204 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



and no favorable opportunity will be lost to promote 

 r, result which it is confidently believed would confer 

 very large benefits upon the commerce of the world. 



The recent monetary disturbances in England are 

 not unlikely to suggest a re-examination of opinions 

 upon this subject. Our very large supply of gold 

 will, if not lost by impulsive legislation in the sup- 

 posed interest of silver, give us a position of advantage 

 in promoting a permanent and safe international agree- 

 ment for the free use of silver as a coin metal. 



The efforts of the Secretary to increase the volume 

 of money in circulation, by keeping down the Treas- 

 ury surplus to the lowest practicable limit, have been 

 unremitting and in a very high degree successful. 

 The tables presented by him, showing the increase of 

 money in circulation during the last two decades, and 

 especially the table showing the increase during the 

 nineteen months he has administered the affairs of 

 the department, are interesting and instructive. The 

 increase of money in circulation during the nineteen 

 months has been in the aggregate $93,866.813, or about 

 $1.50 per capita, and of this increase only $7,100,000 

 was due to the recent silver legislation. That this 

 substantial and needed aid given to commerce resulted 

 in an enormous reduction of the public debt, and of 

 the annual interest charge, is matter of increased sat^ 

 isfaction. There have been purchased and redeemed 

 since March 4, 1889, 4 and 4i per cent, bonds to 

 the amount of $211,832,450, at a cost of $246,620,741, 

 resulting in the reduction of the annual interest charge 

 of $8,967,609, and a total saving of interest of $51,- 

 576,706. 



I notice with great pleasure the statement of the 

 Secretary that the receipts from internal revenue have 

 increased during the last fiscal year nearly $12,000,- 

 000, and that the cost of collecting this larger revenue 

 was less by $90,617 than for the same purpose in the 

 preceding year. The percentage of cost of collecting 

 the customs revenue was less for the last fiscal year 

 than ever before. 



The customs administration board provided for by 

 the act of June 10, 1890, was selected with great care, 

 and is composed in part of men whose previous expe- 

 rience in the administration of the old customs regu- 

 lations had made them familiar with the evils to be 

 remedied, and in part of men whose legal and judi- 

 cial acquirements and experience seemed to fit them 

 for the work of interpreting and applying the new 

 statute. 



The chief aim of the law is to secure honest valua- 

 tions of all dutiable merchandise, and to make these 

 valuations uniform at all our ports of entry! It had 

 been made manifest, by a congressional investigation, 

 that a system of undervaluation had been long in use 

 by certain classes of importers, resulting not only in 

 a great loss of revenue, but in a most intolerable dis- 

 crimination against honesty. It is not seen how this 

 legislation, when it is understood, can be regarded by 

 the citizens of any country having commercial deal- 

 ings with us as unfriendly. If any duty is supposed 

 to be excessive let the complaint be lodged there. It 

 will surely not be claimed by any well-disposed peo- 

 ple that a remedy may be sought and allowed in a 

 system of ^woM-smuggling. 



The report of the Secretary of "War exhibits several 

 gratifying results attained during the year by wise 

 and unostentatious methods. The percentage of de- 

 sertions from the army (an evil for which both Con- 

 gress and the department have long been seeking a 

 remedy) has been reduced during the past year 24 

 per cent., and for the months of August and Septem- 

 ber, during which time the favorable effects of the 

 act of June 16 were felt, 33 per cent, as compared 

 with the same months of 1889. 



The results attained by a reorganization and con- 

 solidation of the divisions having charge of the hos- 

 pital and service records of the volunteer soldiers are 

 very remarkable. This change was effected in July, 

 1889, and at that time there were 40,654 cases awaiting 

 attention, more than half of these being calls from 

 the Pension Office for information necessary to the 



adjudication of pension claims. On the 30th day of 

 June last, though over 300,000 new calls had come in, 

 there was not a single case that had not been examined 

 and answered. 



I concur in the recommendations of the Secretary 

 that adequate and regular appropriations be continued 

 for coast-defense works and ordnance. Plans have 

 'been practically agreed upon, and there can be 

 good reason for delaying the execution of them; 

 while the defenseless state of our great seaports fur- 

 nishes an urgent reason for wise expedition. 



The encouragement that has been extended to the 

 militia of the States, generally and most appropriately 

 designated the " National Guard," should be continued 

 and enlarged. These military organizations consti- 

 tute in a large sense the army of the United States, 

 while about five sixths of the annual cost of their 

 maintenance is defrayed by the States. 



The report of the Attorney-General is under the 

 law submitted directly to Congress, but as the De- 

 partment of Justice is one of the executive depart- 

 ments, some reference to the work done is appropriate 

 here. 



A vigorous, and in the main an effective, effort lias 

 been made to bring to trial and punishment all vio- 

 lators of the laws ; but at the same time care has been 

 taken that frivolous and technical offenses should not 

 be used to swell the fees of officers or to harass well- 

 disposed citizens. Especial attention is called to the 

 facts connected with the prosecution of violations of 

 the election laws, and of offenses against United 

 States officers. The number of convictions secured, 

 very many of them upon pleas of guilty, will, it is 

 hoped, have a salutary restraining influence. There 

 have been several cases where postmasters appointed 

 by me have been subjected to violent interference in 

 the discharge of their official duties, and to persecu- 

 tions and personal violence of the most extreme char- 

 acter. Some of these cases have been dealt witli 

 through the Department of Justice, and in some 

 cases the post-offices have been abolished or sus- 

 pended. Ihave directed the Postmaster-General to 

 pursue this course in all cases where other efforts 

 failed to secure for any postmaster, not himself in 

 fault, an opportunity peacefully to exercise the duties 

 of his office. But such action will not supplant the 

 efforts of the Department of Justice to bring the par- 

 ticular offenders to punishment. 



The vacation by j udicial decrees of fraudulent cer- 

 tificates of naturalization, upon bills in equity filed by 

 the Attorney-General in the circuit court of the United 

 States, is a new application of a familiar equity juris- 

 diction. Nearly one hundred such decrees have been 

 taken during the year, the evidence disclosing that a 

 very large number of fraudulent certificates of natu- 

 ralization have been issued. And in this connection 

 I beg to renew my recommendation that the laws be 

 so amended as to require a more full and searching 

 inquiry into all the facts necessary to naturalization 

 before any certificates are granted. It certainly is 

 not too much to require that an application for Amer- 

 can citizenship shall be heard with as much care and 

 recorded with as much formality as are given to cases 

 involving the pettiest property right. 



At the last session I returned, without my approval, 

 a bill entitled " An act to prohibit book-making and 

 pool selling in the District of Columbia," and stated 

 my objection to be that it did not prohibit, but in 

 fact licensed what it purported to prohibit. An effort 

 will be made under existing laws to suppress this 

 evil, though it is not certain that they will be found 

 adequate. 



The report of the Postmaster-General shows the 

 -most gratifying progress in -the important work com- 

 mitted to his direction. The business methods have 

 been greatly improved. A large economy in expendi- 

 tures and an increase of four and three quarter mill- 

 ions in receipts have been realized. The deficiency 

 tins year is $5,786,300 as against $6,350,183 last year, 

 notwithstanding the great enlargement of the service. 

 Mail routes have been extended and quickened, and 



