidedly in favor of putting coal and iron upon the free list. So far as the sugar schedule is concerned, I would be glad under existing aggravations to see every particle of differential duty in favor of refined sugar stricken out of our tariff law. If with all the favor now accorded the sugar refining interests in our tariff laws, it still languishes to the extent of closed refineries and thousands of discharged workmen. It would seem to present a hopeless case for reasonable legislative aid. Whatever else is done or admitted, I earnestly repeat here the recommendation I have made in another portion of this communication that the additional duty of one-tenth of a cent per pound laid upon sugar imported by country paying a bounty on its export be abrogated. It seems to me that exceedingly important considerations point to the propriety of this amendment. Would the advent of a new tariff policy not only calculate it to relieve the consumers of our land in the cost of their daily life but to invite a better development of American thrift and create for us closer and more profitable commercial relations with the rest of the world, it follows as a logical and imperative necessity that we should at once remove the chief if not the only obstacle which has so long prevented our participation in the foreign-caring trade of the sea. A tariff built upon the theory that it is well to check imports and that a home market should bound the industry and effort of American producers was fitly supplemented by a refusal to allow American registry to vessels built abroad, though owned and navigated by our people, thus exhibiting a willingness to abandon all contests for the advantages of American trans-oceanic carriage. Our new tariff policy built upon the theory that is well to encourage such importations as our people need and that our products and manufacturers should find markets in every part of the habitable globe is consistently supplemented by the greatest possible liberty to our citizens and the ownership and navigation of ships in which our products and manufacturers may be transported. The millions now paid to foreigners for carrying American passengers and products across the sea should be turned into American hands. Shipbuilding, which has been protected to strangulation, should be revived by the prospect of profitable employment for ships when built, and the American sailor should be resurrected and again take his place. A sturdy and industrious citizen in time of peace and a patriotic and safe defender of American interests in the day of conflict. The ancient provision of our law denying American registry abroad and owned by Americans appears in the light of present conditions not only to be a failure for good at every point, but to be nearer a relic of barbarism than anything that exists under the permission of a statute of the United States. I earnestly recommend its prompt repeal. During the last month the gold reserved in the treasury for the purpose of redeeming the notes of the government circulating as money in the hands of the people became so reduced and its further depletion in the near future seemed so certain that in the exercise of proper care for the public welfare became necessary to replenish this reserve and thus maintain popular faith in the ability and determination of the government to meet as agreed its pecuniary obligations. It would have been well if in this emergency authority had existed to issue the bonds of the government bearing a low rate of interest in maturing within a short period. But Congress having failed to confer such authority resort was necessarily had to the Resumption Act of 1875 and pursuant to its provisions bonds were issued drawing interest at a rate of 5% per annum and maturing 10 years after their issue that being the shortest time authorized by the act. I'm glad to say however that on the sale of these bonds the premium received operated to reduce the rate of interest to be paid by the government to no less than 3%. Nothing could be worse or further removed from sensible finance than the relations existing between the currency the government has issued the gold held for its redemption and the means which must be resorted to for the purpose of replenishing such redemption fund when impaired. Even if the claims upon this fund were confined to the obligations originally intended and if the redemption of these obligations meant their cancellation the fund would be very small. But these obligations when received and redeemed in gold are not cancelled and are reissued and made due duty many times by way of drawing gold from the Treasury. Thus we have an endless chain in operation constantly depleting the Treasury's gold and never near a final rest. As if this was not bad enough we have by a statutory declaration that it is the policy of the government to maintain the parity between gold and silver. Aided the force and momentum of this exhausting process and adding largely to the currency obligations claiming this particular gold resumption. Our small gold reserve is thus subject to drain from every side. The demands that increase our danger also increase the necessity of protecting this reserve against depletion. And it is most unsatisfactory to know that the protection afforded is only temporary palliation. It is perfectly and palpably plain that the only way under present conditions by which this reserve when dangerously depleted can be replenished is through the issue and sale of the bonds of the government for gold. And yet Congress is not only thus far declined to authorize the issues of bonds best suited to such a purpose, but there seems a disposition in some quarters to deny both the necessity and the power for the issue of bonds at all. I cannot for a moment believe that any of our citizens are deliberately willing that their government should default in its pecuniary obligations or that its financial operations should be reduced to a silver basis. At any rate, I should not feel that my duty was done if I admitted any effort I could make to avert such a calamity. As long therefore as no provision is made for the final redemption or the putting aside of the currency obligation now used to repeatedly and constantly draw from the government its gold, and as long as no better authority for bond issues is allowed then that present exists. Such authority will be utilized whenever and as often as it becomes necessary to maintain a sufficient gold reserve and in abundant time to save the credit of our country and make good the financial declarations of our government. Questions relating to our banks and currency are closely connected with the subject just referred to and they also present some unsatisfactory features. Prominent among them are the lack of elasticity in our currency circulation and its frequent concentration in financial centers when it is most needed in other parts of the country. The absolute divorcement of the government from the business of banking is the ideal relationship of the government to the circulation of the currency of the country. This condition cannot be immediately reached but as they step in that direction and as it means of securing a more elastic currency and obviating other objections to the present arrangement of bank circulation. The Secretary of the Treasury presents in his report a scheme modified present banking laws and providing for the issue of circulating notes by state banks free from taxation under certain limitations. The Secretary explains his plan so plainly and its advantages are developed by him with such remarkable clearness that any effort on my part to present argument in its support would be superfluous. I shall therefore contempt myself with an unqualified endorsement of the Secretary's proposed changes in the law and a brief and imperfect statement of their prominent features. It is proposed to repeal all laws providing for the deposit of United States bonds and security for circulation to permit national banks to issue circulating notes not exceeding an amount 75% of their paid up and unimpaired capital provided they deposit with the government as a guarantee fund in United States legal tender notes including Treasury notes of 1890 a sum equal in amount to 30% of the notes they desire to issue. This deposit to be maintained at all times but whenever any bank retires any part of its circulation a proportional part of its guarantee fund shall be returned to it. To permit the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare and keep on hand ready for issue in case an increase in circulation is desired blank national bank notes for each bank having circulation and to repeal the provisions of the present law imposing limitations and restrictions upon banks desiring to reduce or increase their circulation thus permitting such increase or reduction within the limit of 75% of capital will be quickly made as emergencies arise. In addition to the guarantee fund required it is proposed to provide a safety fund for the immediate redemption of the circulating notes of failed banks by imposing a small annual tax say one half of 1% upon the average circulation of each bank until the fund amounts to 5% of the total circulation outstanding. When a bank fails its guarantee fund is to be paid into the safety fund and its notes are to be redeemed in the first instance from such safety funds thus augmented any impairment of such fund caused thereby to be made good from the immediate available cash assets of said bank and if these should be insufficient such impairment to be made good by pro-rata assessment among the other banks their contributions constituting a first lien upon the assets of the failed bank in favor of the contributing banks. As a further security it is contemplated that the existing provision fixing the individual liability of stockholders is to be retained and the banks indebtedness on account of its circulating notes is to be made a first lien on all its assets. For the purpose of meeting the expense of printing notes official supervision cancellation and other like charges there shall be imposed a tax of say one half of 1% per annum upon the average amount of notes in circulation. It is further provided that there shall be no national bank notes issued of a less denomination than $10 that each national bank except in case of a failed bank shall redeem or retire its notes in the first instance at its own office or agencies to be designated by it and that no fixed reserve needs to be maintained on account of deposits. Another very important feature of this plan is the exemption of state banks from taxation by the United States in cases where it is shown to the satisfaction of the secretary of the treasury and comptroller of the currency by banks claiming such exemption that they have not had outstanding their circulating notes exceeding 75% of their paid up and unimpaired capital. That their stockholders are individually liable for the redemption of their circulating notes to the full extent of their ownership of stock. That the liability of said banks upon their circulating notes constitutes under their state law a first lien upon their assets that such banks have kept and maintained a guarantee fund in United States legal tender notes including treasury notes of 1890 equal to 30% of their outstanding circulating notes and that such banks had promptly redeem their circulating notes when presented at their principal or branch offices. It is quite likely that this scheme may be usefully amended in some of its details but I am satisfied it furnishes a basis for a very great improvement in our present banking and currency system. I conclude this communication fully appreciating that the responsibility for all legislation affecting the people of the United States rests upon their representatives in the Congress and assuring them that whether in accordance with recommendations I have made or not I shall be glad to cooperate in perfecting any legislation that tends to the prosperity and welfare of our country. Section 7 of State of the Union Addresses by United States Presidents 1893 to 1896. 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 Paul Thomas Section 7 Grover Cleveland December 2, 1895 Part 1 To the Congress of the United States The present assemblage of the legislative branch of our government occurs at a time when the interests of our people and the needs of the country give a special prominence to the condition of our foreign relations and the exigencies of our national finances. The reports of the heads of the several administrative departments of the government fully and plainly exhibit what has been accomplished within the scope of their respective duties and present such recommendations for the betterment of our country's condition as patriotic and intelligent labor and observation suggest. I therefore deem my executive duty adequately performed at this time by presenting to the Congress the important phases of our situation as related to our intercourse with foreign nations and a statement of the financial problems which confront us, omitting, except as they are related to these topics, any reference to departmental operations. I earnestly invite, however, not only the careful consideration but the severely critical scrutiny of the Congress and my fellow countrymen to the reports concerning these departmental operations. If justly and fairly examined, they will furnish proof of assiduous and painstaking care for the public welfare. I press the recommendations they contain upon the respectful attention of those charged with the duty of legislation because I believe their adoption would promote the people's good. By a mandatory tariff legislation in January last, the Argentine Republic recognizing the value of the large market open to the free importation of its wools under our last tariff act has admitted certain products of the United States to entry at reduced duties. It is pleasing to note that the efforts we have made to enlarge the exchanges and trade on a sound basis of mutual benefit are in this instance appreciated by the country from which our woolen factories draw their needful supply of raw material. The mission's boundary dispute between the Argentine Republic and Brazil referred to the President of the United States as Arbiter during the term of my predecessor and which was submitted to me for determination resulted in an award in favor of Brazil upon the historical and documentary evidence presented thus ending a long protracted controversy and again demonstrating the wisdom and desirability of settling international boundary disputes by recourse to friendly arbitration. Negotiations are progressing for the revival of the United States and Chilean Claims Commission whose work was abruptly terminated last year by the expiration of the stipulated time within which awards could be made. The resumption of species payments by Chile is a step of great interest and importance both in its direct consequences upon her own welfare and as evidencing the ascendancy of sound financial principles in one of the most influential of the South American republics. The close of the momentous struggle between China and Japan while relieving the diplomatic agents of this government from the delicate duty they undertook at the request of both countries of rendering such service to the subjects of either belligerent within the territorial limits of the other as our neutral position permitted developed a domestic condition in the Chinese empire which has caused much anxiety and called for prompt and careful attention. Either as a result of weak control by the central government over the provincial administrations following a diminution of traditional governmental authority under the stress of an overwhelming national disaster or as a manifestation upon good opportunity of the aversion of the Chinese population to all foreign ways and undertakings there have occurred in widely separated provinces of China serious outbreaks of the old fanatical spirit against foreigners which unchecked by local authorities if not actually connived at by them have culminated in mob attacks on foreign missionary stations causing much destruction of property and attended with personal injuries as well as loss of life. Although but one American citizen was reported to have been actually wounded and although the destruction of property may have fallen more heavily upon the missionaries of other nationalities than our own it plainly behooved this government to take the most prompt and decided action to guard against similar or perhaps more dreadful calamities befalling the hundreds of American mission stations which have grown up throughout the interior of China under the temperate rule of toleration custom and imperial edict the demands of the United States and other powers for the degradation and punishment of the responsible officials of the respective cities and provinces who by neglect or otherwise had permitted uprisings and for the adoption of stern measures by the emperor's government for the protection of the life and property of foreigners were followed by the disgrace and dismissal of certain provincial officials found derelict in duty and the punishment by death of a number of those adjudged guilty of actual participation in the outrages. This government also insisted that a special American commission should visit the province when the first disturbances occurred for the purpose of investigation. The latter commission formed after much opposition has gone over land from Tianxin accompanied by a suitable Chinese escort and by its demonstration of the readiness and ability of our government to protect its citizens will act it is believed as a most influential deterrent of any similar outbreaks. The energetic steps we have thus taken are more likely to result in future safety to our citizens in China because the imperial government is, I am persuaded entirely convinced that we desire only the liberty and protection of our own citizens and redress for any wrongs they may have suffered and that we have no ulterior designs or objects political or otherwise. China will not forget either our kindly service to her citizens during her late war nor the fact that while furnishing all the facilities at our command to further the negotiation of a peace between her and Japan we sought no advantages and interposed no counsel. The governments of both China and Japan have in special dispatches transmitted through their respective diplomatic representatives expressed in a most pleasing manner their grateful appreciation of our assistance to their citizens during the unhappy struggle and of the value of our aid in paving the way to their resumption of peaceful relations. The customary cordial relations between this country and France have been undisturbed with the exception that a full explanation of the treatment of John L. Waller by the expeditionary military authorities of France still remains to be given. Mr. Waller, formerly United States consul at Tamatov, remained in Madagascar after his term of office expired and was apparently successful in procuring business concessions from the Hovas of greater or less value. After the occupation of Tamatov and the declaration of martial law by the French he was arrested upon various charges, among them that of communicating military information to the enemies of France was tried and convicted by a military tribunal and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. Following the course justified by abundant precedence this government requested from that of France the record of the proceedings of the French tribunal which resulted in Mr. Waller's condemnation. This request has been complied with to the extent of supplying a copy of the official record from which appear the Constitution and organization of the court the charges as formulated and the general course and result of the trial and by which it is shown that the accused was tried in open court and was defended by council. But the evidence, adduced in support of the charges which was not received by the French minister for foreign affairs till the first week in October has thus far been withheld. The French government taking the ground that its production in response to our demand would establish a bad precedent. The efforts of our ambassador to procure it however though impeded by recent changes in the French ministry have not been relaxed and it is confidently expected that some satisfactory solution of the matter will shortly be reached. Meanwhile it appears that Mr. Waller's confinement has every alleviation which the state of his health and all the other circumstances of the case demand or permit. In agreeable contrast to the difference above noted respecting a matter of common concern where nothing is sought except a mutually satisfactory outcome as the true merits of the case require is the recent resolution of the French chambers favoring the conclusion of a permanent treaty of arbitration between the two countries. An invitation has been extended by France to the government and people of the United States to participate in a great international exposition at Paris in 1900 as a suitable commemoration of the close of this the world's marvelous century of progress. I heartily recommend its acceptance together with such legislation as will adequately provide for a due representation of this government and its people on the occasion. Our relations with the states of the German Empire are in some respects typical of a condition of things elsewhere found in countries whose production and trade are similar to our own. The close rivalries of competing industries the influence of a delusive doctrine that the internal development of a nation is promoted and its wealth increased by a policy which in undertaking to reserve its home markets for the exclusive use of its own producers necessarily obstructs their sales in foreign markets and prevents free access to the products of the world. The desire to retain trade in time-worn ruts regardless of the inexorable laws of new needs and changed conditions of demand and supply and our own halting tardiness in inviting a freer exchange of commodities and by this means imperiling our footing in the external markets naturally open to us have created a situation somewhat injurious to American export interests not only in Germany where they are perhaps most noticeable but in adjacent countries. The exports affected are largely American cattle and other food products the reason assigned for unfavorable discrimination being that their consumption is deleterious to the public health. This is all the more irritating in view of the fact that no European state is as of the excellence and wholesomeness of its exported food supplies as the United States nor so easily able on account of inherent soundness to guarantee those qualities. Nor are these difficulties confined to our food products designed for exportation. Our great insurance companies for example having built up a vast business abroad and invested a large share of their gains in foreign countries in compliance with the local laws and regulations then existing now find themselves within a narrowing circle of onerous and unforeseen conditions and are confronted by the necessity of retirement from a field thus made unprofitable if indeed they are not summarily expelled as some of them have lately been from Prussia. It is not to be forgotten that international trade cannot be one sided its currents are alternating and its movements should be honestly reciprocal without this it almost necessarily degenerates into a device to gain advantage or a contrivance to secure benefits with only the semblance of a return in our dealings with other nations we ought to be open-handed and scrupulously fair this should be our policy as a producing nation and it plainly becomes us as a people who have generosity and the moral aspects of national good faith and reciprocal forbearance these considerations should not however constrain us to submit to unfair discrimination nor silently acquiesce in vexatious hindrances to the enjoyment of our share of the legitimate advantages of proper trade relations if an examination of the situation suggests such measures on our part as would involve restrictions similar to those from which we suffer the way to such a course is easy it should however by no means be lightly entered upon since the necessity for the inauguration of such a policy would be regretted by the best sentiment of our people and because it naturally and logically might lead to consequences of the gravest character I take pleasure in calling to your attention the encomiums on those vessels of our new Navy which took part in the notable ceremony of the opening of the Kiel canal it was fitting that this extraordinary achievement of the newer German nationality should be celebrated in the presence of America's exposition of the latest developments of the world's naval energy our relations with Great Britain always intimate and important have demanded during the past year even a greater share of consideration than is usual several vexatious questions were left undetermined by the decision of the Bering Sea arbitration tribunal the application of the principles laid down by that August body has not been followed by the results they were intended to accomplish either because the principles themselves lacked in breadth and definiteness or because their execution has been more or less the subject much correspondence has been exchanged between the two governments on the subject of preventing the exterminating slaughter of seals the insufficiency of the British patrol of Bering Sea under the regulations agreed on by the two governments has been pointed out and yet only two British ships have been on police duty during this season in those waters the need of a more effective enforcement of existing regulations as well as the adoption of such additional regulations as experience has shown to be absolutely necessary to carry out the intent of the award have been earnestly urged upon the British government but thus far without effective results in the meantime the depletion of the seal herds by means of pelagic hunting has so alarmingly progressed that unless their slaughter is at once effectively checked their extinction within a few years seems to be a matter of absolute certainty the understanding by which the United States was to pay and Great Britain to receive a lump sum of four hundred twenty five thousand dollars in full settlement of all British claims for damages arising from our seizure of British ceiling vessels unauthorized under the award of the Paris Tribunal of arbitration was not confirmed by the last Congress which declined to make the necessary appropriation I am still of the opinion that this arrangement was a judicious and advantageous one for the government and I earnestly recommend that it again be considered and sanctioned if however this does not meet with the favor of Congress it certainly will hardly dissent from the proposition that the government is bound by every consideration of honor and good faith to provide for the speedy adjustment of these claims by arbitration as the only other alternative a treaty of arbitration has therefore been agreed upon and will be immediately laid before the Senate so that in one of the modes suggested a final settlement may be reached not withstanding that Great Britain originated the proposal to enforce international rules for the prevention of collisions at sea based on the recommendations of the maritime conference of Washington and concurred in suggesting March 11 1895 as the date to be set by proclamation for carrying these rules into general effect Her Majesty's government having encountered opposition on the part of British shipping interests announced its inability to accept that date which was consequently canceled the entire matter is still in abeyance without prospect of a better condition in the near future the commissioners appointed to mark the international boundary in Passamaquoddy Bay according to the description of the treaty of Ghent have not yet fully agreed the completion of the preliminary survey of that Alaskan boundary which follows the contour of the coast from the southern most point of Prince of Wales Island until it strikes the 141st Meridian at or near the summit of Mount Saint Elias awaits further necessary appropriation which is urgently recommended this survey was undertaken under the provisions of the convention entered into by this country and Great Britain July 22 1892 and the supplementary convention of February 3 1894 as to the remaining section of the Alaskan boundary which follows the 141st Meridian northwardly from Mount Saint Elias to the frozen ocean the settlement of which involves the physical location of the Meridian mentioned no conventional agreement has yet been made the ascertainment of a given Meridian at a particular point is a work requiring much time and careful observation and surveys such observations and surveys were undertaken by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1890 and 1891 while similar work in the same quarters under British auspices is believed to give nearly coincident results but these surveys have been independently conducted and no international agreement to mark those or any other parts of the 141st Meridian by permanent monuments has yet been made in the meantime the valley of the Yukon is becoming a highway through the hitherto unexplored regions of Alaska and abundant mineral wealth has been discovered in that region especially at or near the junction of the boundary Meridian with the Yukon and its tributaries in these circumstances it is expedient and indeed imperative that the jurisdictional limits of the respective governments in this new region be speedily determined her Britannic Majesty's government has proposed a joint delimitation of the 141st Meridian by an international commission of experts which if Congress will authorize it and make due provision therefore can be accomplished with no unreasonable delay it is impossible to overlook the vital importance of continuing the work already entered upon and supplementing it by further effective measures looking to the exact location of this entire boundary line I call attention to the unsatisfactory delimitation of the respective jurisdictions of the United States and the Dominion of Canada in the Great Lakes at the approaches to the narrow waters that connect them the waters in question are frequented by fishermen of both nationalities and their nets are there used owing to the uncertainty and ignorance as to the true boundary vexations disputes and injurious boats and nets by Canadian cruisers often occur while any positive settlement thereof by an accepted standard is not easily to be reached a joint commission to determine the line in those quarters on a practical basis by measured courses following range marks on shore is a necessity for which immediate provision should be made it being apparent that the boundary dispute between Great Britain and the Republic of Venezuela concerning the limits of British Guyana was approaching an acute stage a definite statement of the interest and policy of the United States as regards the controversy seem to be required both on its own account and in view of its relations with the friendly powers directly concerned in July last therefore a dispatch was addressed to our ambassador at London for communication to the British government in which the attitude of the United States was fully and distinctly set forth the general conclusions there in reached and formulated are in substance that the traditional and established policy of this government is firmly opposed to a forcible increase by any European power of its territorial possessions on this continent that this policy is well rounded in principle and is strongly supported by numerous precedents that as a consequence the United States is bound to protest against the enlargement of the area of British Guyana in derogation of the rights and against the will of Venezuela that considering the disparity and strength of Great Britain and Venezuela the territorial dispute between them can be reasonably settled only by friendly and impartial arbitration and that the resort to such arbitration should include the whole controversy and is not satisfied if one of the powers concerned is permitted to draw an arbitrary line through the territory in debate and to declare that it will submit to arbitration only the portion lying on one side of it in view of these conclusions the dispatch in question called upon the British government for a definite answer to the question whether it would or would not submit the territorial controversy between itself and Venezuela in its entirety to impartial arbitration the answer of the British government has not yet been received but is expected shortly when further communication on the subject will probably be made to the Congress early in July last an uprising against the government of Hawaii was promptly suppressed martial law was for with proclaimed and numerous arrests made of persons suspected of being in sympathy with the royalist party among these were several citizens of the United States who were either convicted by a military court and sentenced to death imprisonment or fine or were deported without trial the United States while denying protection to such as had taken the Hawaiian oath of allegiance insisted that martial law though altering the forms of justice could not supersede justice itself and demanded stay of execution until the proceedings had been submitted to this government and knowledge obtained there from that our citizens had received fair trial the death sentences were subsequently commuted or were remitted on condition of leaving the islands the cases of certain Americans arrested and expelled by arbitrary order without formal charge or trial have had attention and in some instances have been found to justify remonstrance and a claim for indemnity which Hawaii has not thus far conceded Mr. Thurston the Hawaiian minister having furnished this government abundant reason for asking that he be recalled that course was pursued and his successor has lately been received the deplorable lynching of several Italian laborers in Colorado was naturally followed by national representations and I am happy to say that the best efforts of the state in which the outrageous occurred have been put forth to discover and punish the authors of this atrocious crime the dependent families of some of the unfortunate victims invite by their deplorable condition gracious provision for their needs these manifestations against helpless aliens may be traced through successive stages to the vicious system which unchecked by our immigration and contract labor statutes controls these workers from the moment of landing on our shores and farms them out in distant and often rude regions where their cheapening competition in the fields of bread-winning toil brings them into collision with other labor interests while welcoming as we should those who seek our shores to merge themselves in our body politic and win personal competence by honest effort we cannot regard such assemblances of distinctively alien laborers hired out in the mass to the profit of alien speculators and shipped hither and thither as the prospect of gain may dictate as otherwise then repugnant to the spirit of our civilization deterrent to individual advancement and hindrances to the build up of stable communities resting upon the wholesome ambitions of the citizen and constituting the prime factor in the prosperity and progress of our nation if legislation can reach this growing evil it certainly should be attempted Japan has furnished abundant evidence of her vast gain in every trait and characteristic that constitutes a nation's greatness we have reason for congratulation in the fact that the government of the United States by the exchange of liberal treaty stipulations with the new Japan was the first to recognize her wonderful advance and to extend to her the consideration and confidence due to her national enlightenment and progressive character the boundary dispute which lately threatened to embroil Guatemala and Mexico has happily yielded to Pacific councils and its determination has by the joint agreement of the parties been submitted to the sole arbitration of the United States minister to Mexico the commission appointed under the convention of February 18th 1889 to set new monuments along the boundary between the United States and Mexico has completed its task as a sequel to the failure of a scheme for the colonization in Mexico of Negroes mostly immigrants from Alabama under contract a great number of these helpless and suffering people starving and smitten with contagious disease made their way or were assisted to the frontier where in wretched plight they were quarantined by the Texas authorities learning of their destitute condition I directed rations to be temporarily furnished them through the war department at the expiration of their quarantine they were conveyed by the railway companies at comparatively nominal rates to their homes in Alabama upon my assurance in the absence of any fund available for the cost of their transportation that I would recommend to Congress and appropriation for its payment I now strongly urge upon Congress the propriety of making such an appropriation it should be remembered that the measures taken were dictated not only by sympathy and humanity but by a conviction that it was not compatible with the dignity of this government that so large a body of our dependent citizens should be thrown for relief upon the charity of a neighboring state end of section 7 recording by Paul Thomas section 8 of state of the union addresses by United States presidents 1893 to 1896 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 Paul Thomas section 8 Grover Cleveland December 2nd 1895 part 2 in last year's message I narrated at some length the jurisdictional questions then freshly arisen in the mosquito Indian strip of Nicaragua since that time by the voluntary act of the mosquito nation the territory reserved to them has been incorporated with Nicaragua the Indians formally subjecting themselves to be governed by the general laws and regulations of the Republic instead of by their own customs and regulations and thus availing themselves of a privilege secured to them by the treaty between Nicaragua and Great Britain of January 28 1860 after this extension of uniform Nicaraguan administration to the mosquito strip the case of the British vice consul Hatch and several of his countrymen who had been summarily expelled from Nicaragua and treated with considerable indignity provoked a claim by Great Britain upon Nicaragua for pecuniary indemnity which upon Nicaragua's refusal to admit liability was enforced by Great Britain while the sovereignty and jurisdiction of Nicaragua was in no way questioned by Great Britain the former's arbitrary conduct in regard to British subjects furnished the ground for this proceeding a British naval force occupied without resistance the Pacific seaport of Corinto but was soon after withdrawn upon the promise that the sum demanded would be paid throughout this incident the kindly offices of the United States were invoked and were employed in favor of as peaceful a settlement and as much consideration and indulgence toward Nicaragua were consistent with the nature of the case our efforts have since been made the subject of appreciative and grateful recognition by Nicaragua the coronation of the Tsar of Russia at Moscow in May next invites the ceremonial participation of the United States and in accordance with usage and diplomatic propriety our minister to the imperial court has been directed to represent our government on the occasion the correspondence is on foot touching the practice of Russian consuls within the jurisdiction of the United States to interrogate citizens as to their race and religious faith and upon ascertainment thereof to deny Jews authentication of passports or legal documents for use in Russia in as much as such a proceeding imposes a disability which in the case of succession to property in Russia is found to infringe the treaty rights of our citizens and which is an obnoxious invasion of our territorial jurisdiction it has elicited fitting remonstrance the result of which it is hoped will remove the cause of complaint the pending claims of ceiling vessels of the United States seized in Russian waters remain unadjusted our recent convention with Russia establishing a modus vivende as to imperial jurisdiction in such cases has prevented further difficulty of this nature the Russian government has welcomed in principle our suggestion for a modus vivende to embrace Great Britain and Japan looking to the better preservation of seal life in the North Pacific and Bering Sea and the extension of the protected area defined by the Paris Tribunal to all Pacific waters north of the 35th parallel it is especially noticeable that Russia favors prohibition of the use of firearms in seal hunting throughout the proposed area and a longer closed season for pelagic ceiling in my last two annual messages I called the attention of the Congress to the position we occupied as one of the parties to a treaty or agreement by which we became jointly bound with England and Germany to so interfere with the government control of Samoa as in effect to assume the management of its affairs on the ninth day of May 1894 I transmitted to the Senate a special message with accompanying documents giving information on the subject and emphasizing the opinion I have at all times entertained that our situation in this matter was inconsistent with the mission and traditions of our government in violation of the principles we profess and in all its phases mischievous and vexatious I again press this subject upon the attention of the Congress and ask for such legislative action or expression as will lead the way to our relief from obligations both irksome and unnatural Cuba is again gravely disturbed an insurrection in some respects more active than the last preceding revolt which continued from 1868 to 1878 now exists in a large part of the eastern interior of the island menacing even some populations on the coast besides deranging the commercial exchanges of the island of which our country takes a predominant share this flagrant condition of hostilities by arousing sentimental sympathy and inciting adventurous support among our people has entailed earnest effort on the part of this government to enforce obedience to our neutrality laws and to prevent the territory of the United States from being abused as a vantage ground from which to aid those in arms against Spanish sovereignty whatever may be the traditional sympathy of our countrymen as individuals with a people who seem to be struggling for larger autonomy and greater freedom deepened as such sympathy naturally must be in behalf of members yet the plane duty of their government is to observe in good faith the recognized obligations of international relationship the performance of this duty should not be made more difficult by a disregard on the part of our citizens of the obligations growing out of their allegiance to their country which should restrain them from violating as individuals the neutrality which the nation of which they are members is bound to observe in its relations to friendly sovereign states. Though neither the warmth of our people's sympathy with the Cuban insurgents nor our loss and material damage consequent upon the futile endeavors made thus far to restore peace and order nor any shock our humane sensibilities may have received from the cruelties which appear to especially characterize this sanguinary and fiercely conducted war have in the least shaken the determination of the government to honestly fulfill every international obligation yet it is to be earnestly hoped on every ground that the devastation of armed conflict may speedily be stayed and order in quiet restored to the distracted island bringing in their train the activity and thrift of peaceful pursuits one notable instance of interference by Spain with passing American ships has occurred on March 8 last the Alianca while bound from Cologne to New York and following the customary track for vessels near the Cuban shore but outside the three-mile limit was fired upon by a Spanish gunboat protest was promptly made by the United States against this act as not being justified by a state of war nor permissible in respective vessels on the usual paths of commerce nor tolerable in view of the wanton peril occasioned to innocent life and property the act was disavowed with full expression of regret and assurance of non-recurrence of such just cause of complaint while the offending officer was relieved of his command military arrests of citizens of the United States in Cuba have occasioned frequent reclamations where held on criminal charges their delivery to the ordinary civil jurisdiction for trial has been demanded and obtained in conformity with treaty provisions and were merely detained by way of military precaution under a proclaimed state of siege without formulated accusation their release or trial has been insisted upon the right of American consular officers in the island to prefer protests and demands in such cases having been questioned by the insular authority their enjoyment of the privilege stipulated by treaty for the consuls of Germany was claimed under the most favored nation provision of our own convention and was promptly recognized the long standing demand of Antonio Maximo Mora against Spain has it last been settled by the payment on the 14th of September last of the sum originally agreed upon in liquidation of the claim its distribution among the parties entitled to receive it as rapidly as the rights of those claiming the fund could be safely determined the enforcement of different duties against products of this country exported to Cuba and Puerto Rico prompted the immediate claim on our part to the benefit of the minimum tariff of Spain in return for the most favorable treatment permitted by our laws as regards the production of Spanish territories a commercial arrangement was concluded in January last securing the treatment so claimed vigorous protests against excessive fines imposed on our ships and merchandise by the customs officers of these islands for trivial errors have resulted in the remission of such fines in instances where the equity of the complaint was apparent though the vexatious practice has not been wholly discontinued occurrences in Turkey have continued to excite concern the reported massacres of Christians in Armenia and the development there and in other districts of a spirit of fanatic hostility to Christian influences naturally excited apprehension for the safety of the devoted men and women who as dependence of the foreign missionary societies in the United States reside in Turkey under the guarantee of law and usage and in the legitimate performance of their educational and religious mission. No efforts have been spared in their behalf and their protection in person and property has been earnestly and vigorously enforced by every means within our power. I regret however that an attempt on our part to obtain better information concerning the true condition of affairs in the disturbed quarter of the Ottoman Empire by sending thither the United States consul at Sivas to make investigation and report was thwarted by the objections of the Turkish government. This movement on our part was in no sense meant as a gratuitous entanglement of the United States in the so-called eastern question nor as a vicious interference with the right and duty which belong by treaty to certain great European powers calling for their intervention in political matters affecting the good and religious freedom of the non-Muslim subjects of the Sultan but it arose solely from our desire to have an accurate knowledge of the conditions in our efforts to care for those entitled to our protection. The presence of our naval vessels which are now in the vicinity of the disturbed localities affords opportunities to acquire a measure of familiarity with the condition of affairs and will enable us to take suitable steps for the protection of any interests of our countrymen within reach of our ships that might be found imperiled. The Ottoman government has lately issued an imperial irate exempting forever from taxation in American college for girls at Skutari. Repeated assurances have also been obtained by our envoy at Constantinople that similar institutions maintained and administered by our countrymen shall be secured in the enjoyment of all rights and that our citizens throughout the empire shall be protected. The government however in view of existing facts is far from relying upon such assurances as the limit of its duty. Our minister has been vigilant and alert in affording all possible protection in individual cases where danger threatened or safety was imperiled. We have sent ships as far toward the points of actual disturbance as it is possible for them to go where they offer refuge to those obliged to flee and we have the promise of other powers which have ships in the neighborhood that our citizens as well as theirs will be received and protected on board those ships. On the demand of our minister orders have been issued by the Sultan that Turkish soldiers shall guard and escort to the coast American refugees. These orders have been carried out and our latest intelligence gives assurance of the present personal safety of our citizens and missionaries. Though thus far no lives of American citizens have been sacrificed there can be no doubt that serious loss and destruction of mission property have resulted from riotous conflicts and outrageous attacks. By treaty several of the most powerful European powers have secured a right and have assumed a duty not only in behalf of their own citizens and in furtherance of their own interests but as agents of the Christian world. Their right is to enforce such conduct of Turkish government as will restrain fanatical brutality and if this fails their duty is to so interfere as to ensure against such dreadful occurrences in Turkey as have lately shocked civilization. The powers declare this right and this duty to be theirs alone and it is earnestly hoped that prompt and effective action on their part will not be delayed. The new consulates at Erserum and Harput for which appropriation was made last session have been provisionally filled by trusted employees of the Department of State. These appointees though now in Turkey have not yet received their executors. The arbitration of the claim of the Venezuela Steam Transportation Company under the Treaty of January 19, 1892 between the United States and Venezuela resulted in an award in favor of the claimant. The government has used its good offices toward composing the differences between Venezuela on one hand and France and Belgium on the other growing out of the dismissal of the representatives of those powers on the ground of a publication deemed offensive to Venezuela. Although the dismissal was followed with a cordial request that other more personally agreeable envoys be sent in their stead, a rupture of intercourse ensued and still continues. In view of the growth of our interests in foreign countries and the encouraging prospects for a general expansion of our commerce, the question of an improvement in the consular service has increased in importance and urgency. Though there is no doubt that the great body of consular officers rendering valuable services to the trade and industries of the country, the need of some plan of appointment and control which would tend to secure a higher average of efficiency cannot be denied. The importance of the subject has led the executive to consider what steps might properly be taken without additional legislation to answer the need of a better system of consular appointments. The matter having been committed to consideration of the Secretary of State in pursuance of his recommendations an executive order was issued on the 20th of September 1895 by the terms of which it is provided that after that date any vacancy in a consulate or commercial agency with an annual salary or compensation from official fees of not more than $2,500 or less than $1,000 should be filled either by transfer or promotion from some other position under the Department of State of a character tending to qualify the incumbent for the position to be filled or by the appointment of a person not under the Department of State but having previously served there under and shown his capacity and fitness for consular duty or by the appointment of a person who having been selected by the President and sent to a board for examination is found upon such examination to be qualified for the position. Posts which pay less than $1,000 being usually on account of their small compensation filled by selection from residents of the locality it was not deemed practicable to put them under the news system. The compensation of $2,500 was adopted as the maximum limit in the classification for the reason that consular officers receiving more than that are often charged with functions and duties scarcely inferior in dignity and importance to those of diplomatic agents and it was therefore thought best to continue their selection in the discretion of the executive without subjecting them to examination before a board. Excluding 71 places with compensation at present less than $1,000 and 53 places above the maximum in compensation the number of positions remaining within the scope of the order is 196. This number will undoubtedly be increased by the inclusion of consular officers whose renumeration in fees now less than $1,000 will be augmented with the growth of our foreign commerce and a return to more favorable business conditions. In execution of the executive order referred to the Secretary of State has designated as a board to conduct the prescribed examinations the Third Assistant Secretary of State, the Solicitor of the Department of State, and the Chief of the Consular Bureau and has specified the subjects to which such examinations shall relate. It is not assumed that this system will prove a full measure of consular reform. It is quite probable that actual experience will show particulars in which the order already issued may be amended and demonstrate that for the best results appropriate legislation by Congress is imperatively required. In any event these efforts to improve the consular service ought to be immediately supplemented by legislation providing for consular inspection. This has frequently been a subject of executive recommendation and I again urge such action by Congress as will permit the frequent and thorough inspection of consulates by officers appointed at purpose or by persons already in the diplomatic or consular service. The expense attending such a plan would be insignificant compared with its usefulness and I hope the legislation necessary to set it on foot will be speedily forthcoming. I am thoroughly convinced that in addition to their salaries our ambassadors and ministers at foreign courts should be provided by the government with official residences. The salaries of these officers are comparatively small and in most cases insufficient to pay with other necessary expenses the cost of maintaining household establishments in keeping with their important and delicate functions. The usefulness of a nation's diplomatic representative undeniably depends much upon the appropriateness of his surroundings and a country like ours while avoiding unnecessary glitter and show should be certain that it does not suffer in its relations with foreign nations through parsimony and shabbiness in its diplomatic outfit. These considerations and the other advantages of having fixed and somewhat permanent locations for our embassies would abundantly justify the moderate expenditure necessary to carry out this suggestion. As we turn from a review of our foreign relations to the contemplation of our national financial situation we are fully aware that we approach a subject of domestic concern more important than any other that can engage our attention and one at present in such a perplexing and delicate predicament as to require prompt and wise treatment. We may well be encouraged to earn a steppert in this direction when we recall the steps already taken toward improving our economic and financial situation and when we appreciate how well the way has been improved for further progress by an aroused and intelligent popular interest in these subjects. By command of the people a customs revenue system designed for the protection and benefit of favored classes at the expense of the great mass of our countrymen and which while inefficient for the purpose of revenue curtailed our trade relations and impeded our entrance to the markets of the world has been superseded by a policy which in principle is based upon a denial of the right of the government to obstruct the avenues to our people's cheap living or lessen their comfort and contentment for the sake of according to special advantages to favorites and which while encouraging our intercourse and trade with other nations recognizes the fact that American self-reliance, thrift and ingenuity can build up our country's industries and develop our resources more surely than innervating paternalism. The compulsory purchase and coinage of silver by the government unchecked and unregulated by business conditions and heedless of our currency needs which for more than 15 years diluted our circulating medium, undermined confidence abroad in our financial ability and at last culminated in distress and panic at home has been recently stopped by the rule of the laws which forced this reckless scheme upon the country. The things thus accomplished notwithstanding their extreme importance and beneficial effects fall far short of curing the monetary evils from which we suffer as a result of long indulgence in ill-advised financial expedience. The currency denominated United States notes and commonly known as greenbacks was issued in large volume during the late Civil War and was intended originally to meet the exigencies of that period. It will be seen by a reference to the debates in Congress at the time the laws were passed, authorizing the issue of these notes, that their advocates declared they were intended for only temporary use and to meet the emergency of war. In almost, if not all, the laws pertaining to them some provision was made contemplating their voluntary or compulsory retirement. A large quantity of them, however, were kept on foot and mingled with the currency of the country, so that at the close of the year 1874 they amounted to $381,999,073. Immediately after that date and in January 1875 a law was passed providing for the resumption of species payments, by which the Secretary of the Treasury was required, whenever additional circulation was issued to national banks, to retire United States notes equal in amount to 80% of such additional national bank circulation until such notes were reduced to $300 million. This law further provided that on and after the first day of January 1879 the United States notes then outstanding should be redeemed in coin and in order to provide and prepare for such redemption the Secretary of the Treasury was authorized not only to use any surplus revenues of the government but to issue bonds of the United States and dispose of them for coin and to use the proceeds for the purposes contemplated by the statute. In May 1878 and before the date thus appointed for the redemption and retirement of these notes another statute was passed forbidding their further cancellation and retirement some of them had however been previously redeemed and canceled upon the issue of additional national bank circulation as permitted by the law of 1875 so that the amount outstanding at the time of the passage of the act forbidding their further retirement was $346,681,016. The law of 1878 did not stop at distinct prohibition but contained in addition the following express provision and when any of said notes may be redeemed or be received into the Treasury under any law from any source whatsoever and shall belong to the United States they shall not be retired, canceled or destroyed but they shall be reissued and paid out again and kept in circulation. This was the condition of affairs on the first day of January 1879 which had been fixed upon four years before as the date for entering upon the redemption and retirement of all these notes and for which such abundant means had been provided. The government was put in the anomalous situation of owing to the holders of its notes debts payable in gold on demand which neither be retired by receiving such notes in discharge of obligations due the government nor canceled by actual payment in gold. It was forced to redeem without redemption and to pay without acquittance. There had been issued and sold $95,500,000 of bonds authorized by the Resumption Act of 1875 the proceeds of which together with other gold in the Treasury created a gold fund deemed sufficient to meet the demands which might be made upon it for the redemption of the outstanding United States notes. This fund together with such other gold as might be from time to time in the Treasury available for the same purpose has been since called our gold reserve and $100 million has been regarded as an adequate amount to accomplish its object. This fund amounted on the first day of January 1879 to $114,193,360 and though thereafter constantly fluctuating it did not fall below that sum until July 1892. In April 1893 for the first time since its establishment this reserve amounted to less than $100 million containing at that date only $97,11,330 In the meantime and in July 1890 an act had been passed directing larger governmental monthly purchases of silver than had been required under previous laws and providing that in payment for such silver Treasury notes of the United States should be issued payable on demand in gold or silver coin at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. It was however declared in the act to be the established policy of the United States to maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon the present legal ratio or such legal ratio as may be provided by law. In view of this declaration it was not deemed permissible for the Secretary of the Treasury to exercise the discretion in terms conferred on him by refusing to pay the gold on these notes when demanded because by such discrimination in favor of the gold dollar the so-called parity of the two metals would be destroyed and grave and dangerous consequences would be precipitated by affirming or accentuating the constantly widening disparity between their actual values under the existing ratio. It thus resulted that the Treasury notes issued in payment of silver purchases under the law of 1890 were necessarily treated as gold obligations at the option of the holder. These notes on the first day of November 1893 when the law compelling the monthly purchase of silver was repealed amounted to more than $155 million. The notes of this description now outstanding added to the United States notes still undiminished by redemption or cancellation constitute a volume of gold obligations amounting to nearly $500 million. These obligations are the instruments which ever since we had a gold reserve have been used to deplete it. This reserve as has been stated had fallen in April 1893 to $97,111,330. It has from that time to the present with very few and important upward movements steadily decreased except as it has been temporarily replenished by the sale of bonds. Among the causes for this constant and uniform shrinkage in this fund may be mentioned the great falling off of exports under the operation of the tariff law until recently in force which crippled our exchange of commodities with foreign nations and necessitated to some extent the payment of our currencies in gold, the unnatural infusion of silver into our currency and the increasing agitation for its free and unlimited coinage which have created apprehension as to our disposition or ability to continue gold payments. The consequent hoarding of gold at home and the stoppage of investments of foreign capital as well as the return of our securities already sold abroad and the high rate of foreign exchange which induced the shipment of our gold to be drawn against as a matter of speculation. In consequence of these conditions the gold reserve on the first day of February 1894 was reduced to $65,438,377 having lost more than $31 million during the proceeding nine months or since April 1893. Its replenishment being necessary and no other manner of accomplishing it being possible resort was had to the issue and sale of bonds provided for by the Resumption Act of 1875. Fifty millions of these bonds were sold yielding $58,633,295.71 which was added to the reserve fund of gold then on the second hand. As a result of this operation this reserve which had suffered constant and large withdrawals in the meantime stood on the sixth day of March 1894 at the sum of $107,446,802. Its depletion was however immediately thereafter so accelerated that on the 30th day of June 1894 it had fallen to $64,873,025 thus losing by withdrawals more than $42 million in five months and dropping slightly below its situation when the sale of $50 million in bonds was affected for its replenishment. This depressed condition grew worse and on the 24th day of November 1894 our gold reserve being reduced to $57,669,701 it became necessary to again strengthen it. This was done by another sale of bonds amounting to $50 million from which there was realized $58,538,500 with which the fund was increased to $111,142,021 on the fourth day of December 1894. Again disappointment awaited the anxious hope for relief. There was not even a lull in the exasperating withdrawals of gold. On the contrary they grew larger and more persistent than ever. Between the fourth day of December 1894 and early in February 1895 a period of scarcely more than two months after the second reinforcement of our gold reserve by the sale of bonds it had lost by such withdrawals more than $69 million and had fallen to $41,340,181. Nearly $43 million had been withdrawn within the month immediately preceding this situation. In anticipation of impending trouble I had on the 28th day of January 1895 addressed a communication to the Congress fully setting forth our difficulties and dangerous position and earnestly recommending that authority be given the Secretary of the Treasury to issue bonds bearing a low rate of interest payable by their terms in gold for the purpose of maintaining a sufficient gold reserve and also for the redemption and cancellation of outstanding United States notes and the Treasury notes issued for the purchase of silver under the law of 1890. This recommendation did not however meet with legislative approval. In February 1895 therefore the situation was exceedingly critical. With a reserve perilously low and a refusal of congressional aid everything indicated that the end of gold payments by the government was imminent. The results of prior bond issues had been exceedingly unsatisfactory and the large withdrawals of gold immediately succeeding their public sale in open market gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that a large part of the gold paid into the Treasury upon such sales was promptly drawn out again by the presentation of United States Treasury notes or Treasury notes and found its way to the hands of those who had only temporarily parted with it in the purchase of bonds. End of Section 8 Recording by Paul Thomas