Speech Transcript:

 To the Senate and House of Representatives:

There are few transactions in the administration of the Government
that are even temporarily held in the confidence of those charged
with the conduct of the public business. Every step taken is under
the observation of an intelligent and watchful people. The state of
the Union is known from day to day, and suggestions as to needed
legislation find an earlier voice than that which speaks in these
annual communications of the President to Congress.

Good will and cordiality have characterized our relations and
correspondence with other governments, and the year just closed
leaves few international questions of importance remaining
unadjusted. No obstacle is believed to exist that can long postpone
the consideration and adjustment of the still pending questions upon
satisfactory and honorable terms. The dealings of this Government
with other states have been and should always be marked by frankness
and sincerity, our purposes avowed, and our methods free from
intrigue. This course has borne rich fruit in the past, and it is our
duty as a nation to preserve the heritage of good repute which a
century of right dealing with foreign governments has secured to us.

It is a matter of high significance and no less of congratulation
that the first year of the second century of our constitutional
existence finds as honored guests within our borders the
representatives of all the independent States of North and South
America met together in earnest conference touching the best methods
of perpetuating and expanding the relations of mutual interest and
friendliness existing among them. That the opportunity thus afforded
for promoting closer international relations and the increased
prosperity of the States represented will be used for the mutual good
of all I can not permit myself to doubt. Our people will await with
interest and confidence the results to flow from so auspicious a
meeting of allied and in large part identical interests.

The recommendations of this international conference of enlightened
statesmen will doubtless have the considerate attention of Congress
and its cooperation in the removal of unnecessary barriers to
beneficial intercourse between the nations of America. But while the
commercial results which it is hoped will follow this conference are
worthy of pursuit and of the great interests they have excited, it is
believed that the crowning benefit will be found in the better
securities which may be devised for the maintenance of peace among
all American nations and the settlement of all contentions by methods
that a Christian civilization can approve. While viewing with interest
our national resources and products, the delegates will, I am sure,
find a higher satisfaction in the evidences of unselfish friendship
which everywhere attend their intercourse with our people.

Another international conference having great possibilities for good
has lately assembled and is now in session in this capital. An
invitation was extended by the Government, under the act of Congress
of July 9, 1888, to all maritime nations to send delegates to confer
touching the revision and amendment of the rules and regulations
governing vessels at sea and to adopt a uniform system of marine
signals. The response to this invitation has been very general and
very cordial. Delegates from twenty-six nations are present in the
conference, and they have entered upon their useful work with great
zeal and with an evident appreciation of its importance. So far as
the agreement to be reached may require legislation to give it
effect, the cooperation of Congress is confidently relied upon.

It is an interesting, if not, indeed, an unprecedented, fact that the
two international conferences have brought together here the
accredited representatives of thirty-three nations.

Bolivia, Ecuador, and Honduras are now represented by resident envoys
of the plenipotentiary grade. All the States of the American system
now maintain diplomatic representation at this capital.

In this connection it may be noted that all the nations of the
Western Hemisphere, with one exception, send to Washington envoys
extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, being the highest grade
accredited to this Government. The United States, on the contrary,
sends envoys of lower grades to some of our sister Republics. Our
representative in Paraguay and Uruguay is a minister resident, while
to Bolivia we send a minister resident and consul-general. In view of
the importance of our relations with the States of the American
system, our diplomatic agents in those countries should be of the
uniform rank of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary.
Certain missions were so elevated by the last Congress with happy
effect, and I recommend the completion of the reform thus begun, with
the inclusion also of Hawaii and Hayti, in view of their relations to
the American system of states.

I also recommend that timely provision be made for extending to
Hawaii an invitation to be represented in the international
conference now sitting at this capital.

Our relations with China have the attentive consideration which their
magnitude and interest demand. The failure of the treaty negotiated
under the Administration of my predecessor for the further and more
complete restriction of Chinese labor immigration, and with it the
legislation of the last session of Congress dependent thereon, leaves
some questions open which Congress should now approach in that wise
and just spirit which should characterize the relations of two great
and friendly powers. While our supreme interests demand the exclusion
of a laboring element which experience has shown to be incompatible
with our social life, all steps to compass this imperative need
should be accompanied with a recognition of the claim of those
strangers now lawfully among us to humane and just treatment.

The accession of the young Emperor of China marks, we may hope, an
era of progress and prosperity for the great country over which he is
called to rule.

The present state of affairs in respect to the Samoan Islands is
encouraging. The conference which was held in this city in the summer
of 1887 between the representatives of the United States, Germany, and
Great Britain having been adjourned because of the persistent
divergence of views which was developed in its deliberations, the
subsequent course of events in the islands gave rise to questions of
a serious character. On the 4th of February last the German minister
at this capital, in behalf of his Government, proposed a resumption
of the conference at Berlin. This proposition was accepted, as
Congress in February last was informed.

Pursuant to the understanding thus reached, commissioners were
appointed by me, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
who proceeded to Berlin, where the conference was renewed. The
deliberations extended through several weeks, and resulted in the
conclusion of a treaty which will be submitted to the Senate for its
approval. I trust that the efforts which have been made to effect an
adjustment of this question will be productive of the permanent
establishment of law and order in Samoa upon the basis of the
maintenance of the rights and interests of the natives as well as of
the treaty powers.

The questions which have arisen during the past few years between
Great Britain and the United States are in abeyance or in course of
amicable adjustment.

On the part of the government of the Dominion of Canada an effort has
been apparent during the season just ended to administer the laws and
regulations applicable to the fisheries with as little occasion for
friction as was possible, and the temperate representations of this
Government in respect of cases of undue hardship or of harsh
interpretations have been in most cases met with measures of
transitory relief. It is trusted that the attainment of our just
rights under existing treaties and in virtue of the concurrent
legislation of the two contiguous countries will not be long deferred
and that all existing causes of difference may be equitably adjusted.

I recommend that provision be made by an international agreement for
visibly marking the water boundary between the United States and
Canada in the narrow channels that join the Great Lakes. The
conventional line therein traced by the northwestern boundary survey
years ago is not in all cases readily ascertainable for the
settlement of jurisdictional questions.

A just and acceptable enlargement of the list of offenses for which
extradition may be claimed and granted is most desirable between this
country and Great Britain. The territory of neither should become a
secure harbor for the evil doers of the other through any avoidable
shortcoming in this regard. A new treaty on this subject between the
two powers has been recently negotiated and will soon be laid before
the Senate.

The importance of the commerce of Cuba and Puerto Rico with the
United States, their nearest and principal market, justifies the
expectation that the existing relations may be beneficially expanded.
The impediments resulting from varying dues on navigation and from the
vexatious treatment of our vessels on merely technical grounds of
complaint in West India ports should be removed.

The progress toward an adjustment of pending claims between the
United States and Spain is not as rapid as could be desired.

Questions affecting American interests in connection with railways
constructed and operated by our citizens in Peru have claimed the
attention of this Government. It is urged that other governments in
pressing Peru to the payment of their claims have disregarded the
property rights of American citizens. The matter will be carefully
investigated with a view to securing a proper and equitable
adjustment.

A similar issue is now pending with Portugal. The Delagoa Bay
Railway, in Africa, was constructed under a concession by Portugal to
an American citizen. When nearly completed the road was seized by the
agents of the Portuguese Government. Formal protest has been made
through our minister at Lisbon against this act, and no proper effort
will be spared to secure proper relief.

In pursuance of the charter granted by Congress and under the terms
of its contract with the Government of Nicaragua the Interoceanic
Canal Company has begun the construction of the important waterway
between the two oceans which its organization contemplates. Grave
complications for a time seemed imminent, in view of a supposed
conflict of jurisdiction between Nicaragua and Costa Rica in regard
to the accessory privileges to be conceded by the latter Republic
toward the construction of works on the San Juan River, of which the
right bank is Costa Rican territory. I am happy to learn that a
friendly arrangement has been effected between the two nations. This
Government has held itself ready to promote in every proper way the
adjustment of all questions that might present obstacles to the
completion of a work of such transcendent importance to the commerce
of this country, and, indeed, to the commercial interests of the
world.

The traditional good feeling between this country and the French
Republic has received additional testimony in the participation of
our Government and people in the international exposition held at
Paris during the past summer. The success of our exhibitors has been
gratifying. The report of the commission will be laid before Congress
in due season.

This Government has accepted, under proper reserve as to its policy
in foreign territories, the invitation of the Government of Belgium
to take part in an international congress, which opened at Brussels
on the 16th of November, for the purpose of devising measures to
promote the abolition of the slave trade in Africa and to prevent the
shipment of slaves by sea. Our interest in the extinction of this
crime against humanity in the regions where it yet survives has been
increased by the results of emancipation within our own borders.

With Germany the most cordial relations continue. The questions
arising from the return to the Empire of Germans naturalized in this
country are considered and disposed of in a temperate spirit to the
entire satisfaction of both Governments.

It is a source of great satisfaction that the internal disturbances
of the Republic of Hayti are at last happily ended, and that an
apparently stable government has been constituted. It has been duly
recognized by the United States.

A mixed commission is now in session in this capital for the
settlement of long-standing claims against the Republic of Venezuela,
and it is hoped that a satisfactory conclusion will be speedily
reached. This Government has not hesitated to express its earnest
desire that the boundary dispute now pending between Great Britain
and Venezuela may be adjusted amicably and in strict accordance with
the historic title of the parties.

The advancement of the Empire of Japan has been evidenced by the
recent promulgation of a new constitution, containing valuable
guaranties of liberty and providing for a responsible ministry to
conduct the Government.

It is earnestly recommended that our judicial rights and processes in
Korea be established on a firm basis by providing the machinery
necessary to carry out treaty stipulations in that regard.

The friendliness of the Persian Government continues to be shown by
its generous treatment of Americans engaged in missionary labors and
by the cordial disposition of the Shah to encourage the enterprise of
our citizens in the development of Persian resources.

A discussion is in progress touching the jurisdictional treaty rights
of the United States in Turkey. An earnest effort will be made to
define those rights to the satisfaction of both Governments.

Questions continue to arise in our relations with several countries
in respect to the rights of naturalized citizens. Especially is this
the case with France, Italy, Russia, and Turkey, and to a less extent
with Switzerland. From time to time earnest efforts have been made to
regulate this subject by conventions with those countries. An
improper use of naturalization should not be permitted, but it is
most important that those who have been duly naturalized should
everywhere be accorded recognition of the rights pertaining to the
citizenship of the country of their adoption. The appropriateness of
special conventions for that purpose is recognized in treaties which
this Government has concluded with a number of European States, and
it is advisable that the difficulties which now arise in our
relations with other countries on the same subject should be
similarly adjusted.

The recent revolution in Brazil in favor of the establishment of a
republican form of government is an event of great interest to the
United States. Our minister at Rio de Janeiro was at once instructed
to maintain friendly diplomatic relations with the Provisional
Government, and the Brazilian representatives at this capital were
instructed by the Provisional Government to continue their functions.
Our friendly intercourse with Brazil has therefore suffered no
interruption.

Our minister has been further instructed to extend on the part of
this Government a formal and cordial recognition of the new Republic
so soon as the majority of the people of Brazil shall have signified
their assent to its establishment and maintenance.

Within our own borders a general condition of prosperity prevails.
The harvests of the last summer were exceptionally abundant, and the
trade conditions now prevailing seem to promise a successful season
to the merchant and the manufacturer and general employment to our
working people.

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1889, has been prepared and will be presented to
Congress. It presents with clearness the fiscal operations of the
Government, and I avail myself of it to obtain some facts for use
here.

The aggregate receipts from all sources for the year were
$387,050,058.84, derived as follows:

From customs - $223, 832, 741.69

From internal revenue - 130,881,513.92

From miscellaneous sources - 32,335,803.23

The ordinary expenditures for the same period were $281,996,615.60,
and the total expenditures, including the sinking fund, were
$329,579,929.25. The excess of receipts over expenditures was, after
providing for the sinking fund, $57,470,129.59.

For the current fiscal year the total revenues, actual and estimated
are $385,000,000, and the ordinary expenditures, actual and
estimated, are $293,000,000, making with the sinking fund a total
expenditure of $341,321,116.99, leaving an estimated surplus of
$43,678,883.01.

During the fiscal year there was applied to the purchase of bonds, in
addition to those for the sinking fund, $90,456,172.35, and during the
first quarter of the current year the sum of $37,838,937.77, all of
which were credited to the sinking fund. The revenues for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1891, are estimated by the Treasury Department
at $385,000,000, and the expenditures for the same period, including
the sinking fund, at $341,430,477.70. This shows an estimated surplus
for that year of $43,569,522.30, which is more likely to be increased
than reduced when the actual transactions are written up.

The existence of so large an actual and anticipated surplus should
have the immediate attention of Congress, with a view to reducing the
receipts of the Treasury to the needs of the Government as closely as
may be. The collection of moneys not needed for public uses imposes
an unnecessary burden upon our people, and the presence of so large a
surplus in the public vaults is a disturbing element in the conduct of
private business. It has called into use expedients for putting it
into circulation of very questionable propriety. We should not
collect revenue for the purpose of anticipating our bonds beyond the
requirements of the sinking fund, but any unappropriated surplus in
the Treasury should be so used, as there is no other lawful way of
returning the money to circulation, and the profit realized by the
Government offers a substantial advantage.

The loaning of public funds to the banks without interest Upon the
security of Government bonds I regard as an unauthorized and
dangerous expedient. It results in a temporary and unnatural increase
of the banking capital of favored localities and compels a cautious
and gradual recall of the deposits to avoid injury to the commercial
interests. It is not to be expected that the banks having these
deposits will sell their bonds to the Treasury so long as the present
highly beneficial arrangement is continued. They now practically get
interest both upon the bonds and their proceeds. No further use
should be made of this method of getting the surplus into
circulation, and the deposits now outstanding should be gradually
withdrawn and applied to the purchase of bonds. It is fortunate that
such a use can be made of the existing surplus, and for some time to
come of any casual surplus that may exist after Congress has taken
the necessary steps for a reduction of the revenue. Such legislation
should be promptly but very considerately enacted.

I recommend a revision of our tariff law both in its administrative
features and in the schedules. The need of the former is generally
conceded, and an agreement upon the evils and inconveniences to be
remedied and the best methods for their correction will probably not
be difficult. Uniformity of valuation at all our ports is essential,
and effective measures should be taken to secure it. It is equally
desirable that questions affecting rates and classifications should
be promptly decided.

The preparation of a new schedule of customs duties is a matter of
great delicacy because of its direct effect upon the business of the
country, and of great difficulty by reason of the wide divergence of
opinion as to the objects that may properly be promoted by such
legislation. Some disturbance of business may perhaps result from the
consideration of this subject by Congress, but this temporary ill
effect will be reduced to the minimum by prompt action and by the
assurance which the country already enjoys that any necessary changes
will be so made as not to impair the just and reasonable protection of
our home industries. The inequalities of the law should be adjusted,
but the protective principle should be maintained and fairly applied
to the products of our farms as well as of our shops. These duties
necessarily have relation to other things besides the public
revenues. We can not limit their effects by fixing our eyes on the
public Treasury alone. They have a direct relation to home
production, to work, to wages, and to the commercial independence of
our country, and the wise and patriotic legislator should enlarge the
field of his vision to include all of these. The necessary reduction
in our public revenues can, I am sure, be made without making the
smaller burden more onerous than the larger by reason of the
disabilities and limitations which the process of reduction puts upon
both capital and labor. The free list can very safely be extended by
placing thereon articles that do not offer injurious competition to
such domestic products as our home labor can supply. The removal of
the internal tax upon tobacco would relieve an important agricultural
product from a burden which was imposed only because our revenue from
customs duties was insufficient for the public needs. If safe
provision against fraud can be devised, the removal of the tax upon
spirits used in the arts and in manufactures would also offer an
unobjectionable method of reducing the surplus.

A table presented by the Secretary of the Treasury showing the amount
of money of all kinds in circulation each year from 1878 to the
present time is of interest. It appears that the amount of
national-bank notes in circulation has decreased during that period
$114,109,729, of which $37,799,229 is chargeable to the last year.
The withdrawal of bank circulation will necessarily continue under
existing conditions. It is probable that the adoption of the
suggestions made by the Comptroller of the Currency, namely, that the
minimum deposit of bonds for the establishment of banks be reduced and
that an issue of notes to the par value of the bonds be allowed, would
help to maintain the bank circulation. But while this withdrawal of
bank notes has been going on there has been a large increase in the
amount of gold and silver coin in circulation and in the issues of
gold and silver certificates.

The total amount of money of all kinds in circulation on March 1,
1878, was $805,793,807, while on October 1, 1889, the total was
$1,405,018,000. There was an increase of $293,417,552 in gold coin,
of $57,554,100 in standard silver dollars, of $72,311,249 in gold
certificates, of $276,619,715 in silver certificates, and of
$14,073,787 in United States notes, making a total of $713,976,403.
There was during the same period a decrease of $114,109,729 in bank
circulation and of $642,481 in subsidiary silver. The net increase
was $599,224,193. The circulation per capita has increased about $5
during the time covered by the table referred to.

The total coinage of silver dollars was on November 1, 1889,
$343,638,001, of which $283,539,521 were in the Treasury vaults and
$60,098,480 were in circulation. Of the amount in the vaults
$277,319,944 were represented by outstanding silver certificates,
leaving $6,219,577 not in circulation and not represented by
certificates.

The law requiring the purchase by the Treasury of $2,000,000 worth of
silver bullion each month, to be coined into silver dollars of 412 1/2
grains, has been observed by the Department, but neither the present
Secretary nor any of his predecessors has deemed it safe to exercise
the discretion given by law to increase the monthly purchases to
$4,000,000. When the law was enacted (February 28, 1878) the price of
silver in the market was $1.204 per ounce, making the bullion value of
the dollar 93 cents. Since that time the price has fallen as low as
91.2 cents per ounce, reducing the bullion value of the dollar to
70.6 cents. Within the last few months the market price has somewhat
advanced, and on the 1st day of November last the bullion value of
the silver dollar was 72 cents.

The evil anticipations which have accompanied the coinage and use of
the silver dollar have not been realized. As a coin it has not had
general use, and the public Treasury has been compelled to store it.
But this is manifestly owing to the fact that its paper
representative is more convenient. The general acceptance and the use
of the silver certificate show that silver has not been otherwise
discredited. Some favorable conditions have contributed to maintain
this practical equality in their commercial use between the gold and
silver dollars; but some of these are trade conditions that statutory
enactments do not control and of the continuance of which we can not
be certain.

I think it is clear that if we should make the coinage of silver at
the present ratio free we must expect that the difference in the
bullion values of the gold and silver dollars will be taken account
of in commercial transactions; and I fear the same result would
follow any considerable increase of the present rate of coinage. Such
a result would be discreditable to our financial management and
disastrous to all business interests. We should not tread the
dangerous edge of such a peril. And, indeed, nothing more harmful
could happen to the silver interests. Any safe legislation upon this
subject must secure the equality of the two coins in their commercial
uses.

I have always been an advocate of the use of silver in our currency.
We are large producers of that metal, and should not discredit it. To
the plan which will be presented by the Secretary of the Treasury for
the issuance of notes or certificates upon the deposit of silver
bullion at its market value I have been able to give only a hasty
examination, owing to the press of other matters and to the fact that
it has been so recently formulated. The details of such a law require
careful consideration, but the general plan suggested by him seems to
satisfy the purpose--to continue the use of silver in connection with
our currency and at the same time to obviate the danger of which I
have spoken. At a later day I may communicate further with Congress
upon this subject.

The enforcement of the Chinese exclusion act has been found to be
very difficult on the northwestern frontier. Chinamen landing at
Victoria find it easy to pass our border, owing to the impossibility
with the force at the command of the customs officers of guarding so
long an inland line. The Secretary of the Treasury has authorized the
employment of additional officers, who will be assigned to this duty,
and every effort will be made to enforce the law. The Dominion exacts
a head tax of $50 for each Chinaman landed, and when these persons, in
fraud of our law, cross into our territory and are apprehended our
officers do not know what to do with them, as the Dominion
authorities will not suffer them to be sent back without a second
payment of the tax. An effort will be made to reach an understanding
that will remove this difficulty.

The proclamation required by section 3 of the act of March 2, 1889,
relating to the killing of seals and other fur-bearing animals, was
issued by me on the 21st day of March, and a revenue vessel was
dispatched to enforce the laws and protect the interests of the
United States. The establishment of a refuge station at Point Barrow,
as directed by Congress, was successfully accomplished.

Judged by modern standards, we are practically without coast
defenses. Many of the structures we have would enhance rather than
diminish the perils of their garrisons if subjected to the fire of
improved guns, and very few are so located as to give full effect to
the greater range of such guns as we are now making for coast-defense
uses. This general subject has had consideration in Congress for some
years, and the appropriation for the construction of large rifled
guns made one year ago was, I am sure, the expression of a purpose to
provide suitable works in which these guns might be mounted. An
appropriation now made for that purpose would not advance the
completion of the works beyond our ability to supply them with fairly
effective guns.

The security of our coast cities against foreign attacks should not
rest altogether in the friendly disposition of other nations. There
should be a second line wholly in our own keeping. I very urgently
recommend an appropriation at this session for the construction of
such works in our most exposed harbors.

I approve the suggestion of the Secretary of War that provision be
made for encamping companies of the National Guard in our coast works
for a specified time each year and for their training in the use of
heavy guns. His suggestion that an increase of the artillery force of
the Army is desirable is also, in this connection, commended to the
consideration of Congress.

The improvement of our important rivers and harbors should be
promoted by the necessary appropriations. Care should be taken that
the Government is not committed to the prosecution of works not of
public and general advantage and that the relative usefulness of
works of that class is not overlooked. So far as this work can ever
be said to be completed, I do not doubt that the end would be sooner
and more economically reached if fewer separate works were undertaken
at the same time, and those selected for their greater general
interest were more rapidly pushed to completion. A work once
considerably begun should not be subjected to the risks and
deterioration which interrupted or insufficient appropriations
necessarily occasion.

The assault made by David S. Terry upon the person of Justice Field,
of the Supreme Court of the United States, at Lathtop, Cal., in
August last, and the killing of the assailant by a deputy United
States marshal who had been deputed to accompany Justice Field and to
protect him from anticipated violence at the hands of Terry, in
connection with the legal proceedings which have followed, suggest
questions which, in my judgment, are worthy of the attention of
Congress.

I recommend that more definite provision be made by law not only for
the protection of Federal officers, but for a full trial of such
cases in the United States courts. In recommending such legislation I
do not at all impeach either the general adequacy of the provision
made by the State laws for the protection of all citizens or the
general good disposition of those charged with the execution of such
laws to give protection to the officers of the United States. The
duty of protecting its officers, as such, and of punishing those who
assault them on account of their official acts should not be devolved
expressly or by acquiescence upon the local authorities.

Events which have been brought to my attention happening in other
parts of the country have also suggested the propriety of extending
by legislation fuller protection to those who may be called as
witnesses in the courts of the United States. The law compels those
who are supposed to have knowledge of public offenses to attend upon
our courts and grand juries and to give evidence. There is a manifest
resulting duty that these witnesses shall be protected from injury on
account of their testimony. The investigations of criminal offenses
are often rendered futile and the punishment of crime impossible by
the intimidation of witnesses.

The necessity of providing some more speedy method for disposing of
the cases which now come for final adjudication to the Supreme Court
becomes every year more apparent and urgent. The plan of providing
some intermediate courts having final appellate jurisdiction of
certain classes of questions and cases has, I think, received a more
general approval from the bench and bar of the country than any
other. Without attempting to discuss details, I recommend that
provision be made for the establishment of such courts.

The salaries of the judges of the district courts in many of the
districts are, in my judgment, inadequate. I recommend that all such
salaries now below $5,000 per annum be increased to that amount. It
is quite true that the amount of labor performed by these judges is
very unequal, but as they can not properly engage in other pursuits
to supplement their incomes the salary should be such in all cases as
to provide an independent and comfortable support.

Earnest attention should be given by Congress to a consideration of
the question how far the restraint of those combinations of capital
commonly called "trusts" is matter of Federal jurisdiction. When
organized, as they often are, to crush out all healthy competition
and to monopolize the production or sale of an article of commerce
and general necessity, they are dangerous conspiracies against the
public good, and should be made the subject of prohibitory and even
penal legislation.

The subject of an international copyright has been frequently
commended to the attention of Congress by my predecessors. The
enactment of such a law would be eminently wise and just.

Our naturalization laws should be so revised as to make the inquiry
into the moral character and good disposition toward our Government
of the persons applying for citizenship more thorough. This can only
be done by taking fuller control of the examination, by fixing the
times for hearing such applications, and by requiring the presence of
some one who shall represent the Government in the inquiry. Those who
are the avowed enemies of social order or who come to our shores to
swell the injurious influence and to extend the evil practices of any
association that defies our laws should not only be denied
citizenship, but a domicile.

The enactment of a national bankrupt law of a character to be a
permanent part of our general legislation is desirable. It should be
simple in its methods and inexpensive in its administration.

The report of the Postmaster-General not only exhibits the operations
of the Department for the last fiscal year, but contains many valuable
suggestions for the improvement and extension of the service, which
are commended to your attention. No other branch of the Government
has so close a contact with the daily life of the people. Almost
everyone uses the service it offers, and every hour gained in the
transmission of the great commercial mails has an actual and possible
value that only those engaged in trade can understand.

The saving of one day in the transmission of the mails between New
York and San Francisco, which has recently been accomplished, is an
incident worthy of mention.

The plan suggested of a supervision of the post-offices in separate
districts that shall involve instruction and suggestion and a rating
of the efficiency of the postmasters would, I have no doubt, greatly
improve the service.

A pressing necessity exists for the erection of a building for the
joint use of the Department and of the city post-office. The
Department was partially relieved by renting .outside quarters for a
part of its force, but it is again overcrowded. The building used by
the city office never was fit for the purpose, and is now inadequate
and unwholesome.

The unsatisfactory condition of the law relating to the transmission
through the mails of lottery advertisements and remittances is
clearly stated by the Postmaster-General, and his suggestion as to
amendments should have your favorable consideration.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy shows a reorganization of the
bureaus of the Department that will, I do not doubt, promote the
efficiency of each.

In general, satisfactory progress has been made in the construction
of the new ships of war authorized by Congress. The first vessel of
the new Navy, the Dolphin, was subjected to very severe trial tests
and to very much adverse criticism; but it is gratifying to be able
to state that a cruise around the world, from which she has recently
returned, has demonstrated that she is a first-class vessel of her
rate.

The report of the Secretary shows that while the effective force of
the Navy is rapidly increasing by reason of the improved build and
armament of the new ships, the number of our ships fit for sea duty
grows very slowly. We had on the 4th of March last 37 serviceable
ships, and though 4 have since been added to the list, the total has
not been increased, because in the meantime 4 have been lost or
condemned. Twenty-six additional vessels have been authorized and
appropriated for; but it is probable that when they are completed our
list will only be increased to 42--a gain of 5. The old wooden ships
are disappearing almost as fast as the new vessels are added. These
facts carry their own argument. One of the new ships may in fighting
strength be equal to two of the old, but it can not do the cruising
duty of two. It is important, therefore, that we should have a more
rapid increase in the number of serviceable ships. I concur in the
recommendation of the Secretary that the construction of 8 armored
ships, 3 gunboats, and 5 torpedo boats be authorized.

An appalling calamity befell three of our naval vessels on duty at
the Samoan Islands, in the harbor of Apia, in March last, involving
the loss of 4 officers and 47 seamen, of two vessels, the Trenton and
the Vandalia, and the disabling of a third, the Nipsic. Three vessels
of the German navy, also in the harbor, shared with our ships the
force of the hurricane and suffered even more heavily. While mourning
the brave officers and men who died facing with high resolve perils
greater than those of battle, it is most gratifying to state that the
credit of the American Navy for seamanship, courage, and generosity
was magnificently sustained in the storm-beaten harbor of Apia.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior exhibits the transactions
of the Government with the Indian tribes. Substantial progress has
been made in the education of the children of school age and in the
allotment of lands to adult Indians. It is to be regretted that the
policy of breaking up the tribal relation and of dealing with the
Indian as an individual did not appear earlier in our legislation.
Large reservations held in common and the maintenance of the
authority of the chiefs and headmen have deprived the individual of
every incentive to the exercise of thrift, and the annuity has
contributed an affirmative impulse toward a state of confirmed
pauperism.

Our treaty stipulations should be observed with fidelity and our
legislation should be highly considerate of the best interests of an
ignorant and helpless people. The reservations are now generally
surrounded by white settlements. We can no longer push the Indian
back into the wilderness, and it remains only by every suitable
agency to push him upward into the estate of a self-supporting and
responsible citizen. For the adult the first step is to locate him
upon a farm, and for the child to place him in a school.

School attendance should be promoted by every moral agency, and those
failing should be compelled. The national schools for Indians have
been very successful and should be multiplied, and as far as possible
should be so organized and conducted as to facilitate the transfer of
the schools to the States or Territories in which they are located
when the Indians in a neighborhood have accepted citizenship and have
become otherwise fitted for such a transfer. This condition of things
will be attained slowly, but it will be hastened by keeping it in
mind; and in the meantime that cooperation between the Government and
the mission schools which has wrought much good should be cordially
and impartially maintained.

The last Congress enacted two distinct laws relating to negotiations
with the Sioux Indians of Dakota for a relinquishment of a portion of
their lands to the United States and for dividing the remainder into
separate reservations. Both were approved on the same day--March 2.
The one submitted to the Indians a specific proposition; the other
(section 3 of the Indian appropriation act) authorized the President
to appoint three commissioners to negotiate with these Indians for
the accomplishment of the same general purpose, and required that any
agreements made should be submitted to Congress for ratification.

On the 16th day of April last I appointed Hon. Charles Foster, of
Ohio, Hon. William Warner, of Missouri, and Major-General George
Crook, of the United States Army, commissioners under the last-named
law. They were, however, authorized and directed first to submit to
the Indians the definite proposition made to them by the act first
mentioned, and only in the event of a failure to secure the assent of
the requisite number to that proposition to open negotiations for
modified terms under the other act. The work of the commission was
prolonged and arduous, but the assent of the requisite number was, it
is understood, finally obtained to the proposition made by Congress,
though the report of the commission has not yet been submitted. In
view of these facts, I shall not, as at present advised, deem it
necessary to submit the agreement to Congress for ratification, but
it will in due course be submitted for information. This agreement
releases to the United States about 9,000,000 acres of land.

The commission provided for by section 14 of the Indian appropriation
bill to negotiate with the Cherokee Indians and all other Indians
owning or claiming lands lying west of the ninety-sixth degree of
longitude for the cession to the United States of all such lands was
constituted by the appointment of Hon. Lucius Fairchild, of
Wisconsin, Hon. John F. Hartranft, of Pennsylvania, and Hon. Alfred
M. Wilson, of Arkansas, and organized on June 29 last. Their first
conference with the representatives of the Cherokees was held at
Tahlequah July 29, with no definite results. General John F.
Hartranft, of Pennsylvania, was prevented by ill health from taking
part in the conference. His death, which occurred recently, is justly
and generally lamented by a people he had served with conspicuous
gallantry in war and with great fidelity in peace. The vacancy thus
created was filled by the appointment of Hon. Warren G. Sayre, of
Indiana.

A second conference between the commission and the Cherokees was
begun November 6, but no results have yet been obtained, nor is it
believed that a conclusion can be immediately expected. The cattle
syndicate now occupying the lands for grazing purposes is clearly one
of the agencies responsible for the obstruction of our negotiations
with the Cherokees. The large body of agricultural lands constituting
what is known as the "Cherokee Outlet" ought not to be, and, indeed,
can not long be, held for grazing and for the advantage of a few
against the public interests and the best advantage of the Indians
themselves. The United States has now under the treaties certain
rights in these lands. These will not be used oppressively, but it
can not be allowed that those who by sufferance occupy these lands
shall interpose to defeat the wise and beneficent purposes of the
Government. I can not but believe that the advantageous character of
the offer made by the United States to the Cherokee Nation for a full
release of these lands as compared with other suggestions now made to
them will yet obtain for it a favorable consideration.

Under the agreement made between the United States and the Muscogee
(or Creek) Nation of Indians on the 19th day of January, 1889, an
absolute title was secured by the United States to about 3,500,000
acres of land. Section 12 of the general Indian appropriation act
approved March 2, 1889, made provision for the purchase by the United
States from the Seminole tribe of a certain portion of their lands.
The delegates of the Seminole Nation, having first duly evidenced to
me their power to act in that behalf, delivered a proper release or
conveyance to the United States of all the lands mentioned in the
act, which was accepted by me and certified to be in compliance with
the statute.

By the terms of both the acts referred to all the lands so purchased
were declared to be a part of the public domain and open to
settlement under the homestead law. But of the lands embraced in
these purchases, being in the aggregate about 5,500,000 acres,
3,500,000 acres had already, under the terms of the treaty of 1866,
been acquired by the United States for the purpose of settling other
Indian tribes thereon and had been appropriated to that purpose. The
land remaining and available for settlement consisted of 1,887,796
acres, surrounded on all sides by lands in the occupancy of Indian
tribes. Congress had provided no civil government for the people who
were to be invited by my proclamation to settle upon these lands,
except as the new court which had been established at Muscogee or the
United States courts in some of the adjoining States had power to
enforce the general laws of the United States.

In this condition of things I was quite reluctant to open the lands
to settlement; but in view of the fact that several thousand persons,
many of them with their families, had gathered upon the borders of the
Indian Territory with a view to securing homesteads on the ceded
lands, and that delay would involve them in much loss and suffering,
I did on the 23d day of March last issue a proclamation declaring
that the lands therein described would be open to settlement under
the provisions of the law on the 22d day of April following at 12
o'clock noon. Two land districts had been established and the offices
were opened for the transaction of business when the appointed time
arrived.

It is much to the credit of the settlers that they very generally
observed the limitation as to the time when they might enter the
Territory. Care will be taken that those who entered in violation of
the law do not secure the advantage they unfairly sought. There was a
good deal of apprehension that the strife for locations would result
in much violence and bloodshed, but happily these anticipations were
not realized. It is estimated that there are now in the Territory
about 60,000 people, and several considerable towns have sprung up,
for which temporary municipal governments have been organized.
Guthrie is said to have now a population of almost 8,000. Eleven
schools and nine churches have been established, and three daily and
five weekly newspapers are published in this city, whose charter and
ordinances have only the sanction of the voluntary acquiescence of
the people from day to day.

Oklahoma City has a population of about 5,000, and is proportionately
as well provided as Guthrie with churches, schools, and newspapers.
Other towns and villages having populations of from 100 to 1,000 are
scattered over the Territory.

In order to secure the peace of this new community in the absence of
civil government, I directed General Merritt, commanding the
Department of the Missouri, to act in conjunction with the marshals
of the United States to preserve the peace, and upon their
requisition to use the troops to aid them in executing warrants and
in quieting any riots or breaches of the peace that might occur. He
was further directed to use his influence to promote good order and
to avoid any conflicts between or with the settlers. Believing that
the introduction and sale of liquors where no legal restraints or
regulations existed would endanger the public peace, and in view of
the fact that such liquors must first be introduced into the Indian
reservations before reaching the white settlements, I further
directed the general commanding to enforce the laws relating to the
introduction of ardent spirits into the Indian country.

The presence of the troops has given a sense of security to the
well-disposed citizens and has tended to restrain the lawless. In one
instance the officer in immediate command of the troops went further
than I deemed justifiable in supporting the de facto municipal
government of Guthrie, and he was so informed, and directed to limit
the interference of the military to the support of the marshals on
the lines indicated in the original order. I very urgently recommend
that Congress at once provide a Territorial government for these
people. Serious questions, which may at any time lead to violent
outbreaks, are awaiting the institution of courts for their peaceful
adjustment. The American genius for self-government has been well
illustrated in Oklahoma; but it is neither safe nor wise to leave
these people longer to the expedients which have temporarily served
them.

Provision should be made for the acquisition of title to town lots in
the towns now established in Alaska, for locating town sites, and for
the establishment of municipal governments. Only the mining laws have
been extended to that Territory, and no other form of title to lands
can now be obtained. The general land laws were framed with reference
to the disposition of agricultural lands, and it is doubtful if their
operation in Alaska would be beneficial.

We have fortunately not extended to Alaska the mistaken policy of
establishing reservations for the Indian tribes, and can deal with
them from the beginning as individuals with, I am sure, better
results; but any disposition of the public lands and any regulations
relating to timber and to the fisheries should have a kindly regard
to their interests. Having no power to levy taxes, the people of
Alaska are wholly dependent upon the General Government, to whose
revenues the seal fisheries make a large annual contribution. An
appropriation for education should neither be overlooked nor
stinted.

The smallness of the population and the great distances between the
settlements offer serious obstacles to the establishment of the usual
Territorial form of government. Perhaps the organization of several
sub-districts with a small municipal council of limited powers for
each would be safe and useful.

Attention is called in this connection to the suggestions of the
Secretary of the Treasury relating to the establishment of another
port of entry in Alaska and of other needed customs facilities and
regulations.

In the administration of the land laws the policy of facilitating in
every proper way the adjustment of the honest claims of individual
settlers upon the public lands has been pursued. The number of
pending cases had during the preceding Administration been greatly
increased under the operation of orders for a time suspending final
action in a large part of the cases originating in the West and
Northwest, and by the subsequent use of unusual methods of
examination. Only those who are familiar with the conditions under
which our agricultural lands have been settled can appreciate the
serious and often fatal consequences to the settler of a policy that
puts his title under suspicion or delays the issuance of his patent.
While care is taken to prevent and to expose fraud, it should not be
imputed without reason.

The manifest purpose of the homestead and preemption laws was to
promote the settlement of the public domain by persons having a bona
fide intent to make a home upon the selected lands. Where this intent
is well established and the requirements of the law have been
substantially complied with, the claimant is entitled to a prompt and
friendly consideration of his case; but where there is reason to
believe that the claimant is the mere agent of another who is seeking
to evade a law intended to promote small holdings and to secure by
fraudulent methods large tracts of timber and other lands, both
principal and agent should not only be thwarted in their fraudulent
purpose, but should be made to feel the full penalties of our
criminal statutes. The laws should be so administered as not to
confound these two classes and to visit penalties only upon the
latter.

The unsettled state of the titles to large bodies of lands in the
Territories of New Mexico and Arizona has greatly retarded the
development of those Territories. Provision should be made by law for
the prompt trial and final adjustment before a judicial tribunal or
commission of all claims based upon Mexican grants. It is not just to
an intelligent and enterprising people that their peace should be
disturbed and their prosperity retarded by these old contentions. I
express the hope that differences of opinion as to methods may yield
to the urgency of the case.

The law now provides a pension for every soldier and sailor who was
mustered into the service of the United States during the Civil War
and is now suffering from wounds or disease having an origin in the
service and in the line of duty. Two of the three necessary facts,
viz, muster and disability, are usually susceptible of easy proof;
but the third, origin in the service, is often difficult and in many
deserving cases impossible to establish. That very many of those who
endured the hardships of our most bloody and arduous campaigns are
now disabled from diseases that had a real but not traceable origin
in the service I do not doubt. Besides these there is another class
composed of men many of whom served an enlistment of three full years
and of reenlisted veterans who added a fourth year of service, who
escaped the casualties of battle and the assaults of disease, who
were always ready for any detail, who were in every battle line of
their command, and were mustered out in sound health, and have since
the close of the war, while fighting with the same indomitable and
independent spirit the contests of civil life, been overcome by
disease or casualty.

I am not unaware that the pension roll already involves a very large
annual expenditure; neither am I deterred by that fact from
recommending that Congress grant a pension to such honorably
discharged soldiers and sailors of the Civil War as, having rendered
substantial service during the war, are now dependent upon their own
labor for a maintenance and by disease or casualty are incapacitated
from earning it. Many of the men who would be included in this form
of relief are now dependent upon public aid, and it does not, in my
judgment, consist with the national honor that they shall continue to
subsist upon the local relief given indiscriminately to paupers
instead of upon the special and generous provision of the nation they
served so gallantly and unselfishly. Our people will, I am sure, very
generally approve such legislation. And I am equally sure that the
survivors of the Union Army and Navy will feel a grateful sense of
relief when this worthy and suffering class of their comrades is
fairly cared for.

There are some manifest inequalities in the existing law that should
be remedied. To some of these the Secretary of the Interior has
called attention.

It is gratifying to be able to state that by the adoption of new and
better methods in the War Department the calls of the Pension Office
for information as to the military and hospital records of pension
claimants are now promptly answered and the injurious and vexatious
delays that have heretofore occurred are entirely avoided. This will
greatly facilitate the adjustment of all pending claims.

The advent of four new States--South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana,
and Washington--into the Union under the Constitution in the same
month, and the admission of their duly chosen representatives to our
National Congress at the same session, is an event as unexampled as
it is interesting.

The certification of the votes cast and of the constitutions adopted
in each of the States was filed with me, as required by the eighth
section of the act of February 22, 1889, by the governors of said
Territories, respectively. Having after a careful examination found
that the several constitutions and governments were republican in
form and not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, that
all the provisions of the act of Congress had been complied with, and
that a majority of the votes cast in each of said proposed States was
in favor of the adoption of the constitution submitted therein, I did
so declare by a separate proclamation as to each--as to North Dakota
and South Dakota on Saturday, November 2; as to Montana on Friday,
November 8, and as to Washington on Monday, November 11.

Each of these States has within it resources the development of which
will employ the energies of and yield a comfortable subsistence to a
great population. The smallest of these new States, Washington,
stands twelfth, and the largest, Montana, third, among the forty-two
in area. The people of these States are already well-trained,
intelligent, and patriotic American citizens, having common interests
and sympathies with those of the older States and a common purpose to
defend the integrity and uphold the honor of the nation.

The attention of the Interstate Commerce Commission has been called
to the urgent need of Congressional legislation for the better
protection of the lives and limbs of those engaged in operating the
great interstate freight lines of the country, and especially of the
yardmen and brakemen. A petition signed by nearly 10,000 railway
brakemen was presented to the Commission asking that steps might be
taken to bring about the use of automatic brakes and couplers on
freight cars.

At a meeting of State railroad commissioners and their accredited
representatives held at Washington in March last upon the invitation
of the Interstate Commerce Commission a resolution was unanimously
adopted urging the Commission "to consider what can be done to
prevent the loss of life and limb in coupling and uncoupling freight
cars and in handling the brakes of such cars." During the year ending
June 30, 1888, over 2,000 railroad employees were killed in service
and more than 20,000 injured. It is competent, I think, for Congress
to require uniformity in the construction of cars used in interstate
commerce and the use of improved safety appliances upon such trains.
Time will be necessary to make the needed changes, but an earnest and
intelligent beginning should be made at once. It is a reproach to our
civilization that any class of American workmen should in the pursuit
of a necessary and useful vocation be subjected to a peril of life and
limb as great as that of a soldier in time of war.

The creation of an Executive Department to be known as the Department
of Agriculture by the act of February 9 last was a wise and timely
response to a request which had long been respectfully urged by the
farmers of the country; but much remains to be done to perfect the
organization of the Department so that it may fairly realize the
expectations which its creation excited. In this connection attention
is called to the suggestions contained in the report of the Secretary,
which is herewith submitted. The need of a law officer for the
Department such as is provided for the other Executive Departments is
manifest. The failure of the last Congress to make the usual provision
for the publication of the annual report should be promptly remedied.
The public interest in the report and its value to the farming
community, I am sure, will not be diminished under the new
organization of the Department.

I recommend that the weather service be separated from the War
Department and established as a bureau in the Department of
Agriculture. This will involve an entire reorganization both of the
Weather Bureau and of the Signal Corps, making of the first a purely
civil organization and of the other a purely military staff corps.
The report of the Chief Signal Officer shows that the work of the
corps on its military side has been deteriorating.

The interests of the people of the District of Columbia should not be
lost sight of in the pressure for consideration of measures affecting
the whole country. Having no legislature of its own, either municipal
or general, its people must look to Congress for the regulation of all
those concerns that in the States are the subject of local control.
Our whole people have an interest that the national capital should be
made attractive and beautiful, and, above all, that its repute for
social order should be well maintained. The laws regulating the sale
of intoxicating drinks in the District should be revised with a view
to bringing the traffic under stringent limitations and control.

In execution of the power conferred upon me by the act making
appropriations for the expenses of the District of Columbia for the
year ending June 30, 1890, I did on the 17th day of August last
appoint Rudolph Hering, of New York, Samuel M. Gray, of Rhode Island,
and Frederick P. Stearns, of Massachusetts, three eminent sanitary
engineers, to examine and report upon the system of sewerage existing
in the District of Columbia. Their report, which is not yet completed,
will be in due course submitted to Congress.

The report of the Commissioners of the District is herewith
transmitted, and the attention of Congress is called to the
suggestions contained therein.

The proposition to observe the four hundredth anniversary of the
discovery of America by the opening of a world's fair or exposition
in some one of our great cities will be presented for the
consideration of Congress. The value and interest of such an
exposition may well claim the promotion of the General Government.

On the 4th of March last the Civil Service Commission had but a
single member. The vacancies were filled on the 7th day of May, and
since then the Commissioners have been industriously, though with an
inadequate force, engaged in executing the law. They were assured by
me that a cordial support would be given them in the faithful and
impartial enforcement of the statute and of the rules and regulations
adopted in aid of it.

Heretofore the book of eligibles has been closed to everyone, except
as certifications were made upon the requisition of the appointing
officers. This secrecy was the source of much suspicion and of many
charges of favoritism in the administration of the law. What is
secret is always suspected; what is open can be judged. The
Commission, with the full approval of all its members, has now opened
the list of eligibles to the public. The eligible lists for the
classified post-offices and custom-houses are now publicly posted in
the respective offices, as are also the certifications for
appointments. The purpose of the civil-service law was absolutely to
exclude any other consideration in connection with appointments under
it than that of merit as tested by the examinations. The business
proceeds upon the theory that both the examining boards and the
appointing officers are absolutely ignorant as to the political views
and associations of all persons on the civil-service lists. It is not
too much to say, however, that some recent Congressional
investigations have somewhat shaken public confidence in the
impartiality of the selections for appointment.

The reform of the civil service will make no safe or satisfactory
advance until the present law and its equal administration are well
established in the confidence of the people. It will be my pleasure,
as it is my duty, to see that the law is executed with firmness and
impartiality. If some of its provisions have been fraudulently evaded
by appointing officers, our resentment should not suggest the repeal
of the law, but reform in its administration. We should have one view
of the matter, and hold it with a sincerity that is not affected by
the consideration that the party to which we belong is for the time
in power.

My predecessor, on the 4th day of January, 1889, by an Executive
order to take effect March 15, brought the Railway Mail Service under
the operation of the civil-service law. Provision was made that the
order should take effect sooner in any State where an eligible list
was sooner obtained. On the 11th day of March Mr. Lyman, then the
only member of the Commission, reported to me in writing that it
would not be possible to have the list of eligibles ready before May
1, and requested that the taking effect of the order be postponed
until that time, which was done, subject to the same provision
contained in the original order as to States in which an eligible
list was sooner obtained.

As a result of the revision of the rules, of the new classification,
and of the inclusion of the Railway Mail Service, the work of the
Commission has been greatly increased, and the present clerical force
is found to be inadequate. I recommend that the additional clerks
asked by the Commission be appropriated for.

The duty of appointment is devolved by the Constitution or by the
law, and the appointing officers are properly held to a high
responsibility in its exercise. The growth of the country and the
consequent increase of the civil list have magnified this function of
the Executive disproportionally. It can not be denied, however, th