670 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



would indicate material redaction in amount com- 

 pered with the preceding year, it is believed that the 

 changea in the pension laws at the last session of 

 Congress will absorb that amount the current 

 At the cloie of the last fiscal year there were on the 

 pension-rolls 99,8(4 Invalid military pensioner*, and 

 112.088 widow*, orphans, and dependent relatives 



. ., .... : -..,..--'. ![>:,!. i!i_' :i t..t:\j , t thiit elu^s ot' 



211,892; 18,M6 survivors of the War of 1812, and 

 6,058 widows of soldiers of that war pensioned under 

 the act of Congress of February 14, 1871, making a 

 total of that class of 28,819; 1,480 invalid Navy pen- 

 sioners, and 1,770 widows, orphans, and dependent 

 relatives of deceased officers, Bailors, and marines 

 of the Navy, making a total of Navy pensioners of 

 8,200, and a grand total of pensioners of all classes 

 of 238,411, snowing a net increase during the last 

 fiscal year of 6,182. Daring the last year the names of 

 16,405 pensioners were added to the rolls, and 10,228 

 name) were dropped therefrom from various causes. 



The system adopted for the detection of frauds 

 against the Government in the matter of nci 

 has been productive of satisfactory results, but legis- 

 lation is needed to provide, if possible, against the 

 perpetration of such frauds in future. 



The evidently increasing interest in the cause of 

 education is a most encouraging feature in the gen- 

 eral progress and prosperity of the country, and the 

 Bureau of Education is earnest in its efforts to give 

 proper direction to the new appliances and increased 

 facilities which are being offered to aid the educators 

 of the country in their great work. 



The ninth census has been completed, the report 

 thereof published and distributed, nnd the working 

 force of the bureau disbanded. The Secretary of 

 the Interior renews his recommendation for a census 

 to be taken in 1876, to which subject the attention of 

 Congress is invited. The original suggestion in that 

 behalf has met with the general approval of the coun- 

 try, and even if it be not deemed advisable at present 

 to provide for a regular quinquennial census, a census 

 taken in 1875, the report of which could be completed 

 and published before the one hundredth anniversary 

 of our national independence, would be especially 

 interesting and valuable, on showing the progress of 

 the country during the first century of our national 

 existence. It is believed, however, that a regular 

 census every five yean would be of substantial ben- 

 efit to the country, inasmuch as our growth hitherto 

 has been so rapid that the results of the decennial 

 census, are necessarily unreliable as a basis of esti- 

 mates for the latter years of a decennial period. 



DISTRICT OT COLUMBIA. 



Under the very efficient management of the Gov- 

 ernor and the Board of Public Works of this District, 

 the city of Washington is rapidly assuming the ap- 

 pearance of a capital of which the nation may well be 

 proud. From being a most unsightly place three 

 years ago, disagreeable to pass through in > mmncr in 

 consequence of the dust aning from unpavcd streets, 

 and almost impassable in winter from the mini, it is 

 now one of the most sightly cities in the country, 

 and can boast of being the best paved. 



The work has been done systematically, the plans, 

 grades, location of sewers, water and gas mains 

 in-'l upon before th work wuonmrin 

 thus securing permanency when completed. I ques- 

 tion whether so much has ever been accomplished be- 

 fore in any American city for the same expenditures. 

 The Government having large reservations in the 

 id the nation at large having an interest in 

 mmctiil a liberal pol lev toward Uw 

 nbia, and that the tJoTOTMBMt 

 should bear its just share of the expense of these 

 improvement*. Every citizen visiting the capital 

 feels a pride in Itsgrow'ing beauty, and that he too is 

 part owner of the investments made here. 



I would suggest to Congress thn propriety of pro- 

 tnotlngthr establishment in this District of an 



t of learning, or university of the highest class, 



by the donation of lands. There is no place better 

 suited for such an institution than the national cap- 

 ital. There is no other place in which every citizen 

 is BO directly interested. 



CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM. 



In three successive messages to Congress I hnv 

 called attention to the subject of " civil-servi. 

 form." 



>n has been taken so far as to authorize the 

 appointment, of a board to devise rules, governing 

 methods of making appointments and prompt 

 but there never has been any action making these 

 rules, or any rules, binding, or even entitledto ob- 

 s. rvuiiee where persons desire the appointment of a 

 friend, or the removal of on official who may be dis- 

 agreeable to them. 



To have any rules effective they must have the ac- 



?uiescence of Congress as well as of the Executive, 

 commend, therefore, the subject to your attention, 

 and suggest that a special committee of Congress 

 might confer with the civil-service board during the 

 present session, for the purpose of devising such 

 rules as can be maintained, and which will u 

 the services of honest and capable officials, and 

 which will also protect them in a degree of inde- 

 nce while in office. 



Proper rules will protect Congress, as well as the 

 tivc, from much necdli on, and will 



prove of great value to the public at lurt-c. 



I would recommend for your favorable considera- 

 tion the passage of on enabling act for the admittance 

 of Colorado as a State in the Tiium. It possesses all 

 the elements of a prosperous State, agricultural and 

 mineral, and, I believe, has a popautMD now to jus- 

 tify such admission. In connection with this I 

 would also recommend the encouragement of a canal 

 for purposes of irrigation, from the eastern slope of 

 the Rocky Mountains to the Missouri River. Asa 

 rule, I am opposed to further donations of public 

 hinds for internal improvements, owned and eon- 

 trolled by private corporations, but in this instance 

 I would make an exception. ]iet\\icn the Mi 

 Kivcr and the Rocky Mountains there is an arid belt 

 of public land, from three to five hundred miles in 

 width, perfectly valueless for the occupation of man, 

 for the want of sufficient rain to secure the growth 

 of any product. An irrigating canal would make 

 productive a belt, as wide as the supply of water 

 could be made to spread over, across this entire coun- 

 try, and would secure a cordon of settlements, con- 

 necting the present population of the mountain and 

 mining regions with that of the older States. All 

 the land reclaimed would be clear gnin. If alternate 

 sections are retained by the Government, I would 

 suggest that the retained sections be thrown open to 

 entry under the homestead laws, or sold to actual 

 settlers for a very low price. 



I renew my previous recommendation to Con- 

 gress for general amnesty. The number engaged in 

 the late rebellion yet laboring ander disabiliti 

 very small, but enough to keep up a constant irrita- 

 tion. No possible danger can accrue to the Govern- 

 ment by restoring them to eliiril.ility to hold > 



I suggest for your consideniiion tile enactment of 

 a law to better secure the civil rights which fn 

 should secure, but has not effectually secured, to the 

 enfranchised slave. U. S. GRANT. 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, Ptember 1, 1878. 



Protocol of the Conference held at the Depart- 

 ment of Mat?, at Wanhinyton, on tin' '1'Mh 

 of Koremler, 1873, li,hn<ii HAMILTON FIMI, 

 of State, and Rear-Admiral ION 

 POLO DK RKI!\AB, Knroy Extraor- 

 dinary and Minuter Plenipotentiary of 

 aid, 



THF undersigned having met for the purpose of 

 entering into a definite agreement respecting the 



