CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



185 



establish the possession and r'lL'ht "f settlers whoso 

 ii:ive been ren.leiv.l valueless by ttdvoreo and 



Unfounded elailllS. 



Tli- net of July 9, 18RS, provided for the incorpora- 

 tion and management of a reform sehool for gins in 

 the District of Columbia; but it Juts remained in- 

 o|>erative for the reason that no appropriation has 

 been made for construction or maintenanee. The 

 need of such an institution is very urgent. Many 

 girls eould bo saved from depraved lives by the 

 wholesome influences and restraints of such a school. 

 I rcfommcnd that the necessary appropriation be 

 made for a site and for construction 



The enforcement by the Treasury Department of 

 the law prohibiting the coining of Chinese to the 

 Tinted States has been effective as to such as seek to 

 land from vessels entering our ports. The result has 

 > divert the travel to vessels entering the ports 

 of British Columbia, whence passage into the United 

 States at obscure points along the Dominion boundary 

 is easy. A very considerable number of Chinese 

 (boren have, during the past year, entered the 

 I'nited States from Canada and Mexico. 



The officers of the Treasury Department and of the 

 Department of Justice have used every means at their 



i i m and to intercept this immigration; but the im- 



pOMibility of perfectly guarding our extended fron- 

 tier is apparent. The Dominion Government collects 

 a In -:id tax of $50 from every Chinaman entering 

 Canada-, and thus derives a considerable revenue 

 from those who only use its ports to reach a position 

 of a< I vantage to evade our exclusion laws. There 

 seems to be satisfactory evidence that the business of 

 passing Chinamen through Canada to the United 

 States is organized and quite active. The Depart- 

 ment of Justice has construed the laws to require the 

 return of any Chinaman found to be unlawfully in 

 this country, to China as the country from which" he 

 came, notwithstanding the fact that he came by way 

 of Canada; but several of the district courts'havc, 

 in eases brought before them, overruled this view of 

 the law and decided that such persons must be re- 

 turned to Canada. This construction robs the law of 

 all ctl'ectivencss, even if the decrees could be exe- 

 cuted, for the men returned can the next dav recn-ss 

 our border. But the only appropriation made is for 

 sending them back to Ch'ina, and the Canadian offi- 

 cials refuse to allow them to re-enter Canada without 

 the payment of the $50 head tax. I recommend such 

 legislation as will remedy these defects in the law. 



In previous messages I have called the attention of 

 Congress to the necessity of so extending the jurisdic- 

 tion of the United States courts as to make triable 

 therein any felony committed while in the act of 

 violating a law of the United States. These courts 

 can not have that independence and effectiveness 

 which the Constitution contemplates so long as the 

 felonious killing of court officers, jurors, and wit- 

 nesses in the discharge of their duties, or by reason 

 of their acts as such, is only cognizable in tne State 

 courts. The work done by the Attorney-General 

 and the officers of his department, even under the 

 present inadequate legislation, has produced some 

 notable results in the interest of law and order. 



The Attorney-General and also the commissioners 

 of the District of Columbia call attention to the de- 

 feet iveness and inadequacy of the laws relating to 

 crimes against chastity in the District of Columbia. 

 A stringent code upon this subject has been pro- 

 vided l>y Congress tor Utah, and it is a matter of 

 surprise that the needs of this District should have 

 been so long overlooked. 



In the report of the 1'ost master-General some \.rv 

 gnitify'mg results are exhibited and many better- 

 ments of the serviee suggested. A perusal of the 

 re | >o it gives abundant evidence that the supervision 

 and direction of the postal system have been char- 

 acterized by an intelligent and conseieiitioua desire 

 to improve "the service. The revenues of the depart- 

 ment show an increase of over $5,000,000, with a 

 detieiency tor the year 1892 of less than $4,000,000, 



while the estimate for the year 1893 shows a surplus 



of reeeipt.- nVer expenditure*. 



tieean mail po-t otli.-es have been established upon 

 the steamers of the North German Lloyd and Ham 

 burg lines, saving, by the distribution on shipyard, 

 from t\w> to fourteen hours' time in the delivery of 

 mail at the port of entry, and often much more than 

 this in the delivery at interior places. So thoroughly 

 lias this system, initiated by Germany and the 

 United States, evidenced its usefulness that it can not 

 be long before it is installed ujton all the great ocean 

 mail -carrying steamships. 



Eight thousand miles of new j>o6tal service ha* 

 been established upon railroad*, the ear distribution 

 to substations in the great cities has been increased 

 about 12 per cent, while the percentage of errors in 

 distribution has, during the past year, been reduced 

 over one half. An appropriation was given by the 

 last Congress for the purpose of making some experi- 

 ments in free delivery in the smaller cities and towns. 

 The results of these experiments have been so satis- 

 factory that the Postmaster-General recommends, and 

 I concur in the recommendation, that the free-de- 

 livery system be at once extended to towns of 5,000 

 population. His discussion of the inadequate facili- 

 ties extended under our present system to rural com- 

 munities and his suggestions with a view to give 

 these communities a niller participation in the bene- 

 fits of the postal service are worthy of your careful 

 consideration. It is not just that the farmer, who re- 

 ceives his mail at a neighboring town, should not 

 only be compelled to send to the post-office for it, 

 but to pay a considerable rent for a box in which to 

 place it or to wait his turn at a general-delivery win- 

 dow, while the city resident has his mail brought to 

 his door. It is stated that over 54,000 neigh borhoods 

 are, under the present system, receiving mail at post- 

 offices where money orders and postal notes are not 

 issued. The extension of this system to these com- 

 munities is especially desirable, as the patrons of 

 such offices are not possessed of the other facilities 

 ottered in more populous communities for the trans- 

 mission of small sums of money. 



I have, in a message to the preceding Congress, 

 expressed my views as to a modified use of the tele- 

 graph in connection with the postal service. 



In pursuance of the ocean-mail law of March 8, 

 1891, and after a most careful study of the whole 

 subject and frequent conferences with shipowners, 

 boards of trade, and others, advertisements were issued 

 by the Postmaster-General for 53 lines of ocean-mail 

 service : 10 to Great Britain and the Continent, 27 to 

 South America, 8 to China and Japan, 4 to Australia 

 and the Pacific Islands, 7 to the West Indies, and -J 

 to Mexico. It was not, of course^ expected that l>ids 

 for all these lines would be received or that service 

 upon them all would be contracted for. It was in- 

 tended, in furtherance of the act, to secure as many 

 new lines as possible^ while including in the list nod 

 or all of the foreign lines now occupied by American 

 ships. It was hoped that a line to England and jn-r- 

 haps one to the Continent would be secured ; but the 

 outlay required to equip such lines wholly with new 

 ships of the first class, and the difficulty of establish- 

 ing new lines in competition with those already estab- 

 lished, deterred bidders whose interest had been en- 

 listed. It is hoped that a way may yet be found of 

 overcoming these difficulties. The Brazil Steamship 

 Company, by reason of a miscalculation as to the 



speed of its vessels, Was not able to bid under the 

 terms of the advertisement. The policy of the de- 

 partment was to secure from the established lines an 

 improved service as a condition of giving to them 

 the benefits of the law. This in all instances has 

 been attained. The Postmaster-General estimates 

 that an expenditure in American shii> yards of about 

 $10,000,000 will be necessary to enable the bidders to 

 construct the ships called 'for by the service which 

 they have accepted. I do n>t think there is any 

 reason for discouragement or for any turning back 

 from the policy of this legislation. Indeed, a good 



