CONGRESS. (PKESIDENT'S MESSAGE) 



219 



at present to arrive at any agreement on the subject 

 with other nations. 



In the mean time we are accumulating silver coin, 

 based upon our own peculiar ratio, to such an extent, 

 and assuming so heavy a burden to be provided for in 

 any international negotiations, as will render us an 

 undesirable party to any future monetary conference 

 of nations. 



It is a significant fact that four of the five countries 

 composing the Latin Union mentioned in our coinage 

 act, embarrassed with their silver currency, have just 

 completed an agreement among themselves that no 

 more silver shall be coined by their respective govern- 

 ments, and that such as has been already coined and 

 in circulation shall be redeemed in gold by the coun- 

 try of its coinage. The resort to this expedient by 

 these countries may well arrest the attention of those 

 who suppose that we can succeed without shock or in- 

 jury in the attempt to circulate upon its merits all the 

 silver we may com. under the provisions of our silver- 

 coinage act. 



The condition in which our treasury may be placed 

 by a persistence in our present course is a matter of 

 concern to every patriotic citizen who does not desire 

 his Government to pay in silver such of its obligations 

 as should be paid in gold. Nor should our condition 

 be such as to oblige us, in a prudent management of 

 our affairs, to discontinue the calling in and payment 

 of interest-bearing obligations which we have the 

 right now to discharge, and thus avoid the payment 

 of further interest thereon. 



The so-called debtor class, for whose benefit the 

 continued compulsory coinage of silver is insisted 

 upon, are not dishonest because they are in debt ; and 

 they should not be suspected of a desire to jeopardize 

 the financial safety of the country in order that they 

 may cancel their present debts by paying the same in 

 depreciated dollars. Nor should it be forgotten that 

 it is not the rich nor the money-lender alone that 

 must submit to such a readjustment, enforced by the 

 Government and their debtors. The pittance of the 

 widow and the orphan, and the incomes of helpless 

 beneficiaries of all kinds, would be disastrously re- 

 duced. The depositors in savings-banks and in other 

 institutions which hold in trust the savings of the 

 poor, when their little accumulations are scaled down 

 to meet the new order of things, would, in their dis- 

 tress, painfully realize the delusion of the promise 

 made to them that plentiful money would improve 

 their condition. 



We have now on hand all the silver dollars neces- 

 sary to supply the present needs of the people, and 

 to satisfy those who, from sentiment, wish to see 

 them in circulation ; and if their coinage is suspended 

 they can be readily obtained by all who desire them. 

 If the need of more is at any time apparent, their 

 coinage may be renewed. 



That disaster has not already overtaken us furnishes 

 no proof that danger does not wait upon a continuation 

 of the present silver coinage. We have been saved 

 by the most careful management and unusual expe- 

 dients, by a combination of fortunate conditions, and 

 by a confident expectation that the course of the 

 Government in regard to silver coinage would be 

 speedily changed by the action of Congress. 



Prosperity hesitates upon our threshold because of 

 the dangers and uncertainties surrounding this ques- 

 tion. Capital timidly shrinks from trade, and invest- 

 ors are unwilling to take the chance of the question- 

 able shape in which their money will be returned to 

 them, while enterprise halts at a risk against which 

 care and sagacious management do not protect. 



As a necessary consequence, labor lacks employ- 

 ment, and suffering and distress are visited upon a 

 portion of our fellow-citizens especially entitled to the 

 careful consideration of those charged with the duties 

 of legislation. No interest appeals to us so strongly 

 for a safe and stable currency as the vast army of the 

 unemployed. 



I recommend the suspension of the compulsory coin- 



age of silver dollars, directed by the law passed in 

 February, 1878. 



The steamboat-inspection service, on the SOth day 

 of June, 1885, was composed of one hundred and 

 forty persons, including officers, clerks, and messen- 

 gers. The expenses of the service over the receipts 

 were $138,822.22 during the fiscal year. The special 

 inspection of foreign steam-vessels, organized under a 

 law passed in 1882, was maintained during the year 

 at an expense of $36,641.63. Since the close of the 

 fiscal year reductions have been made in the force 

 employed which will result in a saving during the 

 current year of $17,000 without affecting the efficiency 

 of the service. 



The Supervising Surgeon-General reports that dur- 

 ing the fiscal year 41,714 patients have received relief 

 through the Marine-Hospital Service, of whom 12,803 

 were treated in hospitals and 28,911 at the dispen- 

 saries. 



Active and effective efforts have been made, through 

 the medium of this service, to protect the country 

 against an invasion of cholera, which has prevailed in 

 Spain and France, and the srnall-pox, which recently 

 broke out in Canada. 



The most gratifying results have attended the 

 operations of the Life-Saving Service during the last 

 fiscal year. Ths observance of the provision of law 

 requiring the appointment of the force employed in 

 this service to be made " solely with reference to 

 their fitness, and without reference to their political 

 or party affiliation," has secured the result which may 

 confidently be expected in any branch of public em- 

 ployment where such a rule is applied. As a conse- 

 quence, this service is composed of men well qualified 

 for the performance of their dangerous and exception- 

 ally important duties. 



The number of stations in commission at the close 

 of the year was 203. The number of disasters to ves- 

 sels and craft of all kinds within their field of action 

 was 371. The number of persons endangered in such 

 disasters was 2,439, of whom 2,428 were saved and 

 only 11 lost. Other lives which were imperiled, 

 though not by disasters to shipping, were also rescued, 

 and a large amount of property was saved through 

 the aid ol this service. The cost of its maintenance 

 during the year was $828,474.43. 



The work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey was, 

 during the last fiscal year, carried on within the 

 boundaries and off the coasts of thirty-two States, two 

 Territories, and the District of Columbia. In July 

 last certain irregularities were found to exist in the 

 management of this bureau, which led to a prompt in- 

 vestigation of its methods. The abuses which were 

 brought to light by this examination^and the reckless 

 disregard of duty and the interests of the Government 

 developed on the part of some of those connected 

 with the service, made a change of superintendency 

 and a few of its other officers necessary. Since the 

 bureau has been in new hands an introduction of 

 economies and the application of business methods 

 have produced an important saving to the Govern- 

 ment and a promise of more useful results. 



This service has never been regulated by anything 

 but the most indefinite legal enactments and the most 

 unsatisfactory rules. It was many years ago sanc- 

 tioned apparently for a purpose regarded as temporary, 

 and related to a survey of our coast. Having gained. 

 a place in the appropriations made by Congress, it has 

 gradually taken to itself powers and objects not con- 

 templated in its creation, and extended its operations, 

 until it sadly needs legislative attention. 



So far as a further survey of our coast is concerned, 

 there seems to be a propriety in transferring that work 

 to the Navy Department. The other duties now in 

 charge of this establishment, if they can not be profita- 

 bly attached to some existing department or other bu- 

 reau, should be prosecuted under a law exactly defining 

 their scope and purpose ? and with a careful discrimi- 

 nation between the scientific inquiries which may 

 properly be assumed by the Government and those 



