CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



167 



cruiser " New York " : the protected cruisers " Balti- 

 more," " Chicago," " Philadelphia," u Newark," " San 

 Francisco," " Charleston," " Atlanta," and " Boston " ; 

 the cruiser "Detroit"; the gunboats " Yorktown," 

 "Concord," "Bennington," "Machias," "Castine," 

 and "Petrel"; the dispatch vessel "Dolphin"; the 

 practice vessel " Bancroft " ; and the dynamite gun- 

 boat " Vesuvius." Of these, the " Bancroft," " Ma- 

 ohias," " Detroit," and " Castine " have been placed 

 in commission during the current calendar year. 



The following vessels are in progress of construc- 

 tion : The second-class battle ships " Maine " and 

 " Texas " ; the cruisers " Montgomery " and " Marble- 

 head," and the coast-defense monitors " Terror, " Pu- 

 ritan," " Amphitrite," and " Monadnock," all of which 

 will be completed within one year; the harbor-de- 

 fense ram " Katahdin " and the protected cruisers 

 * ; Columbia," " Minneapolis," " Olympia," " Cincin- 

 nati," and " Kaleigh," all of which will be completed 

 prior to July 1, 1895; the first-class battle ships 

 " Iowa," " Indiana," " Massachusetts," and "Oregon," 

 which will be completed Feb. 1, 1896, and the ar- 

 mored cruiser " Brooklyn," which will be completed 

 by Aug. 1 of that year. It is also expected that the 

 5 gunboats authorized by the last Congress will be 

 completed in less than two years. 



Since 188(3 Congress has at each session authorized 

 the building of one or more vessels, and the Secre- 

 tary of the Navy presents an earnest plea for the con- 

 tinuance of this' plan. He recommends the authori- 

 zation of at least one battle ship and six torpedo boats. 

 While I am distinctly in favor of consistently pur- 

 suing the policy we have inaugurated of building up 

 a thorough and efficient navy, I can not refrain from 

 the suggestion that the Congress should carefully 

 take into account the number of unfinished vessels 

 on our hands, and the depleted condition of our 

 Treasury, in considering the propriety of an appro- 

 priation at this time to begin new work. 



The method of employing mechanical labor at the 

 navy yards through boards of labor, and making ef- 

 ficiency the sole test by which laborers are employed 

 and continued, is producing the best results, and the 

 Secretary is earnestly devoting himself to its develop- 

 ment. Attention is invited to the statements of his 

 report in regard to the workings of the system. 



The Secretary of the Interior has the supervision 

 of so many important subjects that his report is of 

 especial value and interest. 



On June 30, 1893, there were on the pension rolls 

 966,012 names, an increase of 89,944 over the number 

 on the rolls June 30, 1892. Of these there were 17 

 widows and daughters of the Revolutionary soldiers, 

 86 survivors of the War of 1812, 5,425 widows of sol- 

 diers of that war, 21,518 survivors and widows of the 

 Mexican War, 3,882 survivors and widows of Indian 

 wars, 284 army nurses, and 475,675 survivors and 

 widows and children of deceased soldiers and sailors 

 of the war of the rebellion. The latter number rep- 

 resents those pensioned on account of disabilities or 

 death resulting from army and navy service. The 

 number of persons remaining on the rolls June 30, 

 1893, who are pensioned under the act of June 27, 

 1890, which allows pensions on account of death and 

 disability not chargeable to army service, was 459,155. 

 The number added to the rolls during the year was 

 123,634, and the number dropped was 33,900. The 

 first payments on pensions allowed during the year 

 amounted to $33,756,549.98. This includes arrears or 

 the accumulation between the time from which the 

 allowance of pension dates and the time of actually 

 granting the certificate. 



Although the law of 1890 permits pensions for dis- 

 abilities not related to military service, yet as a requi- 

 site to its benefits a disability must exist incapaci- 

 tating applicants " from the performance of manual 

 labor to such a degree as to render them unable to 

 earn a support." The execution of this law in its 

 early stage does not seem to have been in accord with 

 its true intention ; but toward the close of the last ad- 

 ministration an authoritative construction was given 



to the statute, and since that time this construction 

 has been followed. This has had the effect of limi- 

 tating the operation of the law to its intended pur- 

 poses. The discovery having been made that many 

 names had been put upon the pension roll by means 

 of wholesale and gigantic frauds, the commissioner 

 suspended payments upon a number of pensions 

 which seemed to be fraudulent or unauthorized pend- 

 ing a complete examination, giving notice to the pen- 

 sioners in order that they might have an opportunity 

 to establish, if possible, the justice of their claims, 

 notwithstanding their apparent invalidity. Thus, I 

 understand, is the practice which has for a long time 

 prevailed in the Pension Bureau; but after enter- 

 ing upon these recent investigations the commis- 

 sioner modified this rule so as not to allow, until 

 after complete examination, interference with the 



Eayment of a pension apparently not altogether void, 

 ut which merely had been fixed at a rate higher 

 than that authorized by law. 



I am unable to understand why frauds in the pen- 

 sion rolls should not be exposed and corrected with 

 thoroughness and vigor. Every name fraudulently 

 put upon these rolls is a wicked imposition upon the 

 kindly sentiment in which pensions have their ori- 

 gin ; every fraudulent pensioner has become a bad 

 citizen ; every false oath in support of a pension has 

 made perjury more common, and false and undeserv- 

 ing pensioners rob the people not only of their money, 

 but of the patriotic sentiment which the survivors of 

 a war fought for the preservation of the Union ought 

 to inspire. Thousands of neighborhoods have their 

 well-known fraudulent pensioners, and recent de- 

 velopments by the bureau established appalling con- 

 spiracies to accomplish pension frauds. By no means 

 the least wrong done is to brave and deserving pen- 

 sioners, who certainly ought not to be condemned to 

 such association. Those who attempt in the line of 

 duty to rectify these wrongs should not be accused of 

 enmity or indifference to the claims of honest vet- 

 erans. 



The sum expended on account of pensions for the 

 year ending June 30, 1893, was $156,740,467.14. The 

 Commissioner estimates that $165,000,000 will be re- 

 quired to pay pensions during the year ending June 

 30, 1894. 



The condition of the Indians and their ultimate 

 fate are subjects which are related to a sacred duty of 

 the Government and which strongly appeal to the 

 sense of justice and the sympathy of our people. Our 

 Indians number about 248,000. Most of them are 

 located on 161 reservations, containing 86,116,531 

 acres of land. About 110,000 of these Indians have 

 to a large degree adopted civilized customs. Lands 

 in severalty have been allotted to many of them. 

 Such allotments have been made to 10,000 individ- 

 uals during the last fiscal year, embracing about 

 1,000,000 acres. The number of Indian Government 

 schools open during the year was 195, an increase of 

 12 over the preceding year. Of this total 170 were on 

 reservations, of which 73 were boarding schools and 

 97 were day schools. Twenty boarding schools and 

 5 day schools supported by the Government were 

 not located on reservations. The total number of In- 

 dian children enrolled during the year as attendants 

 of all schools was 21,138, an increase of 1,231 over 

 the enrollment for the previous year. I am sure that 

 secular education and moral and religious teaching 

 must be important factors in any effort to save the 

 Indian and lead him to civilization. 



I believe, too, that the relinquishment of tribal rela- 

 tions and the holding of land in severalty may, in 

 favorable conditions, aid this consummation. It seems 

 to me, however, that allotments of land in severalty 

 ought to be made with great care and circumspec- 

 tion. If hastily done, before the Indian knows_ its 

 meaning, while yet he has little or no idea of tilling 

 a farm and no conception of thrift, there is great dan- 

 ger that a reservation life in tribal relations may be 

 exchanged for the pauperism of civilization, instead 

 of its independence and elevation. 



