CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



187 



valuable to supply the world's needs, it is our 

 province, as it should be our earnest care, to 

 lead in the march of human progress and not 

 rest content with any secondary place. More- 

 over, if this be due to ourselves, it is no less due 

 to the great French nation whose guests we be- 

 come, and which has in so many ways testified 

 its wish and hope that our participation shall 

 befit the place the two peoples have won in the 

 field of universal development. 



The commercial arrangement made with France 

 on the 28th of May, 1898, under the provisions 

 of section 3 of the tariff act of 1897, went into 

 effect on the 1st day of June following. It has 

 relieved a portion of our export trade from seri- 

 ous embarrassment. Further negotiations are 

 now pending under section 4 of the same act, 

 with a view to the increase of trade between the 

 two countries to their mutual advantage. Ne- 

 gotiations with other governments, in part inter- 

 rupted by the war with Spain, are in progress 

 under both sections of the tariff act. I hope to 

 be able to announce some of the results of these 

 negotiations during the present session of Con- 

 gress. 



Negotiations to the same end with Germany 

 have been set on foot. Meanwhile no effort has 

 been relaxed to convince the Imperial Govern- 

 ment of the thoroughness of our inspection of 

 pork products for exportation, and it is trusted 

 that the efficient administration of this measure 

 by the Department of Agriculture will be recog- 

 nized as a guarantee of the healthfulness of the 

 food staples we send abroad to countries where 

 their use is large and necessary. 



I transmitted to the Senate, on the 10th of Feb- 

 ruary last, information touching the prohibition 

 against the importation of fresh fruits from this 

 country, which had then recently been decreed 

 by Germany on the ground of danger of dissemi- 

 nating the San Jose scale insect. This precau- 

 tionary measure was justified by Germany on the 

 score of the drastic steps taken in several States 

 of the Union against the spread of the pest, 

 the elaborate reports of the Department of Agri- 

 culture being put in evidence to show the danger 

 to German fruit-growing interests should the 

 scale obtain a lodgment in that country. Tem- 

 porary relief was afforded in the case of large 

 consignments of fruit then on the way by inspec- 

 tion and admission when found noninfected. 

 Later the prohibition was extended to dried fruits 

 of every kind, but w r as relaxed so as to apply 

 only to unpeeled fruit and fruit waste. As was 

 to be expected, the alarm reached to other coun- 

 tries, and Switzerland has adopted a similar in- 

 hibition. Efforts are in progress to induce the 

 German and Swiss governments to relax the pro- 

 hibition in favor of dried fruits shown to have 

 been cured under circumstances rendering the 

 existence of animal life impossible. 



Our relations with Great Britain have contin- 

 ued on the most friendly footing. Assenting to 

 our request, the protection of Americans and their 

 interests in Spanish jurisdiction was assumed by 

 the diplomatic and consular representatives of 

 Great Britain, who fulfilled their delicate and 

 arduous trust with tact and zeal, eliciting high 

 commendation. I may be allowed to make fit- 

 ting allusion to the instance of Mr. Ramsden, her 

 Majesty's consul at Santiago de Cuba, whose un- 

 timely death after distinguished service and un- 

 tiring effort during the siege of that city was 

 sincerely lamented. 



In the early part of April last, pursuant to a 

 request made at the instance of the Secretary of 

 State by the British ambassador at this capital, 



the Canadian Government granted facilities for 

 the passage of four United States revenue cutters 

 from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic coast by 

 way of the Canadian canals and the St. Lawrence 

 river. The vessels had reached Lake Ontario, and 

 were there awaiting the opening of navigation 

 when war was declared between the United 

 States and Spain. Her Majesty's Government 

 thereupon, by a communication of the latter 

 part of April, stated that the permission granted 

 before the outbreak of hostilities would not be 

 withdrawn provided the United States Govern- 

 ment gave assurance that the vessels in question 

 would proceed direct to a United States port 

 without engaging in any hostile operation. This 

 Government promptly agreed to the stipulated 

 condition, it being understood that the vessels 

 would not be prohibited from resisting any hos- 

 tile attack. 



It will give me especial satisfaction if I shall 

 be authorized to communicate to you a favorable 

 conclusion of the pending negotiations with Great 

 Britain in respect to the Dominion of Canada. It 

 is the earnest wish of this Government to remove 

 all sources of discord and irritation in our rela- 

 tions with the neighboring Dominion. The trade 

 between the two countries is constantly increas- 

 ing, and it is important to both countries that 

 all reasonable facilities should be granted for its 

 development. 



The Government of Greece strongly urges the 

 onerousness of the duty here imposed upon the 

 currants of that country, amounting to 100 per 

 cent, or more of their market value. This fruit 

 is stated to be exclusively a Greek product, not 

 coming into competition with any domestic prod- 

 uct. The question of reciprocal commercial rela- 

 tions with Greece, including the restoration of 

 currants to the free list, is under consideration. 



The long-standing claim of Bernard Campbell 

 for damages for injuries sustained from a violent 

 assault committed against him by military au- 

 thorities in the island of Hayti has been settled 

 by the agreement of that republic to pay him 

 $10,000 in American gold. Of this, sum $5,000 

 has already been paid. It is hoped that other 

 pending claims of American citizens against that 

 republic may be amicably adjusted. 



Pending the consideration by the Senate of the 

 treaty signed June 16, 1897, by the plenipoten- 

 tiaries of the United States and of the republic 

 of Hawaii, providing for the annexation of the 

 islands, a joint resolution to accomplish the same 

 purpose by accepting the offered cession and in- 

 corporating the ceded territory into the Union 

 was adopted by the Congress and approved July 

 7, 1898. I thereupon directed the United States 

 steamship Philadelphia to convey Rear-Admiral 

 Miller to Honolulu, and intrusted to his hands 

 this important legislative act, to be delivered to 

 the President of the republic of Hawaii, with 

 whom the admiral and the United States minister 

 were authorized to make appropriate arrange- 

 ments for transferring the sovereignty of the 

 islands to the United States. This was simply 

 but impressively accomplished on the 12th of 

 August last by the delivery of a certified copy 

 of the resolution to President Dole, who there- 

 upon yielded up to the representative of the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States the sovereignty and 

 public property of the Hawaiian Islands. 



Pursuant to the terms of the joint resolution 

 and in exercise of the authority thereby con- 

 ferred upon me, I directed that the civil, judicial, 

 and military powers theretofore exercised by the 

 officers of the Government of the republic of Ha- 

 waii should continue to be exercised by those 



