162 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia. I 

 commend to your careful consideration the question 

 whether an amendment of the Federal Constitution 

 in the particular indicated would not afford the best 

 remedy for what is often grave embarrassment both 

 to members of Congress and to the^Executive, and is 

 sometimes a serious public mischief. 



The report of the Secretary of the Navy states the 

 movements of the various squadrons duringthe year, 

 in home and foreign waters, where our officers and 

 seamen, with such snips as we possess, have continued 

 to illustrate the high character and excellent discipline 

 of the naval organization. 



On the 21st of December, 1881, information was re- 

 ceived that the exploring steamer Jeannette had been 

 crushed and abandoned in the Arctic ocean. The 

 officers and crew, alter a journey over the ice, em- 

 barked in three boats for the coast of Siberia. One 

 of the parties, under the command of Chief- Engineer 

 George W. Melville, reached the land, and, falling in 

 with the natives, was saved. Another, under Lieut. - 

 Commander De Long, landed in a barren region near 

 the mouth of the Lena river. After six weeks had 

 elapsed all but two of the number had died from fa- 

 tigue and starvation. No tidings have been received 

 from the party in the third boat, under the command 

 of Lieut. Chipp, but a long and fruitless investigation 

 leaves little doubt that all its members perished at 

 sea. As a slight tribute to their heroism I give in 

 this communication the names of the gallant men who 

 sacrificed their lives on this expedition : Lieut.-Com- 

 mancler George W. De Long, Surgeon James M. 

 Ambler, Jerome J. Collins, Hans Halmer Erichsen, 

 Heinrich H. Kaacke, George W. Boyd, Walter Lee, 

 Adolph Dressier, Carl A. Gortz, Nelse Iverson, the 

 cook Ah Sam, and the Indian Alexy. The officers 

 and men in the missing boat were Lieut. Charles W. 

 Chipp, commanding ; William Dunbar, Alfred Sweet- 

 man, Walter Sharvell, Albert C. Kuehne, Edward 

 Star, Henry D. Warren, and Peter E. Johnson. 



Lieut. Giles B. Barber and Master William H. 

 Scheutze are now bringing home the remains of Lieut. 

 De Long and his comrades, in pursuance of the di- 

 rections of Congress. 



The Eodgere, fitted out for the relief of the Jean- 

 nette, in accordance with the act of Congress of March 

 3, 1881, sailed from San Francisco June 16th, under 

 the command of Lieut. Robert M. Berry. On No- 

 vember 30th she was accidentally destroyed by fire, 

 while in whiter quarters in St. Lawrence bay, but 

 the officers and crew succeeded in escaping to the 

 shore. Lieut. Berry and one of his officers, after 

 making a search for the Jeannette along the coast ot 

 Siberia, fell in with Chief- Engineer Melville's party, 

 and returned home by way of Europe. The other 

 officers and the crew of the Rodgers were brought 

 from St. Lawrence bay by the whaling-steamer North 

 Star. Master Charles F. Putnam, who had been 

 placed in charge of a depot of supplies at Cape Serdze, 

 returning to his post from St. Lawrence bay across 

 the ice in a blinding snow-storm, was earned out to 

 sea and lost, notwithstanding all efforts to rescue him. 



It appears, by the Secretary's report, that the avail- 

 able naval force of the United States consists of thirty- 

 seven cruisers, fourteen single-turreted monitors, built 

 during the rebellion, a large number of smooth-bore 

 guns and Parrott rifles, and eighty-seven rifled can- 

 non. 



The cruising-vessels should be gradually replaced 

 by iron or steel ships, the monitors by modern ar- 

 mored vessels, and the armament by high-power 

 rifled guns. 



The reconstruction of our navy, which was recom- 

 mended in my last message, was begun by Congress 

 authorizing, in its recent act, the construction of two 

 large, unarmored steel vessels of the character recom- 

 mended by the late naval advisory board, and subject 

 to the final approval of a new advisory board to be 

 organized as provided by that act. I call your atten- 

 tion to the recommendation of the Secretary and the 



board that authority be given to construct two more 

 cruisers of smaller dimensions, and one fleet dispatch- 

 vessel, and that appropriations be made for high- 

 power rifled cannon, for the torpedo service, and for 

 other harbor defenses. 



Pending the consideration by Congress of the policy 

 to be hereafter adopted in conducting the eight large 

 navy-yards and their expensive establishments, the 

 Secretary advocates the reduction of expenditures 

 therefor to the lowest possible amounts. 



For the purpose of affording the officers and seamen 

 of the navy opportunities for exercise and discipline 

 in their profession, under appropriate control and 

 direction, the Secretary advises that the Light-House 

 Service and Coast Survey be transferred, as now or- 

 ganized, from the Treasury to the Navy Department ; 

 and he also suggests, for tlie reasons which he assigns, 

 that a similar transfer may wisely be made of the 

 cruising revenue-vessels. 



The Secretary forcibly depicts the intimate connec- 

 tion and interdependence of the navy and the com- 

 mercial marine, and invites attention to the continued 

 decadence of the latter, and the corresponding trans- 

 fer of our growing commerce to foreign bottoms. 



This subject is one of the utmost importance to 

 the national welfare. Methods of reviving American 

 ship-building, and of restoring the United States flag 

 in the ocean carrying-trade, should receive the im- 

 mediate attention of Congress. We have mechanical 

 skill and abundant material for the manufacture of 

 modern iron steamships hi fair competition with our 

 commercial rivals. Our disadvantage in building 

 ships is the greater cost of labor, and in sailing them 

 higher taxes and greater interest on capital, while the 

 ocean highways are already monopolized by our for- 

 midable competitors. These obstacles should in some 

 way be overcome, and for our rapid communication 

 with foreign lands we should not continue to depend 



any 



foreign ports, our facilities for extending our com- 

 merce are greatly restricted, while the nations which 

 build and sail the ships, and carry the mails and pas- 

 sengers, obtain thereby conspicuous advantages in 

 increasing their trade. 



The report of the Postmaster-General gives evidence 

 of the satisfactory condition of that department, and 

 contains many valuable data and accompanying sug- 

 gestions which can not fail to be of interest 



The information which it affords, that the receipts 

 for the fiscal year have exceeded the expenditures, 

 must be very gratifying to Congress and to the people 

 of the country. 



As matters which may fairly claim particular atten- 

 tion, I refer you to his observations in reference to 

 the advisability of changing the present basis for fix- 

 ing salaries and allowances, of extending the money- 

 order system, and of enlarging the functions of the 

 postal establishment so as to put under its control the 

 telegraph system of the country, though from this 

 last and most important recommendation I must with- 

 hold my concurrence. 



At the last session of Congress, several bills were 

 introduced into the House of Representatives for the 

 reduction of letter postage to the rate of two cents per 

 half ounce. 



I have given much study and reflection to this sub- 

 ject, and am thoroughly persuaded that such a reduc- 

 tion would be for the best interests of the public. 



It has been the policy of the Government, from its 

 foundation, to defray, as far as possible, the expenses 

 of carrying the mails by a direct tax in the form of 

 postage. It has never been claimed, however, that 

 this service ought to be productive of a net revenue. 



As has been stated already, the report of the Post- 

 master-General shows that 'there is now a very con- 

 siderable surplus in his department, and that hence- 

 forth the receipts are likely to increase at a much 

 greater ratio than the necessary expenditures. Unless 



