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And whereas the boundary lines of said ceded lands have been duly surveyed and marked as stipulated in the thirteenth clause or section of said agreement; and
Whereas a written agreement was concluded with said Crow Indians on the 27th day of August, 1892, under and by virtue of the following clause in the Indian appropriation act of Congress approved July 13, 1892, to wit:
* * * To enable the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, to appoint a commission to negotiate with the Crow Indians of Montana for a modification of the agreement concluded with said Indians December 8, 1890, and ratified by Congress March 3, 1891, and to pay the necessary and actual expenses of said commissioners: Provided, That no such modification shall be valid unless assented to by a majority of the male adult members of the Crow tribe of Indians and be approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
Which said agreement was assented to by a majority of the male adult members of the Crow tribe of Indians, as attested by their signatures thereto, and has been duly approved by the Secretary of the Interior; and
Whereas it is stipulated and agreed in the first clause or section of said agreement of August 27, 1892, that the persons named in a schedule attached to and made a part of said agreement, marked "Schedule A," include all the members of said Crow tribe who are entitled to the benefits of the eleventh section of said agreement of December 8, 1890, and that each of said persons is entitled to the land therein described as his selection in full satisfaction of his claim under said section; and that the persons named in a schedule attached to and made a part of said agreement of August 27, 1892, marked "Schedule B," include all the members of said tribe who are entitled to the benefits of the twelfth section of said agreement of December 8, 1890, and of the proviso of the thirty-fourth section of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, extending the privilege of making selections on the ceded lands for a period of sixty days, and that each of the said persons therein named is entitled to retain the tract of land theretofore selected by him within the limits of the tract of land therein described as containing his selection of his claim under the said section (or the said proviso); and
Whereas it is stipulated and agreed by the second clause or section of said agreement of August 27, 1892, that all lands ceded by said agreement may be opened to settlement, upon the approval of the said agreement, by proclamation of the President:
Provided, That all lands within the ceded tract selected or set apart for the use of individual Indians and described in the aforesaid Schedules "A" and "B" shall be exempt from cession and shall remain a part of the Crow Indian Reservation, and shall continue under the exclusive control of the Interior Department until they shall have been surveyed and certificates or patents issued therefor as provided in the agreement of December 8, 1890, or until relinquished or surrendered by the Indian or Indians claiming the same: Provided further, That such lands shall be described as set forth in Schedules "A" and "B," and shall be exempted from settlement in the proclamation of the President opening the ceded lands, and that where lands so set apart are not described by legal subdivisions then the township or section or tract of land within whose limits such Indians' selections are located shall not be opened to settlement until the Indian allotments therein contained shall have been surveyed and proper evidence of title issued therefor.
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested by the agreements and statutes hereinbefore mentioned and by other the laws of the United States, do hereby declare and make known that all of the lands within that portion of the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana ceded to the United States by the said agreement of December 8, 1890, and hereinbefore described, except those hereinafter mentioned and described, are open to settlement under the terms of and subject to all the conditions, limitations, reservations, and restrictions contained in the thirty-fourth section of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, and hereinbefore quoted, and other laws applicable thereto.
The lands exempted from the operation of this proclamation, being those embraced in Schedules "A" and "B" attached to the agreement of August 27, 1892, are described as follows:
1.—SURVEYED LANDS.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 NORTH, RANGE 26 EAST.
Fractional section 24; the north half, the east half of southeast quarter, and west half of southwest quarter of fractional section 25; fractional section 26; lot 5 of fractional section 34; the north half of northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of northwest quarter of section 35; and the northeast quarter of northeast quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 NORTH, RANGE 27 EAST.
Fractional section 7; lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, the southwest quarter of northeast quarter, the southeast quarter, and the south half of the southwest quarter of fractional section 8; the south half of northwest quarter of section 9; the north half of the northwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 17; fractional section 18; the north half and the southwest quarter of section 19.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH, RANGE 24 EAST.
The north half of the southwest quarter of section 3; the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter and lots 2, 3, and 4 of section 4; fractional section 5; the southeast quarter and the south half of the southwest quarter of section 6; section 7; west half of section 8; the east half of the northwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 17; lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter, the south half of the northeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter and the south half of section 18; lots 1, 3, 4, and 5 and the east half of southwest quarter, section 19; and lots 1, 2, 3, and 4 in section 30.
IN TOWNSHIP 4 SOUTH, RANGE 23 EAST.
Lots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 13, the south half of northwest quarter, the southeast quarter of southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter, section 1; section 2; the north half, the southeast quarter, and the north half of southwest quarter, section 3; section 4; the east half and the southwest quarter of section 8; the north half and the southwest quarter of section 9; the east half and the southwest quarter of section n; section 12; the north half, the south half of the southeast quarter, the east half of the southwest quarter, and lots 1, 2, and 3 of section 13; the north half, the southeast quarter, and the south half of the southwest quarter of section 14; the north half of section 17; the north half, the east half of the southeast quarter, and the north half of the southwest quarter of section 18; the northwest quarter of section 19; the east half and the northwest quarter of section 20; the south half of the northwest quarter of section 22; all of section 23 except the northwest quarter of northwest quarter; section 24; lots 2 and 3 in section 25; the north half of northeast quarter, the northwest quarter, the north half of the southwest quarter, and lots 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of section 26; the south half of the southeast quarter of section 27; the northwest quarter of section 33; the fractional east half and the southwest quarter of section 34; lots 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 of section 35.
IN TOWNSHIP 5 SOUTH OF RANGE 23 EAST.
Lot 5 and southwest quarter of northwest quarter of section 2; lots 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, and 14 and southeast quarter of southeast quarter of section 3; the fractional east half, the south half of northwest quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 4; the south half of the northeast quarter and the north half of the southeast quarter of section 7; the south half of the north half and the south half of section 8; lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 and the west half of section 9; lots 1, 2, 3, and 4, the west half of the northeast quarter, and the south half of section 10; the northwest quarter of section 15; section 16; the east half of the northeast quarter and the south half of section 17; the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter, the west half, and lots 1, 2, 4, and 5, section 20; the southwest quarter of section 21; the west half of southwest quarter, section 26; the south half of section 27; the west half of the northeast quarter, the northwest quarter, and the south half of section 28; lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7, the northwest quarter, the south half of the southeast quarter, and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 29; the northeast quarter of northeast quarter, the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, and the south half of the southeast quarter of section 30; the northeast quarter, the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the southeast quarter of section 31; lots 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10, the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 32; lot 1, the north half of the northeast quarter, and the northwest quarter of section 33; and the west half of the northeast quarter and the northwest quarter of section 34.
2.—UNSURVEYED LANDS WHICH WHEN SURVEYED WILL BE DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:
IN TOWNSHIP 1 NORTH OF RANGE 15 EAST.
The southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter, and the south half of the southwest quarter of section 27; the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter and the east half of the southeast quarter of section 28; the east half of the northeast quarter of section 33; the north half, the north half of the southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 34; the south half of the north half and the south half of section 35; and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the southeast quarter, the north half of the southwest quarter, and the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 NORTH, RANGE 16 EAST.
The southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 31.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 15 EAST.
The north half of the north half and the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 1.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 16.
The north half of the northeast quarter and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 6, and the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 24.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 27; the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter and the south half of the southeast quarter of section 28; the north half of the northeast quarter of section 33; and the northeast quarter and the east half of the northwest quarter of section 34.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 17 EAST.
The east half of the northeast quarter, the east half of the northwest quarter, the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 19; the south half of the southeast quarter and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 28; and the north half of the northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 33.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 25 EAST.
The northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, the south half of the southeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 25, and the northeast Quarter of the northwest quarter and the west half of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 26 EAST.
The south half of the southeast quarter of section 19; the southeast quarter, the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter, and the south half of the southwest quarter of section 20; the west half of the southwest quarter of section 21; the west half of the northwest quarter of section 28; the north half and the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 29; the north half of the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 30.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 13 EAST.
The southwest quarter of the northwest quarter and the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 27; the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter and the east half of the southeast quarter of section 28; and the east half, the east half of the northwest quarter, the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 33.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The southeast quarter and the east half of the southwest quarter of section 1.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 20 EAST.
The east half, the east half of the northwest quarter, the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, and the north half of the southwest quarter of section 28; the northeast quarter and the north half of the southeast quarter of section 29; the south half of the northeast quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 34; the south half of the north half and the south half of section 35; and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter, the south half of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 21 EAST.
The west half of the northeast quarter, the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter, the east half of the west half, and the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 32.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 24 EAST.
The northeast quarter of the southeast quarter and the south half of the southeast quarter of section 21; the northeast quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 22; the west half of the northwest quarter of section 27; the northeast quarter of section 28; and the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 29.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The west half of section 14; the west half of the northeast quarter and the east half of the northwest quarter of section 23; the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 31; the northeast quarter, the south half of the northwest quarter, and the north half of the southwest quarter of section 32; the south half of the northeast quarter and the southeast quarter of section 33; the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the south half of the northwest quarter, the west half of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 34; the south half of section 35; and the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter and the southeast quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 19 EAST.
The northeast quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the east half of the southwest quarter of section 12; the northwest quarter of section 29; the east half of the northeast quarter, the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the south half of section 30; and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 31.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 20 EAST.
The northeast quarter, the north half of the northwest quarter, the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 1; the north half of the northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 2; the north half of the northwest quarter, the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 5; the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 6; and the west half of the northeast quarter and the northwest quarter of section 7.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 21 EAST.
The northwest quarter of the southwest quarter and the south half of the southwest quarter of section 5; the east half of the southeast quarter and the west half of section 6; the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 7; and the north half of the northwest quarter of section 8.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 23 EAST.
The southeast quarter of the northeast quarter and the east half of the southeast quarter of section 12; the east half of section 13; the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 23; the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, the east half of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 24; the east half of the east half, the west half of the northwest quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 25; the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter and the south half of the southeast quarter of section 26; the south half of the south half of section 34; the northeast quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the south half of the southwest quarter of section 35; and the northwest quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 4 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The northwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the north half of the northwest quarter of section 3; the north half of the northeast quarter of section 4; the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 13; the west half of the northeast quarter, the east half of the northwest quarter, the southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 24; the northeast quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 25; the south half of the southeast quarter of section 29; the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 32; the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter, the northwest quarter, the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, and the south half of the southeast quarter of section 35; and the west half of the northeast quarter, the northwest quarter, and the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 6 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The east half of the southeast quarter and the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 20, and the west half of the northeast quarter, the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the south half of the northwest quarter of section 29.
IN TOWNSHIP 6 SOUTH OF RANGE 19 EAST.
The northeast quarter, the east half of the northwest quarter, the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, and the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 15; the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 16; the south half of the northeast quarter and the north half of the southeast quarter of section 19; and the south half of the northwest quarter and the north half of the southwest quarter of section 20.
IN TOWNSHIP 6 SOUTH OF RANGE 23 EAST.
The north half of the northwest quarter and the north half of the southeast quarter of section 5; the south half of the southeast quarter of section 8; section 17; and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 16.
3.—TOWNSHIPS, SECTIONS, OR TRACTS OF LAND WITHIN WHICH INDIAN SELECTIONS ARE LOCATED.
TRACT 1.
Beginning at a point in the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River 1-1/2 miles below the mouth of the Clarks Fork River; thence running in a southwesterly direction along a line parallel to and 1-1/2 miles distant from the mid-channel of the Clarks Fork River to the south line of township 2 south of range 24 east; thence west along said township line to the mid-channel of the Clarks Fork River; thence northeast along the mid-channel of the Clarks Fork River to the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River; thence northeast along the mid-channel of said river to the point of beginning.
TRACT 2.
All that part of township 2 south of range 24 east lying south of the Yellowstone River and west of the Clarks Fork River.
TRACT 3.
Sections 29, 31, and 32, township 5 south of range 21 east; sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, and 18, township 6 south of range 21 east; and sections 1, 2, 11, 12, 13, and 14, township 6 south of range 20 east.
TRACT 4.
Beginning at a point in the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River opposite the mouth of Duck Creek; thence running in a southwesterly direction along the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River to a point 1-1/2 miles below the mouth of the Clarks Fork River; thence in a southwesterly direction along a line parallel to and 1-1/2 miles distant from the mid-channel of the said Clarks Fork River to a point 1-1/2 miles due south of the mid-channel of the said Yellowstone River; thence running in a northeasterly direction along a line parallel to and 1-1/2 miles distant from the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River to the mid-channel of Duck Creek; thence in a northerly direction along the mid-channel of Duck Creek to the point of beginning.
TRACT 5.
All that part of townships 2 and 3 south of range 23 lying south of the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River and north of a line running parallel thereto and 1-1/2 miles distant therefrom.
TRACT 6.
Beginning in the mid-channel of the main or West Fork of Red Lodge Creek at the point where it intersects the line known as the line of the Blake survey, and which was formerly supposed to be the south boundary of the Crow Indian Reserve; thence running due east along the lines of said Blake survey for a distance of 1 mile; thence running northeasterly along a line parallel to and 1 mile from the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said Red Lodge Creek for a distance of 10 miles; thence due west to the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said Red Lodge Creek; thence southwesterly along the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said creek to the place of beginning.
TRACT 7.
Townships 4 south of ranges 21 and 22 east.
TRACT 8.
All that part of the east half of township 1 south of range 26 east lying south of the Yellowstone River, and all that part of the west half of township 1 south of range 27 east lying south of the Yellowstone River.
TRACT 9.
Section 14, township 3 south of range 19 east.
TRACT 10.
Beginning in the mid-channel of the main or West Fork of Red Lodge Creek at the point where it intersects the line known as the line of the Blake survey, and which was formerly supposed to be the south boundary of the Crow Indian Reserve; thence running due east along the line of said Blake survey for a distance of 1 mile; thence running northeasterly along a line parallel to and 1 mile from the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said Red Lodge Creek for a distance of 10 miles; thence due west to the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said Red Lodge Creek; thence southwesterly along the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said Red Lodge Creek to the place of beginning.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of October, A.D. 1892, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President: JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas it is provided by section 13 of the act of Congress of March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to amend Title LX, chapter 3, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to copyrights," that said act "shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens, or when such foreign state or nation is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may at its pleasure become a party to such agreement;" and
Whereas it is also provided by said section that "the existence of either of the conditions aforesaid shall be determined by the President of the United States by proclamation made from time to time as the purposes of this act may require;" and
Whereas satisfactory official assurances have been given that in Italy the law permits to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to the subjects of Italy:
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do declare and proclaim that the first of the conditions specified in section 13 of the act of March 3, 1891, now exists and is fulfilled in respect to the subjects of Italy.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 31st day of October, 1892, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President: JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
The gifts of God to our people during the past year have been so abundant and so special that the spirit of devout thanksgiving awaits not a call, but only the appointment of a day when it may have a common expression. He has stayed the pestilence at our door; He has given us more love for the free civil institutions in the creation of which His directing providence was so conspicuous; He has awakened a deeper reverence for law; He has widened our philanthropy by a call to succor the distress in other lands; He has blessed our schools and is bringing forward a patriotic and God-fearing generation to execute His great and benevolent designs for our country; He has given us great increase in material wealth and a wide diffusion of contentment and comfort in the homes of our people; He has given His grace to the sorrowing.
Wherefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, do call upon all our people to observe, as we have been wont, Thursday, the 24th day of this month of November, as a day of thanksgiving to God for His mercies and of supplication for His continued care and grace.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 4th day of November, 1892, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President: JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS.
AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.
JANUARY 20, 1892.
Special Departmental Rule No. 1 is hereby amended by adding at the end of paragraph 10 the following: "and elevator conductors;" so that as amended the paragraph will read:
In all the Departments: Bookbinders and elevator conductors.
BENJ. HARRISON.
AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.
UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, Washington, D.C., January 12, 1892.
The PRESIDENT.
SIR: We have the honor to recommend that Executive orders heretofore issued designating the places to be filled by noncompetitive examination under clause (d) of section 2 of General Rule III be amended so as to include among those places, in all the Departments where authorized by law and employed, "captains of the watch" and "lieutenants of the watch." The captains and lieutenants of the watch in the Treasury Department and the captain of the watch in the Post-Office Department are now included in this category, and the object of this recommendation is to place all the Departments on the same footing with respect to these places.
The occasion for the recommendation at this time is the receipt by this Commission of a request from the Secretary of the Interior for a noncompetitive examination of a person named by him for appointment as captain of the watch in the Interior Department.
The place is now subject to competitive examination, but the Commission sees no good reason why one rule should not apply to all the Departments; hence this recommendation.
If you approve the recommendation, your indorsement of approval on this letter and its return to the Commission is requested. As it is not a change of rule, it does not require to go to the Department of State for record. We have the honor to be, your obedient servants,
CHAS. LYMAN, HUGH S. THOMPSON, Commissioners.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 25, 1892.
The within recommendation is approved.
BENJ. HARRISON.
AMENDMENTS OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.
FEBRUARY 23, 1892.
Indian Rule VI is hereby amended by inserting after the word "appointment" the following: "from one agency to another;" so that as amended the rule will read:
Subject to the conditions stated in Rule IV, transfers may be made after absolute appointment from one agency to another, from one school to another, and from one district to another, under such regulations as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, may prescribe.
Indian Rule IV, section 1, clause (b), is hereby amended by inserting after the word "averages" the following: "who have not been three times certified;" so that as amended the clause will read:
If fitness for the vacant place is tested by competitive examination, the Commission shall certify from the proper register of the district in which the vacancy exists the names of the three eligibles thereon, of the sex called for, having the highest averages, who have not been three times certified: Provided, That the eligibles upon any register who have been allowed preference under section 1754 of the Revised Statutes shall be certified, according to their grade, before all other eligibles thereon: And provided further, That if the vacancy is in the grade of matron or teacher, and the wife of the superintendent of the school in which the vacancy exists is an eligible, she may be given preference in certification if the appointing officer so requests.
Section 5 of the same rule is also hereby amended by inserting after the word "vacancy" the following: "in any agency or;" so that as amended the clause will read:
In case of the sudden occurrence of a vacancy in any agency or in any school during a school term which the public interest requires to be immediately filled the Commissioner of Indian Affairs is authorized, in his discretion, to provide for the temporary filling of the same until a regular appointment can be made under the provisions of sections 1, 2, and 3 of this rule, and when such regular appointment is made the temporary appointment shall terminate. All temporary appointments made under this authority and their termination shall at once be reported to the Commission.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, D.C., May 5, 1892.
In the exercise of the authority vested in the President by the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section of the Revised Statutes—
It is ordered, That the office of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries be, and the same is hereby, classified as a part of the classified departmental service and for the purpose of applying the civil-service rules thereto the officers, clerks, and other employees of said Commission are hereby arranged in the following classes, viz:
Class A.—All persons receiving an annual salary of less than $720, or a compensation at the rate of less than $720 per annum.
Class B.—All persons receiving an annual salary of $720 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $720 or more, but less than $840 per annum.
Class C.—All persons receiving an annual salary of $840 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $840 or more, but less than $900 per annum.
Class D.—All persons receiving an annual salary of $900 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $900 or more, but less than $1,000 per annum.
Class E.—All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,000 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $1,000 or more, but less than $1,200 per annum.
Class 1.—All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,200 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $1,200 or more, but less than $1,400 per annum.
Class 2.—All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,400 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $1,400 or more, but less than $1,600 per annum.
Class 3.—All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,600 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $1,600 or more, but less than $1,800 per annum.
Class 4.—All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,800 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $1,800 or more, but less than $2,000 per annum.
Class 5.—All persons receiving an annual salary of $2,000 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $2,000 per annum.
Provided, That no person who may be appointed to an office by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and that no person who may be employed merely as a messenger, laborer, workman, or watchman, shall be considered as within this classification, and no person so employed shall be assigned to the duties of a classified place.
Provided further, That no person shall be admitted to any place not excepted from examination by the civil-service rules in any of the classes above designated until he or she shall have passed an appropriate examination under the United States Civil Service Commission and his or her eligibility has been certified to by said Commission.
BENJ. HARRISON.
CIVIL SERVICE.—AMENDMENT OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS.
MAY 7, 1892.
Executive orders heretofore issued declaring the places subject to noncompetitive examination under clause (d) of section 2 of General Rule III are hereby amended so as to include among said places the following:
In the Commission of Fish and Fisheries: Fish culturists and machinists.
BENJ. HARRISON.
AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.
MAY 7, 1892.
Special Departmental Rule No. 1 is hereby amended so as to include among the places excepted from examination therein the following:
In the Commission of Fish and Fisheries: Ichthyologist and editor, one scientific assistant, captains, officers, ships writers and crews on vessels of the Commission, and pilots.
BENJ. HARRISON.
SEPTEMBER 16, 1892.
In order that the members of the Grand Army of the Republic employed in the public service in the city of Washington may have the opportunity of joining in the parade arranged for Tuesday, the 20th of September instant, and that all others may unite with the citizens of the District of Columbia in showing honor to the Union soldiers and sailors to be gathered in the national capital on that occasion—
It is hereby ordered, That the several Executive Departments and the Public Printing Office be closed on that day.
By the President:
BENJ. HARRISON.
AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 23, 1892.
Departmental Rule X, Customs Rule VII, Postal Rule VII, and Indian Rule VII are hereby amended by inserting in the proviso of each of said rules, after the word "therefrom," the words "or the widow of any such person," and after the word "he" the words "or she;" so that as amended the proviso of each of said rules will read:
Provided, That certification may be made, subject to the other conditions of this rule, for the reinstatement of any person who served in the military or naval service in the late War of the Rebellion and was honorably discharged therefrom, or the widow of any such person, without regard to the length of time he or she has been separated from the service.
BENJ. HARRISON.
FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 6, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
In submitting my annual message to Congress I have great satisfaction in being able to say that the general conditions affecting the commercial and industrial interests of the United States are in the highest degree favorable. A comparison of the existing conditions with those of the most favored period in the history of the country will, I believe, show that so high a degree of prosperity and so general a diffusion of the comforts of life were never before enjoyed by our people.
The total wealth of the country in 1860 was $16,159,616,068. In 1890 it amounted to $62,610,000,000, an increase of 287 per cent.
The total mileage of railways in the United States in 1860 was 30,626. In 1890 it was 167,741, an increase of 448 per cent; and it is estimated that there will be about 4,000 miles of track added by the close of the year 1892.
The official returns of the Eleventh Census and those of the Tenth Census for seventy-five leading cities furnish the basis for the following comparisons:
In 1880 the capital invested in manufacturing was $1,232,839,670.
In 1890 the capital invested in manufacturing was $2,900,735,884.
In 1880 the number of employees was 1,301,388.
In 1890 the number of employees was 2,251,134.
In 1880 the wages earned were $501,965,778.
In 1890 the wages earned were $1,221,170,454.
In 1880 the value of the product was $2,711,579,899.
In 1890 the value of the product was $4,860,286,837.
I am informed by the Superintendent of the Census that the omission of certain industries in 1880 which were included in 1890 accounts in part for the remarkable increase thus shown, but after making full allowance for differences of method and deducting the returns for all industries not included in the census of 1880 there remain in the reports from these seventy-five cities an increase in the capital employed of $1,522,745,604, in the value of the product of $2,024,236,166, in wages earned of $677,943,929, and in the number of wage earners employed of 856,029. The wage earnings not only show an increased aggregate, but an increase per capita from $386 in 1880 to $547 in 1890, or 41.71 per cent.
The new industrial plants established since October 6, 1890, and up to October 22, 1892, as partially reported in the American Economist, number 345, and the extension of existing plants 108; the new capital invested amounts to $40,449,050, and the number of additional employees to 37,285.
The Textile World for July, 1892, states that during the first six months of the present calendar year 135 new factories were built, of which 40 are cotton mills, 48 knitting mills, 26 woolen mills, 15 silk mills, 4 plush mills, and 2 linen mills. Of the 40 cotton mills 21 have been built in the Southern States. Mr. A.B. Shepperson, of the New York Cotton Exchange, estimates the number of working spindles in the United States on September 1, 1892, at 15,200,000, an increase of 660,000 over the year 1891. The consumption of cotton by American mills in 1891 was 2,396,000 bales, and in 1892 2,584,000 bales, an increase of 188,000 bales. From the year 1869 to 1892, inclusive, there has been an increase in the consumption of cotton in Europe of 92 per cent, while during the same period the increased consumption in the United States has been about 150 per cent.
The report of Ira Ayer, special agent of the Treasury Department, shows that at the date of September 30, 1892, there were 32 companies manufacturing tin and terne plate in the United States and 14 companies building new works for such manufacture. The estimated investment in buildings and plants at the close of the fiscal year June 30, 1893, if existing conditions were to be continued, was $5,000,000 and the estimated rate of production 200,000,000 pounds per annum. The Actual production for the quarter ending September 30, 1892, was 10,952,725 pounds.
The report of Labor Commissioner Peck, of New York, shows that during the year 1891, in about 6,000 manufacturing establishments in that State embraced within the special inquiry made by him, and representing 67 different industries, there was a net increase over the year 1890 of $31,315,130.68 in the value of the product and of $6,377,925.09 in the amount of wages paid. The report of the commissioner of labor for the State of Massachusetts shows that 3,745 industries in that State paid $129,416,248 in wages during the year 1891, against $126,030,303 in 1890, an increase of $3,335,945, and that there was an increase of $9,932,490 in the amount of capital and of 7,346 in the number of persons employed in the same period.
During the last six months of the year 1891 and the first six months of 1892 the total production of pig iron was 9,710,819 tons, as against 9,202,703 tons in the year 1890, which was the largest annual production ever attained. For the same twelve months of 1891-92 the production of Bessemer ingots was 3,878,581 tons, an increase of 189,710 gross tons over the previously unprecedented yearly production of 3,688,871 gross tons in 1890. The production of Bessemer steel rails for the first six months of 1892 was 772,436 gross tons, as against 702,080 gross tons during the last six months of the year 1891.
The total value of our foreign trade (exports and imports of merchandise) during the last fiscal year was $1,857,680,610, an increase of $128,283,604 over the previous fiscal year. The average annual value of our imports and exports of merchandise for the ten fiscal years prior to 1891 was $1,457,322,019. It will be observed that our foreign trade for 1892 exceeded this annual average value by $400,358,591, an increase of 27.47 Per cent. The significance and value of this increase are shown by the fact that the excess in the trade of 1892 over 1891 was wholly in the value of exports, for there was a decrease in the value of imports of $17,513,754.
The value of our exports during the fiscal year 1892 reached the highest figure in the history of the Government, amounting to $1,030,278,148, exceeding by $145,797,338 the exports of 1891 and exceeding the value of the imports by $202,875,686. A comparison of the value of our exports for 1892 with the annual average for the ten years prior to 1891 shows an excess of $265,142,651, or of 34.65 per cent. The value of our imports of merchandise for 1892, which was $829,402,462, also exceeded the annual average value of the ten years prior to 1891 by $135,215,940. During the fiscal year 1892 the value of imports free of duty amounted to $457,999,658, the largest aggregate in the history of our commerce. The value of the imports of merchandise entered free of duty in 1892 was 55.35 per cent of the total value of imports, as compared with 43.35 per cent in 1891 and 33.66 per cent in 1890.
In our coastwise trade a most encouraging development is in progress, there having been in the last four years an increase of 16 per cent. In internal commerce the statistics show that no such period of prosperity has ever before existed. The freight carried in the coastwise trade of the Great Lakes in 1890 aggregated 28,295,959 tons. On the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers and tributaries in the same year the traffic aggregated 29,405,046 tons, and the total vessel tonnage passing through the Detroit River during that year was 21,684,000 tons. The vessel tonnage entered and cleared in the foreign trade of London during 1890 amounted to 13,480,767 tons, and of Liverpool 10,941,800 tons, a total for these two great shipping ports of 24,422,568 tons, only slightly in excess of the vessel tonnage passing through the Detroit River. And it should be said that the season for the Detroit River was but 228 days, while of course in London and Liverpool the season was for the entire year. The vessel tonnage passing through the St. Marys Canal for the fiscal year 1892 amounted to 9,828,874 tons, and the freight tonnage of the Detroit River is estimated for that year at 25,000,000 tons, against 23,209,619 tons in 1891. The aggregate traffic on our railroads for the year 1891 amounted to 704,398,609 tons of freight, compared with 691,344,437 tons in 1890, an increase of 13,054,172 tons.
Another indication of the general prosperity of the country is found in the fact that the number of depositors in savings banks increased from 693,870 in 1860 to 4,258,893 in 1890, an increase of 513 per cent, and the amount of deposits from $149,277,504 in 1860 to $1,524,844,506 in 1890, an increase of 921 per cent. In 1891 the amount of deposits in savings banks was $1,623,079,749. It is estimated that 90 per cent of these deposits represent the savings of wage earners. The bank clearances for nine months ending September 30, 1891, amounted to $41,049,390,808. For the same months in 1892 they amounted to $45,189,601,947, an excess for the nine months of $4,140,211,139.
There never has been a time in our history when work was so abundant or when wages were as high, whether measured by the currency in which they are paid or by their power to supply the necessaries and comforts of life. It is true that the market prices of cotton and wheat have been low. It is one of the unfavorable incidents of agriculture that the farmer can not produce upon orders. He must sow and reap in ignorance of the aggregate production of the year, and is peculiarly subject to the depreciation which follows overproduction. But while the fact I have stated is true as to the crops mentioned, the general average of prices has been such as to give to agriculture a fair participation in the general prosperity. The value of our total farm products has increased from $1,363,646,866 in 1860 to $4,500,000,000 in 1891, as estimated by statisticians, an increase of 230 per cent. The number of hogs January 1, 1891, was 50,625,106 and their value $210,193,925; on January 1, 1892, the number was 52,398,019 and the value $241,031,415. On January 1, 1891, the number of cattle was 36,875,648 and the value $544,127,908; on January 1, 1892, the number was 37,651,239 and the value $570,749,155.
If any are discontented with their state here, if any believe that wages or prices, the returns for honest toil, are inadequate, they should not fail to remember that there is no other country in the world where the conditions that seem to them hard would not be accepted as highly prosperous. The English agriculturist would be glad to exchange the returns of his labor for those of the American farmer and the Manchester workmen their wages for those of their fellows at Fall River.
I believe that the protective system, which has now for something more than thirty years continuously prevailed in our legislation, has been a mighty instrument for the development of our national wealth and a most powerful agency in protecting the homes of our workingmen from the invasion of want. I have felt a most solicitous interest to preserve to our working people rates of wages that would not only give daily bread, but supply a comfortable margin for those home attractions and family comforts and enjoyments without which life is neither hopeful nor sweet. They are American citizens—a part of the great people for whom our Constitution and Government were framed and instituted—and it can not be a perversion of that Constitution to so legislate as to preserve in their homes the comfort, independence, loyalty, and sense of interest in the Government which are essential to good citizenship in peace, and which will bring this stalwart throng, as in 1861, to the defense of the flag when it is assailed.
It is not my purpose to renew here the argument in favor of a protective tariff. The result of the recent election must be accepted as having introduced a new policy. We must assume that the present tariff, constructed upon the lines of protection, is to be repealed and that there is to be substituted for it a tariff law constructed solely with reference to revenue; that no duty is to be higher because the increase will keep open an American mill or keep up the wages of an American workman, but that in every case such a rate of duty is to be imposed as will bring to the Treasury of the United States the largest returns of revenue. The contention has not been between schedules, but between principles, and it would be offensive to suggest that the prevailing party will not carry into legislation the principles advocated by it and the pledges given to the people. The tariff bills passed by the House of Representatives at the last session were, as I suppose, even in the opinion of their promoters, inadequate, and justified only by the fact that the Senate and House of Representatives were not in accord and that a general revision could not therefore be undertaken.
I recommend that the whole subject of tariff revision be left to the incoming Congress. It is matter of regret that this work must be delayed for at least three months, for the threat of great tariff changes introduces so much uncertainty that an amount, not easily estimated, of business inaction and of diminished production will necessarily result. It is possible also that this uncertainty may result in decreased revenues from customs duties, for our merchants will make cautious orders for foreign goods in view of the prospect of tariff reductions and the uncertainty as to when they will take effect. Those who have advocated a protective tariff can well afford to have their disastrous forecasts of a change of policy disappointed. If a system of customs duties can be framed that will set the idle wheels and looms of Europe in motion and crowd our warehouses with foreign-made goods and at the same time keep our own mills busy; that will give us an increased participation in the "markets of the world" of greater value than the home market we surrender; that will give increased work to foreign workmen upon products to be consumed by our people without diminishing the amount of work to be done here; that will enable the American manufacturer to pay to his workmen from 50 to 100 per cent more in wages than is paid in the foreign mill, and yet to compete in our market and in foreign markets with the foreign producer; that will further reduce the cost of articles of wear and food without reducing the wages of those who produce them; that can be celebrated, after its effects have been realized, as its expectation has been in European as well as in American cities, the authors and promoters of it will be entitled to the highest praise. We have had in our history several experiences of the contrasted effects of a revenue and of a protective tariff, but this generation has not felt them, and the experience of one generation is not highly instructive to the next. The friends of the protective system with undiminished confidence in the principles they have advocated will await the results of the new experiment.
The strained and too often disturbed relations existing between the employees and the employers in our great manufacturing establishments have not been favorable to a calm consideration by the wage earner of the effect upon wages of the protective system. The facts that his wages were the highest paid in like callings in the world and that a maintenance of this rate of wages in the absence of protective duties upon the product of his labor was impossible were obscured by the passion evoked by these contests. He may now be able to review the question in the light of his personal experience under the operation of a tariff for revenue only. If that experience shall demonstrate that present rates of wages are thereby maintained or increased, either absolutely or in their purchasing power, and that the aggregate volume of work to be done in this country is increased or even maintained, so that there are more or as many days' work in a year, at as good or better wages, for the American workmen as has been the case under the protective system, everyone will rejoice. A general process of wage reduction can not be contemplated by any patriotic citizen without the gravest apprehension. It may be, indeed I believe is, possible for the American manufacturer to compete successfully with his foreign rival in many branches of production without the defense of protective duties if the pay rolls are equalized; but the conflict that stands between the producer and that result and the distress of our working people when it is attained are not pleasant to contemplate. The Society of the Unemployed, now holding its frequent and threatening parades in the streets of foreign cities, should not be allowed to acquire an American domicile.
The reports of the heads of the several Executive Departments which are herewith submitted, have very naturally included a resume of the whole work of the Administration with the transactions of the last fiscal year. The attention not only of Congress but of the country is again invited to the methods of administration which have been pursued and to the results which have been attained. Public revenues amounting to $1,414,079,292.28 have been collected and disbursed without loss from misappropriation, without a single defalcation of such importance as to attract the public attention, and at a diminished per cent of cost for collection. The public business has been transacted not only with fidelity, but progressively and with a view to giving to the people in the fullest possible degree the benefits of a service established and maintained for their protection and comfort.
Our relations with other nations are now undisturbed by any serious controversy. The complicated and threatening differences with Germany and England relating to Samoan affairs, with England in relation to the seal fisheries in the Bering Sea, and with Chile growing out of the Baltimore affair have been adjusted.
There have been negotiated and concluded, under section 3 of the tariff law, commercial agreements relating to reciprocal trade with the following countries: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Spain for Cuba and Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Salvador, the German Empire, Great Britain for certain West Indian colonies and British Guiana, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Austria-Hungary.[31]
Of these, those with Guatemala, Salvador, the German Empire, Great Britain, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Austria-Hungary have been concluded since my last annual message. Under these trade arrangements a free or favored admission has been secured in every case for an important list of American products. Especial care has been taken to secure markets for farm products, in order to relieve that great underlying industry of the depression which the lack of an adequate foreign market for our surplus often brings. An opening has also been made for manufactured products that will undoubtedly, if this policy is maintained, greatly augment our export trade. The full benefits of these arrangements can not be realized instantly. New lines of trade are to be opened. The commercial traveler must survey the field. The manufacturer must adapt his goods to the new markets and facilities for exchange must be established. This work has been well begun, our merchants and manufacturers having entered the new fields with courage and enterprise. In the case of food products, and especially with Cuba, the trade did not need to wait, and the immediate results have been most gratifying. If this policy and these trade arrangements can be continued in force and aided by the establishment of American steamship lines, I do not doubt that we shall within a short period secure fully one-third of the total trade of the countries of Central and South America, which now amounts to about $600,000,000 annually. In 1885 we had only 8 per cent of this trade.
The following statistics show the increase in our trade with the countries with which we have reciprocal trade agreements from the date when such agreements went into effect up to September 30, 1892, the increase being in some almost wholly and in others in an important degree the result of these agreements:
The domestic exports to Germany and Austria-Hungary have increased in value from $47,673,756 to $57,993,064, an increase of $10,319,308, or 21.63 per cent. With American countries the value of our exports has increased from $44,160,285 to $54,613,598, an increase of $10,453,313, or 23.67 per cent. The total increase in the value of exports to all the countries with which we have reciprocity agreements has been $20,772,621. This increase is chiefly in wheat, flour, meat, and dairy products and in manufactures of iron and steel and lumber. There has been a large increase in the value of imports from all these countries since the commercial agreements went into effect, amounting to $74,294,525, but it has been entirely in imports from the American countries, consisting mostly of sugar, coffee, india rubber, and crude drugs. The alarmed attention of our European competitors for the South American market has been attracted to this new American policy and to our acquisition and their loss of South American trade.
A treaty providing for the arbitration of the dispute between Great Britain and the United States as to the killing of seals in the Bering Sea was concluded on the 29th of February last. This treaty was accompanied by an agreement prohibiting pelagic sealing pending the arbitration, and a vigorous effort was made during this season to drive out all poaching sealers from the Bering Sea. Six naval vessels, three revenue cutters, and one vessel from the Fish Commission, all under the command of Commander Evans, of the Navy, were sent into the sea, which was systematically patrolled. Some seizures were made, and it is believed that the catch in the Bering Sea by poachers amounted to less than 500 seals. It is true, however, that in the North Pacific, while the seal herds were on their way to the passes between the Aleutian Islands, a very large number, probably 35,000, were taken. The existing statutes of the United States do not restrain our citizens from taking seals in the Pacific Ocean, and perhaps should not unless the prohibition can be extended to the citizens of other nations. I recommend that power be given to the President by proclamation to prohibit the taking of seals in the North Pacific by American vessels in case, either as the result of the findings of the Tribunal of Arbitration or otherwise, the restraints can be applied to the vessels of all countries. The case of the United States for the Tribunal of Arbitration has been prepared with great care and industry by the Hon. John W. Foster, and the counsel who represent this Government express confidence that a result substantially establishing our claims and preserving this great industry for the benefit of all nations will be attained.
During the past year a suggestion was received through the British minister that the Canadian government would like to confer as to the possibility of enlarging upon terms of mutual advantage the commercial exchanges of Canada and of the United States, and a conference was held at Washington, with Mr. Blaine acting for this Government and the British minister at this capital and three members of the Dominion cabinet acting as commissioners on the part of Great Britain. The conference developed the fact that the Canadian government was only prepared to offer to the United States in exchange for the concessions asked the admission of natural products. The statement was frankly made that favored rates could not be given to the United States as against the 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 considered in the conference, and have resulted in the making of a convention for examining the Alaskan boundary and the waters of Passamaquoddy Bay adjacent to Eastport, Me., and in the initiation of an arrangement 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, which was presented to Congress at the last session by special message,[32] having failed of adjustment, I felt constrained to exercise the authority conferred by the act of July 26, 1892, and to proclaim a suspension of the free use of St. Marys Falls Canal to cargoes in transit to ports in Canada.[33] 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 Canada and the disposition of the Canadian government are to remain unchanged, a somewhat radical revision of our trade relations should, I think, be made. Our 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 retarded 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 by 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 without detention into and out of our territory.
The Canadian Pacific Railway brought into the United States from China and Japan via British Columbia 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 Columbia, 24,068,346 pounds of freight. There were also shipped from the United States over this road from Eastern ports of the United States to our Pacific ports during the same year 13,912,073 pounds of freight, and there were received over this road at the United States Eastern ports from ports on the Pacific Coast 13,293,315 pounds of freight. Mr. Joseph Nimmo, jr., former chief of the Bureau of Statistics, when before the Senate Select Committee on Relations with Canada, April 26, 1890, said that "the value of goods thus transported between different points in the 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 the United States to interfere in the smallest degree with the political relations of Canada. That question is wholly with her own people. It is time for us, however, to consider whether, if the present state of things and trend of things is to continue, our interchanges upon lines of land transportation should not be put upon a different basis and our entire independence of Canadian canals and of the St. Lawrence as an outlet to the sea secured by the construction of an American canal around the Falls of Niagara and the opening of ship communication between the Great Lakes and one of 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 consideration, 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 difference between the United States and Chile. It gives me now great gratification to report that the Chilean Government in a most friendly and honorable 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 Chile rightly appreciates the disposition of this Government to act in a spirit of the most absolute fairness and friendliness in our intercourse with that brave people. A further and conclusive 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 unsatisfactory 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 disposition to be oppressive or exacting in our dealings with any of them, even the weakest. Our interests and our hopes for them all lie in the direction of stable governments by their people and of the largest development of their great commercial resources. The mutual benefits of enlarged commercial exchanges and of a more familiar and friendly intercourse between our peoples we do desire, and in this have sought their friendly cooperation.
I have believed, however, while holding these sentiments in the greatest sincerity, that we must insist upon a just responsibility for any injuries inflicted upon our official representatives or upon our citizens. This insistence, kindly and justly but firmly 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 should have quick communication with Honolulu. We should before this have availed ourselves 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 to the Government of Italy its reprobation and abhorrence of the lynching of Italian subjects in New Orleans by the payment of 125,000 francs, or $24,330.90, was accepted by the King of Italy with every manifestation of gracious appreciation, and the incident has been highly promotive of mutual respect and good will.
In consequence of the action of the French Government in proclaiming a protectorate over certain tribal districts of the west coast of Africa eastward of the San Pedro River, which has long been regarded as the southeastern boundary of Liberia, I have felt constrained to make protest against this encroachment upon the territory of a Republic which was founded by citizens of the United States and toward which this country has for many years held the intimate relation of a friendly counselor.
The recent disturbances of the public peace by lawless foreign marauders on the Mexican frontier have afforded this Government an opportunity to testify its good will for Mexico and its earnest purpose to fulfill the obligations of international friendship by pursuing and dispersing the evil doers. The work of relocating the boundary of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo westward from El Paso is progressing favorably.
Our intercourse with Spain continues on a friendly footing. I regret, however, not to be able to report as yet the adjustment of the claims of the American missionaries arising from the disorders at Ponape, in the Caroline Islands, but I anticipate a satisfactory adjustment in view of renewed and urgent representations to the Government at Madrid.
The treatment of the religious and educational establishments of American citizens in Turkey has of late called for a more than usual share of attention. A tendency to curtail the toleration which has so beneficially prevailed is discernible and has called forth the earnest remonstrance of this Government. Harassing regulations in regard to schools and churches have been attempted in certain localities, but not without due protest and the assertion of the inherent and conventional rights of our countrymen. Violations of domicile and search of the persons and effects of citizens of the United States by apparently irresponsible officials in the Asiatic vilayets have from time to time been reported. An aggravated instance of injury to the property of an American missionary at Bourdour, in the Province of Konia, called forth an urgent claim for reparation, which I am pleased to say was promptly heeded by the Government of the Porte. Interference with the trading ventures of our citizens in Asia Minor is also reported, and the lack of consular representation in that region is a serious drawback to instant and effective protection. I can not believe that these incidents represent a settled policy, and shall not cease to urge the adoption of proper remedies.
International copyright has been extended to Italy by proclamation[34] in conformity with the act of March 3, 1891, upon assurance being given that Italian law permits to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to subjects of Italy. By a special convention proclaimed January 15, 1892, reciprocal provisions of copyright have been applied between the United States and Germany. Negotiations are in progress with other countries to the same end.
I repeat with great earnestness the recommendation which I have made in several previous messages that prompt and adequate support be given to the American company engaged in the construction of the Nicaragua ship canal. It is impossible to overstate the value from every standpoint of this great enterprise, and I hope that there may be time, even in this Congress, to give to it an impetus that will insure the early completion of the canal and secure to the United States its proper relation to it when completed.
The Congress has been already advised that the invitations of this Government for the assembling of an international monetary conference to consider the question of an enlarged use of silver were accepted by the nations to which they were addressed. The conference assembled at Brussels on the 22d of November, and has entered upon the consideration of this great question. I have not doubted, and have taken occasion to express that belief as well in the invitations issued for this Conference as in my public messages, that the free coinage of silver upon an agreed international ratio would greatly promote the interests of our people and equally those of other nations. It is too early to predict what results may be accomplished by the conference. If any temporary check or delay intervenes, I believe that very soon commercial conditions will compel the now reluctant governments to unite with us in this movement to secure the enlargement of the volume of coined money needed for the transaction of the business of the world.
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will attract especial interest in view of the many misleading statements that have been made as to the state of the public revenues. Three preliminary facts should not only be stated but emphasized before looking into details: First, that the public debt has been reduced since March 4, 1889, $259,074,200 and the annual interest charge $11,684,469; second, that there have been paid out for pensions during this Administration up to November 1, 1892, $432,564,178.70, an excess of $114,466,386.09 over the sum expended during the period from March 1, 1885, to March 1, 1889; and, third, that under the existing tariff up to December 1 about $93,000,000 of revenue which would have been collected upon imported sugars if the duty had been maintained has gone into the pockets of the people, and not into the public Treasury, as before. If there are any who still think that the surplus should have been kept out of circulation by hoarding it in the Treasury, or deposited in favored banks without interest while the Government continued to pay to these very banks interest upon the bonds deposited as security for the deposits, or who think that the extended pension legislation was a public robbery, or that the duties upon sugar should have been maintained, I am content to leave the argument where it now rests while we wait to see whether these criticisms will take the form of legislation.
The revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, from all sources were $425,868,260.22, and the expenditures for all purposes were $415,953,806.56, leaving a balance of $9,914,453.66. There were paid during the year upon the public debt $40,570,467.98. The surplus in the Treasury and the bank redemption fund passed by the act of July 14, 1890, to the general fund furnished in large part the cash available and used for the payments made upon the public debt. Compared with the year 1891, our receipts from customs duties fell off $42,069,241.08, while our receipts from internal revenue increased $8,284,823.13, leaving the net loss of revenue from these principal sources $33,784,417.95. The net loss of revenue from all sources was $32,675,972.81.
The revenues, estimated and actual, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, are placed by the Secretary at $463,336,350.44, and the expenditures at $461,336,350.44, showing a surplus of receipts over expenditures of $2,000,000. The cash balance in the Treasury at the end of the fiscal year it is estimated will be $20,992,377.03. So far as these figures are based upon estimates of receipts and expenditures for the remaining months of the current fiscal year, there are not only the usual elements of uncertainty, but some added elements. New revenue legislation, or even the expectation of it, may seriously reduce the public revenues during the period of uncertainty and during the process of business adjustment to the new conditions when they become known. But the Secretary has very wisely refrained from guessing as to the effect of possible changes in our revenue laws, since the scope of those changes and the time of their taking effect can not in any degree be forecast or foretold by him. His estimates must be based upon existing laws and upon a continuance of existing business conditions, except so far as these conditions may be affected by causes other than new legislation.
The estimated receipts for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, are $490,121,365.38, and the estimated appropriations $457,261,335.33, leaving an estimated surplus of receipts over expenditures of $32,860,030.05. This does not include any payment to the sinking fund. In the recommendation of the Secretary that the sinking-fund law be repealed I concur. The redemption of bonds since the passage of the law to June 30, 1892, has already exceeded the requirements by the sum of $990,510,681.49. The retirement of bonds in the future before maturity should be a matter of convenience, not of compulsion. We should not collect revenue for that purpose, but only use any casual surplus, To the balance of $32,860,030.05 of receipts over expenditures for the year 1894 should be added the estimated surplus at the beginning of the year, $20,992,377.03, and from this aggregate there must be deducted, as stated by the Secretary, about $44,000,000 of estimated unexpended appropriations.
The public confidence in the purpose and ability of the Government to maintain the parity of all of our money issues, whether coin or paper, must remain unshaken. The demand for gold in Europe and the consequent calls upon us are in a considerable degree the result of the efforts of some of the European Governments to increase their gold reserves, and these efforts should be met by appropriate legislation on our part. The conditions that have created this drain of the Treasury gold are in an important degree political, and not commercial. In view of the fact that a general revision of our revenue laws in the near future seems to be probable, it would be better that any changes should be a part of that revision rather than of a temporary nature.
During the last fiscal year the Secretary purchased under the act of July 14, 1890, 54,355,748 ounces of silver and issued in payment therefor $51,106,608 in notes. The total purchases since the passage of the act have been 120,479,981 ounces and the aggregate of notes issued $116,783,590. The average price paid for silver during the year was 94 cents per ounce, the highest price being $1.02-3/4 July 1, 1891, and the lowest 83 cents March 21, 1892. In view of the fact that the monetary conference is now sitting and that no conclusion has yet been reached, I withhold any recommendation as to legislation upon this subject.
The report of the Secretary of War brings again to the attention of Congress some important suggestions as to the reorganization of the infantry and artillery arms of the service, which his predecessors have before urgently presented. Our Army is small, but its organization should all the more be put upon the most approved modern basis. The conditions upon what we have called the "frontier" have heretofore required the maintenance of many small posts, but now the policy of concentration is obviously the right one. The new posts should have the proper strategic relations to the only "frontiers" we now have—those of the seacoast and of our northern and part of our southern boundary. I do not think that any question of advantage to localities or to States should determine the location of the new posts. The reorganization and enlargement of the Bureau of Military Information which the Secretary has effected is a work the usefulness of which will become every year more apparent. The work of building heavy guns and the construction of coast defenses has been well begun and should be carried on without check.
The report of the Attorney-General is by law submitted directly to Congress, but I can not refrain from saying that he has conducted the increasing work of the Department of Justice with great professional skill. He has in several directions secured from the courts decisions giving increased protection to the officers of the United States and bringing some classes of crime that escaped local cognizance and punishment into the tribunals of the United States, where they could be tried with impartiality.
The numerous applications for Executive clemency presented in behalf of persons convicted in United States courts and given penitentiary sentences have called my attention to a fact referred to by the Attorney-General in his report, namely, that a time allowance for good behavior for such prisoners is prescribed by the Federal statutes only where the State in which the penitentiary is located has made no such provision. Prisoners are given the benefit of the provisions of the State law regulating the penitentiary to which they may be sent. These are various, some perhaps too liberal and some perhaps too illiberal. The result is that a sentence for five years means one thing if the prisoner is sent to one State for confinement and quite a different thing if he is sent to another. I recommend that a uniform credit for good behavior be prescribed by Congress.
I have before expressed my concurrence in the recommendation of the Attorney-General that degrees of murder should be recognized in the Federal statutes, as they are, I believe, in all the States. These grades are founded on correct distinctions in crime. The recognition of them would enable the courts to exercise some discretion in apportioning punishment and would greatly relieve the Executive of what is coming to be a very heavy burden—the examination of these cases on application for commutation.
The aggregate of claims pending against the Government in the Court of Claims is enormous. Claims to the amount of nearly $400,000,000 for the taking of or injury to the property of persons claiming to be loyal during the war are now before that court for examination. When to these are added the Indian depredation claims and the French spoliation claims, an aggregate is reached that is indeed startling. In the defense of all these cases the Government is at great disadvantage. The claimants have preserved their evidence, whereas the agents of the Government are sent into the field to rummage for what they can find. This difficulty is peculiarly great where the fact to be established is the disloyalty of the claimant during the war. If this great threat against our revenues is to have no other check, certainly Congress should supply the Department of Justice with appropriations sufficiently liberal to secure the best legal talent in the defense of these claims and to pursue its vague search for evidence effectively.
The report of the Postmaster-General shows a most gratifying increase and a most efficient and progressive management of the great business of that Department. The remarkable increase in revenues, in the number of post-offices, and in the miles of mail carriage furnishes further evidence of the high state of prosperity which our people are enjoying. New offices mean new hamlets and towns, new routes mean the extension of our border settlements, and increased revenues mean an active commerce. The Postmaster-General reviews the whole period of his administration of the office and brings some of his statistics down to the month of November last. The postal revenues have increased during the last year nearly $5,000,000. The deficit for the year ending June 30, 1892, is $848,341 less than the deficiency of the preceding year. The deficiency of the present fiscal year it is estimated will be reduced to $1,552,423, which will not only be extinguished during the next fiscal year, but a surplus of nearly $1,000,000 should then be shown. In these calculations the payments to be made under the contracts for ocean mail service have not been included. There have been added 1,590 new mail routes during the year, with a mileage of 8,563 miles, and the total number of new miles of mail trips added during the year is nearly 17,000,000. The number of miles of mail journeys added during the last four years is about 76,000,000, this addition being 21,000,000 miles more than were in operation in the whole country in 1861.
The number of post-offices has been increased by 2,790 during the year, and during the past four years, and up to October 29 last, the total increase in the number of offices has been nearly 9,000. The number of free-delivery offices has been nearly doubled in the last four years, and the number of money-order offices more than doubled within that time.
For the three years ending June 30, 1892, the postal revenue amounted to $197,744,359, which was an increase of $52,263,150 over the revenue for the three years ending June 30, 1888, the increase during the last three years being more than three and a half times as great as the increase during the three years ending June 30, 1888. No such increase as that shown for these three years has ever previously appeared in the revenues of the Department. The Postmaster-General has extended to the post-offices in the larger cities the merit system of promotion introduced by my direction into the Departments here, and it has resulted there, as in the Departments, in a larger volume of work and that better done.
Ever since our merchant marine was driven from the sea by the rebel cruisers during the War of the Rebellion the United States has been paying an enormous annual tribute to foreign countries in the shape of freight and passage moneys. Our grain and meats have been taken at our own docks and our large imports there laid down by foreign shipmasters. An increasing torrent of American travel to Europe has contributed a vast sum annually to the dividends of foreign shipowners. The balance of trade shown by the books of our custom-houses has been very largely reduced and in many years altogether extinguished by this constant drain. In the year 1892 only 12.3 per cent of our imports were brought in American vessels. These great foreign steamships maintained by our traffic are many of them under contracts with their respective Governments by which in time of war they will become a part of their armed naval establishments. Profiting by our commerce in peace, they will become the most formidable destroyers of our commerce in time of war. I have felt, and have before expressed the feeling, that this condition of things was both intolerable and disgraceful. A wholesome change of policy, and one having in it much promise, as it seems to me, was begun by the law of March 3, 1891. Under this law contracts have been made by the Postmaster-General for eleven mail routes. The expenditure involved by these contracts for the next fiscal year approximates $954,123.33 As one of the results already reached sixteen American steamships, of an aggregate tonnage of 57,400 tons, costing $7,400,000, have been built or contracted to be built in American shipyards.
The estimated tonnage of all steamships required under existing contracts is 165,802, and when the full service required by these contracts is established there will be forty-one mail steamers under the American flag, with the probability of further necessary additions in the Brazilian and Argentine service. The contracts recently let for transatlantic service will result in the construction of five ships of 10,000 tons each, costing $9,000,000 to $10,000,000, and will add, with the City of New York and City of Paris, to which the Treasury Department was authorized by legislation at the last session to give American registry, seven of the swiftest vessels upon the sea to our naval reserve. The contracts made with the lines sailing to Central and South American ports have increased the frequency and shortened the time of the trips, added new ports of call, and sustained some lines that otherwise would almost certainly have been withdrawn. The service to Buenos Ayres is the first to the Argentine Republic under the American flag. The service to Southampton, Boulogne, and Antwerp is also new, and is to be begun with the steamships City of New York and City of Paris in February next.
I earnestly urge the continuance of the policy inaugurated by this legislation, and that the appropriations required to meet the obligations of the Government under the contracts may be made promptly, so that the lines that have entered into these engagements may not be embarrassed. We have had, by reason of connections with the transcontinental railway lines constructed through our own territory, some advantages in the ocean trade of the Pacific that we did not possess on the Atlantic. The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the establishment under large subventions from Canada and England of fast steamship service from Vancouver with Japan and China seriously threaten our shipping interests in the Pacific. This line of English steamers receives, as is stated by the Commissioner of Navigation, a direct subsidy of $400,000 annually, or $30,767 per trip for thirteen voyages, in addition to some further aid from the Admiralty in connection with contracts under which the vessels may be used for naval purposes. The competing American Pacific mail line under the act of March 3, 1891, receives only $6,389 per round trip.
Efforts have been making within the last year, as I am informed, to establish under similar conditions a line between Vancouver and some Australian port, with a view of seizing there a trade in which we have had a large interest. The Commissioner of Navigation states that a very large per cent of our imports from Asia are now brought to us by English steamships and their connecting railways in Canada. With a view of promoting this trade, especially in tea, Canada has imposed a discriminating duty of 10 per cent upon tea and coffee brought into the Dominion from the United States. If this unequal contest between American lines without subsidy, or with diminished subsidies, and the English Canadian line to which I have referred is to continue, I think we should at least see that the facilities for customs entry and transportation across our territory are not such as to make the Canadian route a favored one, and that the discrimination as to duties to which I have referred is met by a like discrimination as to the importation of these articles from Canada. |
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