CONGRESS. (TiiK I'KKSMH:M'.S MKHSAOE.) 



great industry for the benefit of all nation* will be at- 

 Utined. 



During the post year a suin:<-stion was reeri\.-d 

 through tin- British minister thai tin- Canadian Gov- 

 ernment \\ouldlike to confer us to the |iossiliility of 

 enlarging, upon terms of mutual advantage, tin- com- 

 nii-ri-ial exchangee of Canada and of the United 

 Suite.-;, ami a conference was h;Kl at Washington, 

 v. itli Mr. Hlaine actinic t'r tins Government, ami the 

 Mritisli minister at thi* capital and three members of 

 tin- Onminiori Cabinet acting as commissioners on 

 tho part of Great Britain. The conference developed 

 the fact that the Canadian Government was only pre- 

 l>aivd to offer to the United States, in exchange for 

 tin: concessions asked, the admission of natural prod- 

 ii'-t>. The statement was frankly made that favored 

 rates could not be given to the United States as against 

 thu mother country. This admission, which was 

 foreseen, necessarily terminated the conference upon 

 this question. The benefits of an exchange of natural 

 products would be almost wholly with the people of 

 Canada. Some other topics of interest were consid- 

 ered in the conference, and have resulted in the mak- 

 ing of a convention for examining the Alaskan bound- 

 ary and the waters of Passamaquoddy Bay adjacent 

 to Eostport, Me., and in the initiation of an arrange- 

 ment for the protection of fish life in the coterminous 

 and neighboring waters of our northern border. 



The controversy as to tolls upon the Welland Canal, 

 whirh was presented to Congress at the last session 

 by special message, having failed of adjustment, I 

 felt constrained to exercise the authority conferred 

 by the act of July 26, 1892, and to proclaim a suspen- 

 sion of the free use of St. Mary's Falls Canal to car- 

 goes in transit to ports in Canada. The Secretary of 

 the Treasury established such tolls as were thought 

 to be equivalent to the exactions unjustly levied upon 

 our commerce in the Canadian canals. 



If, as we must suppose, the political relations of 

 ( 'anada and the disposition of the Canadian Govern- 

 ment are to remain unchanged, a somewhat radical re- 

 vision of our trade relations should, I think, be made. 



< )ur relations must continue to be intimate, and they 

 should be friendly. I regret to say, however, that in 

 many of the controversies, notably those as to the 

 fisheries on the Atlantic, the sealing interests on the 

 Pacific, and the canal tolls, our negotiations with 

 Great Britain have continuously been thwarted or re- 

 tarded by unreasonable and unfriendly objections 

 and protests from Canada. In the matter of the canal 

 tolls our treaty rights were flagrantly disregarded. 

 It is hardly too much to say that the Canadian Pacific 

 and other railway lines which parallel our northern 

 boundary are sustained bv commerce having either 

 its origin or terminus, or "both, in the United States. 

 Canadian railroads compete with those of the United 

 States for our traffic, and without the restraints of our 

 interstate-commerce act. Their cars pass almost with- 

 out detention into and out of our territory. 



The Canadian Pacific Railway brought into the 

 United States from China and Japan, via British Co- 

 lumbia, during the year ended June 30, 1892, 23,239,- 

 689 pounds of freight, and it carried from the United 

 States, to be shipped to China and Japan, via British 



< 'olumbia, 24,0*58,346 pounds of freight. There were 

 also shipped from the United States over this road 

 from Eastern ports of the United States to our Pacific 

 l>rt.s during the same year 13,912,073 pounds of 

 freight, and there were received over this road at the 

 I'nited States Eastern ports from ports on the Pacific 

 coast 13,293,315 pounds of freight. Mr. Joseph Nim- 

 iiio, .Jr., former Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, when 

 Ill-tore the Senate Select Committee on Relations with 

 Canada, April 26, 1890, said that "the value of goods 

 thus transported between different points in tin- 

 United States across Canadian territory probably 

 amounts to $100,000,000 a year." 



There is no disposition on the part of the people or 

 Government of te United States to interfere in the 

 smallest degree with the political relations of Canada. 

 Tiiat question is wholly with her own people. It is 



time for us, however, to consider whether, if the pres- 

 ent state of things and trend of things in to continue, 

 our interchanges upon lines of land transportation 

 should not be put uj>n a different la*in, and our entire 

 independence of Canadian canals and of the St. Law- 

 n-iii-i- us an outlet to the sea secured by the construc- 

 tion of an American canal around the falls of Niagara 

 and the opening of ship communication between tin- 

 Great Lakes and one or our own seaports. We should 

 not hesitate to avail ourselves of our great natural 

 trade advantages. We should withdraw the support 

 which is given to the railroads and steamship lines of 

 Canada by a traffic that properly belongs to us, and 

 no longer furnish the earnings which lighten the 

 otherwise crushing weight of the enormous public 

 subsidies that have been given to them. The subject 

 of the power of the Treasury to deal with this matter 

 without further legislation has been under considera- 

 tion, but circumstances have postponed a conclusion. 

 It is probable that a consideration of the propriety of a 

 modification or abrogation of the article of the Treaty 

 of Washington relating to the transit of goods in bond 

 is involved in any complete solution of the question. 



Congress at the last session was kept advised of the 

 progress of the serious and, for a time, threatening dif- 

 ferences between the United States and Chili. It 

 gives me now great gratification to report that the 

 Chilian Government, in a most friendly and honora- 

 ble spirit, has tendered and paid as an indemnity to 

 the families of the sailors of the Baltimore who were 

 killed and to those who were injured in the outbreak- 

 in the city of Valparaiso the sum of $75,000. This 

 has been accepted, not only as an indemnity for a 

 wrong done, but as a most gratifying evidence that 

 the Government of Chili rightly appreciates the dis- 

 position of this Government to act in a spirit of the 

 most absolute fairness and friendliness in our inter- 

 course with that brave people. A further and conclu- 

 sive evidence of the mutual respect and confidence now 

 existing is furnished by the fact that a convention 

 submitting to arbitration the mutual claims of the 

 citizens of the respective governments has been agreed 

 upon. Some of these claims have been pending for 

 many years, and have been the occasion of much un- 

 satisfactory diplomatic correspondence. 



I have endeavored in every way to assure our sister 

 republics of Central and South America that the 

 United States Government and its people have only 

 the most friendly disposition toward them all. We 

 do not covet their territory. We have no disposi- 

 tion to be oppressive or exacting in our dealings 

 with anv of them, even the weakest. Our inter- 

 ests and" our hopes for them all lie in the direc- 

 tion of stable governments by their people and of 

 the largest development of their great commercial re- 

 sources. The mutual benefits of enlarged commer- 

 cial exchanges and of a more familiar and friendly 

 intercourse between our peoples we do desire, and in 

 this have sought their friendly co-operation. 



I have believed, however, white holding these 

 sentiments in the greatest sincerity, that we must 

 insist upon a just responsibility for any injuries in- 

 flicted upon our official representatives or upon our 

 citizens. This insistence, kindly and justly, but firm- 

 ly made, will, I believe, promote peace and mutual 

 respect. 



Our relations with Hawaii have been such as to 

 attract an increased interest, and must continue to do 

 so. I deem it of great importance that the projected 

 submarine cable, a survey for which has been made, 

 should be promoted. Both for naval and commercial 

 uses we snould have quick communication with 

 Honolulu. We should before this have availed our- 

 selves of the concession, made many years ago to this 

 Government, for a harbor and naval station at Pearl 

 river. Many evidences of the friendliness of the 

 Hawaiian Government have been given in the past, 

 and it is gratifying to believe that the advantage and 

 necessity of a continuance of very close relations is 

 appreciated. 



The friendly act of this Government in expressing 



