CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



203 



have a system of productive establishments more than 

 sufficient to supply our own demands ; the wages of 

 labor are nowhere else so great ; the scale of living of 

 our artisan classes is such as tends to secure their per- 

 sonal comfort and the development of those higher 

 moral and intellectual qualities that go to the making 

 of good citizens. Our system of tax and tariff legis- 

 lation is yielding a revenue which is in excess of the 

 present needs of the Government. 



These are the elements from which it is sought to 

 devise a scheme by which, without unfavorably 

 changing the condition of the working-man, our mer- 

 chant marine shall be raised from its enfeebled con- 

 dition and new markets provided for the sale beyond 

 our borders of the manifold fruits of our industrial 

 enterprises. 



The problem is complex, and can be solved by no 

 single measure of innovation or reform. 



The countries of the American continent and the 

 adjacent islands are for the United States the natural 

 marts of supply and demand. It is from them that 

 we should obtain what we do not produce or do not 

 produce in sufficiency, and it is to them that the sur- 

 plus productions ot our fields, our mills, and our 

 workshops should flow, under conditions that will 

 equalize or favor them in comparison with foreign 

 competition. 



Four paths of policy seem to point to this end : 



First, a series of reciprocal commercial treaties 

 with the countries of America, which shall foster be- 

 tween us and them an unhampered movement of 

 trade. The conditions of these treaties should be the 

 free admission of such merchandise as this country 

 does not produce in return for the admission free or 

 under a favored scheme of duties of our own products 

 the benefits of such exchange to apply only to goods 

 carried under the flag of the parties to the contract ; 

 the removal , on both sides, from the vessels so privi- 

 leged of all tonnage dues and national imposts, so 

 that those vessels may ply unhindered between our 

 ports and those of the other contracting parties, though 

 without infringing on the reserved home coasting 

 trade; the removal or reduction of burdens on the 

 exported products of those countries coming within 

 the benefits of the treaties ; and the avoidance of the 

 technical restrictions and penalties by which our in- 

 tercourse with those countries is at present hampered. 



Secondly, the establishment of the consular service 

 of the United States on a salaried footing, thus per- 

 mitting the relinquishment of consular fees not only 

 as respects vessels under the national flag, but also 

 as respects vessels of the treaty nations carrying goods 

 entitled to the benefits of the treaties. 



Thirdly, the enactment of measures to favor the 

 construction and maintenance of a steam carrying- 

 marine under the flag of the United States. 



Fourthly, the establishment of a uniform currency 

 basis for the countries of America, so that the coined 

 products of our mines may circulate on equal terms 

 throughout the whole system of commonwealths. This 

 would require a monetary union of America, whereby 

 the output of the bullion-producing countries and the 

 circulation of those which yield neither gold nor sil- 

 ver could be adjusted in conformity with the popula- 

 tion, wealth, and commercial needs of each. As many 

 of the countries furnish no bullion to the common 

 stock, the surplus production of our mines and mints 

 might thus be utilized and a step taken toward the 

 general remonetization of silver. 



To the accomplishment of these ends, so far as they 

 can be attained by separate treaties, the negotiations 

 already concluded and now in progress have been 

 directed, and the favor which this enlarged policy has 

 thus far received warrants the belief that its opera- 

 tions will ere long embrace all, or nearly all, the 

 countries of this hemisphere. 



It is by no means desirable, however, that the policy 

 under consideration should be applied to these coun- 

 tries alone. The healthful enlargement of our trade 

 with Europe, Asia, and Africa should be sought by 



reducing tariff burdens on such of their wares an nei- 

 ther we nor the other American states are fitted to 

 produce, and thus enabling ourselves to obtain in re- 

 turn a better market for our supplies of food, of raw 

 materials, and of the manufactures in which we excel. 



It seems to me that many of the embarrassing ele- 

 ments in the great national conflict between protection 

 and free trade may thus be turned to good account 

 that the revenue may be reduced so as no longer to 

 overtax the people ; that protective duties may be re- 

 tained without becoming burdensome ; that our ship- 

 ping interests may be judiciously encouraged, the 

 currency fixed on firm bases, and above all such a 

 unity of interests established among the states of the 

 American system as will be of great and ever-increas- 

 ing advantage to them all. 



All treaties in the line of this policy which have 

 been negotiated or are in process of netrotiation con- 

 tain a provision deemed to be requisite under the 

 clause of the Constitution limiting to the House of 

 Kepresentatives the authority to originate bills for 

 raising revenue. 



On the 29th of February last I transmitted to the 

 Congress the first annual report of the Civil-Service 

 Commission, together with communications from the 

 heads of the several Executive Departments of the 

 Government respecting the practical workings of the 

 law under which the commission had been acting. 

 The good results therein foreshadowed have been 

 more than realized. 



The system has fully answered the expectations of 

 its friends in securing competent and faithful public 

 servants and hi protecting the appointing officers of 

 the Government from the pressure of personal impor- 

 tunity, and from the labor of examining the claims 

 and pretensions of rival candidates for public employ- 

 ment. 



The law has had the unqualified support of the Pres- 

 ident and of the heads of the several departments, 

 and the members of the commission have perlbrmeu 

 their duties with zeal and fidelity. Their report will 

 shortly be submitted, and will be accompanied by 

 such recommendations for enlarging the scope of the 

 existing statute as shall commend themselves to the 

 Executive and the commissioners charged with its 

 administration. 



In view of the general and persistent demand 

 throughout the commercial community for a national 

 bankrupt law ? I hope that the differences of sentiment 

 which have hitherto prevented its enactment may not 

 outlast the present session. 



The pestilence which for the past two years has 

 been raging in the countries of the East recently made 

 its appearance in European ports with which we are 

 in constant communication. 



The then Secretary of the Treasury, in pursuance 

 of a proclamation of the President, issued certain reg- 

 ulations restricting, and for a time prohibiting, tne 

 importation of rags and the admission of baggage of 

 immigrants and of travelers arriving from infected 

 quarters. Lest this course may have been without 

 strict warrant of law, I approve the recommendation 

 of the present Secretary that the Congress take action 

 in the premises, and I also recommend the immediate 

 adoption of such measures as will be likely to ward 

 off the dreaded epidemic, and to mitigate its severity 

 in case it shall unhappily extend to our shores. 



The annual report of the commissioners of the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia reviews the operations of the several 

 departments of its municipal government. I ask your 

 careful consideration of its suggestions in respect to 

 legislation especially commending such as relate to 

 a revision of the civil and criminal code, the perform- 

 ance of labor by persons sentenced to imprisonment 

 in the jail, the construction and occupation of wharves 

 along the river front, and the erection of a suitable 

 building for District offices. 



I recommend that, in recognition of the eminent 

 services of Ulysses S. Grant, late General of the ar- 

 mies of the United States and twice President of this 



