206 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



ports for the year ending June 30, 1890, was $33,000,- 

 000, and the increase over the preceding year was over 

 $15,000,000. Nearly 200,000 more cattle and over 45,- 

 000 more hogs were exported than in the preceding 

 year. The export trade in beef and pork products 

 and in dairy products was very largely increased, the 

 increase in the article of butter alone being from 15,- 

 504,978 pounds to 29,748,042 pounds, and the total in- 

 crease in the value of meat and dairy products exported 

 being $34,000,000. This trade, so directly helpful to 

 the farmer, it is believed will be yet further and very 

 largely increased when the system of inspection and 

 sanitary supervision now provided by law is brought 

 fully into operation. 



The efforts of the Secretary to establish the health- 

 fulness of our meats against the disparaging imputa- 

 tions that have been put upon them abroad have re- 

 sulted in substantial progress. Veterinary surgeons 

 sent out by the department are now allowed to par- 

 ticipate in" the inspection of the live cattle from this 

 country landed at the English docks, and during the 

 several months they have been on duty no case of 

 contagious pi euro-pneumonia has been reported. This 

 inspection aboad and the domestic inspection of 

 live animals and pork products, provided for by the 

 act of August 30, 1890, will aft'ord as perfect a guar- 

 antee for the wholesomeness of our meats offered for 

 foreign consumption as is anywhere given to any 

 food product, and its non-acceptance will quite clearly 

 reveal the real motive of any continued restriction ol 

 their use ; and that having been made clear, the duty 

 of the Executive will be very plain. 



The information given by the Secretary of the prog- 

 ress and prospects of the beet-sugar industry is full 

 of interest. It has already passed the experimental 

 stage and is a commercial success The area over 

 which the sugar beet can be successfully cultivated 

 is very large, and another field crop of great value is 

 offered to the choice of the farmer. 



The Secretary of the Treasury concurs in the rec- 

 ommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture that the 

 official supervision provided by the tariff law for 

 sugar of domestic production shall be transferred to 

 the Department of Agriculture. 



The law relating to the civil service has, so far as 1 

 can learn, been executed by those having the power 

 of appointment in the classified service with fidelity 

 and impartiality, and the service has been increasing- 

 ly satisfactory. The report of the commission shows a 

 large amount of good work done during the year 

 with very limited appropriations. 



I congratulate the Congress and the country upon 

 the passage at the first session of the Fifty-first Con- 

 gress of an unusual number of laws of very high im- 

 portance. That the results of this legislation will be 

 the quickening and enlargment of our manufacturing 

 industries, larger and better markets for our bread- 

 stuff's and provisions both at home and abroad, more 

 constant employment and better wages for our work- 

 ing people, and an increased supply of a safe currency 

 for the transaction of business, I do not doubt. Some 

 of these measures were enacted at so late a period 

 that the beneficial effects upon commerce which were 

 in the contemplation of Congress have as yet but 

 partially manifested themselves. 



The general trade and industrial conditions through- 

 out the country during the year have shown a marked 

 improvement. For many years prior to 1888 the mer- 

 chandise balances of foreign trade had been largely in 

 our favor, but during that year and the year follow- 

 ing they turned against us. It is very gratifying to 

 know that the last fiscal year again sh'ows a balance 

 in our favor of over $68,000,000. The bank clearings, 

 which furnish a good test of the volume of business, 

 transacted, for the first ten months of the year 1890 

 show, as compared with the same months of 1889, an 

 increase for the whole country of about 8-4 per cent., 

 while the increase outside of the city of New York 

 was over 13 per cent. During the month of October 

 the clearings of the whole country showed an in- 

 crease of 3-1 per cent, over October, 1889, while out- 



side of New York the increase was Hi per cent. 

 These figures show that the increase in the volume 

 of business was very general throughout the country. 

 That this large business was being conducted upon a 

 safe and profitable basis is shown by the fact that 

 there were 300 less failures reported in October, 1890, 

 than in the same month of the preceding year, with 

 liabilities diminished by about $5,000,000. 



The value of our exports of domestic merchandise 

 during the last year was over $115,000,000 greater 

 than the preceding year, and was only exceeded once 

 in our history. About $100,000,000 of this excess was 

 in agricultural products. The production of pig iron 

 always a good gauge of general prosperity is 

 sho'Vvn by a recent census bulletin to have been 153 

 per cent, greater in 1890 than in 1880, and the pro- 

 duction of steel 290 per cent, greater. Mining in 

 coal has had no limitation except that resulting from 

 deficient transportation. The general testimony is 

 that labor is everywhere fully employed, and the re- 

 ports for the last year show a smaller number of em- 

 ploye's affected by the strikes and lockouts than in 

 any other year since 1884. The depression in the 

 prices of agricultural products had been greatly re- 

 lieved, and a buoyant and hopeful tone was begin- 

 ning to be felt by all our people. 



These promising influences have been in some de- 

 gree checked by the surprising and very unfavorable 

 monetary events which nave recently taken place in 

 England. It is gratifying to know that these did not 

 grow in any degree out of the financial relations of 

 London with our people or out of any discredit at- 

 tached to our securities held in that market. The 

 return of our bonds and stocks was caused by a money 

 stringency in England, not by any loss of value or 

 credit in the securities themselves. We could not, 

 however, wholly escape the ill effects of a foreign 

 monetary agitation accompanied by such extraordi- 

 nary incidents as characterized this. It is not believed, 

 however, that these evil incidentSj which have for the 

 time unfavorably affected values in this country, can 

 long withstand the strong, safe, and wholesome influ- 

 ences which are operating to give to our people profit- 

 able returns in all branches of legitimate trade and 

 industry. The apprehension that our tariff may again 

 and at once be subjected to important general changes 

 would undoubtedly add a depressing influence of the 

 most serious character. 



The general tariff 1 act has only partially gone into 

 operation, some of its important provisions being lim- 

 ited to take effect at dates yet in the future. The 

 general provisions of the law have been in force less 

 than sixty days. Its permanent effects upon trade 

 and prices still largely stand in conjecture. It is cu- 

 rious to note that the advance in the prices of articles 

 wholly unaffected by the tariff act was by many 

 hastily ascribed to that act. Notice was not taken of 

 the fact that the general tendency of the markets was 

 upward, from influences wholly apart from the recent 

 tariff legislation. The enlargement of our currency 

 by the silver bill undoubtedly gave an upward tend- 

 ency to trade, and had a marked effect on prices ; but 

 this natural and desired effect of the silver legislation 

 was by many erroneously attributed to the tariff act. 



There is neither wisdom nor justice in the sugges- 

 tion that the subject of tariff revision shall be again 

 opened before this law has had a fair trial. It is quite 

 true that every tariff schedule is subject to objections. 

 No bill was ever framed, I suppose, that in all of its 

 rates and classifications had the full approval even of 

 a party caucus. Such legislation is always and neces- 

 sarily the product of compromise as to details, and 

 the present law is no exception. But in its general^ 

 scope and effect I think it will justify the support of 

 those who believe that American legislation should 

 conserve and defend American trade and the wages 

 of American workmen. 



The misinformation as to the terms of the act, which 

 has been so widely disseminated at home and abroad, 

 will be corrected by experience, and the evil auguries 

 as to its results confounded by the market reports. 



