PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



The report of the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 aciMinpanying this message will be found one of 

 irn-itt interest, mm kin-/, as it does, the great prog- 

 : the lust century in the variety of t>n>,lueiH 

 >t tin; soil, increased knowledge and skill in the 

 Ubor N of producing, saving, and manipuluting the 

 s iinc to prepare tiu-ui lor the use, of innii ; in the im- 

 provements in machinery to aid the agriculturist in 

 his labors, aiitl u knowledge of those scientific sub- 

 jects necessary to a thorough system of economy in 

 agricultural production, namely, chemistry, botany, 

 entomology, etc. A study of this report by those 

 teil in agriculture and deriving their support 

 tVoiu it will find it of value, in pointing out those 

 articles which are raised in greater quantity than the 

 needs of the world require, and must sell, therefore, 

 for less thun the cost of production, and those which 

 command a profit over cost of production because 

 there i* not an over-production, 



I call special attention to the need of the Depart- 

 ment for a new gallery for the reception of the ex- 

 hibits returned from the Centennial Exhibition, in- 

 eluding the exhibits donated by very many foreign 

 nations ; and to the recommendations of the Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture generally. 



The reports of the District Commissioners and 

 the Bjard of Health are just received too late to 

 read them and to make recommendations thereon 

 and are herewith submitted. 



The International Exhibition held in Philadel- 

 phia this year, in commemoration of the one hun- 

 dredth anniversary of American independence, has 

 proved a great success, and will, no doubt, be of en- 

 during advantage to the country. It has shown the 

 great progress in the arts, sciences, and mechanical 

 skill, made in a single century, and demonstrated 

 that we are hut little behind older nations in any 

 one brancli, while in some we scarcely have a rival. 

 It has served, too, not only to bring peoples and 

 products of skill and labor from all parts of the 

 world together, but in bringing together people from 

 all sections of our own country, which must prove a 

 great benefit in the information imparted and pride 

 of country engendered. 



It has been suggested by scientists interested in 

 and connected with the Smithsonian Institution, in 

 a communication herewith, that the Government 

 exhibit be removed to the capital and a suitable 

 building be erected or purchased for its accommo- 

 dation us a permanent exhibit. I earnestly recom- 

 mend this, and believing that Congress would second 

 this view, [ directed that all Government exhibits at 

 the Centennial Exhibition should remain where they 

 are, except such as might be injured by rjmuining 

 in a building not intended as a protection in inclem- 

 ent weather, or suoh as may be wanted by the De- 

 partment furnishing them, until the question of per- 

 manent exhibition is acted on. 



Although the moneys appropriated by Congress 

 to enable the participation of the several Executive 

 Departments in the International Exhibition of 1876 

 were not sufficient to carry out the undertaking to 

 the full extent at first contemplated, it gives me 

 pleasure to refer to the very efficient and creditable 

 manner in which the hoard appointed from these 

 several Departments to provide an exhibition on the 

 part of the Government have discharged their du- 

 ties with the funds placed at their command. With- 

 out a precedent to guide them in the preparation of 

 such a display, the success of their labors was amply 

 attested by the sustained attention which the con- 

 tents of the Government Building attracted during 

 the period of the Exhibition from both foreign and 

 native visitors. 



I am strongly impressed with the value of the col- 

 lection made oy the Government for the purposes of 

 the Exhibition, illustrating, as it does, the mineral 

 resources of the country, the statistical and practi- 

 cal evidences of our growth as a nntion, and the uses 

 of the mechanical arts and the applications of ap- 



plied science in the administration of the affairs of 

 Government. 



Many nations have voluntarily contributed their 

 exhibits to the United States to increase the interest 

 in any permanent exhibition Congress may provide 

 for. For this act of generosity they should receive 

 the thanks of the people, and I respectfully suggest 

 that u resolution of Congress to that effect be adopted. 



The attention of Congress cannot be too earnestly 

 called to the necessity of throwing some greater safe- 

 guard over the method of choosing and declaring the 

 election of a President. Under the present system 

 there seems to be no provided remedy for contesting 

 the election in any one State. The remedy is par- 

 tially, no doubt, in the enlightenment of electors. 

 The compulsory support of the free school, and the 

 distrnnchisement of all who cunnot read and write 

 t In- Knj.'li>h language after a fixed probation would 

 meet my hearty approval. 1 would not make thin 

 apply, however, to those already voters, but I would 

 to all becoming so after the expiration of the proba- 

 tion fixed upon. Foreigners coming to the country 

 to become citizens, who are educated in their own 

 language, should acquire the requisite knowledge of 

 ours during the necessary residence to obtain natu- 

 ralization. If they did not take interest enough in 

 our language to acquire sufficient knowledge of it 

 to enable them to study the institutions and Taws of 

 the country intelligently, I would not confer upon 

 them the right to make such laws nor to select those 

 who do. 



I append to this message, for convenient reference, 

 a synopsis of administrative events and of all rec- 

 ommendations to Congress made by me during the 

 last seven years. Time may show some of these 

 recommendations not to htive been wisely conceived, 

 but I believe the larger part will do no discredit to 

 the Administration. One of these recommendations 

 met with the united opposition of one political party 

 in the Senate, and with a strong opposition from the 

 other, namely, the treaty for the annexation of Santo 

 Domingo to the United States, to which I will spe- 

 cially refer, maintaining, as 1 do, that if my views 

 had been concurred in, the country would be in a 

 more prosperous condition to-day, both politically 

 and financially. 



Santo Domingo is fertile, and upon its soil may 

 be grown just those tropical products of which tha 

 United States use so much, and which are produced 

 or prepared for market now by slave-labor almost 

 exclusively ; namely, sugar, coffee, dye-woods, ma- 

 hogany, tropical fruits, tobacco, etc. About seventy- 

 five per cent, of the exports of Cuba are consumed by 

 the United States. A large percentage of the ex- 

 ports of Brazil also find tlie same market. These 

 are paid for almost exclusively in coin legislation, 

 particularly in Cuba, being unfavorable to a mutual 

 exchange of the products of each country. Flour 

 shipped from the Mississippi River to Havana can 

 pass by the very entrance to the city on its way to 

 a port in Spain, there pay a duty fixed upon articles 

 to be reCxported, transferred to u Spanish vessel and 

 brought back almost to the point of starting, paying 

 a second duty, and still leave a profit over what 

 would be received by direct shipment. All that is 

 produced in Cuba could be produced in Santo Do- 

 mingo. Being a part of the United States, com- 

 merce between the island and mainland would be 

 free. There would be no export duties on her ship- 

 ments nor import duties on those coming here. 

 There would be no import duties upon the supplies, 

 machinery, etc., going from the States. The effect 

 that woula have been produced upon Cuban com- 

 merce, with these advantages to a rival, is obs3rv- 

 abl eat a glance. The Cuban question would have been 

 settled long ago in favor of " free Cuba." Hundreds 

 of American vessels would now be advantageously 

 used in transporting the valuable woods, ana other 

 products of the soil of the island, to a market, and 

 m carrying supplies and emigrants to it. The island 



