190 



CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



He is also instructed to seek an adjustment of 

 the dispute growing out of the refusal of Turkey 

 to recognize the acquired citizenship of Ottoman- 

 born persons naturalized in the United States 

 since 1809 without prior imperial consent; and 

 in the same general relation he is directed to en- 

 deavor to bring about a solution of the question 

 which has more or less acutely existed since 1869 

 concerning the jurisdictional rights of the United 

 States in matters of criminal procedure and pun- 

 ishment under Article IV of the treaty of 1830. 

 This latter difficulty grows out of a verbal dif- 

 ference, claimed by* Turkey to be essential, be- 

 tween the original Turkish" text and the promul- 

 gated translation. 



After more than two years from the appoint- 

 ment of a consul of this country to Erzerum, he 

 has received his exequatur. 



The arbitral tribunal appointed under the 

 treaty of Feb. 2, 1897, between Great Britain and 

 Venezuela, to determine the boundary line be- 

 tween the latter and the colony of British Guiana, 

 is to convene at Paris during the present month. 

 It is a source of much gratification to this Gov- 

 ernment to see the friendly resort of arbitration 

 applied to the settlement of this controversy, not 

 alone because of the earnest part we have had 

 in bringing about the result, but also because the 

 two members named on behalf of Venezuela, 

 Mr. Chief-Justice Fuller and Mr. Justice Brewer, 

 chosen from our highest court, appropriately tes- 

 tify the continuing interest we feel in the defini- 

 tive adjustment of the question according to the 

 strictest rules of justice. The British members, 

 Lord Herschell and Sir Richard Collins, are ju- 

 rists of no less exalted repute, while the fifth 

 member and president of the tribunal, M. F. de 

 Martens, has earned a world-wide reputation as 

 an authority upon international law. 



The claim of Felipe Scandella against Vene- 

 zuela for arbitrary expulsion and injury to his 

 business has been adjusted by the revocation of 

 the order of expulsion and by the payment of the 

 sum of $10,000. 



I have the satisfaction of being able to state 

 that the Bureau of the American Republics, cre- 

 ated in 1890 as the organ for promoting com- 

 mercial intercourse and fraternal relations among 

 the countries of the Western Hemisphere, has 

 become a more efficient instrument of the wise 

 purposes of its founders, and is receiving the cor- 

 dial support of the contributing members of the 

 international union which are actually repre- 

 sented in its board of management. A com- 

 mercial directory, in two volumes, containing a 

 mass of statistical matter descriptive of the in- 

 dustrial and commercial interests of the various 

 countries, has been printed in English, Spanish, 

 Portuguese, and French, and a monthly bulletin 

 published in these four languages and distributed 

 in the Latin-American countries as well as in 

 the United States, has proved to be a valuable 

 medium for disseminating information and fur- 

 thering the varied interests of the international 

 union. 



During the past year the important work of 

 collecting information of practical benefit to 

 American industries and trade through the 

 agency of the diplomatic and consular officers 

 has been steadily advanced, and in order to lay 

 such data before the public with the least delay 

 the practice was begun in January, 1898, of is- 

 suing the commercial reports from day to day 

 as they are received by the Department of State. 

 s believed that for promptitude as well as full- 

 ness of information the service thus supplied to 

 our merchants and manufacturers will be found 



to show sensible improvement and to merit the 

 liberal support of Congress. 



The experiences of the last year bring forcibly 

 home to us a sense of the burdens and the waste 

 of war. We desire, in common with most civi- 

 lized nations, to reduce to the lowest possible 

 point the damage sustained in time of war by 

 peaceable trade and commerce. It is true we may 

 suffer in such cases less than other communities, 

 but all nations are damaged more or less by the 

 state of uneasiness and apprehension into which 

 an outbreak of hostilities throws the entire com- 

 mercial world. It should be our object, there- 

 fore, to minimize, so far as practicable, this in- 

 evitable loss and disturbance. This purpose can 

 probably best be accomplished by an interna- 

 tional agreement to regard all private property 

 at sea as exempt from capture or destruction by 

 the forces of belligerent powers. The United 

 States Government has for many years advo- 

 cated this humane and beneficent principle, and 

 is now in position to recommend it to other pow- 

 ers without the imputation of selfish motives. I 

 therefore suggest for your consideration that the 

 Executive be authorized to correspond with the 

 governments of the principal maritime powers 

 with a view of incorporating into the permanent 

 law of civilized nations the principle of the ex- 

 emption of all private property at sea, not con- 

 traband of war, from capture or destruction by 

 belligerent powers. 



The Secretary of the Treasury reports that the 

 receipts of the Government from all sources dur- 

 ing the fiscal year ended June 30, 1898, including 

 $64,751,223 received from sale of Pacific railroads, 

 amounted to $405,321,335, and its expenditures 

 to $443,368,582. There was collected from cus- 

 toms $149,575,062, and from internal revenue 

 $170,900,641. Our dutiable imports amounted to 

 $324.635,479, a decrease of $58,156,690 over the 

 preceding year, and importations free of duty 

 amounted to $291,414,175, a decrease from the 

 preceding year of $90,524,068. Internal-revenue 

 receipts exceeded those of the preceding year by 

 $24,212,067. 



The total tax collected on distilled spirits was 

 $92,546,999; on manufactured tobacco, $36,230,- 

 522; and on fermented liquors, $39,515,421. We 

 exported merchandise during the year amount- 

 ing to $1,231,482,3(30, an increase of $180,488,774 

 from the preceding year. 



It is estimated upon the basis of present rev- 

 enue laws that the receipts of the Government 

 for the year ending June 30, 1899, will be $577,- 

 874,647, and its expenditures $689,874,647, result- 

 ing in a deficiency of $112,000,000. 



On the 1st of December, 1898, there was held 

 in the Treasury gold coin amounting to $138,- 

 441,547, gold bullion amounting to $138,502,545, 

 silver bullion amounting to $93,359,250, and other 

 forms of money amounting to $451,963,981. 



On the same date the amount of money of all 

 kinds in circulation, or not included in Treasury 

 holdings, was $1,886,879,504, an increase for the 

 year of $165,794,966. Estimating our population 

 at 75,194,000 at the time mentioned, the per capita 

 circulation was $25.09. On the same date there 

 was in the Treasury gold bullion amounting to 

 $138,502,545. 



The provisions made for strengthening the re- 

 sources of the Treasury in connection with the 

 war has given increased confidence in the pur- 

 pose and power of the Government to maintain 

 the present standard, and has established more 

 firmly than ever the national credit at home and 

 abroad. A marked evidence of this is found in 

 the inflow of gold to the Treasury. Its net gold 



