To the Congress of the United States:

The constitutional duty which requires the President from time to time to give
to the Congress information of the state of the Union and recommend to their
consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient is
fittingly entered upon by commending to the Congress a careful examination of
the detailed statements and well-supported recommendations contained in the
reports of the heads of Departments, who are chiefly charged with the
executive work of the Government. In an effort to abridge this communication
as much as is consistent with its purpose I shall supplement a brief reference
to the contents of these departmental reports by the mention of such executive
business and incidents as are not embraced therein and by such recommendations
as appear to be at this particular time appropriate.

While our foreign relations have not at all times during the past year been
entirely free from perplexity, no embarrassing situation remains that will not
yield to the spirit of fairness and love of justice which, joined with
consistent firmness, characterize a truly American foreign policy.

My predecessor having accepted the office of arbitrator of the long-standing
Missions boundary dispute, tendered to the President by the Argentine Republic
and Brazil, it has been my agreeable duty to receive the special envoys
commissioned by those States to lay before me evidence and arguments in behalf
of their respective Governments.

The outbreak of domestic hostilities in the Republic of Brazil found the
United States alert to watch the interests of our citizens in that country,
with which we carry on important commerce. Several vessels of our new Navy are
now and for some time have been stationed at Rio de Janeiro. The struggle
being between the established Government, which controls the machinery of
administration, and with which we maintain friendly relations, and certain
officers of the navy employing the vessels of their command in an attack upon
the national capital and chief seaport, and lacking as it does the elements of
divided administration, I have failed to see that the insurgents can
reasonably claim recognition as belligerents.

Thus far the position of our Government has been that of an attentive but
impartial observer of the unfortunate conflict. Emphasizing our fixed policy
of impartial neutrality in such a condition of affairs as now exists, I deemed
it necessary to disavow in a manner not to be misunderstood the unauthorized
action of our late naval commander in those waters in saluting the revolted
Brazilian admiral, being indisposed to countenance an act calculated to give
gratuitous sanction to the local insurrection.

The convention between our Government and Chile having for its object the
settlement and adjustment of the demand of the two countries against each
other has been made effective by he organization of the claims commission
provided for. The two Governments failing to agree upon the third member of
the commission, the good offices of the President of the Swiss Republic were
invoked, as provided in the treaty, and the selection of the Swiss
representative in this country to complete the organization was gratifying
alike to the United States and Chile.

The vexatious question of so-called legation asylum for offenders against the
state and its laws was presented anew in Chile by the unauthorized action of
the late United States minister in receiving into his official residence two
persons who had just failed in an attempt at revolution and against whom
criminal charges were pending growing out of a former abortive disturbance.
The doctrine of asylum as applied to this case is not sanctioned by the best
precedents, and when allowed tends to encourage sedition and strife. Under no
circumstances can the representatives of this Government be permitted, under
the ill-defined fiction of extraterritoriality, to interrupt the
administration of criminal justice in the countries to which they are
accredited. A temperate demand having been made by the Chilean Government for
the correction of this conduct in the instance mentioned, the minister was
instructed no longer to harbor the offenders.

The legislation of last year known as the Geary law, requiring the
registration of all Chinese laborers entitled to residence in the United
States and the deportation of all not complying with the provisions of the act
within the time prescribed, met with much opposition from Chinamen in this
country. Acting upon the advice of eminent counsel that the law was
unconstitutional, the great mass of Chinese laborers, pending judicial inquiry
as to its validity, in good faith declined to apply for the certificates
required by its provisions. A test case upon proceeding by habeas corpus was
brought before the Supreme Court, and on May 15, 1893, a decision was made by
that tribunal sustaining the law.

It is believed that under the recent amendment of the act extending the time
for registration the Chinese laborers thereto entitled who desire to reside in
this country will now avail themselves of the renewed privilege thus afforded
of establishing by lawful procedure their right to remain, and that thereby
the necessity of enforced deportation may to a great degree be avoided.

It has devolved upon the United States minister at Peking, as dean of the
diplomatic body, and in the absence of a representative of Sweden and Norway,
to press upon the Chinese Government reparation for the recent murder of
Swedish missionaries at Sung-pu. This question is of vital interest to all
countries whose citizens engage in missionary work in the interior.

By Article XII of the general act of Brussels, signed July 2, 1890, for the
suppression of the slave trade and the restriction of certain injurious
commerce in the Independent State of the Kongo and in the adjacent zone of
central Africa, the United States and the other signatory powers agreed to
adopt appropriate means for the punishment of persons selling arms and
ammunition to the natives and for the confiscation of the inhibited articles.
It being the plain duty of this Government to aid in suppressing the nefarious
traffic, impairing as it does the praiseworthy and civilizing efforts now in
progress in that region, I recommend that an act be passed prohibiting the
sale of arms and intoxicants to natives in the regulated zone by our citizens.

Costa Rica has lately testified its friendliness by surrendering to the United
States, in the absence of a convention of extradition, but upon duly submitted
evidence of criminality, a noted fugitive from justice. It is trusted that the
negotiation of a treaty with that country to meet recurring cases of this kind
will soon be accomplished. In my opinion treaties for reciprocal extradition
should be concluded with all those countries with which the United States has
not already conventional arrangements of that character.

I have deemed it fitting to express to the Governments of Costa Rica and
Colombia the kindly desire of the United States to see their pending boundary
dispute finally closed by arbitration in conformity with the spirit of the
treaty concluded between them some years ago.

Our relations with the French Republic continue to be intimate and cordial. I
sincerely hope that the extradition treaty with that country, as amended by
the Senate, will soon be operative.

While occasional questions affecting our naturalized citizens returning to the
land of their birth have arisen in our intercourse with Germany, our relations
with that country continue satisfactory.

The questions affecting our relations with Great Britain have been treated in
a spirit of friendliness.

Negotiations are in progress between the two Governments with a view to such
concurrent action as will make the award and regulations agreed upon by the
Bering Sea Tribunal of Arbitration practically effective, and it is not
doubted that Great Britain will cooperate freely with this country for the
accomplishment of that purpose.

The dispute growing out of the discriminating tolls imposed in the Welland
Canal upon cargoes of cereals bound to and from the lake ports of the United
States was adjusted by the substitution of a more equitable schedule of
charges, and my predecessor thereupon suspended his proclamation imposing
discriminating tolls upon British transit through our canals.

A request for additions to the list of extraditable offenses covered by the
existing treaty between the two countries is under consideration.

During the past year an American citizen employed in a subordinate commercial
position in Hayti, after suffering a protracted imprisonment on an unfounded
charge of smuggling, was finally liberated on judicial examination. Upon
urgent representation to the Haytian Government a suitable indemnity was paid
to the sufferer.

By a law of Hayti a sailing vessel, having discharged her cargo, is refused
clearance until the duties on such cargo have been paid. The hardship of this
measure upon American shipowners, who conduct the bulk of the carrying trade
of that country, has been insisted on with a view of securing the removal of
this cause of complaint.

Upon receiving authentic information of the firing upon an American mail
steamer touching at the port of Amapala because her captain refused to deliver
up a passenger in transit from Nicaragua to Guatemala upon demand of the
military authorities of Honduras, our minister to that country, under
instructions, protested against the wanton act and demanded satisfaction. The
Government of Honduras, actuated by a sense of justice and in a spirit of the
utmost friendship, promptly disavowed the illegal conduct of its officers and
expressed sincere regret for the occurrence.

It is confidently anticipated that a satisfactory adjustment will soon be
reached of the questions arising out of the seizure and use of American
vessels by insurgents in Honduras and the subsequent denial by the successful
Government of commercial privileges to those vessels on that account.

A notable part of the southeasterly coast of Liberia between the Cavally and
San Pedro rivers, which for nearly half a century has been generally
recognized as belonging to that Republic by cession and purchase, has been
claimed to be under the protectorate of France in virtue of agreements entered
into by the native tribes, over whom Liberia's control has not been well
maintained.

More recently negotiations between the Liberian representative and the French
Government resulted in the signature at Paris of a treaty whereby as an
adjustment certain Liberian territory is ceded to France. This convention at
last advices had not been ratified by the Liberian Legislature and Executive.

Feeling a sympathetic interest in the fortunes of the little Commonwealth, the
establishment and development of which were largely aided by the benevolence
of our countrymen, and which constitutes the only independently sovereign
state on the west coast of Africa, this Government has suggested to the French
Government its earnest concern lest territorial impairment in Liberia should
take place without her unconstrained consent.

Our relations with Mexico continue to be of that close and friendly nature
which should always characterize the intercourse of two neighboring republics.

The work of relocating the monuments marking the boundary between the two
countries from Paso del Norte to the Pacific is now nearly completed.

The commission recently organized under the conventions of 1884 and 1889 it is
expected will speedily settle disputes growing out of the shifting currents of
the Rio Grande River east of E1 Paso.

Nicaragua has recently passed through two revolutions, the party at first
successful having in turn been displaced by another. Our newly appointed
minister by his timely good offices aided in a peaceful adjustment of the
controversy involved in the first conflict. The large American interests
established in that country in connection with the Nicaragua Canal were not
molested.

The canal company has unfortunately become financially seriously embarrassed,
but a generous treatment had been extended to it by the Government of
Nicaragua. The United States are especially interested in the successful
achievement of the vast undertaking this company has in charge. That it should
be accomplished under distinctively American auspices, and its enjoyment
assured not only to the vessels of this country as a channel of communication
between our Atlantic and Pacific sea-boards, but to the ships of the world in
the interests of civilization, is a proposition which, in my judgment, does
not admit of question.

Guatemala has also been visited by the political vicissitudes which have
afflicted her Central American neighbors, but the dissolution of its
Legislature and the proclamation of a dictatorship have been unattended with
civil war.

An extradition treaty with Norway has recently been exchanged and proclaimed.

The extradition treaty with Russia signed in March, 1887, and amended and
confirmed by the Senate in February last, was duly proclaimed last June.

Led by a desire to compose differences and contribute to the restoration of
order in Samoa, which for some years previous had been the scene of
conflicting foreign pretensions and native strife, the United States,
departing from its policy consecrated by a century of observance, entered four
years ago into the treaty of Berlin, thereby becoming jointly bound with
England and Germany to establish and maintain Malietoa Laupepa as King of
Samoa. The treaty provided for a foreign court of justice; a municipal council
for the district of Apia, with a foreign president thereof, authorized to
advise the King; a tribunal for the settlement of native and foreign land
titles, and a revenue system for the Kingdom. It entailed upon the three
powers that part of the cost of the new Government not met by the revenue of
the islands.

Early in the life of this triple protectorate the native dissensions it was
designed to quell revived. Rivals defied the authority of the new King,
refusing to pay taxes and demanding the election of a ruler by native
suffrage. Mataafa, an aspirant to the throne, and a large number of his native
adherents were in open rebellion on one of the islands. Quite lately, at the
request of the other powers and in fulfillment of its treaty obligation, this
Government agreed to unite in a joint military movement of such dimensions as
would probably secure the surrender of the insurgents without bloodshed.

The war ship Philadelphia was accordingly put under orders for Samoa, but
before she arrived the threatened conflict was precipitated by King Malietoa's
attack upon the insurgent camp. Mataafa was defeated and a number of his men
killed. The British and German naval vessels present subsequently secured the
surrender of Mataafa and his adherents. The defeated chief and ten of his
principal supporters were deported to a German island of the Marshall group,
where they are held as prisoners under the joint responsibility and cost of
the three powers.

This incident and the events leading up to it signally illustrate the impolicy
of entangling alliances with foreign powers.

More than fifteen years ago this Government preferred a claim against Spain in
behalf of one of our citizens for property seized and confiscated in Cuba. In
1886 the claim was adjusted, Spain agreeing to pay unconditionally, as a fair
indemnity, $1,500,000. A respectful but earnest note was recently addressed to
the Spanish Government insisting upon prompt fulfillment of its long-neglected
obligation.

Other claims preferred by the United States against Spain in behalf of
American citizens for property confiscated in Cuba have been pending for many
years.

At the time Spain's title to the Caroline Islands was confirmed by arbitration
that Government agreed that the rights which had been acquired there by
American missionaries should be recognized and respected. It is sincerely
hoped that this pledge will be observed by allowing our missionaries, who were
removed from Ponape to a place of safety by a United States war ship during
the late troubles between the Spanish garrison and the natives, to return to
their field of usefulness.

The reproduced caravel Santa Maria, built by Spain and sent to the Columbian
Exposition, has been presented to the United States in token of amity and in
commemoration of the event it was designed to celebrate. I recommend that in
accepting this gift Congress make grateful recognition of the sincere
friendship which prompted it.

Important matters have demanded attention in our relations with the Ottoman
Porte.

The firing and partial destruction by an unrestrained mob of one of the school
buildings of Anatolia College, established by citizens of the United States at
Marsovan, and the apparent indifference of the Turkish Government to the
outrage, notwithstanding the complicity of some of its officials, called for
earnest remonstrance, which was followed by promise of reparation and
punishment of the offenders.

Indemnity for the injury to the buildings has already been paid, permission to
rebuild given, registration of the school property in the name of the American
owners secured, and efficient protection guaranteed.

Information received of maltreatment suffered by an inoffensive American woman
engaged in missionary work in Turkish Koordistan was followed by such
representations to the Porte as resulted in the issuance of orders for the
punishment of her assailants, the removal of a delinquent official, and the
adoption of measures for the protection of our citizens engaged in mission and
other lawful work in that quarter.

Turkey complains that her Armenian subjects obtain citizenship in this country
not to identify themselves in good faith with our people, but with the
intention of returning to the land of their birth and there engaging in
sedition. This complaint is not wholly without foundation. A journal published
in this country in the Armenian language openly counsels its readers to arm,
organize, and participate in movements for the subversion of Turkish authority
in the Asiatic provinces. The Ottoman Government has announced its intention
to expel from its dominions Armenians who have obtained naturalization in the
United States since 1868.

The right to exclude any or all classes of aliens is an attribute of
sovereignty. It is a right asserted and, to a limited extent, enforced by the
United States, with the sanction of our highest court. There being no
naturalization treaty between the United States and Turkey, our minister at
Constantinople has been instructed that, while recognizing the right of that
Government to enforce its declared policy against naturalized Armenians, he is
expected to protect them from unnecessary harshness of treatment.

In view of the impaired financial resources of Venezuela consequent upon the
recent revolution there, a modified arrangement for the satisfaction of the
awards of the late revisory claims commission, in progressive installments,
has been assented to, and payments are being regularly made thereunder.

The boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana is yet unadjusted. A
restoration of diplomatic intercourse between that Republic and Great Britain
and reference of the question to impartial arbitration would be a most
gratifying consummation.

The ratification by Venezuela of the convention for the arbitration of the
long-deferred claim of the Venezuelan Transportation Company is awaited.

It is hardly necessary for me to state that the questions arising from our
relations with Hawaii have caused serious embarrassment. Just prior to the
installation of the present Administration the existing Government of Hawaii
had been suddenly overthrown and a treaty of annexation had been negotiated
between the Provisional Government of the islands and the United States and
submitted to the Senate for ratification. This treaty I withdrew for
examination and dispatched Hon. James H. Blount, of Georgia, to Honolulu as a
special commissioner to make an impartial investigation of the circumstances
attending the change of government and of all the conditions bearing upon the
subject of the treaty. After a thorough and exhaustive examination Mr. Blount
submitted to me his report, showing beyond all question that the
constitutional Government of Hawaii had been subverted with the active aid of
our representative to that Government and through the intimidation caused by
the presence of an armed naval force of the United States, which was landed
for that purpose at the instance of our minister. Upon the facts developed it
seemed to me the only honorable course for our Government to pursue was to
undo the wrong that had been done by those representing us and to restore as
far as practicable the status existing at the time of our forcible
intervention. With a view of accomplishing this result within the
constitutional limits of executive power, and recognizing all our obligations
and responsibilities growing out of any changed conditions brought about by
our unjustifiable interference, our present minister at Honolulu has received
appropriate instructions to that end. Thus far no information of the
accomplishment of any definite results has been received from him.

Additional advices are soon expected. When received they will be promptly sent
to the Congress, together with all other information at hand, accompanied by a
special Executive message fully detailing all the facts necessary to a
complete understanding of the case and presenting a history of all the
material events leading up to the present situation.

By a concurrent resolution passed by the Senate February 14, 1890, and by the
House of Representatives on the 3d of April following the President was
requested to "invite from time to time, as fit occasions may arise,
negotiations with any government with which the United States has or may have
diplomatic relations, to the end that any differences or disputes arising
between the two governments which can not be adjusted by diplomatic agency may
be referred to arbitration and be peaceably adjusted by such means." April 18,
1890, the International American Conference of Washington by resolution
expressed the wish that all controversies between the republics of America and
the nations of Europe might be settled by arbitration, and recommended that
the government of each nation represented in that conference should
communicate this wish to all friendly powers. A favorable response has been
received from Great Britain in the shape of a resolution adopted by Parliament
July 16 last, cordially sympathizing with the purpose in view and expressing
the hope that Her Majesty's Government will lend ready cooperation to the
Government of the United States upon the basis of the concurrent resolution
above quoted.

It affords me signal pleasure to lay this parliamentary resolution before the
Congress and to express my sincere gratification that the sentiment of two
great and kindred nations is thus authoritatively manifested in favor of the
rational and peaceable settlement of international quarrels by honorable
resort to arbitration.

Since the-passage of the act of March 3, 1893, authorizing the President to
raise the grade of our envoys to correspond with the rank in which foreign
countries accredit their agents here, Great Britain, France, Italy, and
Germany have conferred upon their representatives at this capital the title of
ambassador, and I have responded by accrediting the agents of the United
States in those countries with the same title. A like elevation of mission is
announced by Russia, and when made will be similarly met. This step fittingly
comports with the position the United States hold in the family of nations.

During my former Administration I took occasion to recommend a recast of the
laws relating to the consular service, in order that it might become a more
efficient agency in the promotion of the interests it was intended to
subserve. The duties and powers of consuls have been expanded with the growing
requirements of our foreign trade. Discharging important duties affecting our
commerce and American citizens abroad, and in certain countries exercising
judicial functions, these officers should be men of character, intelligence,
and ability.

Upon proof that the legislation of Denmark secures copyright to American
citizens on equal footing with its own, the privileges of our copyright laws
have been extended by proclamation to subjects of that country.

The Secretary of the Treasury reports that the receipts of the Government from
all sources during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1893, amounted to
$461,716,561.94 and its expenditures to $459,374,674.29. There was collected
from customs $205,355,016.73 and from internal revenue $161,027,623.93. Our
dutiable imports amounted to $421,856,711, an increase of $52,453,907 over the
preceding year, and importations free of duty amounted to $444,544,211, a
decrease from the preceding year of $13,455,447. Internal-revenue receipts
exceeded those of the preceding year by $7,147,445.32. The total tax collected
on distilled spirits was $94,720,260.55, on manufactured tobacco
$31,889,711.74, and on fermented liquors $32,548,983.07. We exported
merchandise during the year amounting to $847,665,194, a decrease of
$182,612,954 from the preceding year. The amount of gold exported was larger
than any previous year in the history of the Government, amounting to
$108,680,844, and exceeding the amount exported during the preceding year
by$58,485,517.

The sum paid from the Treasury for sugar bounty was $9,375,130.88, an increase
over the preceding year of $2,033,053.09.

It is estimated upon the basis of present revenue laws that the receipts of
the Government for the year ending June 30, 1894, will be $430,121,365.38 and
its expenditures $458,121,365.28, resulting in a deficiency of $28,000,000.

On the 1st day of November, 1893, the amount of money of all kinds in
circulation, or not included in Treasury holdings, was $1,718,544,682, an
increase for the year of $112,404,947. Estimating our population at 67,426,000
at the time mentioned, the per capita circulation was $25.49. On the same date
there was in the Treasury gold bullion amounting to $96,657,273 and silver
bullion which was purchased at a cost of $126,261,553.

The purchases of silver under the law of July 14, 1890, during the last fiscal
year aggregated 54,008,162.59 fine ounces, which cost $45,531,374.53. The
total amount of silver purchased from the time that law became operative until
the repeal of its purchasing clause, on the 1st day of November, 1893, was
168,674,590.46 fine ounces, which cost $155,930,940.84. Between the 1st day of
March, 1873, and the 1st day of November, 1893, the Government purchased under
all laws 503,003,717 fine ounces of silver, at a cost of $516,622,948. The
silver dollars that have been coined under the act of July 14, 1890, number
36,087,285. The seigniorage arising from such coinage was $6,977,098.39,
leaving on hand in the mints 140,699,760 fine ounces of silver, which cost
$126,758,218.

Our total coinage of all metals during the last fiscal year consisted of
97,280,875 pieces, valued at $43,685,178.80, of which there was $30,038,140 in
gold coin, $5,343,715 in silver dollars, $7,217,220.90 in subsidiary silver
coin, and $1,086,102.90 in minor coins.

During the calendar year 1892 the production of precious metals in the United
States was estimated to be 1,596,375 fine ounces of gold of the commercial and
coinage value of $33,000,000 and 58,000,000 fine ounces of silver of the
bullion or market value of $50,750,000 and of the coinage value of
$74,989,900.

It is estimated that on the 1st day of July, 1893, the metallic stock of money
in the United States, consisting of coin and bullion, amounted to
$1,213,559,169, of which $597,697,685 was gold and $615,861,484 was silver.

One hundred and nineteen national banks were organized during the year ending
October 31, 1893, with a capital of $11,230,000. Forty-six went into voluntary
liquidation and 158 suspended. Sixty-five of the suspended banks were
insolvent, 86 resumed business, and 7 remain in the hands of the bank
examiners, with prospects of speedy resumption. Of the new banks organized, 44
were located in the Eastern States, 41 west of the Mississippi River, and 34
in the Central and Southern States. The total number of national banks in
existence on October 31, 1893, was 3,796, having an aggregate capital of
$695,558,120. The net increase in the circulation of these banks during the
year was $36,886,972.

The recent repeal of the provision of law requiring the purchase of silver
bullion by the Government as a feature of our monetary scheme has made an
entire change in the complexion of our currency affairs. I do not doubt that
the ultimate result of this action will be most salutary and far-reaching. In
the nature of things, however, it is impossible to know at this time precisely
what conditions will be brought about by the change, or what, if any,
supplementary legislation may in the light of such conditions appear to be
essential or expedient. Of course, after the recent financial perturbation,
time is necessary for the reestablishment of business confidence. When,
however, through this restored confidence, the money which has been frightened
into hoarding places is returned to trade and enterprise, a survey of the
situation will probably disclose a safe path leading to a permanently sound
currency, abundantly sufficient to meet every requirement of our increasing
population and business.

In the pursuit of this object we should resolutely turn away from alluring and
temporary expedients, determined to be content with nothing less than a
lasting and comprehensive financial plan. In these circumstances I am
convinced that a reasonable delay in dealing with this subject, instead of
being injurious, will increase the probability of wise action.

The monetary conference which assembled at Brussels upon our invitation was
adjourned to the 30th day of November of the present year. The considerations
just stated and the fact that a definite proposition from us seemed to be
expected upon the reassembling of the conference led me to express a
willingness to have the meeting still further postponed.

It seems to me that it would be wise to give general authority to the
President to invite other nations to such a conference at any time when there
should be a fair prospect of accomplishing an international agreement on the
subject of coinage.

I desire also to earnestly suggest the wisdom of amending the existing
statutes in regard to the issuance of Government bonds. The authority now
vested in the Secretary of the Treasury to issue bonds is not as clear as it
should be, and the bonds authorized are disadvantageous to the Government both
as to the time of their maturity and rate of interest.

The Superintendent of Immigration, through the Secretary of the Treasury,
reports that during the last fiscal year there arrived at our ports 440,793
immigrants. Of these, 1,063 were not permitted to land under the limitations
of the law and 577 were returned to the countries from whence they came by
reason of their having become public charges. The total arrivals were 141,034
less than for the previous year.

The Secretary in his report gives an account of the operation of the
Marine-Hospital Service and of the good work done under its supervision in
preventing the entrance and spread of contagious diseases.

The admonitions of the last two years touching our public health and the
demonstrated danger of the introduction of contagious diseases from foreign
ports have invested the subject of national quarantine with increased
interest. A more general and harmonious system than now exists, acting
promptly and directly everywhere and constantly operating by preventive means
to shield our country from the invasion of disease, and at the same time
having due regard to the rights and duties of local agencies, would, I
believe, add greatly to the safety of our people.

The Secretary of War reports that the strength of the Army on the 30th day of
September last was 25,778 enlisted men and 2,144 officers.

The total expenditures of the Department for the year ending June 30, 1893,
amounted to $51,966,074.89. Of this sum $1,992,581.95 was for salaries and
contingent expenses, $23,377,828.35 for the support of the military
establishment, $6,077,033.18 for miscellaneous objects, and 518,631.41 for
public works. This latter sum includes $15,296,876.46 for river and harbor
improvements and $3,266,141.20 for fortifications and other works of defense.

The total enrollment of the militia of the several States was on the 31st of
October of the current year 112,597 officers and enlisted men. The officers of
the Army detailed for the inspection and instruction of this reserve of our
military force report that increased interest and marked progress are apparent
in the discipline and efficiency of the organization.

Neither Indian outbreaks nor domestic violence have called the Army into
service during the year, and the only active military duty required of it has
been in the Department of Texas, where violations of the neutrality laws of
the United States and Mexico were promptly and efficiently dealt with by the
troops, eliciting the warm approval of the civil and military authorities of
both countries.

The operation of wise laws and the influences of civilization constantly
tending to relieve the country from the dangers of Indian hostilities,
together with the increasing ability of the States, through the efficiency of
the National Guard organizations, to protect their citizens from domestic
violence, lead to the suggestion that the time is fast approaching when there
should be a reorganization of our Army on the lines of the present necessities
of the country. This change contemplates neither increase in number nor added
expense, but a redistribution of the force and an encouragement of measures
tending to greater efficiency among the men and improvement of the service.

The adoption of battalion formations for infantry regiments, the strengthening
of the artillery force, the abandonment of smaller and unnecessary posts, and
the massing of the troops at important and accessible stations all promise to
promote the usefulness of the Army. In the judgment of army officers, with but
few exceptions, the operation of the law forbidding the reenlistment of men
after ten years' service has not proved its wisdom, and while the arguments
that led to its adoption were not without merit the experience of the year
constrains me to join in the recommendation for its repeal.

It is gratifying to note that we have begun to attain completed results in the
comprehensive scheme of seacoast defense and fortification entered upon eight
years ago. A large sum has been already expended, but the cost of maintenance
will be inconsiderable as compared with the expense of construction and
ordnance. At the end of the current calendar year the War Department will have
nine 12-inch guns, twenty 10-inch, and thirty-four 8-inch guns ready to be
mounted on gun lifts and carriages, and seventy-five 12-inch mortars. In
addition to the product of the Army Gun Factory, now completed at Watervliet,
the Government has contracted with private parties for the purchase of one
hundred guns of these calibers, the first of which should be delivered to the
Department for test before July 1, 1894.

The manufacture of heavy ordnance keeps pace with current needs, but to render
these guns available for the purposes they are designed to meet emplacements
must be prepared for them. Progress has been made in this direction, and it is
desirable that Congress by adequate appropriations should provide for the
uninterrupted prosecution of this necessary work.

After much preliminary work and exhaustive examination in accordance with the
requirements of the law, the board appointed to select a magazine rifle of
modern type with which to replace the obsolete Springfield rifle of the
infantry service completed its labors during the last year, and the work of
manufacture is now in progress at the national armory at Springfield. It is
confidently expected that by the end of the current year our infantry will be
supplied with a weapon equal to that of the most progressive armies of the
world.

The work on the projected Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
has been prosecuted with zeal and judgment, and its opening will be celebrated
during the coming year. Over 9 square miles of the Chickamauga battlefield
have been acquired, 25 miles of roadway have been constructed, and permanent
tablets have been placed at many historical points, while the invitation to
the States to mark the positions of their troops participating in the battle
has been very generally accepted.

The work of locating and preserving the lines of battle at the Gettysburg
battlefield is making satisfactory progress on the plans directed by the last
Congress.

The reports of the Military Academy at West Point and the several schools for
special instruction of officers show marked advance in the education of the
Army and a commendable ambition among its officers to excel in the military
profession and to fit themselves for the highest service to the country.

Under the supervision of Adjutant-General Robert Williams, lately retired, the
Bureau of Military Information has become well established and is performing a
service that will put in possession of the Government in time of war most
valuable information, and at all times serve a purpose of great utility in
keeping the Army advised of the world's progress in all matters pertaining to
the art of war.

The report of the Attorney-General contains the usual summary of the affairs
and proceedings of the Department of Justice for the past year, together with
certain recommendations as to needed legislation on various subjects. I can
not too heartily indorse the proposition that the fee system as applicable to
the compensation of United States attorneys, marshals, clerks of Federal
courts, and United States commissioners should be abolished with as little
delay as possible. It is clearly in the interest of the community that the
business of the courts, both civil and criminal, shall be as small and as
inexpensively transacted as the ends of justice will allow.

The system is therefore thoroughly vicious which makes the compensation of
court officials depend upon the volume of such business, and thus creates a
conflict between a proper execution of the law and private gain, which can not
fail to be dangerous to the rights and freedom of the citizen and an
irresistible temptation to the unjustifiable expenditure of public funds. If
in addition to this reform another was inaugurated which would give to United
States commissioners the final disposition of petty offenses within the grade
of misdemeanors, especially those coming under the internal-revenue laws, a
great advance would be made toward a more decent administration of the
criminal law.

In my first message to Congress, dated December 8, 1885, I strongly
recommended these changes and referred somewhat at length to the evils of the
present system. Since that time the criminal business of the Federal courts
and the expense attending it have enormously increased. The number of criminal
prosecutions pending in the circuit and district courts of the United States
on the 1st day of July, 1885, was 3,808, of which 1,884 were for violations of
the internal-revenue laws, while the number of such prosecutions pending on
the 1st day of July, 1893, was 9,500, of which 4,200 were for violations of
the internal-revenue laws. The expense of the United States courts, exclusive
of judges' salaries, for the year ending July 1, 1885, was $2,874,733.11 and
for the year ending July 1, 1893, $4,528,676.87.

It is therefore apparent that the reasons given in 1885 for a change in the
manner of enforcing the Federal criminal law have gained cogency and strength
by lapse of time.

I also heartily join the Attorney-General in recommending legislation fixing
degrees of the crime of murder within Federal jurisdiction, as has been done
in many of the States; authorizing writs of error on behalf of the Government
in cases where final judgment is rendered against the sufficiency of an
indictment or against the Government upon any other question arising before
actual trial; limiting the right of review in cases of felony punishable only
by fine and imprisonment to the circuit court of appeals, and making speedy
provision for the construction of such prisons and reformatories as may be
necessary for the confinement of United States convicts.

The report of the Postmaster-General contains a detailed statement of the
operations of the Post-Office Department during the last fiscal year and much
interesting information touching this important branch of the public service.

The business of the mails indicates with absolute certainty the condition of
the business of the country, and depression in financial affairs inevitably
and quickly reduces the postal revenues. Therefore a larger discrepancy than
usual between the post-office receipts and expenditures is the expected and
unavoidable result of the distressing stringency which has prevailed
throughout the country during much of the time covered by the
Postmaster-General's report. At a date when better times were anticipated it
was estimated by his predecessor that the deficiency on the 30th day of June,
1893, would be but a little over a million and a half dollars. It amounted,
however, to more than five millions. At the same time and under the influence
of like anticipations estimates were made for the current fiscal year, ending
June 30, 1894, which exhibited a surplus of revenue over expenditures of
$872,245.71; but now, in view of the actual receipts and expenditures during
that part of the current fiscal year already expired, the present
Postmaster-General estimates that at its close instead of a surplus there will
be a deficiency of nearly $8,000,000.

The post-office receipts for the last fiscal year amounted to $75,896,933.16
and its expenditures to $81,074,104.90. This post-office deficiency would
disappear or be immensely decreased if less matter were carried free through
the mails, an item of which is upward of 300 tons of seeds and grain from the
Agricultural Department.

The total number of post-offices in the United States on the 30th day of June,
1893, was 68,403, an increase of 1,284 over the preceding year. Of these,
3,360 were Presidential, an increase in that class of 204 over the preceding
year.

Forty-two free-delivery offices were added during the year to those already
existing, making a total of 610 cities and towns provided with free delivery
on June 30, 1893. Ninety-three other cities and towns are now entitled to this
service under the law, but it has not been accorded them on account of
insufficient funds to meet the expenses of its establishment.

I am decidedly of the opinion that the provisions of the present law permit as
general an introduction of this feature of mail service as is necessary or
justifiable, and that it ought not to be extended to smaller communities than
are now designated.

The expenses of free delivery for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, will
be more than $11,000,000, and under legislation now existing there must be a
constant increase in this item of expenditure.

There were 6,401 additions to the domestic money-order offices during the last
fiscal year, being the largest increase in any year since the inauguration of
the system. The total number of these offices at the close of the year was
18,434. There were 13,309,735 money orders issued from these offices, being an
increase over the preceding year of 1,240,293, and the value of these orders
amounted to $127,576,433.65, an increase of $7,509,632.58. There were also
issued during the year postal notes amounting to $12,903,076.73.

During the year 195 international money-order offices were added to those
already provided, making a total of 2,407 in operation on June 30, 1893. The
number of international money orders issued during the year was 1,055,999, an
increase over the preceding year of 72,525, and their value was
$16,341,837.86, an increase of $2,221,506.31. The number of orders paid was
300,917, an increase over the preceding year of 13,503, and their value was
$5,283,375.70, an increase of $94,094.83.

From the foregoing statements it appears that the total issue of money orders
and postal notes for the year amounted to $156,822,348.24.

The number of letters and packages mailed during the year for special delivery
was 3,375,693, an increase over the preceding year of nearly 22 per cent. The
special-delivery stamps used upon these letters and packages amounted to
$337,569.30, and the messengers' fees paid for their delivery amounted to
$256,592.71, leaving a profit to the Government of $80,976.59.

The Railway Mail Service not only adds to the promptness of mail delivery at
all offices, but it is the especial instrumentality which puts the smaller and
way places in the service on an equality in that regard with the larger and
terminal offices. This branch of the postal service has therefore received
much attention from the Postmaster-General, and though it is gratifying to
know that it is in a condition of high efficiency and great usefulness, I am
led to agree with the Postmaster-General that there is room for its further
improvement.

There are now connected to the Post-Office establishment 28,324 employees who
are in the classified service. The head of this great Department gives
conclusive evidence of the value of civil-service reform when, after an
experience that renders his judgment on the subject absolutely reliable, he
expresses the opinion that without the benefit of this system it would be
impossible to conduct the vast business intrusted to him.

I desire to commend as especially worthy of prompt attention the suggestions
of the Postmaster-General relating to a more sensible and business like
organization and a better distribution of responsibility in his Department.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy contains a history of the operations
of his Department during the past year and exhibits a most gratifying
condition of the personnel of our Navy. He presents a satisfactory account of
the progress which has been made in the construction of vessels and makes a
number of recommendations to which attention is especially invited.

During the past six months the demands for cruising vessels have been many and
urgent. There have been revolutions calling for vessels to protect American
interests in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Argentina, and
Brazil, while the condition of affairs in Honolulu has required the constant
presence of one or more ships. With all these calls upon our Navy it became
necessary, in order to make up a sufficient fleet to patrol the Bering Sea
under the modus vivendi agreed upon with Great Britain, to detail to that
service one vessel from the Fish Commission and three from the Revenue Marine.

Progress in the construction of new vessels has not been as rapid as was
anticipated. There have been delays in the completion of unarmored vessels,
but for the most part they have been such as are constantly occurring even in
countries having the largest experience in naval shipbuilding. The most
serious delays, however, have been in the work upon armored ships. The trouble
has been the failure of contractors to deliver armor as agreed. The
difficulties seem now, however, to have been all overcome, and armor is being
delivered with satisfactory promptness. As a result of the experience acquired
by shipbuilders and designers and material men, it is believed that the dates
when vessels will be completed can now be estimated with reasonable accuracy.
Great guns, rapid-fire guns, torpedoes, and powder are being promptly
supplied.

The following vessels of the new Navy have been completed and are now ready
for service: The double-turreted coast-defense monitor Miantonomoh, the
double-turreted coast-defense monitor Monterey, the armored cruiser New York,
the protected cruisers Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, San
Francisco, Charleston, Atlanta, and Boston, the cruiser Detroit, the gunboats
Yorktown, Concord, Bennington, Machias, Castine, and Petrel, the dispatch
vessel Dolphin, the practice vessel Bancroft, and the dynamite gunboat
Vesuvius. Of these the Bancroft, Machias, Detroit, and Castine have been
placed in commission during the current calendar year.

The following vessels are in process of construction: The second-class battle
ships Maine and Texas, the cruisers Montgomery and Marblehead, and the
coast-defense monitors Terror, Puritan, Amphitrite, and Monadnock, all of
which will be completed within one year; the harbor-defense ram Katahdin and
the protected cruisers Columbia, Minneapolis, Olympia, Cincinnati, and
Raleigh, all of which will be completed prior to July 1, 1895; the first-class
battle ships Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Oregon, which will be completed
February 1, 1896, and the armored cruiser Brooklyn, which will be completed by
August 1 of that year. It is also expected that the three gunboats authorized
by the last Congress will be completed in less than two years.

Since 1886 Congress has at each session authorized the building of one or more
vessels, and the Secretary of the Navy presents an earnest plea for the
continuance of this plan. He recommends the authorization of at least one
battle ship and six torpedo boats.

While I am distinctly in favor of consistently pursuing the policy we have
inaugurated of building up a thorough and efficient Navy, I can not refrain
from the suggestion that the Congress should carefully take into account the
number of unfinished vessels on our hands and the depleted condition of our
Treasury in considering the propriety of an appropriation at this time to
begin new work.

The method of employing mechanical labor at navy-yards through boards of labor
and making efficiency the sole test by which laborers are employed and
continued is producing the best results, and the Secretary is earnestly
devoting himself to its development. Attention is invited to the statements of
his report in regard to the workings of the system.

The Secretary of the Interior has the supervision of so many important
subjects that his report is of especial value and interest.

On the 30th day of June, 1893, there were on the pension rolls 966,012 names,
an increase of 89,944 over the number on the rolls June 30, 1892. Of these
there were 17 widows and daughters of Revolutionary soldiers, 86 survivors of
the War of 1812, 5,425 widows of soldiers of that war, 21,518 survivors and
widows of the Mexican War, 3,882 survivors and widows of Indian wars, 284 army
nurses. and 475,645 survivors and widows and children of deceased soldiers and
sailors of the War of the Rebellion. The latter number represents those
pensioned on account of disabilities or death resulting from army and navy
service. The number of persons remaining on the rolls June 30, 1893, who were
pensioned under the act of June 27, 1890, which allows pensions on account of
death and disability not chargeable to army service, was 459,155.

The number added to the rolls during the year was 123,634 and the number
dropped was 33,690. The first payments on pensions allowed during the year
amounted to $33,756,549.98. This includes arrears, or the accumulation between
the time from which the allowance of pension dates and the time of actually
granting the certificate.

Although the law of 1890 permits pensions for disabilities not related to
military service, yet as a requisite to its benefits a disability must exist
incapacitating applicants "from the performance of manual labor to such a
degree as to render them unable to earn a support." The execution of this law
in its early stages does not seem to have been in accord with its true
intention, but toward the close of the last Administration an authoritative
construction was given to the statute, and since that time this construction
has been followed. This has had the effect of limiting the operation of the
law to its intended purpose. The discovery having been made that many names
had been put upon the pension roll by means of wholesale and gigantic frauds,
the Commissioner suspended payments upon a number of pensions which seemed to
be fraudulent or unauthorized pending a complete examination, giving notice to
the pensioners, in order that they might have an opportunity to establish, if
possible, the justice of their claims notwithstanding apparent invalidity.

This, I understand, is the practice which has for a long time prevailed in the
Pension Bureau; but after entering upon these recent investigations the
Commissioner modified this rule so as not to allow until after a complete
examination interference with the payment of a pension apparently not
altogether void, but which merely had been fixed at a rate higher than that
authorized by law.

I am unable to understand why frauds in the pension rolls should not be
exposed and corrected with thoroughness and vigor. Every name fraudulently put
upon these rolls is a wicked imposition upon the kindly sentiment in which
pensions have their origin; every fraudulent pensioner has become a bad
citizen; every false oath in support of a pension has made perjury more
common, and false and undeserving pensioners rob the people not only of their
money, but of the patriotic sentiment which the survivors of a war fought for
the preservation of the Union ought to inspire. Thousands of neighborhoods
have their well-known fraudulent pensioners, and recent developments by the
Bureau establish appalling conspiracies to accomplish pension frauds. By no
means the least wrong done is to brave and deserving pensioners, who certainly
ought not to be condemned to such association.

Those who attempt in the line of duty to rectify these wrongs should not be
accused of enmity or indifference to the claims of honest veterans. The sum
expended on account of pensions for the year ending June 30, 1893, was
$156,740,467.14.

The Commissioner estimates that $165,000,000 will be required to pay pensions
during the year ending June 30, 1894.

The condition of the Indians and their ultimate fate are subjects which are
related to a sacred duty of the Government and which strongly appeal to the
sense of justice and the sympathy of our people.

Our Indians number about 248,000. Most of them are located on 161
reservations, containing 86,116,531 acres of land. About 110,000 of these
Indians have to a large degree adopted civilized customs. Lands in severalty
have been allotted to many of them. Such allotments have been made to 10,000
individuals during the last fiscal year, embracing about 1,000,000 acres. The
number of Indian Government schools opened during the year was 195, an
increase of 12 over the preceding year. Of this total 170 were on
reservations, of which 73 were boarding schools and 97 were day schools.
Twenty boarding schools and 5 day schools supported by the Government were not
located on reservations. The total number of Indian children enrolled during
the year as attendants of all schools was 21,138, an increase of 1,231 over
the enrollment for the previous year.

I am sure that secular education and moral and religious teaching must be
important factors in any effort to save the Indian and lead him to
civilization. I believe, too, that the relinquishment of tribal relations and
the holding of land in severalty may in favorable conditions aid this
consummation. It seems to me, however, that allotments of land in severalty
ought to be made with great care and circumspection. If hastily done, before
the Indian knows its meaning, while yet he has little or no idea of tilling a
farm and no conception of thrift, there is great danger that a reservation
life in tribal relations may be exchanged for the pauperism of civilization
instead of its independence and elevation.

The solution of the Indian problem depends very largely upon good
administration. The personal fitness of agents and their adaptability to the
peculiar duty of caring for their wards are of the utmost importance.

The law providing that, except in special cases, army officers shall be
detailed as Indian agents it is hoped will prove a successful experiment.

There is danger of great abuses creeping into the prosecution of claims for
Indian depredations, and I recommend that every possible safeguard be provided
against the enforcement of unjust and fictitious claims of this description.

The appropriations on account of the Indian Bureau for the year ending June
30, 1894, amount to $7,954,962.99, a decrease as compared with the year
preceding it of $387,131.95.

The vast area of land which but a short time ago constituted the public domain
is rapidly falling into private hands. It is certain that in the transfer the
beneficent intention of the Government to supply from its domain homes to the
industrious and worthy home seekers is often frustrated. Though the
speculator, who stands with extortionate purpose between the land office and
those who, with their families, are invited by the Government to settle on the
public lands, is a despicable character who ought not to be tolerated, yet it
is difficult to thwart his schemes. The recent opening to settlement of the
lands in the Cherokee Outlet, embracing an area of 6,500,000 acres,
notwithstanding the utmost care in framing the regulations governing the
selection of locations and notwithstanding the presence of United States
troops, furnished an exhibition, though perhaps in a modified degree, of the
mad scramble, the violence, and the fraudulent occupation which have
accompanied previous openings of public land.

I concur with the Secretary in the belief that these outrageous incidents can
not be entirely prevented without a change in the laws on the subject, and I
hope his recommendations in that direction will be favorably considered.

I especially commend to the attention of the Congress the statements contained
in the Secretary's report concerning forestry. The time has come when
efficient measures should be taken for the preservation of our forests from
indiscriminate and remediless destruction.

The report of the Secretary of Agriculture will be found exceedingly
interesting, especially to that large part of our citizens intimately
concerned in agricultural occupations.

On the 7th day of March, 1893, there were upon its pay rolls 2,430 employees.
This number has been reduced to 1,850 persons. In view of a depleted public
Treasury and the imperative demand of the people for economy in the
administration of their Government, the Secretary has entered upon the task of
rationally reducing expenditures by the elimination from the pay rolls of all
persons not needed for an efficient conduct of the affairs of the Department.

During the first quarter of the present year the expenses of the Department
aggregated $345,876.76, as against $402,012.42 for the corresponding period of
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893. The Secretary makes apparent his
intention to continue this rate of reduction by submitting estimates for the
next fiscal year less by $994,280 than those for the present year.

Among the heads of divisions in this Department the changes have been
exceedingly few. Three vacancies occurring from death and resignations have
been filled by the promotion of assistants in the same divisions.

These promotions of experienced and faithful assistants have not only been in
the interest of efficient work, but have suggested to those in the Department
who look for retention and promotion that merit and devotion to duty are their
best reliance.

The amount appropriated for the Bureau of Animal Industry for the current
fiscal year is $850,000. The estimate for the ensuing year is $700,000.

The regulations of 1892 concerning Texas fever have been enforced during the
last year and the large stock yards of the country have been kept free from
infection. Occasional local outbreaks have been largely such as could have
been effectually guarded against by the owners of the affected cattle.

While contagious pleuro-pneumonia in cattle has been eradicated, animal
tuberculosis, a disease widespread and more dangerous to human life than
pleuro-pneumonia, is still prevalent. Investigations have been made during the
past year as to the means of its communication and the method of its correct
diagnosis. Much progress has been made in this direction by the studies of the
division of animal pathology, but work ought to be extended, in cooperation
with local authorities, until the danger to human life arising from this cause
is reduced to a minimum.

The number of animals arriving from Canada during the year and inspected by
Bureau officers was 462,092, and the number from transatlantic countries was
1,297. No contagious diseases were found among the imported animals.

The total number of inspections of cattle for export during the past fiscal
year was 611,542. The exports show a falling off of about 25 per cent from the
preceding year, the decrease occurring entirely in the last half of the year.
This suggests that the falling off may have been largely due to an increase in
the price of American export cattle.

During the year ending June 30, 1893, exports of inspected pork aggregated
10,677,410 pounds, as against 38,152,874 pounds for the preceding year. The
falling off in this export was not confined, however, to inspected pork, the
total quantity exported for 1892 being 665,490,616 pounds, while in 1893 it
was only 527,308,695 pounds.

I join the Secretary in recommending that hereafter each applicant for the
position of inspector or assistant inspector in the Bureau of Animal Industry
be required, as a condition precedent to his appointment, to exhibit to the
United States Civil Service Commission his diploma from an established,
regular, and reputable veterinary college, and that this be supplemented by
such an examination in veterinary science as the Commission may prescribe.

The exports of agricultural products from the United States for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1892, attained the enormous figure of $800,000,000, in
round numbers, being 78.7 per cent of our total exports. In the last fiscal
year this aggregate was greatly reduced, but nevertheless reached 615,000,000,
being 75.1 per cent of all American commodities exported.

A review of our agricultural exports with special reference to their
destination will show that in almost every line the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland absorbs by far the largest proportion. Of cattle the total
exports aggregated in value for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893,
$26,000,000, of which Great Britain took considerably over $25,000,000. Of
beef products of all kinds our total exports were $28,000,000, of which Great
Britain took $24,000,000. Of pork products the total exports were $84,000,000,
of which Great Britain took $53,000,000. In breadstuffs, cotton, and minor
products like proportions sent to the same destination are shown.

The work of the statistical division of the Department of Agriculture deals
with all that relates to the economics of farming.

The main purpose of its monthly reports is to keep the farmers informed as
fully as possible of all matters having any influence upon the world's
markets, in which their products find sale. Its publications relate especially
to the commercial side of farming.

It is therefore of profound importance and vital concern to the farmers of the
United States, who represent nearly one-half of our population, and also of
direct interest to the whole country, that the work of this division be
efficiently performed and that the information it has gathered be promptly
diffused.

It is a matter for congratulation to know that the Secretary will not spare
any effort to make this part of his work thoroughly useful.

In the year 1839 the Congress appropriated $1,000, to be taken from the Patent
Office funds, for the purpose of collecting and distributing rare and improved
varieties of seeds and for prosecuting agricultural investigations and
procuring agricultural statistics. From this small beginning the seed division
of the Department of Agriculture has grown to its present unwieldy and
unjustifiably extravagant proportions.

During the last fiscal year the cost of seeds purchased was $66,548.61. The
remainder of an appropriation of $135,000 was expended in putting them up and
distributing them. It surely never could have entered the minds of those who
first sanctioned appropriations of public money for the purchase of new and
improved varieties of seeds for gratuitous distribution that from this would
grow large appropriations for the purchase and distribution by members of
Congress of ordinary seeds, bulbs, and cuttings which are common in all the
States and Territories and everywhere easily obtainable at low prices.

In each State and Territory an agricultural experiment station has been
established. These stations, by their very character and name, are the proper
agencies to experiment with and test new varieties of seeds; and yet this
indiscriminate and wasteful distribution by legislation and legislators
continues, answering no purpose unless it be to remind constituents that their
representatives are willing to remember them with gratuities at public cost.

Under the sanction of existing legislation there was sent out from the
Agricultural Department during the last fiscal year enough of cabbage seed to
plant 19,200 acres of land, a sufficient quantity of beans to plant 4,000
acres, beet seed enough to plant 2,500 acres, sweet corn enough to plant 7,800
acres, sufficient cucumber seed to cover 2,025 acres with vines, and enough
muskmelon and watermelon seeds to plant 2,675 acres. The total quantity of
flower and vegetable seeds thus distributed was contained in more than
9,000,000 packages, and they were sufficient if planted to cover 89,596 acres
of land.

In view of these facts this enormous expenditure without legitimate returns of
benefit ought to be abolished. Anticipating a consummation so manifestly in
the interest of good administration, more than $100,000 has been stricken from
the estimate made to cover this object for the year ending June 30, 1895; and
the Secretary recommends that the remaining $35,000 of the estimate be
confined strictly to the purchase of new and improved varieties of seeds, and
that these be distributed through experiment stations.

Thus the seed will be tested, and after the test has been completed by the
experiment station the propagation of the useful varieties and the rejection
of the valueless may safely be left to the common sense of the people.

The continued intelligent execution of the civil-service law and the
increasing approval by the people of its operation are most gratifying. The
recent extension of its limitations and regulations to the employees at
free-delivery post-offices, which has been honestly and promptly accomplished
by the Commission, with the hearty cooperation of the Postmaster-General, is
an immensely important advance in the usefulness of the system.

I am, if possible, more than ever convinced of the incalculable benefits
conferred by the civil-service law, not only in its effect upon the public
service, but also, what is even more important, in its effect in elevating the
tone of political life generally.

The course of civil-service reform in this country instructively and
interestingly illustrates how strong a hold a movement gains upon our people
which has underlying it a sentiment of justice and right and which at the same
time promises better administration of their Government.

The law embodying this reform found its way to our statute book more from fear
of the popular sentiment existing in its favor than from any love for the
reform itself on the part of legislators, and it has lived and grown and
flourished in spite of the covert as well as open hostility of spoilsmen and
notwithstanding the querulous impracticability of many self-constituted
guardians. Beneath all the vagaries and sublimated theories which are
attracted to it there underlies this reform a sturdy common-sense principle
not only suited to this mundane sphere, but whose application our people are
more and more recognizing to be absolutely essential to the most successful
operation of their Government, if not to its perpetuity.

It seems to me to be entirely inconsistent with the character of this reform,
as well as with its best enforcement, to oblige the Commission to rely for
clerical assistance upon clerks detailed from other Departments. There ought
not to be such a condition in any Department that clerks hired to do work
there can be spared to habitually work at another place, and it does not
accord with a sensible view of civil-service reform that persons should be
employed on the theory that their labor is necessary in one Department when in
point of fact their services are devoted to entirely different work in another
Department.

I earnestly urge that the clerks necessary to carry on the work of the
Commission be regularly put upon its roster and that the system of obliging
the Commissioners to rely upon the services of clerks belonging to other
Departments be discontinued. This ought not to increase the expense to the
Government, while it would certainly be more consistent and add greatly to the
efficiency of the Commission.

Economy in public expenditure is a duty that can not innocently be neglected
by those intrusted with the control of money drawn from the people for public
uses. It must be confessed that our apparently endless resources, the
familiarity of our people with immense accumulations of wealth, the growing
sentiment among them that the expenditure of public money should in some
manner be to their immediate and personal advantage, the indirect and almost
stealthy manner in which a large part of our taxes is exacted, and a
degenerated sense of official accountability have led to growing extravagance
in governmental appropriations.

At this time, when a depleted public Treasury confronts us, when many of our
people are engaged in a hard struggle for the necessaries of life, and when
enforced economy is pressing upon the great mass of our countrymen, I desire
to urge with all the earnestness at my command that Congressional legislation
be so limited by strict economy as to exhibit an appreciation of the condition
of the Treasury and a sympathy with the straitened circumstances of our
fellow-citizens.

The duty of public economy is also of immense importance in its intimate and
necessary relation to the task now in hand of providing revenue to meet
Government expenditures and yet reducing the people's burden of Federal
taxation.

After a hard struggle tariff reform is directly before us. Nothing so
important claims our attention and nothing so clearly presents itself as both
an opportunity and a duty--an opportunity to deserve the gratitude of our
fellow-citizens and a duty imposed upon us by our oft-repeated professions and
by the emphatic mandate of the people. After full discussion our countrymen
have spoken in favor of this reform, and they have confided the work of its
accomplishment to the hands of those who are solemnly pledged to it.

If there is anything in the theory of a representation in public places of the
people and their desires, if public officers are really the servants of the
people, and if political promises and professions have any binding force, our
failure to give the relief so long awaited will be sheer recreancy. Nothing
should intervene to distract our attention or disturb our effort until this
reform is accomplished by wise and careful legislation.

While we should stanchly adhere to the principle that only the necessity of
revenue justifies the imposition of tariff duties and other Federal taxation
and that they should be limited by strict economy, we can not close our eyes
to the fact that conditions have grown up among us which in justice and
fairness call for discriminating care in the distribution of such duties and
taxation as the emergencies of our Government actually demand.

Manifestly if we are to aid the people directly through tariff reform, one of
its most obvious features should be a reduction in present tariff charges upon
the necessaries of life. The benefits of such a reduction would be palpable
and substantial, seen and felt by thousands who would be better fed and better
clothed and better sheltered. These gifts should be the willing benefactions
of a Government whose highest function is the promotion of the welfare of the
people.

Not less closely related to our people's prosperity and well-being is the
removal of restrictions upon the importation of the raw materials necessary to
our manufactures. The world should be open to our national ingenuity and
enterprise. This can not be while Federal legislation through the imposition
of high tariff forbids to American manufacturers as cheap materials as those
used by their competitors. It is quite obvious that the .enhancement of the
price of our manufactured products resulting from this policy not only
confines the market for these products within our own borders, to the direct
disadvantage of our manufacturers, but also increases their cost to our
citizens.

The interests of labor are certainly, though indirectly, involved in this
feature of our tariff system. The sharp competition and active struggle among
our manufacturers to supply the limited demand for their goods soon fill the
narrow market to which they are confined. Then follows a suspension of work in
mills and factories, a discharge of employees, and distress in the homes of
our workingmen.

Even if the often-disproved assertion could be made good that a lower rate of
wages would result from free raw materials and low tariff duties, the
intelligence of our workmen leads them quickly to discover that their steady
employment, permitted by free raw materials, is the most important factor in
their relation to tariff legislation.

A measure has been prepared by the appropriate Congressional committee
embodying tariff reform on the lines herein suggested, which will be promptly
submitted for legislative action. It is the result of much patriotic and
unselfish work, and I believe it deals with its subject consistently and as
thoroughly as existing conditions permit.

I am satisfied that the reduced tariff duties provided for in the proposed
legislation, added to existing internal-revenue taxation, will in the near
future, though perhaps not immediately, produce sufficient revenue to meet the
needs of the Government.

The committee, after full consideration and to provide against a temporary
deficiency which may exist before the business of the country adjusts itself
to the new tariff schedules, have wisely embraced in their plan a few
additional internal-revenue taxes, including a small tax upon incomes derived
from certain corporate investments.

These new adjustments are not only absolutely just and easily borne, but they
have the further merit of being such as can be remitted without unfavorable
business disturbance whenever the necessity of their imposition no longer
exists.

In my great desire for the success of this measure I can not restrain the
suggestion that its success can only be attained by means of unselfish counsel
on the part of the friends of tariff reform and as a result of their
willingness to subordinate personal desires and ambitions to the general good.
The local interests affected by the proposed reform are so numerous and so
varied that if all are insisted upon the legislation embodying the reform must
inevitably fail.

In conclusion my intense feeling of responsibility impels me to invoke for the
manifold interests of a generous and confiding people the most scrupulous care
and to pledge my willing support to every legislative effort for the
advancement of the greatness and prosperity of our beloved country.

GROVER CLEVELAND