730 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



size of ocean-vessels is constantly decreasing the cost 

 of ocean transport, and our wheat-fields are yearly re- 

 ceding farther westward from the lakes, it is not im- 

 possible that when she shall have driven us from the 

 markets of Europe she will become our active com- 

 petitor in Boston and Portland, if cheaper means of 

 internal transport be not provided. The value of 

 American wheat in the Britisn markets is about 7 cents 

 per bushel over the average from all other countries, 

 and about 5 cents per bushel above that imported 

 from Eussia. With this advantage in our favor, and 

 with a reduction of 20 cents per bushel in the cost of 

 internal transport, we might successfully demand the 

 right to supply the markets of the world with food. 



Our cotton exports are quite as unsatisfactory as 

 the exports of other agricultural products. High 

 transportation charges from the g_rain-fields of the 

 Northwest to the cotton-fields of the South have 

 compelled the planter to devote his cotton-lands to 

 the production of wheat and corn, for which they are 

 by nature unsuited, thereby reducing the product of 

 cotton and diminishing the market _ for grain. The 

 effect upon our cotton exportations is shown by the 

 following statement : 



Receipts of cotton in Great Britain in 1860, compared 

 with 1872. 



that all expenditures not absolutely necessary bo sus- 

 pended, and that the imperative necessities of the 

 country receive attention ? 



The cotton exports of the United States have fallen 

 off nearly 50 per cent., while other countries have 

 gained nearly 300 per cent. This is doubtless largely 

 due to the war, which stimulated the production of 

 cotton in India, but it is also attributable to a great 

 extent to the causes just mentioned, and to the system 

 of internal improvements inaugurated by Great Britain 

 in India, for the express purpose of rendering herself 

 independent of us for the supply of cotton. Every 

 cent unnecessarily added to the cost of transportation ^s 

 to that extent a protection to the cotton-planters of India 

 and the food-producers of JKussia, against the farmers 

 of the West and the cotton-planters of the South. 



The murmurs of discontent which come from the 

 overburdened West, the demand for cheaper food 

 heard from the laboring-classes at the East and from 

 the plantations of the South, and the rapid falling off 

 of our principal articles of export, all indicate the im- 

 perative necessity for cheaper means of internal com- 

 munication. If we would assure our imperiled posi- 

 tion in the markets of the world, reinstate our credit 

 abroad, restore confidence and prosperity at home, 

 and provide for a return to specie payment, let us de- 

 velop our unequaled resources and stimulate our in- 

 dustries by a judicious system of internal improve- 

 ments. 



A reference to the expenditures of our Government 

 since the adoption of the Constitution will show that 

 in some matters we have been sufficiently liberal, but 

 in appropriations for the benefit of commerce and for 

 the development of our vast resources most parsimo- 

 nious. For public buildings, including those in the 

 District of Columbia, and custom-houses, post-offices, 

 and court-houses in other parts of the country, we 

 have expended over 62,000,000; while for the im- 

 provement of the twenty thousand miles of Western 

 rivers, through which should flow the life-currents of 

 the nation, we have appropriated only $11,438,300. 

 For the improvements of these great avenues of trade, 

 which were designed by Nature to afford the cheapest 

 and most ample commercial facilities for the teeming 

 millions who inhabit the richest country on earth, we 

 have expended an average of $133,100 per annum; 

 while for public buildings we have appropriated an 

 average oi over $750,000 a year. Is it not nigh time 



Louisiana. 



THE following special message of President 

 Grant was sent to the United States Senate on 

 January 13, 1875. As it treats of events which 

 took place in Louisiana in December, 1874, etc., 

 it is inserted here as a part of the history of 

 1874. 



To the Senate of the United States : 



1 have the honor to make the following answer to 

 a Senate resolution of the 8th inst., asking for infor- 

 mation as to any interference by any military officer 

 or any part of the Army of the United States with 

 the organization or proceedings of the General Assem- 

 bly of the State of Louisiana, or either branch thereof* 

 and also inquiring in regard to the existence of armed 

 organizations in that State hostile to the government 

 thereof, and intent on overturning such government 

 by force. To say that lawlessness, turbulence, and 

 bloodshed have characterized the political affairs of 

 that State since its reorganization under the Eecon- 

 struction acts, is only to repeat what has become well 

 known as a part of its unhappy history ; but it may 

 be proper here to refer to the election of 1868, by 

 which the Eepublican vote of the State, through 

 fraud and violence, was reduced to a few thousands, 

 and the bloody riots of 1866, 1867, and 1868, to show 

 that the disorders there are not due to any recent 

 causes or to any late action of the Federal authorities. 



Preparatory to the election of 1872, a shameful and 

 undisguised conspiracy was formed to carry that elec- 

 tion against the Republicans without regard to law or 

 right, and to that end the most glaring frauds and 

 forgeries were committed in the returns, after many 

 colored citizens had been denied registration and 

 others deterred by fear from casting their ballots. 

 When the time came for a final canvass of the votes, 

 in view of the foregoing facts. William P. Kellogg, 

 the Eepublican candidate for Governor, brought suit 

 upon the equity side of the United States Circuit 

 Court for Louisiana, and against Warmoth and others, 

 who had obtained possession of the returns of the 

 election ; representing that several thousand voters of 

 the State had been deprived of the elective franchise 

 on account of their color, and praying that steps 

 might be taken to have said votes counted, and for 

 general relief. To enable the court to inquire as to 

 the truth of these allegations a temporary restraining 

 order was issued against the defendants, which was 

 at once wholly disregarded and treated with con- 

 tempt by those to whom it was directed. These pro- 

 ceedings have been widely denounced as an unwar- 

 rantable interference by the Federal Judiciary witli 

 the election of State officers, but it is to be remem- 

 bered that by the fifteenth amendment to the Con- 

 stitution of the United States the political equality of 

 colored citizens is secured, and under the second sec- 

 tion of that amendment, providing that Congress shall 

 have power to enforce its provisions by appropriate 

 legislation, an act was passed on the 31st of May, 

 1870, and amended in 1871, the object of which was 

 to prevent the denial or abridgment of suffrage to 

 citizens on account of race, color, or previous condi- 

 tion of servitude : and it has been held by all tho 

 Federal judges before whom the question has arisen, 

 including Justice Strong of the Supreme Court, that 

 the protection afforded by this amendment and these 

 acts extends to State as well as to other elections. 

 That it is the duty of the Federal courts_to enforce 

 the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, 

 and the laws passed hi pursuance thereof, is too clear 

 for controversy. 



Section 15 of said act, after numerous provisions 

 therein to prevent an evasion of the fifteenth amend- 

 ment, provides that the jurisdiction of the United 



