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Title: A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 8, part 3: Grover Cleveland, First Term

Author: Grover Cleveland

Editor: James D. Richardson

Release date: May 19, 2005 [eBook #15863]
                Most recently updated: December 14, 2020

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Garcia and the Online
        Distributed Proofreading Team.


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS. VOLUME 8, PART 3: GROVER CLEVELAND, FIRST TERM ***




Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Garcia and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team.







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Grover Cleveland

March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1889

       *       *       *       *       *





Grover Cleveland


Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, Essex County, N.J., March 18,
1837. On the paternal side he is of English origin. Moses Cleveland
emigrated from Ipswich, County of Suffolk, England, in 1635, and settled
at Woburn, Mass., where he died in 1701. His descendant William
Cleveland was a silversmith and watchmaker at Norwich, Conn. Richard
Falley Cleveland, son of the latter named, was graduated at Yale in
1824, was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1829, and in the same
year married Ann Neal, daughter of a Baltimore merchant of Irish birth.
These two were the parents of Grover Cleveland. The Presbyterian
parsonage at Caldwell, where he was born, was first occupied by the
Rev. Stephen Grover, in whose honor he was named; but the first name was
early dropped, and he has been since known as Grover Cleveland. When
he was 4 years old his father accepted a call to Fayetteville, near
Syracuse, N.Y., where the son had common and academic schooling, and
afterwards was a clerk in a country store. The removal of the family
to Clinton, Oneida County, gave him additional educational advantages
in the academy there. In his seventeenth year he became a clerk and an
assistant teacher in the New York Institution for the Blind, in New York
City, in which his elder brother, William, a Presbyterian clergyman,
was then a teacher. In 1855 he left Holland Patent, in Oneida County,
where his mother at that time resided, to go to the West in search of
employment. On his way he stopped at Black Rock, now a part of Buffalo,
and called on his uncle, Lewis F. Allen, who induced him to remain and
aid him in the compilation of a volume of the American Herd Book,
receiving for six weeks' service $60. He afterwards, and while studying
law, assisted in the preparation of several other volumes of this work,
and the preface to the fifth volume (1861) acknowledges his services.
In August, 1855, he secured a place as clerk and copyist for the law
firm of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, in Buffalo, began to read Blackstone,
and in the autumn of that year was receiving $4 per week for his work.
He was admitted to the bar in 1859, but for three years longer remained
with the firm that first employed him, acting as managing clerk at a
salary of $600, a part of which he devoted to the support of his widowed
mother, who died in 1882. Was appointed assistant district attorney of
Erie County January 1, 1863, and held the office for three years. At
this time the Civil War was raging. Two of his brothers were in the
Army, and his mother and sisters were largely dependent upon him for
support. Unable himself to enlist, he borrowed money and sent a
substitute to the war, and it was not till long after the war that
he was able to repay the loan. In 1865, at the age of 28, he was the
Democratic candidate for district attorney, but was defeated by the
Republican candidate, his intimate friend, Lyman K. Bass. He then became
the law partner of Isaac V. Vanderpool, and in 1869 became a member of
the firm of Lanning, Cleveland & Folsom. He continued a successful
practice till 1870, when he was elected sheriff of Erie County. At the
expiration of his three years' term he formed a law partnership with
his personal friend and political antagonist, Lyman K. Bass, the firm
being Bass, Cleveland & Bissell, and, after the forced retirement,
from failing health, of Mr. Bass, Cleveland & Bissell. In 1881 he was
nominated the Democratic candidate for mayor of Buffalo, and was elected
by a majority of 3,530, the largest ever given to a candidate in that
city. In the same election the Republican State ticket was carried in
Buffalo by an average majority of over 1,600. He entered upon the office
January 1, 1882, and soon became known as the "Veto Mayor," using that
prerogative fearlessly in checking unwise, illegal, and extravagant
expenditures. By his vetoes he saved the city nearly $1,000,000 in the
first half year of his administration. He opposed giving $500 of the
taxpayers' money to the Firemen's Benevolent Society on the ground
that such appropriation was not permissible under the terms of the
State constitution and the charter of the city. He vetoed a resolution
diverting $500 from the Fourth of July appropriations to the observance
of Decoration Day for the same reason, and immediately subscribed
one-tenth of the sum wanted for the purpose. His administration of the
office won tributes to his integrity and ability from the press and the
people irrespective of party. On the second day of the Democratic State
convention at Syracuse, September 22, 1882, on the third ballot, was
nominated for governor in opposition to the Republican candidate,
Charles J. Folger, then Secretary of the United States Treasury. He had
the united support of his own party, while the Republicans were not
united on his opponent, and at the election in November he received a
plurality over Mr. Folger of 192,854. His State administration was only
an expansion of the fundamental principles that controlled his official
action while mayor of Buffalo. In a letter written to his brother on
the day of his election he announced a policy he intended to adopt,
and afterwards carried out, "that is, to make the matter a business
engagement between the people of the State and myself, in which the
obligation on my side is to perform the duties assigned me with an
eye single to the interest of my employers." The Democratic national
convention met at Chicago July 8, 1884. On July 11 he was nominated as
their candidate for President. The Republicans made James G. Blaine
their candidate, while Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, was the
Labor and Greenback candidate, and John P. St. John, of Kansas, was
the Prohibition candidate. At the election, November 4, Mr. Cleveland
received 219 and Mr. Blaine 182 electoral votes. He was unanimously
renominated for the Presidency by the national Democratic convention
in St. Louis on June 6, 1888. At the election in November he received
168 electoral votes, while 233 were cast for Benjamin Harrison, the
Republican candidate. Of the popular vote, however, he received
5,540,329, and Mr. Harrison received 5,439,853. At the close of his
Administration, March 4, 1889, he retired to New York City, where he
reentered upon the practice of his profession. It soon became evident,
however, that he would be prominently urged as a candidate for
renomination in 1892. At the national Democratic convention which met
in Chicago June 21, 1892, he received more than two-thirds of the votes
on the first ballot. At the election in November he received 277 of
the electoral votes, while Mr. Harrison received 145 and Mr. James B.
Weaver, the candidate of the People's Party, 22. Of the popular vote
Mr. Cleveland received 5,553,142, Mr. Harrison 5,186,931, and Mr.
Weaver 1,030,128. He retired from office March 4, 1897, and removed to
Princeton, N.J., where he has since resided. He is the first of our
Presidents who served a second term without being elected as his own
successor. President Cleveland was married in the White House on June 2,
1886, to Miss Frances Folsom, daughter of his deceased friend and
partner, Oscar Folsom, of the Buffalo bar. Mrs. Cleveland was the
youngest (except the wife of Mr. Madison) of the many mistresses of the
White House, having been born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1864. She is the
first wife of a President married in the White House, and the first to
give birth to a child there, their second daughter (Esther) having been
born in the Executive Mansion in 1893.




INAUGURAL ADDRESS.


FELLOW-CITIZENS: In the presence of this vast assemblage of my
countrymen I am about to supplement and seal by the oath which I shall
take the manifestation of the will of a great and free people. In the
exercise of their power and right of self-government they have committed
to one of their fellow-citizens a supreme and sacred trust, and he here
consecrates himself to their service.

This impressive ceremony adds little to the solemn sense of
responsibility with which I contemplate the duty I owe to all the people
of the land. Nothing can relieve me from anxiety lest by any act of mine
their interests may suffer, and nothing is needed to strengthen my
resolution to engage every faculty and effort in the promotion of their
welfare.

Amid the din of party strife the people's choice was made, but its
attendant circumstances have demonstrated anew the strength and safety
of a government by the people. In each succeeding year it more clearly
appears that our democratic principle needs no apology, and that in its
fearless and faithful application is to be found the surest guaranty of
good government.

But the best results in the operation of a government wherein every
citizen has a share largely depend upon a proper limitation of purely
partisan zeal and effort and a correct appreciation of the time when the
heat of the partisan should be merged in the patriotism of the citizen.

To-day the executive branch of the Government is transferred to new
keeping. But this is still the Government of all the people, and it
should be none the less an object of their affectionate solicitude.
At this hour the animosities of political strife, the bitterness of
partisan defeat, and the exultation of partisan triumph should be
supplanted by an ungrudging acquiescence in the popular will and a
sober, conscientious concern for the general weal. Moreover, if from
this hour we cheerfully and honestly abandon all sectional prejudice and
distrust, and determine, with manly confidence in one another, to work
out harmoniously the achievements of our national destiny, we shall
deserve to realize all the benefits which our happy form of government
can bestow.

On this auspicious occasion we may well renew the pledge of our devotion
to the Constitution, which, launched by the founders of the Republic and
consecrated by their prayers and patriotic devotion, has for almost a
century borne the hopes and the aspirations of a great people through
prosperity and peace and through the shock of foreign conflicts and the
perils of domestic strife and vicissitudes.

By the Father of his Country our Constitution was commended for adoption
as "the result of a spirit of amity and mutual concession." In that same
spirit it should be administered, in order to promote the lasting
welfare of the country and to secure the full measure of its priceless
benefits to us and to those who will succeed to the blessings of our
national life. The large variety of diverse and competing interests
subject to Federal control, persistently seeking the recognition of
their claims, need give us no fear that "the greatest good to the
greatest number" will fail to be accomplished if in the halls of
national legislation that spirit of amity and mutual concession shall
prevail in which the Constitution had its birth. If this involves the
surrender or postponement of private interests and the abandonment of
local advantages, compensation will be found in the assurance that the
common interest is subserved and the general welfare advanced.

In the discharge of my official duty I shall endeavor to be guided
by a just and unstrained construction of the Constitution, a careful
observance of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal
Government and those reserved to the States or to the people, and by a
cautious appreciation of those functions which by the Constitution and
laws have been especially assigned to the executive branch of the
Government.

But he who takes the oath to-day to preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn obligation
which every patriotic citizen--on the farm, in the workshop, in the busy
marts of trade, and everywhere--should share with him. The Constitution
which prescribes his oath, my countrymen, is yours; the Government you
have chosen him to administer for a time is yours; the suffrage which
executes the will of freemen is yours; the laws and the entire scheme
of our civil rule, from the town meeting to the State capitals and the
national capital, is yours. Your every voter, as surely as your Chief
Magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a different sphere,
exercises a public trust. Nor is this all. Every citizen owes to the
country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and
a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity and usefulness. Thus
is the people's will impressed upon the whole framework of our civil
polity--municipal, State, and Federal; and this is the price of our
liberty and the inspiration of our faith in the Republic.

It is the duty of those serving the people in public place to closely
limit public expenditures to the actual needs of the Government
economically administered, because this bounds the right of the
Government to exact tribute from the earnings of labor or the property
of the citizen, and because public extravagance begets extravagance
among the people. We should never be ashamed of the simplicity and
prudential economies which are best suited to the operation of a
republican form of government and most compatible with the mission of
the American people. Those who are selected for a limited time to manage
public affairs are still of the people, and may do much by their example
to encourage, consistently with the dignity of their official functions,
that plain way of life which among their fellow-citizens aids integrity
and promotes thrift and prosperity.

The genius of our institutions, the needs of our people in their
home life, and the attention which is demanded for the settlement
and development of the resources of our vast territory dictate the
scrupulous avoidance of any departure from that foreign policy commended
by the history, the traditions, and the prosperity of our Republic. It
is the policy of independence, favored by our position and defended by
our known love of justice and by our power. It is the policy of peace
suitable to our interests. It is the policy of neutrality, rejecting
any share in foreign broils and ambitions upon other continents and
repelling their intrusion here. It is the policy of Monroe and of
Washington and Jefferson--"Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with
all nations; entangling alliance with none."

A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the people demands
that our finances shall be established upon such a sound and sensible
basis as shall secure the safety and confidence of business interests
and make the wage of labor sure and steady, and that our system of
revenue shall be so adjusted as to relieve the people of unnecessary
taxation, having a due regard to the interests of capital invested
and workingmen employed in American industries, and preventing the
accumulation of a surplus in the Treasury to tempt extravagance and
waste.

Care for the property of the nation and for the needs of future settlers
requires that the public domain should be protected from purloining
schemes and unlawful occupation.

The conscience of the people demands that the Indians within our
boundaries shall be fairly and honestly treated as wards of the
Government and their education and civilization promoted with a view
to their ultimate citizenship, and that polygamy in the Territories,
destructive of the family relation and offensive to the moral sense of
the civilized world, shall be repressed.

The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the immigration of
a servile class to compete with American labor, with no intention of
acquiring citizenship, and bringing with them and retaining habits and
customs repugnant to our civilization.

The people demand reform in the administration of the Government and the
application of business principles to public affairs. As a means to this
end, civil-service reform should be in good faith enforced. Our citizens
have the right to protection from the incompetency of public employees
who hold their places solely as the reward of partisan service, and from
the corrupting influence of those who promise and the vicious methods
of those who expect such rewards; and those who worthily seek public
employment have the right to insist that merit and competency shall be
recognized instead of party subserviency or the surrender of honest
political belief.

In the administration of a government pledged to do equal and exact
justice to all men there should be no pretext for anxiety touching the
protection of the freedmen in their rights or their security in the
enjoyment of their privileges under the Constitution and its amendments.
All discussion as to their fitness for the place accorded to them as
American citizens is idle and unprofitable except as it suggests the
necessity for their improvement. The fact that they are citizens
entitles them to all the rights due to that relation and charges them
with all its duties, obligations, and responsibilities.

These topics and the constant and ever-varying wants of an active
and enterprising population may well receive the attention and the
patriotic endeavor of all who make and execute the Federal law.
Our duties are practical and call for industrious application, an
intelligent perception of the claims of public office, and, above all,
a firm determination, by united action, to secure to all the people
of the land the full benefits of the best form of government ever
vouchsafed to man. And let us not trust to human effort alone, but humbly
acknowledging the power and goodness of Almighty God, who presides over
the destiny of nations, and who has at all times been revealed in our
country's history, let us invoke His aid and His blessing upon our
labors.

MARCH 4, 1885.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 13, 1885_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

For the purpose of their reexamination I withdraw certain treaties and
conventions now pending in the Senate which were communicated to that
body by my predecessor in office, and I therefore request the return
to me of the commercial convention between the United States and the
Dominican Republic which was transmitted to the Senate December 9, 1884;
of the commercial treaty between the United States and Spain which
was transmitted to the Senate December 10, 1884, together with the
supplementary articles thereto of March 2, 1885; and of the treaty
between the United States and Nicaragua for the construction of an
interoceanic canal which was transmitted to the Senate December 10,
1884.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, April 2, 1885_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

For the purpose of its reconsideration I withdraw the additional
article, now pending in the Senate, signed on the 23d of June last, to
the treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation which was concluded
between the United States and the Argentine Confederation July 27, 1853,
and communicated to the Senate by my predecessor in office 27th of
January, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.


Whereas it is alleged that certain individuals, associations of persons,
and corporations are in the unauthorized possession of portions of the
territory known as the Oklahoma lands, within the Indian Territory,
which are designated, described, and recognized by the treaties and laws
of the United States and by the executive authority thereof as Indian
lands; and

Whereas it is further alleged that certain other persons or associations
within the territory and jurisdiction of the United States have begun
and set on foot preparations for an organized and forcible entry and
settlement upon the aforesaid lands and are now threatening such entry
and occupation; and

Whereas the laws of the United States provide for the removal of all
persons residing or being found upon such Indian lands and territory
without permission expressly and legally obtained of the Interior
Department:

Now, therefore, for the purpose of protecting the public interests, as
well as the interests of the Indian nations and tribes, and to the end
that no person or persons may be induced to enter upon said territory,
where they will not be allowed to remain without the permission of the
authority aforesaid, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United
States, do hereby warn and admonish all and every person or persons now
in the occupation of such lands, and all such person or persons as are
intending, preparing, or threatening to enter and settle upon the same,
that they will neither be permitted to enter upon said territory nor, if
already there, to remain thereon, and that in case a due regard for and
voluntary obedience to the laws and treaties of the United States and
if this admonition and warning be not sufficient to effect the purposes
and intentions of the Government as herein declared, the military power
of the United States will be invoked to abate all such unauthorized
possession, to prevent such threatened entry and occupation, and to
remove all such intruders from the said Indian lands.

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 13th day of March, 1885, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me that upon vessels
of the United States arriving at the island of Trinidad, British West
Indies, no duty is imposed by the ton as tonnage tax or as light money,
and that no other equivalent tax on vessels of the United States is
imposed at said island by the British Government; and Whereas by the
provisions of section 14 of an act approved June 26, 1884, "to remove
certain burdens on the American merchant marine and encourage the
American foreign carrying trade, and for other purposes," the President
of the United States is authorized to suspend the collection in ports of
the United States from vessels arriving from any port in the island of
Trinidad of so much of the duty at the rate of 3 cents per ton as may be
in excess of the tonnage and light-house dues, or other equivalent of
tax or taxes, imposed on American vessels by the government of the
foreign country in which such port is situated:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the act and section
hereinbefore mentioned, do hereby declare and proclaim that on and after
this 7th day of April, 1885, the collection of said tonnage duty of 3
cents per ton shall be suspended as regards all vessels arriving in any
port of the United States from a port in the island of Trinidad, British
West Indies.

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 7th day of April, 1885, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, by an Executive order bearing date the 27th day of February,
1885, it was ordered that "all that tract of country in the Territory
of Dakota known as the Old Winnebago Reservation and the Sioux or Crow
Creek Reservation, and lying on the east bank of the Missouri River, set
apart and reserved by Executive order dated January 11, 1875, and which
is not covered by the Executive order dated August 9, 1879, restoring
certain of the lands reserved by the order of January 11, 1875, except
the following-described tracts: Townships No. 108 north, range 71 west;
108 north, range 72 west; fractional township 108 north, range 73 west;
the west half of section 4, sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33 of township 107 north, range 70 west;
fractional townships 107 north, range 71 west; 107 north, range 72 west;
107 north, range 73 west; the west half of township 106 north, range 70
west; and fractional township 106 north, range 71 west; and except also
all tracts within the limits of the aforesaid Old Winnebago Reservation
and the Sioux or Crow Creek Reservation which are outside of the limits
of the above-described tracts, and which may have heretofore been
allotted to the Indians residing upon said reservation, or which may
have heretofore been selected or occupied by the said Indians under and
in accordance with the provisions of article 6 of the treaty with the
Sioux Indians of April 29, 1868, be, and the same is hereby, restored
to the public domain;" and

Whereas upon the claim being made that said order is illegal and in
violation of the plighted faith and obligations of the United States
contained in sundry treaties heretofore entered into with the Indian
tribes or bands occupants of said reservation, and that the further
execution of said order will not only occasion much distress and
suffering to peaceable Indians, but retard the work of their
civilization and engender amongst them a distrust of the National
Government, I have determined, after a careful examination of the
several treaties, acts of Congress, and other official data bearing on
the subject, aided and assisted therein by the advice and opinion of the
Attorney-General of the United States duly rendered in that behalf, that
the lands so proposed to be restored to the public domain by said
Executive order of February 27, 1885, are included as existing Indian
reservations on the east bank of the Missouri River by the terms of the
second article of the treaty with the Sioux Indians concluded April 29,
1868, and that consequently, being treaty reservations, the Executive
was without lawful power to restore them to the public domain by said
Executive order, which is therefore deemed and considered to be wholly
inoperative and void; and

Whereas the laws of the United States provide for the removal of all
persons residing or being found upon Indian lands and territory without
permission expressly and legally obtained of the Interior Department:

Now, therefore, in order to maintain inviolate the solemn pledges and
plighted faith of the Government as given in the treaties in question,
and for the purpose of properly protecting the interests of the Indian
tribes as well as of the United States in the premises, and to the end
that no person or persons may be induced to enter upon said lands,
where they will not be allowed to remain without the permission of
the authority aforesaid, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United
States, do hereby declare and proclaim the said Executive order of
February 27, 1885, to be in contravention of the treaty obligations of
the United States with the Sioux tribe of Indians, and therefore to
be inoperative and of no effect; and I further declare that the lands
intended to be embraced therein are existing Indian reservations,
and as such available for Indian purposes alone and subject to the
Indian-intercourse acts of the United States. I do further warn and
admonish all and every person or persons now in the occupation of said
lands under color of said Executive order, and all such person or
persons as are intending or preparing to enter and settle upon the same
thereunder, that they will neither be permitted to remain or enter upon
said lands, and such persons as are already there are hereby required to
vacate and remove therefrom with their effects within sixty days from
the date hereof; and in case a due regard for and voluntary obedience
to the laws and treaties of the United States and this admonition and
warning be not sufficient to effect the purpose and intentions as herein
declared, all the power of the Government will be employed to carry into
proper execution the treaties and laws of the United States herein
referred to.

In testimony thereof I hereunto set my hand and cause the seal of the
United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 17th day of April, 1885, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas certain portions of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian
Reservation, in the Indian Territory, are occupied by persons other
than Indians, who claim the right to keep and graze cattle thereon
by agreement made with the Indians for whose special possession and
occupancy the said lands have been reserved by the Government of the
United States, or under other pretexts and licenses; and

Whereas all such agreements and licenses are deemed void and of no
effect, and the persons so occupying said lands with cattle are
considered unlawfully upon the domain of the United States so reserved
as aforesaid; and

Whereas the claims of such persons under said leases and licenses and
their unauthorized presence upon such reservation have caused complaint
and discontent on the part of the Indians located thereon, and are
likely to cause serious outbreaks and disturbances:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do
hereby order and direct that all persons other than Indians who are now
upon any part of said reservation for the purpose of grazing cattle
thereon, and their servants and agents, and all other unauthorized
persons now upon said reservation, do, within forty days from the date
of this proclamation, depart and entirely remove therefrom with their
cattle, horses, and other property.

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 on this 23d day of July, 1885, and the
year of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and tenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

The President of the United States has just received the sad tidings of
the death of that illustrious citizen and ex-President of the United
States, General Ulysses S. Grant, at Mount McGregor, in the State of
New York, to which place he had lately been removed in the endeavor to
prolong his life.

In making this announcement to the people of the United States the
President is impressed with the magnitude of the public loss of a great
military leader, who was in the hour of victory magnanimous, amid
disaster serene and self-sustained; who in every station, whether
as a soldier or as a Chief Magistrate, twice called to power by his
fellow-countrymen, trod unswervingly the pathway of duty, undeterred
by doubts, single-minded and straightforward.

The entire country has witnessed with deep emotion his prolonged and
patient struggle with painful disease, and has watched by his couch of
suffering with tearful sympathy.

The destined end has come at last, and his spirit has returned to the
Creator who sent it forth.

The great heart of the nation that followed him when living with love
and pride bows now in sorrow above him dead, tenderly mindful of his
virtues, his great patriotic services, and of the loss occasioned by his
death.

In testimony of respect to the memory of General Grant, it is ordered
that the Executive Mansion and the several Departments at Washington
be draped in mourning for a period of thirty days and that all public
business shall on the day of the funeral be suspended; and the
Secretaries of War and of the Navy will cause orders to be issued for
appropriate military and naval honors to be rendered on that day.

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 23d day of July, 1885, and of the
Independence of the United States the one hundred and tenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas public policy demands that the public domain shall be reserved
for the occupancy of actual settlers in good faith, and that our people
who seek homes upon such domain shall in no wise be prevented by any
wrongful interference from the safe and free entry thereon to which they
may be entitled; and

Whereas, to secure and maintain this beneficent policy, a statute was
passed by the Congress of the United States on the 25th day of February,
in the year 1885, which declared to be unlawful all inclosures of any
public lands in any State or Territory to any of which land included
within said inclosure the person, party, association, or corporation
making or controlling such inclosure had no claim or color of title made
or acquired in good faith, or an asserted right thereto by or under
claim made in good faith with a view to entry thereof at the proper land
office; and which statute also prohibited any person, by force, threats,
intimidation, or by any fencing or inclosure or other unlawful means,
from preventing or obstructing any person from peaceably entering upon
or establishing a settlement or residence on any tract of public land
subject to settlement or entry under the public-land laws of the United
States, and from preventing or obstructing free passage and transit over
or through the public lands; and

Whereas it is by the fifth section of said act provided as follows:

  That the President is hereby authorized to take such means as shall
  be necessary to remove and destroy any unlawful inclosure of any of
  said lands, and to employ civil or military force as may be necessary
  for that purpose.


And whereas it has been brought to my knowledge that unlawful
inclosures, and such as are prohibited by the terms of the aforesaid
statute, exist upon the public domain, and that actual legal settlement
thereon is prevented and obstructed by such inclosures and by force,
threats, and intimidation:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do
hereby order and direct that any and every unlawful inclosure of the
public lands maintained by any person, association, or corporation be
immediately removed; and I do hereby forbid any person, association, or
corporation from preventing or obstructing by means of such inclosures,
or by force, threats, or intimidation, any person entitled thereto from
peaceably entering upon and establishing a settlement or residence on
any part of such public land which is subject to entry and settlement
under the laws of the United States.

And I command and require each and every officer of the United States
upon whom the duty is legally devolved to cause this order to be obeyed
and all the provisions of the act of Congress herein mentioned to be
faithfully enforced.

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 7th day of August, 1885, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and tenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me that upon vessels
of the United States arriving at the port of Boca del Toro, United
States of Colombia, no duty is imposed by the ton as tonnage tax or as
light money, and that no other equivalent tax on vessels of the United
States is imposed at said port by the Colombian Government; and

Whereas by the provisions of section 14 of an act approved June 26,
1884, "to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and
encourage the American foreign carrying trade, and for other purposes,"
the President of the United States is authorized to suspend the
collection in ports of the United States from vessels arriving from any
port in "Central America down to and including Aspinwall and Panama" of
so much of the duty at the rate of 3 cents per ton as may be in excess
of the tonnage and light-house dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes,
imposed on American vessels by the government of the foreign country in
which such port is situated:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the act and section
hereinbefore mentioned, do hereby declare and proclaim that on and after
this 9th day of September, 1885, the collection of said tonnage duty of
3 cents per ton shall be suspended as regards all vessels arriving in
any port of the United States from the port of Boca del Toro, United
States of Colombia.

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 9th day of September, 1885, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and
tenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

The American people have always abundant cause to be thankful to
Almighty God, whose watchful care and guiding hand have been manifested
in every stage of their national life, guarding and protecting them in
time of peril and safely leading them in the hour of darkness and of
danger.

It is fitting and proper that a nation thus favored should on one day in
every year, for that purpose especially appointed, publicly acknowledge
the goodness of God and return thanks to Him for all His gracious gifts.

Therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, do hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the 26th day of
November instant, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and do
invoke the observance of the same by all the people of the land.

On that day let all secular business be suspended, and let the people
assemble in their usual places of worship and with prayer and songs of
praise devoutly testify their gratitude to the Giver of Every Good and
Perfect Gift for all that He has done for us in the year that has
passed; for our preservation as a united nation and for our deliverance
from the shock and danger of political convulsion; for the blessings of
peace and for our safety and quiet while wars and rumors of wars have
agitated and afflicted other nations of the earth; for our security
against the scourge of pestilence, which in other lands has claimed its
dead by thousands and filled the streets with mourners; for plenteous
crops which reward the labor of the husbandman and increase our nation's
wealth, and for the contentment throughout our borders which follows in
the train of prosperity and abundance.

And let there also be on the day thus set apart a reunion of families,
sanctified and chastened by tender memories and associations; and let
the social intercourse of friends, with pleasant reminiscence, renew the
ties of affection and strengthen the bonds of kindly feeling.

And let us by no means forget while we give thanks and enjoy the
comforts which have crowned our lives that truly grateful hearts are
inclined to deeds of charity, and that a kind and thoughtful remembrance
of the poor will double the pleasures of our condition and render our
praise and thanksgiving more acceptable in the sight of the Lord.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 2d day of November, 1885, and of
the Independence of the United States the one hundred and tenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it is represented to me by the governor of the Territory of
Washington that domestic violence exists within the said Territory,
and that by reason of unlawful obstructions and combinations and the
assemblage of evil-disposed persons it has become impracticable to
enforce by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings the laws of the
United States at Seattle and at other points and places within said
Territory, whereby life and property are there threatened and
endangered; and

Whereas the legislature of said Territory can not be convened, and in
the judgment of the President an emergency has arisen and a case is now
presented which justifies and requires, under the Constitution and laws
of the United States, the employment of military force to suppress
domestic violence and enforce the faithful execution of the laws of the
United States if the command and warning of this proclamation be
disobeyed or disregarded:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, do hereby command and warn all insurgents and all persons who
have assembled at any point within the said Territory of Washington for
the unlawful purposes aforesaid to desist therefrom and to disperse and
retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before 12 o'clock
meridian on the 8th day of November instant.

And I do admonish all good citizens of the United States and all persons
within the limits and jurisdiction thereof against aiding, abetting,
countenancing, or taking any part in such unlawful acts or assemblages.

In witness whereof I have set my hand and caused the seal of the United
States to be hereunto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 7th day of November, A.D. 1885, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and tenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the following rule for the regulation and improvement
of the executive civil service is hereby amended and promulgated, as
follows:

RULE XXII.

  Any person who has been in the classified departmental service for one
  year or more immediately previous may, when the needs of the service
  require it, be transferred or appointed to any other place therein upon
  producing a certificate from the Civil Service Commission that such
  person has passed at the required grade one or more examinations which
  are together equal to that necessary for original entrance to the place
  which would be secured by the transfer or appointment; and any person
  who has for three years last preceding served as a clerk in the office
  of the President of the United States may be transferred or appointed
  to any place in the classified service without examination.


Approved, March 18, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

EXECUTIVE ORDER.

Whereas the Government of His Majesty the King of Italy has extended to
the Government of the United States an invitation to participate in a
sanitary conference to be held at Rome on the 15th day of May, 1885, for
the purpose of devising efficient measures to prevent the invasion of
cholera and to mitigate its disastrous consequences; and

Whereas, by a provision of the act of Congress entitled "An act making
appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, and for other purposes," approved
March 3, 1885, for the suppression of epidemic diseases, the President
of the United States is authorized, in case of threatened or actual
epidemic of cholera or yellow fever, to use certain appropriated sums,
made immediately available, "in aid of State and local boards or
otherwise, in his discretion, in preventing and suppressing the spread
of the same and for maintaining quarantine and maritime inspections at
points of danger;" and

Whereas there is imminent danger of a recurrence of a cholera epidemic
in Europe, which may be brought to our shores unless adequate measures
of international or local quarantine and maritime inspection are taken
in season, which measures of preventive inspection are proper to be
considered by the aforesaid conference, to the end that their efficiency
in divers countries may be secured:

Now, therefore, in virtue of the discretionary authority conferred upon
me by the aforesaid act of Congress, I hereby designate and appoint
Major George M. Sternberg, surgeon in the United States Army, to attend
said conference at Rome as the delegate thereto on the part of the
Government of the United States, under the directions and instructions
of the Secretary of State; and I hereby direct the Secretary of War to
detail the said George M. Sternberg to perform the special service to
which he is thus assigned, with full pay and allowances as on active
service; and I further direct that the reasonable and necessary expenses
of travel and sojourn of the said George M. Sternberg in proceeding from
Washington to Rome, and during his attendance there upon the sessions
of the said conference, and in returning, upon the conclusion thereof,
from Rome to Washington, be adjusted and paid from the appropriation
available under the aforesaid act of March 3, 1885, upon his statement
of account approved by the Secretary of State.

Done at the city of Washington, this 25th day of April, A.D. 1885, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and ninth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 12, 1885_.

Under a provision of an act of Congress entitled "An act making
appropriations for fortifications and other works of defense, and for
the armament thereof, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, and for
other purposes," approved March 3, 1885, a board, to consist of the
officers and civilians hereinafter named, is appointed to "examine and
report at what ports fortifications or other defenses are most urgently
required, the character and kind of defenses best adapted for each, with
reference to armament," and "the utilization of torpedoes, mines, or
other defensive appliances:" Hon. William C. Endicott, Secretary of War,
president of the board; Brigadier-General Stephen V. Benét, Chief of
Ordnance; Brigadier-General John Newton, Chief of Engineers;
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry L. Abbot, Corps of Engineers; Captain Charles
S. Smith, Ordnance Department; Commander W.T. Sampson, United States
Navy; Commander Caspar F. Goodrich, United States Navy; Mr. Joseph
Morgan, jr., of Pennsylvania; Mr. Erastus Corning, of New York.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 26, 1885_.

Under the provisions of section 4 of the act approved March 3, 1883, it
is hereby ordered that the several Executive Departments, the Department
of Agriculture, and the Government Printing Office be closed on
Saturday, the 30th instant, to enable the employees to participate in
the decoration of the graves of the soldiers who fell during the
rebellion.

GROVER CLEVELAND.


In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the Constitution,
and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section of
the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved January 16,
1883, the following rule for the regulation and improvement of the
executive civil service is hereby amended and promulgated, as follows:

RULE XI.

  1. Every application, in order to entitle the applicant to appear for
  examination or to be examined, must state under oath the facts on the
  following subjects: (1) Full name, residence, and post-office address;
  (2) citizenship; (3) age; (4) place of birth; (5) health and physical
  capacity for the public service; (6) right of preference by reason of
  military or naval service; (7) previous employment in the public
  service; (8) business or employment and residence for the previous five
  years; (9) education. Such other information shall be furnished as the
  Commission may reasonably require touching the applicant's fitness for
  the public service. The applicant must also state the number of members
  of his family in the public service and where employed, and must also
  assert that he is not disqualified under section 8 of the civil-service
  act, which is as follows:

  "That no person habitually using intoxicating beverages to excess shall
  be appointed to or retained in any office, appointment, or employment
  to which the provisions of this act are applicable."

  No person dismissed from the public service for misconduct and no
  person who has not been absolutely appointed or employed after
  probation shall be admitted to examination within two years thereafter.

  2. No person under enlistment in the Army or Navy of the United States
  shall be examined under these rules, except for some place in the
  Department under which he is enlisted requiring special qualifications,
  and with the consent in writing of the head of such Department.

  3. The Commission may by regulations, subject to change at any time by
  the President, declare the kind and measure of ill health, physical
  incapacity, misrepresentation, and bad faith which may properly exclude
  any person from the right of examination, grading, or certification
  under these rules. It may also provide for medical certificates of
  physical capacity in the proper cases, and for the appropriate
  certification of persons so defective in sight, speech, hearing, or
  otherwise as to be apparently disqualified for some of the duties of
  the part of the service which they seek to enter.


Approved, June 2, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the eighth clause of Rule XIX for the regulation and
improvement of the executive civil service is hereby amended so as to
read as follows:

  8. Chief clerks, deputy collectors, deputy naval officers, deputy
  surveyors of customs, and superintendents or chiefs of divisions
  or bureaus.


And the same is hereby promulgated.

Approved, June 15, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the following special rule for the regulation and
improvement of the executive civil service is hereby promulgated:


SPECIAL RULE NO. 4.

  Appointments to the 150 places in the Pension Office provided to be
  filled by the act of March 3, 1885, except so far as they may be filled
  by promotions or transfers, must be separately apportioned by the
  appointing power in as near conformity to the second section of the act
  of January 16, 1883, as the need of filling them promptly and the
  residence and qualifications of the applicants will permit.


Approved, July 16, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 23, 1885_.

_Heads of all Government Departments_:

Ex-President Ulysses S. Grant died this morning at 8 o'clock.

In respect to his memory it is ordered that all of the offices of the
Executive Departments in the city of Washington be closed to-day at
1 o'clock.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 81.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
  ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
   _Washington, July 23, 1885_.


I. The following proclamation has been received from the President:

[For proclamation see p. 308.]

II. In compliance with the instructions of the President, on the day of
the funeral, at each military post, the troops and cadets will be
paraded and this order read to them, after which all labors for the day
will cease.

The national flag will be displayed at half-staff.

At dawn of day thirteen guns will be fired, and afterwards at intervals
of thirty minutes between the rising and setting of the sun a single
gun, and at the close of the day a national salute of thirty-eight guns.

The officers of the Army will wear crape on the left arm and on their
swords, and the colors of the Battalion of Engineers, of the several
regiments, and of the United States Corps of Cadets will be put in
mourning for the period of six months.

The date and hour of the funeral will be communicated to department
commanders by telegraph, and by them to their subordinate commanders.

By command of Lieutenant-General Sheridan:

R.C. DRUM, _Adjutant-General_.



SPECIAL ORDER.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, _Washington, July 23, 1885_.

The President of the United States announces the death of ex-President
Ulysses S. Grant in the following proclamation:

[For proclamation see p. 308.]

In pursuance of the President's instructions, it is hereby directed that
the ensign at each naval station and of each vessel of the United States
Navy in commission be hoisted at half-mast, and that a gun be fired at
intervals of every half hour from sunrise to sunset at each naval
station and on board of flagships and of vessels acting singly on the
day of the funeral, where this order may be received in time, otherwise
on the day after its receipt.

The officers of the Navy and Marine Corps will wear the usual badge of
mourning attached to the sword hilt and on the left arm for a period of
thirty days.

WILLIAM C. WHITNEY,
  _Secretary of the Navy_.



In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the seventh clause of Rule XIX for the regulation and
improvement of the executive civil service is hereby amended so as to
read as follows:


  7. Persons whose employment is exclusively professional; but medical
  examiners are not included among such persons.


And the same is hereby promulgated.

Approved, August 5, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

EXECUTIVE ORDER.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 6, 1885_.

_To Head of each Executive Department_:

_It is hereby ordered_, That the several Executive Departments, the
Department of Agriculture, and the Government Printing Office be closed
to-morrow, Friday, August 7, at 3 o'clock p.m., to enable such employees
as may desire to attend the funeral of the late ex-President, General
Grant, in New York.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, September 23, 1885_.

Under a provision of an act of Congress entitled "An act to authorize
the appointment of a commission by the President of the United States
to run and mark the boundary lines between a portion of the Indian
Territory and the State of Texas, in connection with a similar
commission to be appointed by the State of Texas," the following
officers of the Army are detailed, in obedience to the provisions of
said act of Congress, to act in conjunction with such persons as have
been appointed by the State of Texas to ascertain and mark the point
where the one hundredth meridian of longitude crosses the Red River:
Major W.R. Livermore, Corps of Engineers; First Lieutenant Thomas L.
Casey, jr., Corps of Engineers; First Lieutenant Lansing H. Beach,
Corps of Engineers.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

EXECUTIVE ORDER.

Whereas, by a provision of the act of Congress entitled "An act making
appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, and for other purposes," approved
March 3, 1885, for the suppression of epidemic diseases, the President
of the United States is authorized, in case of threatened or actual
epidemic of cholera or yellow fever, to use certain appropriated sums,
made immediate available, "in aid of State and local boards or
otherwise, in his discretion, in preventing and suppressing the spread
of the same and for maintaining quarantine and maritime inspections at
points of danger;" and

Whereas there is imminent danger of a recurrence of a cholera epidemic
in Europe, which may be brought to our shores unless adequate measures
of international or local quarantine inspections are taken in season,
which measures of preventive inspection are proper subjects to be
considered, to the end that their efficiency in divers countries may
be secured:

Now, therefore, in virtue of the discretionary authority conferred upon
me by the aforesaid act of Congress, I hereby designate and appoint
Dr. E.O. Shakespeare, M.D., of Pennsylvania, as a representative of the
Government of the United States, to proceed, under the directions of the
Secretary of State, to Spain and such other countries in Europe where
the cholera exists, and make investigation of the causes, progress, and
proper prevention and cure of the said diseases, in order that a full
report may be made of them to Congress during the next ensuing session;
and I direct that the reasonable and necessary expenses of travel and
sojourn of the said E.O. Shakespeare in proceeding from Washington to
Spain and elsewhere in Europe as he may find it absolutely necessary to
go in pursuit of the desired information, and in returning to Washington
at the conclusion of his labors, be adjusted and paid from the
appropriation available under the aforesaid act of March 3, 1885, upon
his statement of account approved by the Secretary of State.

Done at the city of Washington, this 1st day of October, 1885, and of
the Independence of the United States the one hundred and tenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the following special rule for the regulation and
improvement of the executive civil service is hereby made and
promulgated:

SPECIAL RULE NO. 5.

  Special Rule No. 2, approved July 18, 1884, is hereby revoked. All
  applicants on any register for the postal or customs service who on the
  1st day of November next shall have been thereon one year or more shall,
  in conformity with Rule XVI, be no longer eligible for appointment from
  such register.


Approved, October 1, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, October 24, 1885_.

Under a provision of an act of Congress entitled "An act to authorize
the appointment of a commission by the President of the United States
to run and mark the boundary lines between a portion of the Indian
Territory and the State of Texas, in connection with a similar commission
to be appointed by the State of Texas," Major S.M. Mansfield,
Corps of Engineers, is detailed, in addition to those officers named in
Executive order dated September 23, 1885, in obedience to the provisions
of said act of Congress, to act in conjunction with such persons as have
been appointed by the State of Texas to ascertain and mark the point
where the one hundredth meridian of longitude crosses the Red River.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 29, 1885_.[1]

The death of George B. McClellan, at one time the Major-General
Commanding the Army of the United States, took place at an early hour
this morning. As a mark of public respect to the memory of this
distinguished soldier and citizen, whose military ability and civic
virtues have shed luster upon the history of his country, it is ordered
by the President that the national flag be displayed at half-mast upon
all the buildings of the Executive Departments in the city until after
his funeral shall have taken place.

DANIEL S. LAMONT, _Private Secretary_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,
  ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
    _Washington, November 25, 1885_.

I. The following proclamation [order] of the President of the United
States is published for the information and guidance of all concerned:


  EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 25, 1885_.

  _To the People of the United States_:

  Thomas A. Hendricks, Vice-President of the United States, died to-day
  at 5 o'clock p.m. at Indianapolis, and it becomes my mournful duty to
  announce the distressing fact to his fellow-countrymen.

  In respect to the memory and the eminent and varied services of this
  high official and patriotic public servant, whose long career was so
  full of usefulness and honor to his State and to the United States, it
  is ordered that the national flag be displayed at half-mast upon all the
  public buildings of the United States; that the Executive Mansion and
  the several Executive Departments in the city of Washington be closed
  on the day of the funeral and be draped in mourning for the period of
  thirty days; that the usual and appropriate military and naval honors
  be rendered, and that on all the legations and consulates of the United
  States in foreign countries the national flag shall be displayed at
  half-mast on the reception of this order, and the usual emblems of
  mourning be adopted for thirty days.

  GROVER CLEVELAND.

  By the President:
    T.F. BAYARD,
      _Secretary of State_.


II. On the day next succeeding the receipt of this order at each
military post the troops will be paraded at 10 o'clock a.m. and this
order read to them.

The national flag will be displayed at half-mast. At dawn of day
thirteen guns will be fired. Commencing at 12 o'clock m., nineteen
minute guns will be fired, and at the close of the day the national
salute of thirty-eight guns.

The usual badge of mourning will be worn by officers of the Army, and
the colors of the several regiments, of the United States Corps of
Cadets, and of the Battalion of Engineers will be put in mourning for
the period of thirty days.

By order of the Secretary of War:

R.C. DRUM, _Adjutant-General_.

[Footnote 1: Sent to the heads of the Executive Departments, etc.]



SPECIAL ORDER.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, _Washington, November 25, 1885_.

The President of the United States announces the death of Vice-President
Thomas A. Hendricks in the following order:

[For order see preceding page.]

In pursuance of the foregoing order, it is hereby directed that upon the
day following the receipt of this the ensign at each United States naval
station and of each United States naval vessel in commission be hoisted
at half-mast from sunrise to sunset, and that thirteen guns be fired at
sunrise, nineteen minute guns at meridian, and a national salute at
sunset at each United States naval station and on board flagships and
vessels acting singly, at home or abroad.

The officers of the Navy and Marine Corps will wear the usual badge of
mourning for three months.

WILLIAM C. WHITNEY, _Secretary of the Navy_.



In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the following rules for the regulation and improvement
of the executive civil service are hereby amended and promulgated so as
to read as follows:


  RULE IV.

  1. All officials connected with any office where or for which any
  examination is to take place will give the Civil Service Commission and
  the chief examiner such information as may be reasonably required to
  enable the Commission to select competent and trustworthy examiners;
  and the examinations by those selected as examiners, and the work
  incident thereto, will be regarded as a part of the public business to
  be performed at such office, and with due regard to other parts of the
  public business said examiners shall be allowed time during office
  hours to perform the duties required of them.

  2. It shall be the duty of every executive officer promptly to inform
  the Commission, in writing, of the removal or discharge from the public
  service of any examiner in his office, or of the inability or refusal of
  any such examiner to act in that capacity; and, on the request of the
  Commission, such officer shall thereupon name not less than two persons
  serving under him whom he regards as most competent for a place on an
  examining board, stating generally their qualifications; and from all
  those who may be named for any such place the Commission shall select
  a person to fill the same.


  RULE XI.

  1. Every application, in order to entitle the applicant to appear for
  examination or to be examined, must state under oath the facts on the
  following subjects: (1) Full name, residence, and post-office address;
  (2) citizenship; (3) age; (4) place of birth; (5) health and physical
  capacity for the public service; (6) right of preference by reason of
  military or naval service; (7) previous employment in the public
  service; (8) business or employment and residence for the previous five
  years; (9) education. Such other information shall be furnished as the
  Commission may reasonably require touching the applicant's fitness for
  the public service. The applicant must also state the number of members
  of his family in the public service and where employed, and must also
  assert that he is not disqualified under section. 8 of the civil-service
  act, which is as follows:

  "That no person habitually using intoxicating beverages to excess shall
  be appointed to or retained in any office, appointment, or employment to
  which the provisions of this act are applicable."

  No person dismissed from the public service for misconduct shall be
  admitted to examination within two years thereafter, and no person not
  absolutely appointed or employed after probation shall be admitted to
  an examination within one year thereafter.

  2. No person under enlistment in the Army or Navy of the United States
  shall be examined under these rules, except for some place requiring
  special qualifications, and with the consent in writing of the head of
  the Department under which he is enlisted.

  3. The Commission may, by regulations subject to change at any time by
  the President, declare the kind and measure of ill health, physical
  incapacity, misrepresentation, and bad faith which may properly exclude
  any person from the right of examination, grading, or certification
  under these rules. It may also provide for medical certificates of
  physical capacity in the proper cases, and for the appropriate
  certification of persons so defective in sight, speech, hearing, or
  otherwise as to be apparently disqualified for some of the duties of
  the part of the service which they seek to enter.


  RULE XII.

  1. Every regular application must be supported by proper certificates of
  good moral character, health, and physical and mental capacity for doing
  the public work, the certificates to be in such form and number as the
  regulations of the Commission shall provide; but no certificate will be
  received which is inconsistent with the tenth section of the
  civil-service act.

  2. No one shall be examined for admission to the classified postal
  service if under 16 or over 35 years of age, excepting messengers,
  stampers, and other junior assistants, who must not be under 14 years
  of age, or to the classified customs service or to the classified
  departmental service if under 18 or over 45 years of age; but no one
  shall be examined for appointment to any place in the classified customs
  service, except that of clerk or messenger, who is under 21 years of
  age; but these limitations of age shall not apply to persons honorably
  discharged from the military or naval service of the country who are
  otherwise duly qualified.


  RULE XVI.

  1. Whenever any officer having the power of appointment or employment
  shall so request, there shall be certified to him by the Commission or
  the proper examining board four names for the vacancy specified, to be
  taken from those graded highest on the proper register of those in his
  branch of the service and remaining eligible, regard being had for any
  right of preference and to the apportionments to States and Territories;
  and from the said four a selection shall be made for the vacancy. But
  if a person is on both a general and a special register he need not be
  certified for the former, except at the discretion of the Commission,
  until he has remained two months upon the latter.

  2. These certifications for the service at Washington shall be made
  in such order as to apportion, as nearly as may be practicable, the
  original appointments thereto among the States and Territories and the
  District of Columbia upon the basis of population as ascertained at the
  last preceding census.

  3. In case the request for any such certification or any law or
  regulation shall call for those of either sex, persons of that sex shall
  be certified; otherwise sex shall be disregarded in such certification.

  4. Subject to the other provisions of this rule, persons eligible on
  any register shall be entitled to three certifications only to the
  same officer, but with his request in writing there may be a fourth
  certification of such persons to him when reached in order. No one shall
  remain eligible for more than one year upon any register, except as may
  be provided by regulation; but these restrictions shall not extend to
  examinations under clause 5 of Rule VII. No person while remaining
  eligible on any register shall be admitted to a new examination, and no
  person having failed upon any examination shall within six months be
  admitted to another examination without the consent of the Commission.

  5. Any person appointed to or employed in any place in the classified
  service who shall be dismissed or separated therefrom without fault or
  delinquency on his part may be reappointed or reemployed in the same
  Department or office, at a grade for which no higher examination is
  required than that for the position he last held, within one year next
  following such dismissal or separation, without further examination, on
  such certification as the Commission may provide.


  RULE XVII.

  1. Every original appointment or employment in said classified service
  shall be for the probationary period of six months, at the end of which
  time, if the conduct and capacity of the person appointed have been
  found satisfactory to the officer having the duty of selection, the
  probationer shall be absolutely appointed or employed, but otherwise be
  deemed out of the service.

  2. Every officer under whom any probationer shall serve during any part
  of the probation provided for by these rules shall carefully observe the
  quality and value of the service rendered by such probationer, and shall
  report to the proper appointing officer in writing the facts observed by
  him, showing the character and qualifications of such probationer and of
  the service performed by him; and such reports shall be preserved on
  file.

  3. Every false statement knowingly made by any person in his application
  for examination, and every connivance by him at any false statement
  made in any certificate which may accompany his application, and every
  deception or fraud practiced by him or by any person in his behalf and
  with his knowledge to influence his examination, certification, or
  appointment, shall be regarded as good cause for refusing to certify
  such person or for the removal or discharge of such person during his
  probation or thereafter.


  RULE XIX.

  There are excepted from examination the following: (1) The confidential
  clerk or secretary of any head of a Department or office; (2) cashiers
  of collectors; (3) cashiers of postmasters; (4) superintendents of
  money-order divisions in post-offices; (5) the direct custodians of
  money for whose fidelity another officer is under official bond, and
  disbursing officers having the custody of money who give bond; but these
  exceptions shall not extend to any official below the grade of assistant
  cashier or teller; (6) persons employed exclusively in the secret
  service of the Government, or as translators, or interpreters, or
  stenographers; (7) persons whose employment is exclusively professional,
  but medical examiners are not included among such persons; (8) chief
  clerks, deputy collectors, deputy naval officers, deputy surveyors of
  customs, and superintendents or chiefs of divisions or bureaus. But no
  person so excepted shall be either transferred, appointed, or promoted,
  unless to some excepted place, without an examination under the
  Commission, which examination shall not take place within six months
  after entering the service. Promotions may be made without examination
  in offices where examinations are not now held until rules on the
  subject shall be promulgated.


  RULE XXI.

  1. No person, unless excepted under Rule XIX, shall be admitted into the
  classified civil service from any place not within said service without
  an examination and certification under the rules; with this exception,
  that any person who shall have been an officer for one year or more last
  preceding in any Department or office, in a grade above the classified
  service thereof, may be transferred or appointed to any place in the
  service of the same without examination.

  2. No person who has passed only a limited examination under clause 4
  of Rule VII for the lower classes or grades in the departmental or
  customs service shall be appointed, or be promoted within two years
  after appointment, to any position giving a salary of $1,000 or upward,
  without first passing an examination under clause 1 of said rule; and
  such examination shall not be allowed within the first year after
  appointment.

  3. But a person who has passed the examination under said clause 1, and
  has accepted a position giving a salary of $900 or less, shall have the
  same right of promotion as if originally appointed to a position giving
  a salary of $1,000 or more.

  4. The Commission may at any time certify for a $900 or any lower place
  in the classified service any person upon the register who has passed
  the examination under clause 1 of Rule VII if such person does not
  object before such certification is made.


  RULE XXII.

  Any person who has been in the classified departmental service for six
  months or more immediately previous may, when the needs of the service
  require it, be transferred or appointed to any other place therein upon
  producing a certificate from the Civil Service Commission that such
  person has passed at the required grade one or more examinations which
  are together equal to that necessary for original entrance to the place
  which would be secured by the transfer or appointment; and any person
  who has for three years last preceding served as a clerk in the office
  of the President of the United States may be transferred or appointed
  to any place in the classified service without examination.


Approved, November 27, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

EXECUTIVE ORDER.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 28, 1885_.

_It is hereby ordered_, That the Department of Agriculture, the
Government Printing Office, and all other Government offices in the
District of Columbia be closed on Tuesday, December 1, 1885, the day of
the funeral of the late Thomas A. Hendricks, Vice-President of the
United States.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.


WASHINGTON, _December 8, 1885_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

Your assembling is clouded by a sense of public bereavement, caused by
the recent and sudden death of Thomas A. Hendricks, Vice-President of
the United States. His distinguished public services, his complete
integrity and devotion to every duty, and his personal virtues will find
honorable record in his country's history.

Ample and repeated proofs of the esteem and confidence in which he was
held by his fellow-countrymen were manifested by his election to offices
of the most important trust and highest dignity; and at length, full of
years and honors, he has been laid at rest amid universal sorrow and
benediction.

The Constitution, which requires those chosen to legislate for the
people to annually meet in the discharge of their solemn trust, also
requires the President to give to Congress information of the state of
the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall
deem necessary and expedient. At the threshold of a compliance with
these constitutional directions it is well for us to bear in mind that
our usefulness to the people's interests will be promoted by a constant
appreciation of the scope and character of our respective duties as they
relate to Federal legislation. While the Executive may recommend such
measures as he shall deem expedient, the responsibility for legislative
action must and should rest upon those selected by the people to make
their laws.

Contemplation of the grave and responsible functions assigned to the
respective branches of the Government under the Constitution will
disclose the partitions of power between our respective departments and
their necessary independence, and also the need for the exercise of all
the power intrusted to each in that spirit of comity and cooperation
which is essential to the proper fulfillment of the patriotic
obligations which rest upon us as faithful servants of the people.

The jealous watchfulness of our constituencies, great and small,
supplements their suffrages, and before the tribunal they establish
every public servant should be judged.

It is gratifying to announce that the relations of the United States
with all foreign powers continue to be friendly. Our position after
nearly a century of successful constitutional government, maintenance of
good faith in all our engagements, the avoidance of complications with
other nations, and our consistent and amicable attitude toward the
strong and weak alike furnish proof of a political disposition which
renders professions of good will unnecessary. There are no questions of
difficulty pending with any foreign government.

The Argentine Government has revived the long dormant question of the
Falkland Islands by claiming from the United States indemnity for their
loss, attributed to the action of the commander of the sloop of war
_Lexington_ in breaking up a piratical colony on those islands in
1831, and their subsequent occupation by Great Britain. In view of the
ample justification for the act of the _Lexington_ and the derelict
condition of the islands before and after their alleged occupation by
Argentine colonists, this Government considers the claim as wholly
groundless.

Question has arisen with the Government of Austria-Hungary touching
the representation of the United States at Vienna. Having under my
constitutional prerogative appointed an estimable citizen of unimpeached
probity and competence as minister at that court, the Government of
Austria-Hungary invited this Government to take cognizance of certain
exceptions, based upon allegations against the personal acceptability
of Mr. Keiley, the appointed envoy, asking that in view thereof the
appointment should be withdrawn. The reasons advanced were such as
could not be acquiesced in without violation of my oath of office
and the precepts of the Constitution, since they necessarily involved a
limitation in favor of a foreign government upon the right of selection
by the Executive and required such an application of a religious test
as a qualification for office under the United States as would have
resulted in the practical disfranchisement of a large class of our
citizens and the abandonment of a vital principle in our Government. The
Austro-Hungarian Government finally decided not to receive Mr. Keiley as
the envoy of the United States, and that gentleman has since resigned
his commission, leaving the post vacant. I have made no new nomination,
and the interests of this Government at Vienna are now in the care of
the secretary of legation, acting as chargé d'affaires _ad interim_.

Early in March last war broke out in Central America, caused by the
attempt of Guatemala to consolidate the several States into a single
government. In these contests between our neighboring States the United
States forebore to interfere actively, but lent the aid of their
friendly offices in deprecation of war and to promote peace and concord
among the belligerents, and by such counsel contributed importantly to
the restoration of tranquillity in that locality.

Emergencies growing out of civil war in the United States of Colombia
demanded of the Government at the beginning of this Administration
the employment of armed forces to fulfill its guaranties under the
thirty-fifth article of the treaty of 1846, in order to keep the transit
open across the Isthmus of Panama. Desirous of exercising only the
powers expressly reserved to us by the treaty, and mindful of the rights
of Colombia, the forces sent to the Isthmus were instructed to confine
their action to "positively and efficaciously" preventing the transit
and its accessories from being "interrupted or embarrassed."

The execution of this delicate and responsible task necessarily involved
police control where the local authority was temporarily powerless, but
always in aid of the sovereignty of Colombia.

The prompt and successful fulfillment of its duty by this Government was
highly appreciated by the Government of Colombia, and has been followed
by expressions of its satisfaction.

High praise is due to the officers and men engaged in this service.

The restoration of peace on the Isthmus by the reestablishment of the
constituted Government there being thus accomplished, the forces of the
United States were withdrawn.

Pending these occurrences a question of much importance was presented by
decrees of the Colombian Government proclaiming the closure of certain
ports then in the hands of insurgents and declaring vessels held by
the revolutionists to be piratical and liable to capture by any power.
To neither of these propositions could the United States assent. An
effective closure of ports not in the possession of the Government, but
held by hostile partisans, could not be recognized; neither could the
vessels of insurgents against the legitimate sovereignty be deemed
_hostes humani generis_ within the precepts of international law,
whatever might be the definition and penalty of their acts under the
municipal law of the State against whose authority they were in revolt.
The denial by this Government of the Colombian propositions did not,
however, imply the admission of a belligerent status on the part of the
insurgents.

The Colombian Government has expressed its willingness to negotiate
conventions for the adjustment by arbitration of claims by foreign
citizens arising out of the destruction of the city of Aspinwall by the
insurrectionary forces.

The interest of the United States in a practicable transit for ships
across the strip of land separating the Atlantic from the Pacific has
been repeatedly manifested during the last half century.

My immediate predecessor caused to be negotiated with Nicaragua a treaty
for the construction, by and at the sole cost of the United States,
of a canal through Nicaraguan territory, and laid it before the Senate.
Pending the action of that body thereon, I withdrew the treaty for
reexamination. Attentive consideration of its provisions leads me to
withhold it from resubmission to the Senate.

Maintaining, as I do, the tenets of a line of precedents from
Washington's day, which proscribe entangling alliances with foreign
states, I do not favor a policy of acquisition of new and distant
territory or the incorporation of remote interests with our own.

The laws of progress are vital and organic, and we must be conscious of
that irresistible tide of commercial expansion which, as the concomitant
of our active civilization, day by day is being urged onward by those
increasing facilities of production, transportation, and communication
to which steam and electricity have given birth; but our duty in the
present instructs us to address ourselves mainly to the development of
the vast resources of the great area committed to our charge and to
the cultivation of the arts of peace within our own borders, though
jealously alert in preventing the American hemisphere from being
involved in the political problems and complications of distant
governments. Therefore I am unable to recommend propositions involving
paramount privileges of ownership or right outside of our own territory,
when coupled with absolute and unlimited engagements to defend the
territorial integrity of the state where such interests lie. While the
general project of connecting the two oceans by means of a canal is to
be encouraged, I am of opinion that any scheme to that end to be
considered with favor should be free from the features alluded to.

The Tehuantepec route is declared by engineers of the highest repute and
by competent scientists to afford an entirely practicable transit for
vessels and cargoes, by means of a ship railway, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. The obvious advantages of such a route, if feasible, over
others more remote from the axial lines of traffic between Europe and
the Pacific, and particularly between the Valley of the Mississippi and
the western coast of North and South America, are deserving of
consideration.

Whatever highway may be constructed across the barrier dividing the two
greatest maritime areas of the world must be for the world's benefit--a
trust for mankind, to be removed from the chance of domination by any
single power, nor become a point of invitation for hostilities or a
prize for warlike ambition. An engagement combining the construction,
ownership, and operation of such a work by this Government, with an
offensive and defensive alliance for its protection, with the foreign
state whose responsibilities and rights we would share is, in my
judgment, inconsistent with such dedication to universal and neutral
use, and would, moreover, entail measures for its realization beyond the
scope of our national polity or present means.

The lapse of years has abundantly confirmed the wisdom and foresight
of those earlier Administrations which, long before the conditions of
maritime intercourse were changed and enlarged by the progress of the
age, proclaimed the vital need of interoceanic transit across the
American Isthmus and consecrated it in advance to the common use of
mankind by their positive declarations and through the formal obligation
of treaties. Toward such realization the efforts of my Administration
will be applied, ever bearing in mind the principles on which it must
rest, and which were declared in no uncertain tones by Mr. Cass, who,
while Secretary of State, in 1858, announced that "what the United
States want in Central America, next to the happiness of its people,
is the security and neutrality of the interoceanic routes which lead
through it."

The construction of three transcontinental lines of railway, all in
successful operation, wholly within our territory, and uniting the
Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, has been accompanied by results of a
most interesting and impressive nature, and has created new conditions,
not in the routes of commerce only, but in political geography, which
powerfully affect our relations toward and necessarily increase our
interests in any transisthmian route which may be opened and employed
for the ends of peace and traffic, or, in other contingencies, for uses
inimical to both.

Transportation is a factor in the cost of commodities scarcely second to
that of their production, and weighs as heavily upon the consumer.

Our experience already has proven the great importance of having the
competition between land carriage and water carriage fully developed,
each acting as a protection to the public against the tendencies to
monopoly which are inherent in the consolidation of wealth and power in
the hands of vast corporations.

These suggestions may serve to emphasize what I have already said on the
score of the necessity of a neutralization of any interoceanic transit;
and this can only be accomplished by making the uses of the route open
to all nations and subject to the ambitions and warlike necessities of
none.

The drawings and report of a recent survey of the Nicaragua Canal route,
made by Chief Engineer Menocal, will be communicated for your
information.

The claims of citizens of the United States for losses by reason of the
late military operations of Chile in Peru and Bolivia are the subject of
negotiation for a claims convention with Chile, providing for their
submission to arbitration.

The harmony of our relations with China is fully sustained.

In the application of the acts lately passed to execute the treaty of
1880, restrictive of the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United
States, individual cases of hardship have occurred beyond the power of
the Executive to remedy, and calling for judicial determination.

The condition of the Chinese question in the Western States and
Territories is, despite this restrictive legislation, far from being
satisfactory. The recent outbreak in Wyoming Territory, where numbers of
unoffending Chinamen, indisputably within the protection of the treaties
and the law, were murdered by a mob, and the still more recent
threatened outbreak of the same character in Washington Territory, are
fresh in the minds of all, and there is apprehension lest the bitterness
of feeling against the Mongolian race on the Pacific Slope may find vent
in similar lawless demonstrations. All the power of this Government
should be exerted to maintain the amplest good faith toward China in the
treatment of these men, and the inflexible sternness of the law in
bringing the wrongdoers to justice should be insisted upon.

Every effort has been made by this Government to prevent these violent
outbreaks and to aid the representatives of China in their investigation
of these outrages; and it is but just to say that they are traceable to
the lawlessness of men not citizens of the United States engaged in
competition with Chinese laborers.

Race prejudice is the chief factor in originating these disturbances,
and it exists in a large part of our domain, jeopardizing our domestic
peace and the good relationship we strive to maintain with China.

The admitted right of a government to prevent the influx of elements
hostile to its internal peace and security may not be questioned, even
where there is no treaty stipulation on the subject. That the exclusion
of Chinese labor is demanded in other countries where like conditions
prevail is strongly evidenced in the Dominion of Canada, where Chinese
immigration is now regulated by laws more exclusive than our own. If
existing laws are inadequate to compass the end in view, I shall be
prepared to give earnest consideration to any further remedial measures,
within the treaty limits, which the wisdom of Congress may devise.

The independent State of the Kongo has been organized as a government
under the sovereignty of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, who
assumes its chief magistracy in his personal character only, without
making the new State a dependency of Belgium. It is fortunate that a
benighted region, owing all it has of quickening civilization to the
beneficence and philanthropic spirit of this monarch, should have the
advantage and security of his benevolent supervision.

The action taken by this Government last year in being the first to
recognize the flag of the International Association of the Kongo has
been followed by formal recognition of the new nationality which
succeeds to its sovereign powers.

A conference of delegates of the principal commercial nations was held
at Berlin last winter to discuss methods whereby the Kongo basin might
be kept open to the world's trade. Delegates attended on behalf of the
United States on the understanding that their part should be merely
deliberative, without imparting to the results any binding character
so far as the United States were concerned. This reserve was due to
the indisposition of this Government to share in any disposal by an
international congress of jurisdictional questions in remote foreign
territories. The results of the conference were embodied in a formal act
of the nature of an international convention, which laid down certain
obligations purporting to be binding on the signatories, subject to
ratification within one year. Notwithstanding the reservation under
which the delegates of the United States attended, their signatures
were attached to the general act in the same manner as those of the
plenipotentiaries of other governments, thus making the United States
appear, without reserve or qualification, as signatories to a joint
international engagement imposing on the signers the conservation of the
territorial integrity of distant regions where we have no established
interests or control.

This Government does not, however, regard its reservation of liberty
of action in the premises as at all impaired; and holding that an
engagement to share in the obligation of enforcing neutrality in the
remote valley of the Kongo would be an alliance whose responsibilities
we are not in a position to assume, I abstain from asking the sanction
of the Senate to that general act.

The correspondence will be laid before you, and the instructive and
interesting report of the agent sent by this Government to the Kongo
country and his recommendations for the establishment of commercial
agencies on the African coast are also submitted for your consideration.

The commission appointed by my predecessor last winter to visit the
Central and South American countries and report on the methods of
enlarging the commercial relations of the United States therewith has
submitted reports, which will be laid before you.

No opportunity has been omitted to testify the friendliness of this
Government toward Korea, whose entrance into the family of treaty powers
the United States were the first to recognize. I regard with favor the
application made by the Korean Government to be allowed to employ
American officers as military instructors, to which the assent of
Congress becomes necessary, and I am happy to say this request has the
concurrent sanction of China and Japan.

The arrest and imprisonment of Julio R. Santos, a citizen of the United
States, by the authorities of Ecuador gave rise to a contention with
that Government, in which his right to be released or to have a speedy
and impartial trial on announced charges and with all guaranties of
defense stipulated by treaty was insisted upon by us. After an elaborate
correspondence and repeated and earnest representations on our part Mr.
Santos was, after an alleged trial and conviction, eventually included
in a general decree of amnesty and pardoned by the Ecuadorian Executive
and released, leaving the question of his American citizenship denied by
the Ecuadorian Government, but insisted upon by our own.

The amount adjudged by the late French and American Claims Commission to
be due from the United States to French claimants on account of injuries
suffered by them during the War of Secession, having been appropriated
by the last Congress, has been duly paid to the French Government.

The act of February 25, 1885, provided for a preliminary search of the
records of French prize courts for evidence bearing on the claims of
American citizens against France for spoliations committed prior to
1801. The duty has been performed, and the report of the agent will be
laid before you.

I regret to say that the restrictions upon the importation of our pork
into France continue, notwithstanding the abundant demonstration of the
absence of sanitary danger in its use; but I entertain strong hopes that
with a better understanding of the matter this vexatious prohibition
will be removed. It would be pleasing to be able to say as much with
respect to Germany, Austria, and other countries, where such food
products are absolutely excluded, without present prospect of reasonable
change.

The interpretation of our existing treaties of naturalization by Germany
during the past year has attracted attention by reason of an apparent
tendency on the part of the Imperial Government to extend the scope of
the residential restrictions to which returning naturalized citizens of
German origin are asserted to be liable under the laws of the Empire.
The temperate and just attitude taken by this Government with regard to
this class of questions will doubtless lead to a satisfactory
understanding.

The dispute of Germany and Spain relative to the domination of the
Caroline Islands has attracted the attention of this Government by
reason of extensive interests of American citizens having grown up in
those parts during the past thirty years, and because the question of
ownership involves jurisdiction of matters affecting the status of our
citizens under civil and criminal law. While standing wholly aloof from
the proprietary issues raised between powers to both of which the United
States are friendly, this Government expects that nothing in the present
contention shall unfavorably affect our citizens carrying on a peaceful
commerce or there domiciled, and has so informed the Governments of
Spain and Germany.

The marked good will between the United States and Great Britain has
been maintained during the past year.

The termination of the fishing clauses of the treaty of Washington, in
pursuance of the joint resolution of March 3, 1883, must have resulted
in the abrupt cessation on the 1st of July of this year, in the midst
of their ventures, of the operations of citizens of the United States
engaged in fishing in British American waters but for a diplomatic
understanding reached with Her Majesty's Government in June last,
whereby assurance was obtained that no interruption of those operations
should take place during the current fishing season.

In the interest of good neighborhood and of the commercial intercourse
of adjacent communities, the question of the North American fisheries is
one of much importance. Following out the intimation given by me when
the extensory arrangement above described was negotiated, I recommend
that the Congress provide for the appointment of a commission in which
the Governments of the United States and Great Britain shall be
respectively represented, charged with the consideration and settlement,
upon a just, equitable, and honorable basis, of the entire question of
the fishing rights of the two Governments and their respective citizens
on the coasts of the United States and British North America. The
fishing interests being intimately related to other general questions
dependent upon contiguity and intercourse, consideration thereof in all
their equities might also properly come within the purview of such a
commission, and the fullest latitude of expression on both sides should
be permitted.

The correspondence in relation to the fishing rights will be submitted.

The arctic exploring steamer _Alert_, which was generously given by
Her Majesty's Government to aid in the relief of the Greely expedition,
was, after the successful attainment of that humane purpose, returned to
Great Britain, in pursuance of the authority conferred by the act of
March 3, 1885.

The inadequacy of the existing engagements for extradition between
the United States and Great Britain has been long apparent. The tenth
article of the treaty of 1842, one of the earliest compacts in this
regard entered into by us, stipulated for surrender in respect of a
limited number of offenses. Other crimes no less inimical to the social
welfare should be embraced and the procedure of extradition brought in
harmony with present international practice. Negotiations with Her
Majesty's Government for an enlarged treaty of extradition have been
pending since 1870, and I entertain strong hopes that a satisfactory
result may be soon attained.

The frontier line between Alaska and British Columbia, as defined by
the treaty of cession with Russia, follows the demarcation assigned
in a prior treaty between Great Britain and Russia. Modern exploration
discloses that this ancient boundary is impracticable as a geographical
fact. In the unsettled condition of that region the question has lacked
importance, but the discovery of mineral wealth in the territory the
line is supposed to traverse admonishes that the time has come when an
accurate knowledge of the boundary is needful to avert jurisdictional
complications. I recommend, therefore, that provision be made for a
preliminary reconnoissance by officers of the United States, to the end
of acquiring more precise information on the subject. I have invited
Her Majesty's Government to consider with us the adoption of a more
convenient line, to be established by meridian observations or by known
geographical features without the necessity of an expensive survey of
the whole.

The late insurrectionary movements in Hayti having been quelled, the
Government of that Republic has made prompt provision for adjudicating
the losses suffered by foreigners because of hostilities there, and the
claims of certain citizens of the United States will be in this manner
determined.

The long-pending claims of two citizens of the United States, Pelletier
and Lazare, have been disposed of by arbitration, and an award in favor
of each claimant has been made, which by the terms of the engagement is
final. It remains for Congress to provide for the payment of the
stipulated moiety of the expenses.

A question arose with Hayti during the past year by reason of the
exceptional treatment of an American citizen, Mr. Van Bokkelen, a
resident of Port-au-Prince, who, on suit by creditors residing in the
United States, was sentenced to imprisonment, and, under the operation
of a Haytian statute, was denied relief secured to a native Haytian.
This Government asserted his treaty right to equal treatment with
natives of Hayti in all suits at law. Our contention was denied by the
Haytian Government, which, however, while still professing to maintain
the ground taken against Mr. Van Bokkelen's right, terminated the
controversy by setting him at liberty without explanation.

An international conference to consider the means of arresting the
spread of cholera and other epidemic diseases was held at Rome in May
last, and adjourned to meet again on further notice. An expert delegate
on behalf of the United States has attended its sessions and will submit
a report.

Our relations with Mexico continue to be most cordial, as befits
those of neighbors between whom the strongest ties of friendship and
commercial intimacy exist, as the natural and growing consequence of our
similarity of institutions and geographical propinquity.

The relocation of the boundary line between the United States and Mexico
westward of the Rio Grande, under the convention of July 29, 1882, has
been unavoidably delayed, but I apprehend no difficulty in securing a
prolongation of the period for its accomplishment.

The lately concluded commercial treaty with Mexico still awaits the
stipulated legislation to carry its provisions into effect, for which
one year's additional time has been secured by a supplementary article
signed in February last and since ratified on both sides.

As this convention, so important to the commercial welfare of the
two adjoining countries, has been constitutionally confirmed by the
treaty-making branch, I express the hope that legislation needed to make
it effective may not be long delayed.

The large influx of capital and enterprise to Mexico from the United
States continues to aid in the development of the resources and in
augmenting the material well-being of our sister Republic. Lines of
railway, penetrating to the heart and capital of the country, bring
the two peoples into mutually beneficial intercourse, and enlarged
facilities of transit add to profitable commerce, create new markets,
and furnish avenues to otherwise isolated communities.

I have already adverted to the suggested construction of a ship railway
across the narrow formation of the territory of Mexico at Tehuantepec.

With the gradual recovery of Peru from the effects of her late
disastrous conflict with Chile, and with the restoration of civil
authority in that distracted country, it is hoped that pending war
claims of our citizens will be adjusted.

In conformity with notification given by the Government of Peru, the
existing treaties of commerce and extradition between the United States
and that country will terminate March 31, 1886.

Our good relationship with Russia continues.

An officer of the Navy, detailed for the purpose, is now on his way to
Siberia bearing the testimonials voted by Congress to those who
generously succored the survivors of the unfortunate _Jeannette_
expedition.

It is gratifying to advert to the cordiality of our intercourse with
Spain.

The long-pending claim of the owners of the ship _Masonic_ for loss
suffered through the admitted dereliction of the Spanish authorities in
the Philippine Islands has been adjusted by arbitration and an indemnity
awarded. The principle of arbitration in such cases, to which the United
States have long and consistently adhered, thus receives a fresh and
gratifying confirmation.

Other questions with Spain have been disposed of or are under diplomatic
consideration with a view to just and honorable settlement.

The operation of the commercial agreement with Spain of January
2-February 13, 1884, has been found inadequate to the commercial needs
of the United States and the Spanish Antilles, and the terms of the
agreement are subjected to conflicting interpretations in those islands.

Negotiations have been instituted at Madrid for a full treaty not open
to these objections and in the line of the general policy touching the
neighborly intercourse of proximate communities, to which I elsewhere
advert, and aiming, moreover, at the removal of existing burdens and
annoying restrictions; and although a satisfactory termination is
promised, I am compelled to delay its announcement.

An international copyright conference was held at Berne in September, on
the invitation of the Swiss Government. The envoy of the United States
attended as a delegate, but refrained from committing this Government to
the results, even by signing the recommendatory protocol adopted. The
interesting and important subject of international copyright has been
before you for several years. Action is certainly desirable to effect
the object in view; and while there may be question as to the relative
advantage of treating it by legislation or by specific treaty, the
matured views of the Berne conference can not fail to aid your
consideration of the subject.

The termination of the commercial treaty of 1862 between the United
States and Turkey has been sought by that Government. While there is
question as to the sufficiency of the notice of termination given, yet
as the commercial rights of our citizens in Turkey come under the
favored-nation guaranties of the prior treaty of 1830, and as equal
treatment is admitted by the Porte, no inconvenience can result from the
assent of this Government to the revision of the Ottoman tariffs, in
which the treaty powers have been invited to join.

Questions concerning our citizens in Turkey may be affected by the
Porte's nonacquiescence in the right of expatriation and by the
imposition of religious tests as a condition of residence, in which
this Government can not concur. The United States must hold in their
intercourse with every power that the status of their citizens is to be
respected and equal civil privileges accorded to them without regard
to creed, and affected by no considerations save those growing out of
domiciliary return to the land of original allegiance or of unfulfilled
personal obligations which may survive, under municipal laws, after such
voluntary return.

The negotiation with Venezuela relative to the rehearing of the awards
of the mixed commission constituted under the treaty of 1866 was resumed
in view of the recent acquiescence of the Venezuelan envoy in the
principal point advanced by this Government, that the effects of the old
treaty could only be set aside by the operation of a new convention. A
result in substantial accord with the advisory suggestions contained in
the joint resolution of March 3, 1883, has been agreed upon and will
shortly be submitted to the Senate for ratification.

Under section 3659 of the Revised Statutes all funds held in trust by
the United States and the annual interest accruing thereon, when not
otherwise required by treaty, are to be invested in stocks of the United
States bearing a rate of interest not less than 5 per cent per annum.
There being now no procurable stocks paying so high a rate of interest,
the letter of the statute is at present inapplicable, but its spirit is
subserved by continuing to make investments of this nature in current
stocks bearing the highest interest now paid. The statute, however,
makes no provision for the disposal of such accretions. It being
contrary to the general rule of this Government to allow interest on
claims, I recommend the repeal of the provision in question and the
disposition, under a uniform rule, of the present accumulations from
investment of trust funds.

The inadequacy of existing legislation touching citizenship and
naturalization demands your consideration.

While recognizing the right of expatriation, no statutory provision
exists providing means for renouncing citizenship by an American
citizen, native born or naturalized, nor for terminating and vacating
an improper acquisition of citizenship. Even a fraudulent decree of
naturalization can not now be canceled. The privilege and franchise of
American citizenship should be granted with care, and extended to those
only who intend in good faith to assume its duties and responsibilities
when attaining its privileges and benefits. It should be withheld from
those who merely go through the forms of naturalization with the intent
of escaping the duties of their original allegiance without taking upon
themselves those of their new status, or who may acquire the rights of
American citizenship for no other than a hostile purpose toward their
original governments. These evils have had many flagrant illustrations.

I regard with favor the suggestion put forth by one of my predecessors
that provision be made for a central bureau of record of the decrees of
naturalization granted by the various courts throughout the United
States now invested with that power.

The rights which spring from domicile in the United States, especially
when coupled with a declaration of intention to become a citizen, are
worthy of definition by statute. The stranger coming hither with intent
to remain, establishing his residence in our midst, contributing to the
general welfare, and by his voluntary act declaring his purpose to
assume the responsibilities of citizenship, thereby gains an inchoate
status which legislation may properly define. The laws of certain
States and Territories admit a domiciled alien to the local franchise,
conferring on him the rights of citizenship to a degree which places him
in the anomalous position of being a citizen of a State and yet not of
the United States within the purview of Federal and international law.

It is important within the scope of national legislation to define this
right of alien domicile as distinguished from Federal naturalization.

The commercial relations of the United States with their immediate
neighbors and with important areas of traffic near our shores suggest
especially liberal intercourse between them and us.

Following the treaty of 1883 with Mexico, which rested on the basis of a
reciprocal exemption from customs duties, other similar treaties were
initiated by my predecessor.

Recognizing the need of less obstructed traffic with Cuba and Puerto
Rico, and met by the desire of Spain to succor languishing interests
in the Antilles, steps were taken to attain those ends by a treaty of
commerce. A similar treaty was afterwards signed by the Dominican
Republic. Subsequently overtures were made by Her Britannic Majesty's
Government for a like mutual extension of commercial intercourse with
the British West Indian and South American dependencies, but without
result.

On taking office I withdrew for reexamination the treaties signed with
Spain and Santo Domingo, then pending before the Senate. The result has
been to satisfy me of the inexpediency of entering into engagements of
this character not covering the entire traffic.

These treaties contemplated the surrender by the United States of large
revenues for inadequate considerations. Upon sugar alone duties were
surrendered to an amount far exceeding all the advantages offered in
exchange. Even were it intended to relieve our consumers, it was evident
that so long as the exemption but partially covered our importation such
relief would be illusory. To relinquish a revenue so essential seemed
highly improvident at a time when new and large drains upon the Treasury
were contemplated. Moreover, embarrassing questions would have arisen
under the favored-nation clauses of treaties with other nations.

As a further objection, it is evident that tariff regulation by treaty
diminishes that independent control over its own revenues which is
essential for the safety and welfare of any government. Emergency
calling for an increase of taxation may at any time arise, and no
engagement with a foreign power should exist to hamper the action of the
Government.

By the fourteenth section of the shipping act approved June 26, 1884,
certain reductions and contingent exemptions from tonnage dues were made
as to vessels entering ports of the United States from any foreign port
in North and Central America, the West India Islands, the Bahamas and
Bermudas, Mexico, and the Isthmus as far as Aspinwall and Panama. The
Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, and Sweden and
Norway have asserted, under the favored-nation clause in their treaties
with the United States, a claim to like treatment in respect of vessels
coming to the United States from their home ports. This Government,
however, holds that the privileges granted by the act are purely
geographical, inuring to any vessel of any foreign power that may choose
to engage in traffic between this country and any port within the
defined zone, and no warrant exists under the most-favored-nation clause
for the extension of the privileges in question to vessels sailing to
this country from ports outside the limitation of the act.

Undoubtedly the relations of commerce with our near neighbors, whose
territories form so long a frontier line difficult to be guarded, and
who find in our country, and equally offer to us, natural markets,
demand special and considerate treatment. It rests with Congress to
consider what legislative action may increase facilities of intercourse
which contiguity makes natural and desirable.

I earnestly urge that Congress recast the appropriations for the
maintenance of the diplomatic and consular service on a footing
commensurate with the importance of our national interests. At every
post where a representative is necessary the salary should be so graded
as to permit him to live with comfort. With the assignment of adequate
salaries the so-called notarial extraofficial fees, which our officers
abroad are now permitted to treat as personal perquisites, should be
done away with. Every act requiring the certification and seal of the
officer should be taxable at schedule rates and the fee therefor
returned to the Treasury. By restoring these revenues to the public use
the consular service would be self-supporting, even with a liberal
increase of the present low salaries.

In further prevention of abuses a system of consular inspection should
be instituted.

The appointment of a limited number of secretaries of legation at large,
to be assigned to duty wherever necessary, and in particular for
temporary service at missions which for any cause may be without a head,
should also be authorized.

I favor also authorization for the detail of officers of the regular
service as military or naval attachés at legations.

Some foreign governments do not recognize the union of consular with
diplomatic functions. Italy and Venezuela will only receive the
appointee in one of his two capacities, but this does not prevent the
requirement of a bond and submission to the responsibilities of an
office whose duties he can not discharge. The superadded title of
consul-general should be abandoned at all missions.

I deem it expedient that a well-devised measure for the reorganization
of the extraterritorial courts in Oriental countries should replace the
present system, which labors under the disadvantage of combining
judicial and executive functions in the same office.

In several Oriental countries generous offers have been made of
premises for housing the legations of the United States. A grant of
land for that purpose was made some years since by Japan, and has been
referred to in the annual messages of my predecessor. The Siamese
Government has made a gift to the United States of commodious quarters
in Bangkok. In Korea the late minister was permitted to purchase a
building from the Government for legation use. In China the premises
rented for the legation are favored as to local charges. At Tangier
the house occupied by our representative has been for many years the
property of this Government, having been given for that purpose in 1822
by the Sultan of Morocco. I approve the suggestion heretofore made,
that, in view of the conditions of life and administration in the
Eastern countries, the legation buildings in China, Japan, Korea, Siam,
and perhaps Persia, should be owned and furnished by the Government
with a view to permanency and security. To this end I recommend that
authority be given to accept the gifts adverted to in Japan and Siam,
and to purchase in the other countries named, with provision for
furniture and repairs. A considerable saving in rentals would result.

The World's Industrial Exposition, held at New Orleans last winter, with
the assistance of the Federal Government, attracted a large number of
foreign exhibits, and proved of great value in spreading among the
concourse of visitors from Mexico and Central and South America a wider
knowledge of the varied manufactures and productions of this country and
their availability in exchange for the productions of those regions.

Past Congresses have had under consideration the advisability of
abolishing the discrimination made by the tariff laws in favor of the
works of American artists. The odium of the policy which subjects to
a high rate of duty the paintings of foreign artists and exempts the
productions of American artists residing abroad, and who receive
gratuitously advantages and instruction, is visited upon our citizens
engaged in art culture in Europe, and has caused them with practical
unanimity to favor the abolition of such an ungracious distinction; and
in their interest, and for other obvious reasons, I strongly recommend
it.

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury fully exhibits the condition
of the public finances and of the several branches of the Government
connected with his Department. The suggestions of the Secretary relating
to the practical operations of this important Department, and his
recommendations in the direction of simplification and economy,
particularly in the work of collecting customs duties, are especially
urged upon the attention of Congress.

The ordinary receipts from all sources for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1885, were $322,690,706.38. Of this sum $181,471,939.34 was received
from customs and $112,498,725.54 from internal revenue. The total
receipts, as given above, were $24,829,163.54 less than those for the
year ended June 30, 1884. This diminution embraces a falling off of
$13,595,550.42 in the receipts from customs and $9,687,346.97 in the
receipts from internal revenue.

The total ordinary expenditures of the Government for the fiscal year
were $260,226,935.50, leaving a surplus in the Treasury at the close of
the year of $63,463,771.27. This is $40,929,854.32 less than the surplus
reported at the close of the previous year.

The expenditures are classified as follows:


  For civil expenses                                      $23,826,942.11
  For foreign intercourse                                   5,439,609.11
  For Indians                                               6,552,494.63
  For pensions                                             56,102,267.49
  For the military, including river and harbor             42,670,578.47
    improvements and arsenals
  For the Navy, including vessels, machinery, and          16,021,079.69
    improvements of navy-yards
  For interest on the public debt                          51,386,256.47
  For the District of Columbia                              3,499,650.95
  For miscellaneous expenditures, including public         54,728,056.21
    buildings, light-houses, and collecting the revenue


The amount paid on the public debt during the fiscal year ended June 30,
1885, was $45,993,235.43, and there has been paid since that date and up
to November 1, 1885, the sum of $369,828, leaving the amount of the debt
at the last-named date $1,514,475,860.47. There was, however, at that
time in the Treasury, applicable to the general purposes of the
Government, the sum of $66,818,292.38.

The total receipts for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 1886,
ascertained to October 1, 1885, and estimated for the remainder of the
year, are $315,000,000. The expenditures ascertained and estimated for
the same time are $245,000,000, leaving a surplus at the close of the
year estimated at $70,000,000.

The value of the exports from the United States to foreign countries
during the last fiscal year was as follows:


  Domestic merchandise                                   $726,682,946.00
  Foreign merchandise                                      15,506,809.00
                                                          742,189,755.00

  Gold                                                      8,477,892.00
  Silver                                                   33,753,633.00
                                                          784,421,280.00


Some of the principal exports, with their values and the percentage they
respectively bear to the total exportation, are given as follows:


    Articles.                                Value.          Percentage.

  Cotton and cotton manufactures         $213,799,049           29.42
  Breadstuffs                             160,370,821           22.07
  Provisions                              107,332,456           14.77
  Oils--mineral, vegetable, and animal     54,326,202            7.48
  Tobacco and its manufactures             24,767,305            3.41
  Wood and its manufactures                21,464,322            2.95


Our imports during the year were as follows:


  Merchandise                                            $579,580,053.80
  Gold                                                     26,691,696.00
  Silver                                                   16,550,627.00
                                                          622,822,376.80


The following are given as prominent articles of import during the year,
with their values and the percentage they bear to the total importation:


    Articles.                                    Value.      Percentage.

  Sugar and molasses                           $76,738,713      13.29
  Coffee                                        46,723,318       8.09
  Wool and its manufactures                     44,656,482       7.73
  Silk and its manufactures                     40,393,002       6.99
  Chemicals, dyes, drugs, and medicines         35,070,816       6.07
  Iron and steel and their manufactures         34,563,689       5.98
  Flax, hemp, jute, and their manufactures      32,854,874       5.69
  Cotton and its manufactures                   28,152,001       4.88
  Hides and skins other than fur skins          20,586,443       3.56


Of the entire amount of duties collected 70 per cent was collected from
the following articles of import:


                                                             Percentage.
  Sugar and molasses                                             29
  Wool and its manufactures                                      15
  Silk and its manufactures                                       8
  Iron and steel and their manufactures                           7
  Cotton manufactures                                             6
  Flax, hemp, and jute, and their manufactures                    5


The fact that our revenues are in excess of the actual needs of an
economical administration of the Government justifies a reduction in the
amount exacted from the people for its support. Our Government is but
the means established by the will of a free people by which certain
principles are applied which they have adopted for their benefit and
protection; and it is never better administered and its true spirit is
never better observed than when the people's taxation for its support is
scrupulously limited to the actual necessity of expenditure and
distributed according to a just and equitable plan.

The proposition with which we have to deal is the reduction of the
revenue received by the Government, and indirectly paid by the people,
from customs duties. The question of free trade is not involved, nor is
there now any occasion for the general discussion of the wisdom or
expediency of a protective system.

Justice and fairness dictate that in any modification of our present
laws relating to revenue the industries and interests which have
been encouraged by such laws, and in which our citizens have large
investments, should not be ruthlessly injured or destroyed. We should
also deal with the subject in such manner as to protect the interests of
American labor, which is the capital of our workingmen. Its stability
and proper remuneration furnish the most justifiable pretext for a
protective policy.

Within these limitations a certain reduction should be made in our
customs revenue. The amount of such reduction having been determined,
the inquiry follows, Where can it best be remitted and what articles can
best be released from duty in the interest of our citizens?

I think the reduction should be made in the revenue derived from a
tax upon the imported necessaries of life. We thus directly lessen the
cost of living in every family of the land and release to the people in
every humble home a larger measure of the rewards of frugal industry.

During the year ended November 1, 1885, 145 national banks were
organized, with an aggregate capital of $16,938,000, and circulating
notes have been issued to them amounting to $4,274,910. The whole number
of these banks in existence on the day above mentioned was 2,727.

The very limited amount of circulating notes issued by our national
banks, compared with the amount the law permits them to issue upon a
deposit of bonds for their redemption, indicates that the volume of our
circulating medium may be largely increased through this
instrumentality.

Nothing more important than the present condition of our currency and
coinage can claim your attention.

Since February, 1878, the Government has, under the compulsory
provisions of law, purchased silver bullion and coined the same at the
rate of more than $2,000,000 every month. By this process up to the
present date 215,759,431 silver dollars have been coined.

A reasonable appreciation of a delegation of power to the General
Government would limit its exercise, without express restrictive words,
to the people's needs and the requirements of the public welfare.

Upon this theory the authority to "coin money" given to Congress by the
Constitution, if it permits the purchase by the Government of bullion
for coinage in any event, does not justify such purchase and coinage to
an extent beyond the amount needed for a sufficient circulating medium.

The desire to utilize the silver product of the country should not lead
to a misuse or the perversion of this power.

The necessity for such an addition to the silver currency of the nation
as is compelled by the silver-coinage act is negatived by the fact that
up to the present time only about 50,000,000 of the silver dollars so
coined have actually found their way into circulation, leaving more than
165,000,000 in the possession of the Government, the custody of which
has entailed a considerable expense for the construction of vaults for
its deposit. Against this latter amount there are outstanding silver
certificates amounting to about $93,000,000.

Every month two millions of gold in the public Treasury are paid out for
two millions or more of silver dollars, to be added to the idle mass
already accumulated.

If continued long enough, this operation will result in the substitution
of silver for all the gold the Government owns applicable to its general
purposes. It will not do to rely upon the customs receipts of the
Government to make good this drain of gold, because the silver thus
coined having been made legal tender for all debts and dues, public and
private, at times during the last six months 58 per cent of the receipts
for duties has been in silver or silver certificates, while the average
within that period has been 20 per cent. The proportion of silver and
its certificates received by the Government will probably increase as
time goes on, for the reason that the nearer the period approaches when
it will be obliged to offer silver in payment of its obligations the
greater inducement there will be to hoard gold against depreciation in
the value of silver or for the purpose of speculating.

This hoarding of gold has already begun.

When the time comes that gold has been withdrawn from circulation, then
will be apparent the difference between the real value of the silver
dollar and a dollar in gold, and the two coins will part company.
Gold, still the standard of value and necessary in our dealings with
other countries, will be at a premium over silver; banks which have
substituted gold for the deposits of their customers may pay them with
silver bought with such gold, thus making a handsome profit; rich
speculators will sell their hoarded gold to their neighbors who need it
to liquidate their foreign debts, at a ruinous premium over silver, and
the laboring men and women of the land, most defenseless of all, will
find that the dollar received for the wage of their toil has sadly
shrunk in its purchasing power. It may be said that the latter result
will be but temporary, and that ultimately the price of labor will be
adjusted to the change; but even if this takes place the wage-worker
can not possibly gain, but must inevitably lose, since the price he is
compelled to pay for his living will not only be measured in a coin
heavily depreciated and fluctuating and uncertain in its value, but
this uncertainty in the value of the purchasing medium will be made
the pretext for an advance in prices beyond that justified by actual
depreciation.

The words uttered in 1834 by Daniel Webster in the Senate of the United
States are true to-day:

  The very man of all others who has the deepest interest in a sound
  currency, and who suffers most by mischievous legislation in money
  matters, is the man who earns his daily bread by his daily toil.


The most distinguished advocate of bimetallism, discussing our silver
coinage, has lately written:

  No American citizen's hand has yet felt the sensation of cheapness,
  either in receiving or expending the silver-act dollars.


And those who live by labor or legitimate trade never will feel that
sensation of cheapness. However plenty silver dollars may become, they
will not be distributed as gifts among the people; and if the laboring
man should receive four depreciated dollars where he now receives but
two, he will pay in the depreciated coin more than double the price he
now pays for all the necessaries and comforts of life.

Those who do not fear any disastrous consequences arising from the
continued compulsory coinage of silver as now directed by law, and who
suppose that the addition to the currency of the country intended as its
result will be a public benefit, are reminded that history demonstrates
that the point is easily reached in the attempt to float at the same
time two sorts of money of different excellence when the better will
cease to be in general circulation. The hoarding of gold which has
already taken place indicates that we shall not escape the usual
experience in such cases. So if this silver coinage be continued we may
reasonably expect that gold and its equivalent will abandon the field of
circulation to silver alone. This of course must produce a severe
contraction of our circulating medium, instead of adding to it.

It will not be disputed that any attempt on the part of the Government
to cause the circulation of silver dollars worth 80 cents side by
side with gold dollars worth 100 cents, even within the limit that
legislation does not run counter to the laws of trade, to be successful
must be seconded by the confidence of the people that both coins will
retain the same purchasing power and be interchangeable at will.
A special effort has been made by the Secretary of the Treasury to
increase the amount of our silver coin in circulation; but the fact
that a large share of the limited amount thus put out has soon returned
to the public Treasury in payment of duties leads to the belief that the
people do not now desire to keep it in hand, and this, with the evident
disposition to hoard gold, gives rise to the suspicion that there
already exists a lack of confidence among the people touching our
financial processes. There is certainly not enough silver now in
circulation to cause uneasiness, and the whole amount coined and now on
hand might after a time be absorbed by the people without apprehension;
but it is the ceaseless stream that threatens to overflow the land which
causes fear and uncertainty.

What has been thus far submitted upon this subject relates almost
entirely to considerations of a home nature, unconnected with the
bearing which the policies of other nations have upon the question. But
it is perfectly apparent that a line of action in regard to our currency
can not wisely be settled upon or persisted in without considering the
attitude on the subject of other countries with whom we maintain
intercourse through commerce, trade, and travel. An acknowledgment of
this fact is found in the act by virtue of which our silver is
compulsorily coined. It provides that--

  The President shall invite the governments of the countries composing
  the Latin Union, so called, and of such other European nations as he may
  deem advisable, to join the United States in a conference to adopt a
  common ratio between gold and silver for the purpose of establishing
  internationally the use of bimetallic money and securing fixity of
  relative value between those metals.


This conference absolutely failed, and a similar fate has awaited all
subsequent efforts in the same direction. And still we continue our
coinage of silver at a ratio different from that of any other nation.
The most vital part of the silver-coinage act remains inoperative and
unexecuted, and without an ally or friend we battle upon the silver
field in an illogical and losing contest.

To give full effect to the design of Congress on this subject I have
made careful and earnest endeavor since the adjournment of the last
Congress.

To this end I delegated a gentleman well instructed in fiscal science
to proceed to the financial centers of Europe and, in conjunction
with our ministers to England, France, and Germany, to obtain a full
knowledge of the attitude and intent of those governments in respect of
the establishment of such an international ratio as would procure free
coinage of both metals at the mints of those countries and our own. By
my direction our consul-general at Paris has given close attention to
the proceedings of the congress of the Latin Union, in order to indicate
our interest in its objects and report its action.

It may be said in brief, as the result of these efforts, that the
attitude of the leading powers remains substantially unchanged since the
monetary conference of 1881, nor is it to be questioned that the views
of these governments are in each instance supported by the weight of
public opinion.

The steps thus taken have therefore only more fully demonstrated the
uselessness of further attempts at present to arrive at any agreement on
the subject with other nations.

In the meantime we are accumulating silver coin, based upon our own
peculiar ratio, to such an extent, and assuming so heavy a burden to be
provided for in any international negotiations, as will render us an
undesirable party to any future monetary conference of nations.

It is a significant fact that four of the five countries composing the
Latin Union mentioned in our coinage act, embarrassed with their silver
currency, have just completed an agreement among themselves that no more
silver shall be coined by their respective Governments and that such as
has been already coined and in circulation shall be redeemed in gold
by the country of its coinage. The resort to this expedient by these
countries may well arrest the attention of those who suppose that we
can succeed without shock or injury in the attempt to circulate upon
its merits all the silver we may coin under the provisions of our
silver-coinage act.

The condition in which our Treasury may be placed by a persistence in
our present course is a matter of concern to every patriotic citizen who
does not desire his Government to pay in silver such of its obligations
as should be paid in gold. Nor should our condition be such as to oblige
us, in a prudent management of our affairs, to discontinue the calling
in and payment of interest-bearing obligations which we have the right
now to discharge, and thus avoid the payment of further interest
thereon.

The so-called debtor class, for whose benefit the continued compulsory
coinage of silver is insisted upon, are not dishonest because they are
in debt, and they should not be suspected of a desire to jeopardize the
financial safety of the country in order that they may cancel their
present debts by paying the same in depreciated dollars. Nor should it
be forgotten that it is not the rich nor the money lender alone that
must submit to such a readjustment, enforced by the Government and their
debtors. The pittance of the widow and the orphan and the incomes of
helpless beneficiaries of all kinds would be disastrously reduced. The
depositors in savings banks and in other institutions which hold in
trust the savings of the poor, when their little accumulations are
scaled down to meet the new order of things, would in their distress
painfully realize the delusion of the promise made to them that
plentiful money would improve their condition.

We have now on hand all the silver dollars necessary to supply the
present needs of the people and to satisfy those who from sentiment wish
to see them in circulation, and if their coinage is suspended they can
be readily obtained by all who desire them. If the need of more is at
any time apparent, their coinage may be renewed.

That disaster has not already overtaken us furnishes no proof that
danger does not wait upon a continuation of the present silver coinage.
We have been saved by the most careful management and unusual
expedients, by a combination of fortunate conditions, and by a confident
expectation that the course of the Government in regard to silver
coinage would be speedily changed by the action of Congress.

Prosperity hesitates upon our threshold because of the dangers and
uncertainties surrounding this question. Capital timidly shrinks
from trade, and investors are unwilling to take the chance of the
questionable shape in which their money will be returned to them, while
enterprise halts at a risk against which care and sagacious management
do not protect.

As a necessary consequence, labor lacks employment and suffering and
distress are visited upon a portion of our fellow-citizens especially
entitled to the careful consideration of those charged with the duties
of legislation. No interest appeals to us so strongly for a safe and
stable currency as the vast army of the unemployed.

I recommend the suspension of the compulsory coinage of silver dollars,
directed by the law passed in February, 1878.

The Steamboat-Inspection Service on the 30th day of June, 1885, was
composed of 140 persons, including officers, clerks, and messengers. The
expenses of the service over the receipts were $138,822.22 during the
fiscal year. The special inspection of foreign steam vessels, organized
under a law passed in 1882, was maintained during the year at an expense
of $36,641.63. Since the close of the fiscal year reductions have been
made in the force employed which will result in a saving during the
current year of $17,000 without affecting the efficiency of the service.

The Supervising Surgeon-General reports that during the fiscal year
41,714 patients have received relief through the Marine-Hospital
Service, of whom 12,803 were treated in hospitals and 28,911 at the
dispensaries.

Active and effective efforts have been made through the medium of this
service to protect the country against an invasion of cholera, which has
prevailed in Spain and France, and the smallpox, which recently broke
out in Canada.

The most gratifying results have attended the operations of the
Life-Saving Service during the last fiscal year. The observance of the
provision of law requiring the appointment of the force employed in this
service to be made "solely with reference to their fitness, and without
reference to their political or party affiliation," has secured the
result which may confidently be expected in any branch of public
employment where such a rule is applied. As a consequence, this service
is composed of men well qualified for the performance of their dangerous
and exceptionally important duties.

The number of stations in commission at the close of the year was 203.
The number of disasters to vessels and craft of all kinds within their
field of action was 371. The number of persons endangered in such
disasters was 2,439, of whom 2,428 were saved and only 11 lost. Other
lives which were imperiled, though not by disasters to shipping, were
also rescued, and a large amount of property was saved through the aid
of this service. The cost of its maintenance during the year was
$828,474.43.

The work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey was during the last fiscal
year carried on within the boundaries and off the coasts of thirty-two
States, two Territories, and the District of Columbia. In July last
certain irregularities were found to exist in the management of this
Bureau, which led to a prompt investigation of its methods. The abuses
which were brought to light by this examination and the reckless
disregard of duty and the interests of the Government developed on
the part of some of those connected with the service made a change of
superintendency and a few of its other officers necessary. Since the
Bureau has been in new hands an introduction of economies and the
application of business methods have produced an important saving to
the Government and a promise of more useful results.

This service has never been regulated by anything but the most
indefinite legal enactments and the most unsatisfactory rules. It was
many years ago sanctioned apparently for a purpose regarded as temporary
and related to a survey of our coast. Having gained a place in the
appropriations made by Congress, it has gradually taken to itself powers
and objects not contemplated in its creation and extended its operations
until it sadly needs legislative attention.

So far as a further survey of our coast is concerned, there seems
to be a propriety in transferring that work to the Navy Department. The
other duties now in charge of this establishment, if they can not be
profitably attached to some existing Department or other bureau, should
be prosecuted under a law exactly defining their scope and purpose, and
with a careful discrimination between the scientific inquiries which may
properly be assumed by the Government and those which should be
undertaken by State authority or by individual enterprise.

It is hoped that the report of the Congressional committee heretofore
appointed to investigate this and other like matters will aid in the
accomplishment of proper legislation on this subject.

The report of the Secretary of War is herewith submitted. The attention
of Congress is invited to the detailed account which it contains of the
administration of his Department, and his recommendations and
suggestions for the improvement of the service.

The Army consisted, at the date of the last consolidated returns, of
2,154 officers and 24,705 enlisted men.

The expenses of the Departments for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1885,
including $13,164,394.60 for public works and river and harbor
improvements, were $45,850,999.54.

Besides the troops which were dispatched in pursuit of the small band of
Indians who left their reservation in Arizona and committed murders and
outrages, two regiments of cavalry and one of infantry were sent last
July to the Indian Territory to prevent an outbreak which seemed
imminent. They remained to aid, if necessary, in the expulsion of
intruders upon the reservation, who seemed to have caused the discontent
among the Indians, but the Executive proclamation[2] warning them to
remove was complied with without their interference.

Troops were also sent to Rock Springs, in Wyoming Territory, after the
massacre of Chinese there, to prevent further disturbance, and
afterwards to Seattle, in Washington Territory, to avert a threatened
attack upon Chinese laborers and domestic violence there. In both cases
the mere presence of the troops had the desired effect.

It appears that the number of desertions has diminished, but that during
the last fiscal year they numbered 2,927; and one instance is given by
the Lieutenant-General of six desertions by the same recruit. I am
convinced that this number of desertions can be much diminished by
better discipline and treatment; but the punishment should be increased
for repeated offenses.

These desertions might also be reduced by lessening the term of first
enlistments, thus allowing a discontented recruit to contemplate a
nearer discharge and the Army a profitable riddance. After one term of
service a reenlistment would be quite apt to secure a contented recruit
and a good soldier.

The Acting Judge-Advocate-General reports that the number of trials by
general courts-martial during the year was 2,328, and that 11,851 trials
took place before garrison and regimental courts-martial. The suggestion
that probably more than half the Army have been tried for offenses,
great and small, in one year may well arrest attention. Of course many
of these trials before garrison and regimental courts-martial were for
offenses almost frivolous, and there should, I think, be a way devised
to dispose of these in a more summary and less inconvenient manner than
by court-martial.

If some of the proceedings of courts-martial which I have had occasion
to examine present the ideas of justice which generally prevail in these
tribunals, I am satisfied that they should be much reformed if the honor
and the honesty of the Army and Navy are by their instrumentality to be
vindicated and protected.

The Board on Fortifications or other defenses, appointed in pursuance of
the provisions of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1885, will in a
short time present their report, and it is hoped that this may greatly
aid the legislation so necessary to remedy the present defenseless
condition of our seacoasts.

The work of the Signal Service has been prosecuted during the last
year with results of increasing benefit to the country. The field of
instruction has been enlarged with a view of adding to its usefulness.
The number of stations in operation June 30, 1885, was 489. Telegraphic
reports are received daily from 160 stations. Reports are also received
from 25 Canadian stations, 375 volunteer observers, 52 army surgeons at
military posts, and 333 foreign stations. The expense of the service
during the fiscal year, after deducting receipts from military telegraph
lines, was $792,592.97. In view of the fact referred to by the Secretary
of War, that the work of this service ordinarily is of a scientific
nature, and the further fact that it is assuming larger proportions
constantly and becoming more and more unsuited to the fixed rules which
must govern the Army, I am inclined to agree with him in the opinion
that it should be separately established. If this is done, the scope and
extent of its operations should, as nearly as possible, be definitely
prescribed by law and always capable of exact ascertainment.

The Military Academy at West Point is reported as being in a high state
of efficiency and well equipped for the satisfactory accomplishment of
the purposes of its maintenance.

The fact that the class which graduates next year is an unusually
large one has constrained me to decline to make appointments to second
lieutenancies in the Army from civil life, so that such vacancies as
exist in these places may be reserved for such graduates; and yet it is
not probable that there will be enough vacancies to provide positions
for them all when they leave the military school. Under the prevailing
law and usage those not thus assigned to duty never actively enter the
military service. It is suggested that the law on this subject be
changed so that such of these young men as are not at once assigned to
duty after graduation may be retained as second lieutenants in the Army
if they desire it, subject to assignment when opportunity occurs, and
under proper rules as to priority of selection.

The expenditures on account of the Military Academy for the last fiscal
year, exclusive of the sum taken for its purposes from appropriations
for the support of the Army, were $290,712.07.

The act approved March 3, 1885, designed to compensate officers and
enlisted men for loss of private property while in the service of the
United States, is so indefinite in its terms and apparently admits so
many claims the adjustment of which could not have been contemplated
that if it is to remain upon the statute book it needs amendment.

There should be a general law of Congress prohibiting the construction
of bridges over navigable waters in such manner as to obstruct
navigation, with provisions for preventing the same. It seems that under
existing statutes the Government can not intervene to prevent such a
construction when entered upon without its consent, though when such
consent is asked and granted upon condition the authority to insist upon
such condition is clear. Thus it is represented that while the officers
of the Government are with great care guarding against the obstruction
of navigation by a bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Paul a
large pier for a bridge has been built just below this place directly in
the navigable channel of the river. If such things are to be permitted,
a strong argument is presented against the appropriation of large sums
of money to improve the navigation of this and other important highways
of commerce.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy gives a history of the
operations of his Department and the present condition of the work
committed to his charge.

He details in full the course pursued by him to protect the rights of
the Government in respect of certain vessels unfinished at the time
of his accession to office, and also concerning the dispatch boat
_Dolphin_, claimed to be completed and awaiting the acceptance of
the Department. No one can fail to see from recitals contained in this
report that only the application of business principles has been
insisted upon in the treatment of these subjects, and that whatever
controversy has arisen was caused by the exaction on the part of the
Department of contract obligations as they were legally construed. In
the case of the _Dolphin_, with entire justice to the contractor,
an agreement has been entered into providing for the ascertainment by a
judicial inquiry of the complete or partial compliance with the contract
in her construction, and further providing for the assessment of any
damages to which the Government may be entitled on account of a partial
failure to perform such contract, or the payment of the sum still
remaining unpaid upon her price in case a full performance is adjudged.

The contractor, by reason of his failure in business, being unable to
complete the other three vessels, they were taken possession of by the
Government in their unfinished state under a clause in the contract
permitting such a course, and are now in process of completion in the
yard of the contractor, but under the supervision of the Navy
Department.

Congress at its last session authorized the construction of two
additional new cruisers and two gunboats, at a cost not exceeding in the
aggregate $2,995,000. The appropriation for this purpose having become
available on the 1st day of July last, steps were at once taken for the
procurement of such plans for the construction of these vessels as would
be likely to insure their usefulness when completed. These are of the
utmost importance, considering the constant advance in the art of
building vessels of this character, and the time is not lost which is
spent in their careful consideration and selection.

All must admit the importance of an effective navy to a nation like
ours, having such an extended seacoast to protect; and yet we have not
a single vessel of war that could keep the seas against a first-class
vessel of any important power. Such a condition ought not longer to
continue. The nation that can not resist aggression is constantly
exposed to it. Its foreign policy is of necessity weak and its
negotiations are conducted with disadvantage because it is not in
condition to enforce the terms dictated by its sense of right and
justice.

Inspired, as I am, by the hope, shared by all patriotic citizens, that
the day is not very far distant when our Navy will be such as befits our
standing among the nations of the earth, and rejoiced at every step that
leads in the direction of such a consummation, I deem it my duty to
especially direct the attention of Congress to the close of the report
of the Secretary of the Navy, in which the humiliating weakness of the
present organization of his Department is exhibited and the startling
abuses and waste of its present methods are exposed. The conviction is
forced upon us with the certainty of mathematical demonstration that
before we proceed further in the, restoration of a Navy we need a
thoroughly reorganized Navy Department. The fact that within seventeen
years more than $75,000,000 have been spent in the construction, repair,
equipment, and armament of vessels, and the further fact that instead
of an effective and creditable fleet we have only the discontent and
apprehension of a nation undefended by war vessels, added to the
disclosures now made, do not permit us to doubt that every attempt to
revive our Navy has thus far for the most part been misdirected, and
all our efforts in that direction have been little better than blind
gropings and expensive, aimless follies.

Unquestionably if we are content with the maintenance of a Navy
Department simply as a shabby ornament to the Government, a constant
watchfulness may prevent some of the scandal and abuse which have found
their way into our present organization, and its incurable waste may
be reduced to the minimum. But if we desire to build ships for present
usefulness instead of naval reminders of the days that are past, we must
have a Department organized for the work, supplied with all the talent
and ingenuity our country affords, prepared to take advantage of the
experience of other nations, systematized so that all effort shall
unite and lead in one direction, and fully imbued with the conviction
that war vessels, though new, are useless unless they combine all that
the ingenuity of man has up to this day brought forth relating to their
construction.

I earnestly commend the portion of the Secretary's report devoted
to this subject to the attention of Congress, in the hope that his
suggestions touching the reorganization of his Department may be adopted
as the first step toward the reconstruction of our Navy.

The affairs of the postal service are exhibited by the report of the
Postmaster-General, which will be laid before you.

The postal revenue, whose ratio of gain upon the rising prosperity
of 1882 and 1883 outstripped the increasing expenses of our growing
service, was checked by the reduction in the rate of letter postage
which took effect with the beginning of October in the latter year, and
it diminished during the two past fiscal years $2,790,000, in about the
proportion of $2,270,000 in 1884 to $520,000 in 1885. Natural growth
and development have meantime increased expenditure, resulting in a
deficiency in the revenue to meet the expenses of the Department of five
and a quarter million dollars for the year 1884 and eight and a third
million in the last fiscal year. The anticipated and natural revival of
the revenue has been oppressed and retarded by the unfavorable business
condition of the country, of which the postal service is a faithful
indicator. The gratifying fact is shown, however, by the report that our
returning prosperity is marked by a gain of $380,000 in the revenue of
the latter half of the last year over the corresponding period of the
preceding year.

The change in the weight of first-class matter which may be carried
for a single rate of postage from a half ounce to an ounce, and the
reduction by one-half of the rate of newspaper postage, which, under
recent legislation, began with the current year, will operate to
restrain the augmentation of receipts which otherwise might have been
expected to such a degree that the scale of expense may gain upon the
revenue and cause an increased deficiency to be shown at its close.
Yet, after no long period of reawakened prosperity, by proper economy
it is confidently anticipated that even the present low rates, now as
favorable as any country affords, will be adequate to sustain the cost
of the service.

The operation of the Post-Office Department is for the convenience
and benefit of the people, and the method by which they pay the charges
of this useful arm of their public service, so that it be just and
impartial, is of less importance to them than the economical expenditure
of the means they provide for its maintenance and the due improvement of
its agencies, so that they may enjoy its highest usefulness.

A proper attention has been directed to the prevention of waste or
extravagance, and good results appear from the report to have already
been accomplished.

I approve the recommendation of the Postmaster-General to reduce the
charges on domestic money orders of $5 and less from 8 to 5 cents. This
change will materially aid those of our people who most of all avail
themselves of this instrumentality, but to whom the element of cheapness
is of the greatest importance. With this reduction the system would
still remain self-supporting.

The free-delivery system has been extended to 19 additional cities
during the year, and 178 now enjoy its conveniences. Experience has
commended it to those who enjoy its benefits, and further enlargement
of its facilities is due to other communities to which it is adapted.
In the cities where it has been established, taken together, the local
postage exceeds its maintenance by nearly $1,300,000. The limit to which
this system is now confined by law has been nearly reached, and the
reasons given justify its extension, which is proposed.

It was decided, with my approbation, after a sufficient examination, to
be inexpedient for the Post-Office Department to contract for carrying
our foreign mails under the additional authority given by the last
Congress. The amount limited was inadequate to pay all within the
purview of the law the full rate of 50 cents per mile, and it would have
been unjust and unwise to have given it to some and denied it to others.
Nor could contracts have been let under the law to all at a rate to have
brought the aggregate within the appropriation without such practical
prearrangement of terms as would have violated it.

The rate of sea and inland postage which was proffered under another
statute clearly appears to be a fair compensation for the desired
service, being three times the price necessary to secure transportation
by other vessels upon any route, and much beyond the charges made to
private persons for services not less burdensome.

Some of the steamship companies, upon the refusal of the
Postmaster-General to attempt, by the means provided, the distribution
of the sum appropriated as an extra compensation, withdrew the services
of their vessels and thereby occasioned slight inconvenience, though no
considerable injury, the mails having been dispatched by other means.

Whatever may be thought of the policy of subsidizing any line of public
conveyance or travel, I am satisfied that it should not be done under
cover of an expenditure incident to the administration of a Department,
nor should there be any uncertainty as to the recipients of the subsidy
or any discretion left to an executive officer as to its distribution.
If such gifts of the public money are to be made for the purpose of
aiding any enterprise in the supposed interest of the public, I can not
but think that the amount to be paid and the beneficiary might better be
determined by Congress than in any other way.

The international congress of delegates from the Postal Union countries
convened at Lisbon, in Portugal, in February last, and after a session
of some weeks the delegates signed a convention amendatory of the
present postal-union convention in some particulars designed to advance
its purposes. This additional act has had my approval and will be laid
before you with the departmental report.

I approve the recommendation of the Postmaster-General that another
assistant be provided for his Department. I invite your consideration to
the several other recommendations contained in his report.

The report of the Attorney-General contains a history of the conduct of
the Department of Justice during the last year and a number of valuable
suggestions as to needed legislation, and I invite your careful
attention to the same.

The condition of business in the courts of the United States is such
that there seems to be an imperative necessity for remedial legislation
on the subject. Some of these courts are so overburdened with pending
causes that the delays in determining litigation amount often to a
denial of justice. Among the plans suggested for relief is one submitted
by the Attorney-General. Its main features are: The transfer of all the
original jurisdiction of the circuit courts to the district courts and
an increase of judges for the latter where necessary; an addition of
judges to the circuit courts, and constituting them exclusively courts
of appeal, and reasonably limiting appeals thereto; further restrictions
of the right to remove causes from the State to Federal courts;
permitting appeals to the Supreme Court from the courts of the District
of Columbia and the Territories only in the same cases as they are
allowed from State courts, and guarding against an unnecessary number of
appeals from the circuit courts.

I approve the plan thus outlined, and recommend the legislation
necessary for its application to our judicial system.

The present mode of compensating United States marshals and district
attorneys should, in my opinion, be changed. They are allowed to charge
against the Government certain fees for services, their income being
measured by the amount of such fees within a fixed limit as to their
annual aggregate. This is a direct inducement for them to make their
fees in criminal cases as large as possible in an effort to reach the
maximum sum permitted. As an entirely natural consequence, unscrupulous
marshals are found encouraging frivolous prosecutions, arresting people
on petty charges of crime and transporting them to distant places for
examination and trial, for the purpose of earning mileage and other
fees; and district attorneys uselessly attend criminal examinations far
from their places of residence for the express purpose of swelling their
accounts against the Government. The actual expenses incurred in these
transactions are also charged against the Government.

Thus the rights and freedom of our citizens are outraged and public
expenditures increased for the purpose of furnishing public officers
pretexts for increasing the measure of their compensation.

I think marshals and district attorneys should be paid salaries,
adjusted by a rule which will make them commensurate with services
fairly rendered.

In connection with this subject I desire to suggest the advisability,
if it be found not obnoxious to constitutional objection, of investing
United States commissioners with the power to try and determine certain
violations of law within the grade of misdemeanors. Such trials might
be made to depend upon the option of the accused. The multiplication
of small and technical offenses, especially under the provisions of our
internal-revenue law, render some change in our present system very
desirable in the interests of humanity as well as economy. The district
courts are now crowded with petty prosecutions, involving a punishment
in case of conviction, of only a slight fine, while the parties accused
are harassed by an enforced attendance upon courts held hundreds of
miles from their homes. If poor and friendless, they are obliged to
remain in jail during months, perhaps, that elapse before a session
of the court is held, and are finally brought to trial surrounded by
strangers and with but little real opportunity for defense. In the
meantime frequently the marshal has charged against the Government his
fees for an arrest, the transportation of the accused and the expense
of the same, and for summoning witnesses before a commissioner, a grand
jury, and a court; the witnesses have been paid from the public funds
large fees and traveling expenses, and the commissioner and district
attorney have also made their charges against the Government.

This abuse in the administration of our criminal law should be remedied;
and if the plan above suggested is not practicable, some other should be
devised.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior, containing an account of
the operations of this important Department and much interesting
information, will be submitted for your consideration.

The most intricate and difficult subject in charge of this Department is
the treatment and management of the Indians. I am satisfied that some
progress may be noted in their condition as a result of a prudent
administration of the present laws and regulations for their control.

But it is submitted that there is lack of a fixed purpose or policy on
this subject, which should be supplied. It is useless to dilate upon the
wrongs of the Indians, and as useless to indulge in the heartless belief
that because their wrongs are revenged in their own atrocious manner,
therefore they should be exterminated.

They are within the care of our Government, and their rights are, or
should be, protected from invasion by the most solemn obligations. They
are properly enough called the wards of the Government; and it should be
borne in mind that this guardianship involves on our part efforts for
the improvement of their condition and the enforcement of their rights.
There seems to be general concurrence in the proposition that the
ultimate object of their treatment should be their civilization and
citizenship. Fitted by these to keep pace in the march of progress with
the advanced civilization about them, they will readily assimilate with
the mass of our population, assuming the responsibilities and receiving
the protection incident to this condition.

The difficulty appears to be in the selection of the means to be at
present employed toward the attainment of this result.

Our Indian population, exclusive of those in Alaska, is reported as
numbering 260,000, nearly all being located on lands set apart for their
use and occupation, aggregating over 134,000,000 acres. These lands are
included in the boundaries of 171 reservations of different dimensions,
scattered in 21 States and Territories, presenting great variations in
climate and in the kind and quality of their soils. Among the Indians
upon these several reservations there exist the most marked differences
in natural traits and disposition and in their progress toward
civilization. While some are lazy, vicious, and stupid, others are
industrious, peaceful, and intelligent; while a portion of them are
self-supporting and independent, and have so far advanced in
civilization that they make their own laws, administered through
officers of their own choice, and educate their children in schools of
their own establishment and maintenance, others still retain, in squalor
and dependence, almost the savagery of their natural state.

In dealing with this question the desires manifested by the Indians
should not be ignored. Here again we find a great diversity. With some
the tribal relation is cherished with the utmost tenacity, while its
hold upon others is considerably relaxed; the love of home is strong
with all, and yet there are those whose attachment to a particular
locality is by no means unyielding; the ownership of their lands in
severalty is much desired by some, while by others, and sometimes among
the most civilized, such a distribution would be bitterly opposed.

The variation of their wants, growing out of and connected with the
character of their several locations, should be regarded. Some are upon
reservations most fit for grazing, but without flocks or herds; and
some, on arable land, have no agricultural implements. While some of the
reservations are double the size necessary to maintain the number of
Indians now upon them, in a few cases, perhaps, they should be enlarged.

Add to all this the difference in the administration of the agencies.
While the same duties are devolved upon all, the disposition of the
agents and the manner of their contact with the Indians have much to do
with their condition and welfare. The agent who perfunctorily performs
his duty and slothfully neglects all opportunity to advance their moral
and physical improvement and fails to inspire them with a desire for
better things will accomplish nothing in the direction of their
civilization, while he who feels the burden of an important trust and
has an interest in his work will, by consistent example, firm yet
considerate treatment, and well-directed aid and encouragement,
constantly lead those under his charge toward the light of their
enfranchisement.

The history of all the progress which has been made in the civilization
of the Indian I think will disclose the fact that the beginning has been
religious teaching, followed by or accompanying secular education. While
the self-sacrificing and pious men and women who have aided in this good
work by their independent endeavor have for their reward the beneficent
results of their labor and the consciousness of Christian duty well
performed, their valuable services should be fully acknowledged by all
who under the law are charged with the control and management of our
Indian wards.

What has been said indicates that in the present condition of the
Indians no attempt should be made to apply a fixed and unyielding plan
of action to their varied and varying needs and circumstances.

The Indian Bureau, burdened as it is with their general oversight and
with the details of the establishment, can hardly possess itself of the
minute phases of the particular cases needing treatment; and thus the
propriety of creating an instrumentality auxiliary to those already
established for the care of the Indians suggests itself.

I recommend the passage of a law authorizing the appointment of six
commissioners, three of whom shall be detailed from the Army, to be
charged with the duty of a careful inspection from time to time of all
the Indians upon our reservations or subject to the care and control
of the Government, with a view of discovering their exact condition
and needs and determining what steps shall be taken on behalf of the
Government to improve their situation in the direction of their
self-support and complete civilization; that they ascertain from such
inspection what, if any, of the reservations may be reduced in area,
and in such cases what part not needed for Indian occupation may be
purchased by the Government from the Indians and disposed of for their
benefit; what, if any, Indians may, with their consent, be removed to
other reservations, with a view of their concentration and the sale on
their behalf of their abandoned reservations; what Indian lands now
held in common should be allotted in severalty; in what manner and to
what extent the Indians upon the reservations can be placed under the
protection of our laws and subjected to their penalties, and which,
if any, Indians should be invested with the right of citizenship. The
powers and functions of the commissioners in regard to these subjects
should be clearly defined, though they should, in conjunction with the
Secretary of the Interior, be given all the authority to deal definitely
with the questions presented deemed safe and consistent.

They should be also charged with the duty of ascertaining the Indians
who might properly be furnished with implements of agriculture, and
of what kind; in what cases the support of the Government should be
withdrawn; where the present plan of distributing Indian supplies should
be changed; where schools may be established and where discontinued;
the conduct, methods, and fitness of agents in charge of reservations;
the extent to which such reservations are occupied or intruded upon by
unauthorized persons, and generally all matters related to the welfare
and improvement of the Indian.

They should advise with the Secretary of the Interior concerning these
matters of detail in management, and he should be given power to deal
with them fully, if he is not now invested with such power.

This plan contemplates the selection of persons for commissioners who
are interested in the Indian question and who have practical ideas upon
the subject of their treatment.

The expense of the Indian Bureau during the last fiscal year was more
than six and a half million dollars. I believe much of this expenditure
might be saved under the plan proposed; that its economical effects
would be increased with its continuance; that the safety of our frontier
settlers would be subserved under its operation, and that the nation
would be saved through its results from the imputation of inhumanity,
injustice, and mismanagement.

In order to carry out the policy of allotment of Indian lands in
severalty, when deemed expedient, it will be necessary to have surveys
completed of the reservations, and I hope that provision will be made
for the prosecution of this work.

In May of the present year a small portion of the Chiricahua Apaches on
the White Mountain Reservation, in Arizona, left the reservation and
committed a number of murders and depredations upon settlers in that
neighborhood. Though prompt and energetic action was taken by the
military, the renegades eluded capture and escaped into Mexico. The
formation of the country through which these Indians passed, their
thorough acquaintance with the same, the speed of their escape, and
the manner in which they scattered and concealed themselves among the
mountains near the scene of their outrages put our soldiers at a great
disadvantage in their efforts to capture them, though the expectation is
still entertained that they will be ultimately taken and punished for
their crimes.

The threatening and disorderly conduct of the Cheyennes in the Indian
Territory early last summer caused considerable alarm and uneasiness.
Investigation proved that their threatening attitude was due in a great
measure to the occupation of the land of their reservation by immense
herds of cattle, which their owners claimed were rightfully there under
certain leases made by the Indians. Such occupation appearing upon
examination to be unlawful notwithstanding these leases, the intruders
were ordered to remove with their cattle from the lands of the Indians
by Executive proclamation.[3] The enforcement of this proclamation had
the effect of restoring peace and order among the Indians, and they are
now quiet and well behaved.

By an Executive order issued on February 27, 1885, by my predecessor,
a portion of the tract of country in the territory known as the Old
Winnebago and Crow Creek reservations was directed to be restored to
the public domain and opened to settlement under the land laws of the
United States, and a large number of persons entered upon those lands.
This action alarmed the Sioux Indians, who claimed the territory as
belonging to their reservation under the treaty of 1868. This claim
was determined, after careful investigation, to be well founded, and
consequently the Executive order referred to was by proclamation of
April 17, 1885,[4] declared to be inoperative and of no effect, and
all persons upon the land were warned to leave. This warning has been
substantially complied with.

The public domain had its origin in cessions of land by the States to
the General Government. The first cession was made by the State of New
York, and the largest, which in area exceeded all the others, by the
State of Virginia. The territory the proprietorship of which became
thus vested in the General Government extended from the western line of
Pennsylvania to the Mississippi River. These patriotic donations of the
States were encumbered with no condition except that they should be held
and used "for the common benefit of the United States." By purchase with
the common fund of all the people additions were made to this domain
until it extended to the northern line of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, and
the Polar Sea. The original trust, "for the common benefit of the United
States," attached to all. In the execution of that trust the policy of
many homes, rather than large estates, was adopted by the Government.
That these might be easily obtained, and be the abode of security and
contentment, the laws for their acquisition were few, easily understood,
and general in their character. But the pressure of local interests,
combined with a speculative spirit, have in many instances procured
the passage of laws which marred the harmony of the general plan and
encumbered the system with a multitude of general and special enactments
which render the land laws complicated, subject the titles to
uncertainty, and the purchasers often to oppression and wrong. Laws
which were intended for the "common benefit" have been perverted so
that large quantities of land are vesting in single ownerships. From
the multitude and character of the laws, this consequence seems incapable
of correction by mere administration.

It is not for the "common benefit of the United States" that a large
area of the public lands should be acquired, directly or through fraud,
in the hands of a single individual. The nation's strength is in the
people. The nation's prosperity is in their prosperity. The nation's
glory is in the equality of her justice. The nation's perpetuity is in
the patriotism of all her people. Hence, as far as practicable, the plan
adopted in the disposal of the public lands should have in view the
original policy, which encouraged many purchasers of these lands for
homes and discouraged the massing of large areas. Exclusive of Alaska,
about three-fifths of the national domain has been sold or subjected to
contract or grant. Of the remaining two-fifths a considerable portion is
either mountain or desert. A rapidly increasing population creates a
growing demand for homes, and the accumulation of wealth inspires an
eager competition to obtain the public land for speculative purposes.
In the future this collision of interests will be more marked than in
the past, and the execution of the nation's trust in behalf of our
settlers will be more difficult. I therefore commend to your attention
the recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary of the
Interior with reference to the repeal and modification of certain of our
land laws.

The nation has made princely grants and subsidies to a system of
railroads projected as great national highways to connect the Pacific
States with the East. It has been charged that these donations from the
people have been diverted to private gain and corrupt uses, and thus
public indignation has been aroused and suspicion engendered. Our great
nation does not begrudge its generosity, but it abhors peculation and
fraud; and the favorable regard of our people for the great corporations
to which these grants were made can only be revived by a restoration of
confidence, to be secured by their constant, unequivocal, and clearly
manifested integrity. A faithful application of the undiminished
proceeds of the grants to the construction and perfecting of their
roads, an honest discharge of their obligations, and entire justice to
all the people in the enjoyment of their rights on these highways of
travel are all the public asks, and it will be content with no less. To
secure these things should be the common purpose of the officers of the
Government, as well as of the corporations. With this accomplishment
prosperity would be permanently secured to the roads, and national pride
would take the place of national complaint.

It appears from the report of the Commissioner of Pensions that there
were on the 1st day of July, 1885, 345,125 persons borne upon the
pension rolls, who were classified as follows: Army invalids, 241,456;
widows, minor children, and dependent relatives of deceased soldiers,
78,841; navy invalids, 2,745; navy widows, minor children, and
dependents, 1,926; survivors of the War of 1812, 2,945; and widows of
those who served in that war, 17,212. About one man in ten of all those
who enlisted in the late war are reported as receiving pensions,
exclusive of the dependents of deceased soldiers. On the 1st of July,
1875, the number of pensioners was 234,821, and the increase within the
ten years next thereafter was 110,304.

While there is no expenditure of the public funds which the people more
cheerfully approve than that made in recognition of the services of our
soldiers living and dead, the sentiment underlying the subject should
not be vitiated by the introduction of any fraudulent practices.
Therefore it is fully as important that the rolls should be cleansed of
all those who by fraud have secured a place thereon as that meritorious
claims should be speedily examined and adjusted. The reforms in the
methods of doing the business of this Bureau which have lately been
inaugurated promise better results in both these directions.

The operations of the Patent Office demonstrate the activity of the
inventive genius of the country. For the year ended June 30, 1885, the
applications for patents, including reissues, and for the registration
of trade-marks and labels, numbered 35,688. During the same period there
were 22,928 patents granted and reissued and 1,429 trade-marks and
labels registered. The number of patents issued in the year 1875 was
14,387. The receipts during the last fiscal year were $1,074,974.35, and
the total expenditures, not including contingent expenses, $934,123.11.

There were 9,788 applications for patents pending on the 1st day of
July, 1884, and 5,786 on the same date in the year 1885. There has been
considerable improvement made in the prompt determination of
applications and a consequent relief to expectant inventors.

A number of suggestions and recommendations are contained in the report
of the Commissioner of Patents which are well entitled to the
consideration of Congress.

In the Territory of Utah the law of the United States passed for the
suppression of polygamy has been energetically and faithfully executed
during the past year, with measurably good results. A number of
convictions have been secured for unlawful cohabitation, and in some
cases pleas of guilty have been entered and a slight punishment imposed,
upon a promise by the accused that they would not again offend against
the law, nor advise, counsel, aid, or abet in any way its violation by
others.

The Utah commissioners express the opinion, based upon such information
as they are able to obtain, that but few polygamous marriages have taken
place in the Territory during the last year. They further report that
while there can not be found upon the registration lists of voters the
name of a man actually guilty of polygamy, and while none of that class
are holding office, yet at the last election in the Territory all the
officers elected, except in one county, were men who, though not
actually living in the practice of polygamy, subscribe to the doctrine
of polygamous marriages as a divine revelation and a law unto all
higher and more binding upon the conscience than any human law, local
or national. Thus is the strange spectacle presented of a community
protected by a republican form of government, to which they owe
allegiance, sustaining by their suffrages a principle and a belief which
set at naught that obligation of absolute obedience to the law of the
land which lies at the foundation of republican institutions.

The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation rest upon
our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by parental care,
regulated by parental authority, and sanctified by parental love.

These are not the homes of polygamy.

The mothers of our land, who rule the nation as they mold the characters
and guide the actions of their sons, live according to God's holy
ordinances, and each, secure and happy in the exclusive love of the
father of her children, sheds the warm light of true womanhood,
unperverted and unpolluted, upon all within her pure and wholesome
family circle.

These are not the cheerless, crushed, and unwomanly mothers of polygamy.

The fathers of our families are the best citizens of the Republic. Wife
and children are the sources of patriotism, and conjugal and parental
affection beget devotion to the country. The man who, undefiled with
plural marriage, is surrounded in his single home with his wife and
children has a stake in the country which inspires him with respect for
its laws and courage for its defense.

These are not the fathers of polygamous families.

There is no feature of this practice or the system which sanctions it
which is not opposed to all that is of value in our institutions.

There should be no relaxation in the firm but just execution of the law
now in operation, and I should be glad to approve such further discreet
legislation as will rid the country of this blot upon its fair fame.

Since the people upholding polygamy in our Territories are reenforced
by immigration from other lands, I recommend that a law be passed to
prevent the importation of Mormons into the country.

The agricultural interest of the country demands just recognition and
liberal encouragement. It sustains with certainty and unfailing strength
our nation's prosperity by the products of its steady toil, and bears
its full share of the burden of taxation without complaint. Our
agriculturists have but slight personal representation in the councils
of the nation, and are generally content with the humbler duties of
citizenship and willing to trust to the bounty of nature for a reward of
their labor. But the magnitude and value of this industry are
appreciated when the statement is made that of our total annual exports
more than three-fourths are the products of agriculture, and of our
total population nearly one-half are exclusively engaged in that
occupation.

The Department of Agriculture was created for the purpose of
acquiring and diffusing among the people useful information respecting
the subjects it has in charge, and aiding in the cause of intelligent
and progressive farming, by the collection of statistics, by testing
the value and usefulness of new seeds and plants, and distributing
such as are found desirable among agriculturists. This and other
powers and duties with which this Department is invested are of the
utmost importance, and if wisely exercised must be of great benefit to
the country. The aim of our beneficent Government is the improvement of
the people in every station and the amelioration of their condition.
Surely our agriculturists should not be neglected. The instrumentality
established in aid of the farmers of the land should not only be well
equipped for the accomplishment of its purpose, but those for whose
benefit it has been adopted should be encouraged to avail themselves
fully of its advantages.

The prohibition of the importation into several countries of certain of
our animals and their products, based upon the suspicion that health is
endangered in their use and consumption, suggests the importance of such
precautions for the protection of our stock of all kinds against disease
as will disarm suspicion of danger and cause the removal of such an
injurious prohibition.

If the laws now in operation are insufficient to accomplish this
protection, I recommend their amendment to meet the necessities of
the situation; and I commend to the consideration of Congress the
suggestions contained in the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture
calculated to increase the value and efficiency of this Department.

The report of the Civil Service Commission, which will be submitted,
contains an account of the manner in which the civil-service law has
been executed during the last year and much valuable information on this
important subject.

I am inclined to think that there is no sentiment more general in the
minds of the people of our country than a conviction of the correctness
of the principle upon which the law enforcing civil-service reform is
based. In its present condition the law regulates only a part of the
subordinate public positions throughout the country. It applies the test
of fitness to applicants for these places by means of a competitive
examination, and gives large discretion to the Commissioners as to the
character of the examination and many other matters connected with its
execution. Thus the rules and regulations adopted by the Commission have
much to do with the practical usefulness of the statute and with the
results of its application.

The people may well trust the Commission to execute the law with perfect
fairness and with as little irritation as is possible. But of course no
relaxation of the principle which underlies it and no weakening of the
safeguards which surround it can be expected. Experience in its
administration will probably suggest amendment of the methods of its
execution, but I venture to hope that we shall never again be remitted
to the system which distributes public positions purely as rewards for
partisan service. Doubts may well be entertained whether our Government
could survive the strain of a continuance of this system, which upon
every change of Administration inspires an immense army of claimants for
office to lay siege to the patronage of Government, engrossing the time
of public officers with their importunities, spreading abroad the
contagion of their disappointment, and filling the air with the tumult
of their discontent.

The allurements of an immense number of offices and places exhibited to
the voters of the land, and the promise of their bestowal in recognition
of partisan activity, debauch the suffrage and rob political action of
its thoughtful and deliberative character. The evil would increase with
the multiplication of offices consequent upon our extension, and the
mania for office holding, growing from its indulgence, would pervade
our population so generally that patriotic purpose, the support of
principle, the desire for the public good, and solicitude for the
nation's welfare would be nearly banished from the activity of our
party contests and cause them to degenerate into ignoble, selfish, and
disgraceful struggles for the possession of office and public place.

Civil-service reform enforced by law came none too soon to check the
progress of demoralization.

One of its effects, not enough regarded, is the freedom it brings to the
political action of those conservative and sober men who, in fear of the
confusion and risk attending an arbitrary and sudden change in all the
public offices with a change of party rule, cast their ballots against
such a chance.

Parties seem to be necessary, and will long continue to exist; nor can
it be now denied that there are legitimate advantages, not disconnected
with office holding, which follow party supremacy. While partisanship
continues bitter and pronounced and supplies so much of motive to
sentiment and action, it is not fair to hold public officials in charge
of important trusts responsible for the best results in the performance
of their duties, and yet insist that they shall rely in confidential and
important places upon the work of those not only opposed to them in
political affiliation, but so steeped in partisan prejudice and rancor
that they have no loyalty to their chiefs and no desire for their
success. Civil-service reform does not exact this, nor does it require
that those in subordinate positions who fail in yielding their best
service or who are incompetent should be retained simply because they
are in place. The whining of a clerk discharged for indolence or
incompetency, who, though he gained his place by the worst possible
operation of the spoils system, suddenly discovers that he is entitled
to protection under the sanction of civil-service reform, represents an
idea no less absurd than the clamor of the applicant who claims the
vacant position as his compensation for the most questionable party
work.

The civil-service law does not prevent the discharge of the indolent
or incompetent clerk, but it does prevent supplying his place with the
unfit party worker. Thus in both these phases is seen benefit to the
public service. And the people who desire good government, having
secured this statute, will not relinquish its benefits without protest.
Nor are they unmindful of the fact that its full advantages can only be
gained through the complete good faith of those having its execution in
charge. And this they will insist upon.

I recommend that the salaries of the Civil Service Commissioners be
increased to a sum more nearly commensurate to their important duties.

It is a source of considerable and not unnatural discontent that no
adequate provision has yet been made for accommodating the principal
library of the Government. Of the vast collection of books and
pamphlets gathered at the Capitol, numbering some 700,000, exclusive of
manuscripts, maps, and the products of the graphic arts, also of great
volume and value, only about 300,000 volumes, or less than half the
collection, are provided with shelf room. The others, which are
increasing at the rate of from twenty-five to thirty thousand volumes
a year, are not only inaccessible to the public, but are subject to
serious damage and deterioration from other causes in their present
situation.

A consideration of the facts that the library of the Capitol has twice
been destroyed or damaged by fire, its daily increasing value, and its
importance as a place of deposit of books under the law relating to
copyright makes manifest the necessity of prompt action to insure its
proper accommodation and protection.

My attention has been called to a controversy which has arisen from the
condition of the law relating to railroad facilities in the city of
Washington, which has involved the Commissioners of the District in much
annoyance and trouble. I hope this difficulty will be promptly settled
by appropriate legislation.

The Commissioners represent that enough of the revenues of the District
are now on deposit in the Treasury of the United States to repay the sum
advanced by the Government for sewer improvements under the act of June
30, 1884. They desire now an advance of the share which ultimately
should be borne by the District of the cost of extensive improvements
to the streets of the city. The total expense of these contemplated
improvements is estimated at $1,000,000, and they are of the opinion
that a considerable sum could be saved if they had all the money in
hand, so that contracts for the whole work could be made at the same
time. They express confidence that if the advance asked for should be
made the Government would be reimbursed the same within a reasonable
time. I have no doubt that these improvements could be made much cheaper
if undertaken together and prosecuted according to a general plan.

The license law now in force within the District is deficient and
uncertain in some of its provisions and ought to be amended. The
Commissioners urge, with good reason, the necessity of providing a
building for the use of the District government which shall better
secure the safety and preservation of its valuable books and records.

The present condition of the law relating to the succession to the
Presidency in the event of the death, disability, or removal of both the
President and Vice-President is such as to require immediate amendment.
This subject has repeatedly been considered by Congress, but no result
has been reached. The recent lamentable death of the Vice-President, and
vacancies at the same time in all other offices the incumbents of which
might immediately exercise the functions of the Presidential office, has
caused public anxiety and a just demand that a recurrence of such a
condition of affairs should not be permitted.

In conclusion I commend to the wise care and thoughtful attention of
Congress the needs, the welfare, and the aspirations of an intelligent
and generous nation. To subordinate these to the narrow advantages of
partisanship or the accomplishment of selfish aims is to violate the
people's trust and betray the people's interests; but an individual
sense of responsibility on the part of each of us and a stern
determination to perform our duty well must give us place among those
who have added in their day and generation to the glory and prosperity
of our beloved land.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 2: See pp. 303-304.]

[Footnote 3: See pp. 224-225.]

[Footnote 4: See pp. 305-307.]




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 14, 1885_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant, calling
for the correspondence on file in relation to the appointment of Mr.
A.M. Keiley as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, first
to the Government of Italy and then to that of Austria-Hungary, I
transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with
accompanying papers.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 14, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 10th instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, inclosing a report from the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs upon the subject of the condition of the Northern Cheyenne
Indians upon the Rosebud and Tongue rivers, in Montana, the inadequacy
of the appropriation made for their support during the current fiscal
year, and requesting legislative authority for the use of certain funds
indicated for their relief.

The proposed legislation does not involve any additional appropriation,
and the necessity for the authority requested is urgent. I therefore
recommend the matter to the early and favorable consideration and action
of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 14, 1885_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a convention between the United States and Venezuela for
the reopening of the claims of citizens of the United States against
that Government under the treaty of April 25, 1866, signed on the 5th
instant.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 14, 1885_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit, for the consideration of the Senate with a view to
ratification, an additional article, signed the 5th instant, extending
for a period of eighteen months from the date of the exchange of
ratifications of the same the provisions of Article VIII of the
convention of July 29, 1882, between the United States and Mexico, in
regard to the resurvey of the boundary line, a copy of which convention
is herewith inclosed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I nominate James P. Kimball, of Pennsylvania, to be Director of the
Mint, in place of Horatio C. Burchard, removed; and the reasons for such
removal are herewith communicated to the Senate, pursuant to the statute
in such case made and provided.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

  In the matter of the removal of Horatio C. }
  Burchard as Director of the Mint.          }

In conformity to section 343 of the Revised Statutes of the United
States, the following is respectfully communicated to the Senate as
reasons of the removal above referred to:

The Director of the Mint is the head of one of the most important of the
bureaus of the Treasury Department, to which are attached duties of a
highly technical and varied nature.

By the express terms of the law creating the office the incumbent is
"under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury."

This last-named officer, under whose direction Mr. Burchard was thus
placed, reported to me that his mode of conducting the business of the
office was unsatisfactory and inefficient and that the public interest
required a change.

And therefore I removed Mr. Burchard and appointed Mr. Kimball in his
place, believing him to possess especial qualifications for the proper
administration of the important duties involved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 17th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of a bill granting a right of way to the Jamestown and Northern Railroad
Company through the Devils Lake Indian Reservation, in the Territory of
Dakota.

The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 15th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers upon the
subject, a draft of a bill to amend section 2148 of the Revised Statutes
of the United States, relating to trespasses upon Indian lands.

The subject is one of great importance, and is commended to the early
and favorable action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report, together with accompanying documents, made
to me by the board of management of the World's Industrial and Cotton
Centennial Exposition, held at New Orleans from December 16, 1884, to
May 31, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 17th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of a bill to accept and ratify an agreement made by the Pi-Ute Indians,
and granting a right of way to the Carson and Colorado Railroad Company
through the Walker River Reservation, in Nevada.

The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 17th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a
report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs concerning the failure of
the Utah and Northern Railroad Company to compensate the Indians upon
the Fort Hall Reservation, in Idaho, for lands taken and used in
construction of their line of road crossing the reservation from north
to south.

The subject is recommended to the early attention and action of
Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 15th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers upon the
subject, a draft of a bill "to provide for the settlement of the estates
of deceased Kickapoo Indians in the State of Kansas, and for other
purposes."

The matter is presented for the favorable consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 15th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers upon the
subject, a draft of a bill for the relief of the Mission Indians in
California.

The subject is presented for the action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 17th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of a bill to accept and ratify an agreement made by the Sisseton and
Wahpeton Indians, and to grant a right of way for the Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul Railway through the Lake Traverse Reservation, in Dakota.
The subject is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 15th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers on the
subject, a draft of a bill to amend section 5388 of the Revised Statutes
of the United States, relating to timber depredations upon lands
reserved or purchased for military, Indian, or other purposes, etc.

This is an important subject, and is commended to the early attention of
Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1885_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 15th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of a bill to accept and ratify an agreement made with the confederated
tribes and bands of Indians occupying the Yakima Reservation, in
Washington Territory, for the right of way of the Northern Pacific
Railroad across said reservation, etc.

The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 5, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 19th ultimo from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers in
relation thereto, a draft of a bill "to provide for allotments of lands
in severalty to the Indians residing upon the Round Valley Reservation,
in the State of California, and granting patents therefor, and for other
purposes."

The matter is presented for the early consideration and action of
Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 7, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the Senate of the
9th ultimo, a report of the Secretary of State, in answer to the request
for any documents or information received from our consul-general at
Paris or from the special agent sent to the financial centers of Europe
in respect to the establishment of an international ratio of gold and
silver coinage as would procure the free coinage of both metals at the
mints of those countries and our own.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 12, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In continuation of the message of my predecessor of the 13th of February
last, I now transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State,
which is accompanied by the final report of the commissioners appointed
under the act of July 7, 1884, to visit the States of Central and South
America.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 12, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 2d instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill
to amend section 9 of the act of March 3, 1885, relating to the trial
and punishment of Indians committing certain specified crimes.

The subject is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 12, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in response to a
resolution of the Senate of the 14th ultimo, requesting a copy of "any
report of an actual instrumental survey of a line for a ship railroad
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and any map of the same that has been
made to or placed on file in any of the Executive Departments, and of
any canal or canals designed to connect such ship railway with the Gulf
of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 12, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State,
accompanied by a report of Hon. James O. Broadhead and Somerville P.
Tuck, appointed to carry out certain of the provisions of section 5 of
an act entitled "An act to provide for the ascertainment of claims of
American citizens for spoliations committed by the French prior to the
31st day of July, 1801," approved January 20, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 12, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the Senate of the
5th instant, a report of the Secretary of State, containing all the
correspondence and information in the custody of his Department relative
to the extension of certain fishing rights and privileges under the
treaty of Washington from July 1, 1885, to January 1, 1886.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 25, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, which is
accompanied by the report of the United States Electrical Commission of
the proceedings of the National Conference of Electricians held at the
city of Philadelphia in the month of September, 1884.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 25, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 16th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of proposed legislation providing for negotiations with the various
tribes and bands of Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota, with a
view to the improvement of their present condition.

It is requested that the matter may have early attention, consideration,
and action by Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 28, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

In continuing accord with the Senate resolution of December 9, 1885,
I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, accompanied
by information received from the United States minister to Belgium in
relation to the action of the Belgian Government in concluding its
adhesion to the monetary convention of the States comprising the "Latin
Union."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 28, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 25th instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, the draft of a
proposed amendment to the first section of the act ratifying an
agreement with the Crow Indians in Montana, approved April 11, 1882,
requested by said Indians, for the purpose of increasing the amount of
the annual payments under said agreement and reducing the number
thereof, in order that sufficient means may be provided for establishing
them on their individual allotments.

The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 4, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

By its resolution in executive session of March 18, 1885, the Senate
advised and consented to the ratification of the convention concluded
November 12, 1884, between the United States of America and the United
States of Mexico, touching the boundary line between the two countries
where it follows the bed of the Rio Grande and the Rio Gila.

The ratifications could not, however, be exchanged between the two
contracting parties and the convention proclaimed until after it had
received the constitutional sanction of the Government of Mexico, whose
Congress but recently convened.

In a note to the Secretary of State of December 26, 1885, Mr. Matias
Romero, the minister of Mexico here, advises him of a decree issued by
the Mexican Senate in its session of December 11 last, approving, with
certain modifications, the convention in question:

"The modifications made in the said treaty by the Mexican Senate
are not essential," says Mr. Romero, "since they consist mainly in the
rectification of the mistake made when the Gila River was mentioned as a
part of the boundary line, the Colorado River being omitted, and in the
correction of an error in the Spanish translation."

That the Senate may have the matter fully before it, I herewith transmit
a copy of Mr. Romero's note of December 26, 1885, with its inclosure,
and return the convention in the original for such further consideration
and direction as the Senate in its constitutional prerogative may deem
necessary and proper.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1886_.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE PRO TEMPORE.

SIR: In response to the Senate resolution dated January 5, 1886--

  That the Secretary of the Interior be, and hereby is, directed to
  communicate to the Senate a copy of each report made by the Government
  directors of the Union Pacific Railroad Company from date of first
  appointment of such directors to the present time--


I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of the Interior,
dated the 2d instant, with the copies required.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1886_.

THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

SIR: In response to House resolution of January 27, 1886--

  That the Secretary of the Interior be, and is hereby, requested to
  furnish this House with copies of any and all contracts or leases which
  are to be found on file in said Department between the Southern Pacific
  Company and any and every railroad or railroads to which land grants
  were made, or which received any subsidies from the United States; also
  a copy of the charter of incorporation of the Southern Pacific Company;
  also all and every contract or contracts on file between the Pacific
  Steamship Company and any and every land grant or subsidized railroad
  company or companies--


I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of the Interior,
dated the 2d instant, inclosing the copies required.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 3d instant from the Secretary of
the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill
authorizing the use of certain funds belonging to the Miami Indians in
Indian Territory, proceeds of sales of their lands, for the purpose of
relieving their present pressing necessities.

The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 8, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of the Interior, dated
5th instant, inclosing the recommendation of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs for the insertion in the act making appropriations for the
current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department for the year
ending June 30, 1887, of an item providing for an agent for the
Winnebago Indians in Wisconsin, at a salary of $1,500 per annum.

The matter is respectfully submitted for the consideration and action of
Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 8, 1886_.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE PRO TEMPORE.

SIR: In response to Senate resolution of January 7, 1886--

  That the Secretary of the Interior be, and hereby is, directed to
  communicate to the Senate whether any surveys of the public lands have
  been made within the last two years in the State of Nebraska; whether
  there are any unsurveyed public lands within said State; also what
  recommendations have been made within the last three years by the
  surveyors-general of said district as to the discontinuance of said
  office, and whether it is advisable that the office of surveyor-general
  of said district should cease and be discontinued under the provisions
  of section 2218 of the Revised Statutes of the United States--


I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of the Interior,
dated the 3d instant, inclosing the information desired.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 15, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication,
under date of the 9th instant, from the Secretary of the Interior, and
the accompanying last annual report of the Government directors of the
Union Pacific Railway Company.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 15, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 12th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, the
draft of a bill prepared by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to amend
the third section of the act of March 3, 1885, "to provide for the sale
of the Sac and Fox and Iowa Indian reservations in the States of
Nebraska and Kansas, and for other purposes."

The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 16, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the Senate of
the 9th instant, a statement showing the payments of awards of the
commissioners appointed under the conventions between the United States
and France concluded April 30, 1803, and July 4, 1831, and between the
United States and Spain concluded February 22, 1819, prepared from the
books in the Department of the Treasury, under the direction of the
Secretary of the Treasury, at the request of the Secretary of State.

Also, for the further information of the Senate, a report prepared by
direction of the Secretary of State, from the original records in his
custody, of the awards made by the said commissioners in claims allowed
by them.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., March 1, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

Ever since the beginning of the present session of the Senate the
different heads of the Departments attached to the executive branch of
the Government have been plied with various requests and demands from
committees of the Senate, from members of such committees, and at last
from the Senate itself, requiring the transmission of reasons for the
suspension of certain officials during the recess of that body, or for
the papers touching the conduct of such officials, or for all papers and
documents relating to such suspensions, or for all documents and papers
filed in such Departments in relation to the management and conduct of
the offices held by such suspended officials.

The different terms from time to time adopted in making these requests
and demands, the order in which they succeeded each other, and the fact
that when made by the Senate the resolution for that purpose was passed
in executive session have led to the presumption, the correctness of
which will, I suppose, be candidly admitted, that from first to last the
information thus sought and the papers thus demanded were desired for
use by the Senate and its committees in considering the propriety of the
suspensions referred to.

Though these suspensions are my executive acts, based upon considerations
addressed to me alone and for which I am wholly responsible, I have had
no invitation from the Senate to state the position which I have felt
constrained to assume in relation to the same or to interpret for myself
my acts and motives in the premises.

In this condition of affairs I have forborne addressing the Senate upon
the subject, lest I might be accused of thrusting myself unbidden upon
the attention of that body.

But the report of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate lately
presented and published, which censures the Attorney-General of the
United States for his refusal to transmit certain papers relating to a
suspension from office, and which also, if I correctly interpret it,
evinces a misapprehension of the position of the Executive upon the
question of such suspensions, will, I hope, justify this communication.

This report is predicated upon a resolution of the Senate directed to
the Attorney-General and his reply to the same. This resolution was
adopted in executive session devoted entirely to business connected
with the consideration of nominations for office. It required the
Attorney-General "to transmit to the Senate copies of all documents and
papers that have been filed in the Department of Justice since the 1st
day of January, 1885, in relation to the management and conduct of the
office of district attorney of the United States for the southern
district of Alabama."

The incumbent of this office on the 1st day of January, 1885, and until
the 17th day of July ensuing, was George M. Duskin, who on the day last
mentioned was suspended by an Executive order, and John D. Burnett
designated to perform the duties of said office. At the time of the
passage of the resolution above referred to the nomination of Burnett
for said office was pending before the Senate, and all the papers
relating to said nomination were before that body for its inspection and
information.

In reply to this resolution the Attorney-General, after referring to the
fact that the papers relating to the nomination of Burnett had already
been sent to the Senate, stated that he was directed by the President to
say that--

  The papers and documents which are mentioned in said resolution and
  still remaining in the custody of this Department, having exclusive
  reference to the suspension by the President of George M. Duskin, the
  late incumbent of the office of district attorney for the southern
  district of Alabama, it is not considered that the public interests will
  be promoted by a compliance with said resolution and the transmission of
  the papers and documents therein mentioned to the Senate in executive
  session.


Upon this resolution and the answer thereto the issue is thus stated by
the Committee on the Judiciary at the outset of the report:

  The important question, then, is whether it is within the constitutional
  competence of either House of Congress to have access to the official
  papers and documents in the various public offices of the United States
  created by laws enacted by themselves.


I do not suppose that "the public offices of the United States" are
regulated or controlled in their relations to either House of Congress
by the fact that they were "created by laws enacted by themselves."
It must be that these instrumentalities were created for the benefit of
the people and to answer the general purposes of government under the
Constitution and the laws, and that they are unencumbered by any lien in
favor of either branch of Congress growing out of their construction,
and unembarrassed by any obligation to the Senate as the price of their
creation.

The complaint of the committee that access to official papers in the
public offices is denied the Senate is met by the statement that at no
time has it been the disposition or the intention of the President or
any Department of the executive branch of the Government to withhold
from the Senate official documents or papers filed in any of the public
offices. While it is by no means conceded that the Senate has the right
in any case to review the act of the Executive in removing or suspending
a public officer, upon official documents or otherwise, it is considered
that documents and papers of that nature should, because they are
official, be freely transmitted to the Senate upon its demand, trusting
the use of the same for proper and legitimate purposes to the good faith
of that body; and though no such paper or document has been specifically
demanded in any of the numerous requests and demands made upon the
Departments, yet as often as they were found in the public offices they
have been furnished in answer to such applications.

The letter of the Attorney-General in response to the resolution of the
Senate in the particular case mentioned in the committee's report was
written at my suggestion and by my direction. There had been no official
papers or documents filed in his Department relating to the case within
the period specified in the resolution. The letter was intended, by its
description of the papers and documents remaining in the custody of the
Department, to convey the idea that they were not official; and it was
assumed that the resolution called for information, papers, and
documents of the same character as were required by the requests and
demands which preceded it.

Everything that had been written or done on behalf of the Senate
from the beginning pointed to all letters and papers of a private and
unofficial nature as the objects of search, if they were to be found in
the Departments, and provided they had been presented to the Executive
with a view to their consideration upon the question of suspension from
office.

Against the transmission of such papers and documents I have
interposed my advice and direction. This has not been done, as is
suggested in the committee's report, upon the assumption on my part that
the Attorney-General or any other head of a Department "is the servant
of the President, and is to give or withhold copies of documents in his
office according to the will of the Executive and not otherwise," but
because I regard the papers and documents withheld and addressed to me
or intended for my use and action purely unofficial and private, not
infrequently confidential, and having reference to the performance of a
duty exclusively mine. I consider them in no proper sense as upon the
files of the Department, but as deposited there for my convenience,
remaining still completely under my control. I suppose if I desired to
take them into my custody I might do so with entire propriety, and if
I saw fit to destroy them no one could complain.

Even the committee in its report appears to concede that there may be
with the President or in the Departments papers and documents which, on
account of their unofficial character, are not subject to the inspection
of the Congress. A reference in the report to instances where the House
of Representatives ought not to succeed in a call for the production of
papers is immediately followed by this statement:

  The committee feels authorized to state, after a somewhat careful
  research, that within the foregoing limits there is scarcely in the
  history of this Government, until now, any instance of a refusal by a
  head of a Department, or even of the President himself, to communicate
  official facts and information, as distinguished from private and
  unofficial papers, motions, views, reasons, and opinions, to either
  House of Congress when unconditionally demanded.


To which of the classes thus recognized do the papers and documents
belong that are now the objects of the Senate's quest?

They consist of letters and representations addressed to the Executive
or intended for his inspection; they are voluntarily written and
presented by private citizens who are not in the least instigated
thereto by any official invitation or at all subject to official
control. While some of them are entitled to Executive consideration,
many of them are so irrelevant, or in the light of other facts so
worthless, that they have not been given the least weight in determining
the question to which they are supposed to relate.

Are all these, simply because they are preserved, to be considered
official documents and subject to the inspection of the Senate? If not,
who is to determine which belong to this class? Are the motives and
purposes of the Senate, as they are day by day developed, such as would
be satisfied with my selection? Am I to submit to theirs at the risk of
being charged with making a suspension from office upon evidence which
was not even considered?

Are these papers to be regarded official because they have not only been
presented but preserved in the public offices?

Their nature and character remain the same whether they are kept
in the Executive Mansion or deposited in the Departments. There is no
mysterious power of transmutation in departmental custody, nor is there
magic in the undefined and sacred solemnity of Department files. If the
presence of these papers in the public offices is a stumbling block in
the way of the performance of Senatorial duty, it can be easily removed.

The papers and documents which have been described derive no official
character from any constitutional, statutory, or other requirement
making them necessary to the performance of the official duty of the
Executive.

It will not be denied, I suppose, that the President may suspend a
public officer in the entire absence of any papers or documents to
aid his official judgment and discretion; and I am quite prepared to
avow that the cases are not few in which suspensions from office have
depended more upon oral representations made to me by citizens of known
good repute and by members of the House of Representatives and Senators
of the United States than upon any letters and documents presented for
my examination. I have not felt justified in suspecting the veracity,
integrity, and patriotism of Senators, or ignoring their
representations, because they were not in party affiliation with the
majority of their associates; and I recall a few suspensions which bear
the approval of individual members identified politically with the
majority in the Senate.

While, therefore, I am constrained to deny the right of the Senate to
the papers and documents described, so far as the right to the same is
based upon the claim that they are in any view of the subject official,
I am also led unequivocally to dispute the right of the Senate by the
aid of any documents whatever, or in any way save through the judicial
process of trial on impeachment, to review or reverse the acts of the
Executive in the suspension, during the recess of the Senate, of Federal
officials.

I believe the power to remove or suspend such officials is vested in the
President alone by the Constitution, which in express terms provides
that "the executive power shall be vested in a President of the United
States of America," and that "he shall take care that the laws be
faithfully executed."

The Senate belongs to the legislative branch of the Government. When the
Constitution by express provision superadded to its legislative duties
the right to advise and consent to appointments to office and to sit as
a court of impeachment, it conferred upon that body all the control and
regulation of Executive action supposed to be necessary for the safety
of the people; and this express and special grant of such extraordinary
powers, not in any way related to or growing out of general Senatorial
duty, and in itself a departure from the general plan of our Government,
should be held, under a familiar maxim of construction, to exclude every
other right of interference with Executive functions.

In the first Congress which assembled after the adoption of the
Constitution, comprising many who aided in its preparation, a
legislative construction was given to that instrument in which the
independence of the Executive in the matter of removals from office was
fully sustained.

I think it will be found that in the subsequent discussions of this
question there was generally, if not at all times, a proposition pending
to in some way curtail this power of the President by legislation, which
furnishes evidence that to limit such power it was supposed to be
necessary to supplement the Constitution by such legislation.

The first enactment of this description was passed under a stress of
partisanship and political bitterness which culminated in the
President's impeachment.

This law provided that the Federal officers to which it applied could
only be suspended during the recess of the Senate when shown by evidence
satisfactory to the President to be guilty of misconduct in office, or
crime, or when incapable or disqualified to perform their duties, and
that within twenty days after the next meeting of the Senate it should
be the duty of the President "to report to the Senate such suspension,
with the evidence and reasons for his action in the case."

This statute, passed in 1867, when Congress was overwhelmingly and
bitterly opposed politically to the President, may be regarded as
an indication that even then it was thought necessary by a Congress
determined upon the subjugation of the Executive to legislative will to
furnish itself a law for that purpose, instead of attempting to reach
the object intended by an invocation of any pretended constitutional
right.

The law which thus found its way to our statute book was plain in its
terms, and its intent needed no avowal. If valid and now in operation,
it would justify the present course of the Senate and command the
obedience of the Executive to its demands. It may, however, be remarked
in passing that under this law the President had the privilege of
presenting to the body which assumed to review his executive acts his
reasons therefor, instead of being excluded from explanation or judged
by papers found in the Departments.

Two years after the law of 1867 was passed, and within less than
five weeks after the inauguration of a President in political accord
with both branches of Congress, the sections of the act regulating
suspensions from office during the recess of the Senate were entirely
repealed, and in their place were substituted provisions which, instead
of limiting the causes of suspension to misconduct, crime, disability,
or disqualification, expressly permitted such suspension by the
President "in his discretion," and completely abandoned the requirement
obliging him to report to the Senate "the evidence and reasons" for his
action.

With these modifications and with all branches of the Government in
political harmony, and in the absence of partisan incentive to captious
obstruction, the law as it was left by the amendment of 1869 was much
less destructive of Executive discretion. And yet the great general and
patriotic citizen who on the 4th day of March, 1869, assumed the duties
of Chief Executive, and for whose freer administration of his high
office the most hateful restraints of the law of 1867 were, on the 5th
day of April, 1869, removed, mindful of his obligation to defend and
protect every prerogative of his great trust, and apprehensive of the
injury threatened the public service in the continued operation of these
statutes even in their modified form, in his first message to Congress
advised their repeal and set forth their unconstitutional character and
hurtful tendency in the following language:

  It may be well to mention here the embarrassment possible to arise from
  leaving on the statute books the so-called "tenure-of-office acts," and
  to earnestly recommend their total repeal. It could not have been the
  intention of the framers of the Constitution, when providing that
  appointments made by the President should receive the consent of the
  Senate, that the latter should have the power to retain in office
  persons placed there by Federal appointment against the will of the
  President. The law is inconsistent with a faithful and efficient
  administration of the Government. What faith can an Executive put in
  officials forced upon him, and those, too, whom he has suspended for
  reason? How will such officials be likely to serve an Administration
  which they know does not trust them?


I am unable to state whether or not this recommendation for a repeal of
these laws has been since repeated. If it has not, the reason can
probably be found in the experience which demonstrated the fact that the
necessities of the political situation but rarely developed their
vicious character.

And so it happens that after an existence of nearly twenty years of
almost innocuous desuetude these laws are brought forth--apparently the
repealed as well as the unrepealed--and put in the way of an Executive
who is willing, if permitted, to attempt an improvement in the methods
of administration.

The constitutionality of these laws is by no means admitted. But why
should the provisions of the repealed law, which required specific cause
for suspension and a report to the Senate of "evidence and reasons,"
be now in effect applied to the present Executive, instead of the law,
afterwards passed and unrepealed, which distinctly permits suspensions
by the President "in his discretion" and carefully omits the requirement
that "evidence and reasons for his action in the case" shall be reported
to the Senate.

The requests and demands which by the score have for nearly three months
been presented to the different Departments of the Government, whatever
may be their form, have but one complexion. They assume the right of the
Senate to sit in judgment upon the exercise of my exclusive discretion
and Executive function, for which I am solely responsible to the people,
from whom I have so lately received the sacred trust of office. My oath
to support and defend the Constitution, my duty to the people who have
chosen me to execute the powers of their great office and not to
relinquish them, and my duty to the Chief Magistracy, which I must
preserve unimpaired in all its dignity and vigor, compel me to refuse
compliance with these demands.

To the end that the service may be improved, the Senate is invited to
the fullest scrutiny of the persons submitted to them for public office,
in recognition of the constitutional power of that body to advise and
consent to their appointment. I shall continue, as I have thus far done,
to furnish, at the request of the confirming body, all the information
I possess touching the fitness of the nominees placed before them for
their action, both when they are proposed to fill vacancies and to take
the place of suspended officials. Upon a refusal to confirm I shall not
assume the right to ask the reasons for the action of the Senate nor
question its determination. I can not think that anything more is
required to secure worthy incumbents in public office than a careful and
independent discharge of our respective duties within their well-defined
limits.

Though the propriety of suspensions might be better assured if the
action of the President was subject to review by the Senate, yet if the
Constitution and the laws have placed this responsibility upon the
executive branch of the Government it should not be divided nor the
discretion which it involves relinquished.

It has been claimed that the present Executive having pledged himself
not to remove officials except for cause, the fact of their suspension
implies such misconduct on the part of a suspended official as injures
his character and reputation, and therefore the Senate should review the
case for his vindication.

I have said that certain officials should not, in my opinion, be removed
during the continuance of the term for which they were appointed solely
for the purpose of putting in their place those in political affiliation
with the appointing power, and this declaration was immediately followed
by a description of official partisanship which ought not to entitle
those in whom it was exhibited to consideration. It is not apparent
how an adherence to the course thus announced carries with it the
consequences described. If in any degree the suggestion is worthy of
consideration, it is to be hoped that there may be a defense against
unjust suspension in the justice of the Executive.

Every pledge which I have made by which I have placed a limitation upon
my exercise of executive power has been faithfully redeemed. Of course
the pretense is not put forth that no mistakes have been committed; but
not a suspension has been made except it appeared to my satisfaction
that the public welfare would be improved thereby. Many applications for
suspension have been denied, and the adherence to the rule laid down to
govern my action as to such suspensions has caused much irritation and
impatience on the part of those who have insisted upon more changes in
the offices.

The pledges I have made were made to the people, and to them I am
responsible for the manner in which they have been redeemed. I am not
responsible to the Senate, and I am unwilling to submit my actions and
official conduct to them for judgment.

There are no grounds for an allegation that the fear of being found
false to my professions influences me in declining to submit to the
demands of the Senate. I have not constantly refused to suspend
officials, and thus incurred the displeasure of political friends, and
yet willfully broken faith with the people for the sake of being false
to them.

Neither the discontent of party friends, nor the allurements constantly
offered of confirmations of appointees conditioned upon the avowal that
suspensions have been made on party grounds alone, nor the threat
proposed in the resolutions now before the Senate that no confirmations
will be made unless the demands of that body be complied with, are
sufficient to discourage or deter me from following in the way which
I am convinced leads to better government for the people.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 1, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

It is made the constitutional duty of the President to recommend to the
consideration of Congress from time to time such measures as he shall
judge necessary and expedient. In no matters can the necessity of this
be more evident than when the good faith of the United States under the
solemn obligation of treaties with foreign powers is concerned.

The question of the treatment of the subjects of China sojourning within
the jurisdiction of the United States presents such a matter for the
urgent and earnest consideration of the Executive and the Congress.

In my first annual message, upon the assembling of the present Congress,
I adverted to this question in the following words:

  The harmony of our relations with China is fully sustained.

  In the application of the acts lately passed to execute the treaty of
  1880, restrictive of the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United
  States, individual cases of hardship have occurred beyond the power of
  the Executive to remedy, and calling for judicial determination.

  The condition of the Chinese question in the Western States and
  Territories is, despite this restrictive legislation, far from being
  satisfactory. The recent outbreak in Wyoming Territory, where numbers
  of unoffending Chinamen, indisputably within the protection of the
  treaties and the law, were murdered by a mob, and the still more recent
  threatened outbreak of the same character in Washington Territory, are
  fresh in the minds of all, and there is apprehension lest the bitterness
  of feeling against the Mongolian race on the Pacific Slope may find vent
  in similar lawless demonstrations. All the power of this Government
  should be exerted to maintain the amplest good faith toward China in
  the treatment of these men, and the inflexible sternness of the law in
  bringing the wrongdoers to justice should be insisted upon.

  Every effort has been made by this Government to prevent these violent
  outbreaks and to aid the representatives of China in their investigation
  of these outrages; and it is but just to say that they are traceable to
  the lawlessness of men not citizens of the United States engaged in
  competition with Chinese laborers.

  Race prejudice is the chief factor in originating these disturbances,
  and it exists in a large part of our domain, jeopardizing our domestic
  peace and the good relationship we strive to maintain with China.

  The admitted right of a government to prevent the influx of elements
  hostile to its internal peace and security may not be questioned, even
  where there is no treaty stipulation on the subject. That the exclusion
  of Chinese labor is demanded in other countries where like conditions
  prevail is strongly evidenced in the Dominion of Canada, where Chinese
  immigration is now regulated by laws more exclusive than our own. If
  existing laws are inadequate to compass the end in view, I shall be
  prepared to give earnest consideration to any further remedial measures,
  within the treaty limits, which the wisdom of Congress may devise.


At the time I wrote this the shocking occurrences at Rock Springs, in
Wyoming Territory, were fresh in the minds of all, and had been recently
presented anew to the attention of this Government by the Chinese
minister in a note which, while not unnaturally exhibiting some
misconception of our Federal system of administration in the Territories
while they as yet are not in the exercise of the full measure of that
sovereign self-government pertaining to the States of the Union,
presents in truthful terms the main features of the cruel outrage there
perpetrated upon inoffensive subjects of China. In the investigation of
the Rock Springs outbreak and the ascertainment of the facts on which
the Chinese minister's statements rest the Chinese representatives were
aided by the agents of the United States, and the reports submitted,
having been thus framed and recounting the facts within the knowledge of
witnesses on both sides, possess an impartial truthfulness which could
not fail to give them great impressiveness.

The facts, which so far are not controverted or affected by any
exculpatory or mitigating testimony, show the murder of a number of
Chinese subjects in September last at Rock Springs, the wounding of many
others, and the spoliation of the property of all when the unhappy
survivors had been driven from their habitations. There is no allegation
that the victims by any lawless or disorderly act on their part
contributed to bring about a collision; on the contrary, it appears that
the law-abiding disposition of these people, who were sojourners in our
midst under the sanction of hospitality and express treaty obligations,
was made the pretext for an attack upon them. This outrage upon law
and treaty engagements was committed by a lawless mob. None of the
aggressors--happily for the national good fame--appear by the reports
to have been citizens of the United States. They were aliens engaged in
that remote district as mining laborers, who became excited against the
Chinese laborers, as it would seem, because of their refusal to join
them in a strike to secure higher wages. The oppression of Chinese
subjects by their rivals in the competition for labor does not differ in
violence and illegality from that applied to other classes of native or
alien labor. All are equally under the protection of law and equally
entitled to enjoy the benefits of assured public order.

Were there no treaty in existence referring to the rights of Chinese
subjects; did they come hither as all other strangers who voluntarily
resort to this land of freedom, of self-government, and of laws, here
peaceably to win their bread and to live their lives, there can be no
question that they would be entitled still to the same measure of
protection from violence and the same free forum for the redress of
their grievances as any other aliens.

So far as the treaties between the United States and China stipulate for
the treatment of the Chinese subjects actually in the United States as
the citizens or subjects of "the most favored nation" are treated, they
create no new status for them; they simply recognize and confirm a
general and existing rule, applicable to all aliens alike, for none are
favored above others by domestic law, and none by foreign treaties
unless it be the Chinese themselves in some respects. For by the third
article of the treaty of November 17, 1880, between the United States
and China it is provided that--

  ART. III. If Chinese laborers, or Chinese of any other class, now either
  permanently or temporarily residing in the territory of the United
  States, meet with ill treatment at the hands of any other persons, the
  Government of the United States will exert all its power to devise
  measures for their protection and to secure to them the same rights,
  privileges, immunities, and exemptions as may be enjoyed by the citizens
  or subjects of the most favored nation, and to which they are entitled
  by treaty.


This article may be held to constitute a special privilege for Chinese
subjects in the United States, as compared with other aliens; not that
it creates any peculiar rights which others do not share, but because,
in case, of ill treatment of the Chinese in the United States, this
Government is bound to "exert all its power to devise measures for their
protection," by securing to them the rights to which equally with any
and all other foreigners they are entitled.

Whether it is now incumbent upon the United States to amend their
general laws or devise new measures in this regard I do not consider in
the present communication, but confine myself to the particular point
raised by the outrage and massacre at Rock Springs.

The note of the Chinese minister and the documents which accompany
it give, as I believe, an unexaggerated statement of the lamentable
incident, and present impressively the regrettable circumstance that
the proceedings, in the name of justice, for the ascertainment of the
crime and fixing the responsibility therefor were a ghastly mockery
of justice. So long as the Chinese minister, under his instructions,
makes this the basis of an appeal to the principles and convictions
of mankind, no exception can be taken; but when he goes further, and,
taking as his precedent the action of the Chinese Government in past
instances where the lives of American citizens and their property in
China have been endangered, argues a reciprocal obligation on the part
of the United States to indemnify the Chinese subjects who suffered at
Rock Springs, it became necessary to meet his argument and to deny most
emphatically the conclusions he seeks to draw as to the existence of
such a liability and the right of the Chinese Government to insist
upon it.

I draw the attention of the Congress to the latter part of the note of
the Secretary of State of February 18, 1886, in reply to the Chinese
minister's representations, and invite especial consideration of the
cogent reasons by which he reaches the conclusion that whilst the United
States Government is under no obligation, whether by the express terms
of its treaties with China or the principles of international law, to
indemnify these Chinese subjects for losses caused by such means and
under the admitted circumstances, yet that in view of the palpable and
discreditable failure of the authorities of Wyoming Territory to bring
to justice the guilty parties or to assure to the sufferers an impartial
forum in which to seek and obtain compensation for the losses which
those subjects have incurred by lack of police protection, and
considering further the entire absence of provocation or contribution
on the part of the victims, the Executive may be induced to bring the
matter to the benevolent consideration of the Congress, in order that
that body, in its high discretion, may direct the bounty of the
Government in aid of innocent and peaceful strangers whose maltreatment
has brought discredit upon the country, with the distinct understanding
that such action is in no wise to be held as a precedent, is wholly
gratuitous, and is resorted to in a spirit of pure generosity toward
those who are otherwise helpless.

The correspondence exchanged is herewith submitted for the information
of the Congress, and accompanies a like message to the House of
Representatives.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 27th ultimo from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of a bill, prepared in the Office of Indian Affairs, for the purpose of
securing to the Cherokees and others, citizens of the Cherokee Nation by
adoption and incorporation, a sum equal to their proportion of the
$300,000, proceeds of lands west of 96° in the Indian Territory,
appropriated by the act of March 3, 1883.

The matter is presented for the consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 25th ultimo from the Secretary of
the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill
recommended by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the payment of
money claimed under alleged existing treaty stipulations and laws by
such Eastern Cherokee Indians as have removed or shall hereafter remove
themselves to the Indian Territory.

The matter is presented for the consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 26th ultimo from the Secretary of
the Interior, with inclosures, requesting legislation to provide for the
reappraisement and sale of a small tract of land in the State of
Nebraska belonging to the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation.

The matter is presented for the action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 3, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, the seventeenth
annual report of the Board of Indian Commissioners, for the year 1885,
submitted to the Secretary of the Interior in pursuance of the act of
May 17, 1882.

The report accompanies the message to the House of Representatives.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 10, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 5th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of a bill, prepared in the Office of Indian Affairs, "for the relief of
the Omaha tribe of Indians in the State of Nebraska."

The matter is presented for the consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 10, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, the report of
the National Board of Health for the year 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 17, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State, being a
revised list of papers on file in the Department of State touching the
unpaid claims of citizens of the United States against France for
spoliation prior to July 31, 1801.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 17, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 17th of February,
requesting to be furnished with a copy of the report made by the
consul-general of the United States at Berlin upon the shipping interest
of Germany, I transmit a report of the Secretary of State upon the
subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, March 17, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate in executive session of
the 27th of January, I transmit herewith the report of the Secretary of
State and the papers accompanying it, relating to the emigration of
Chinese to the United States.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 18, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 16th instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a
bill, prepared by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, providing for the
use of certain funds, proceeds of Indian reservations, covered into the
Treasury under the provisions of the act of March 3, 1883, for the
benefit of the Indians on whose account the same is covered in.

The subject is recommended to the favorable consideration and action of
Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 18, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 16th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of a bill, prepared by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, "to authorize
the purchase of a tract of land near Salem, Oreg., for the use of the
Indian training school."

The subject is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 18, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of February 9, 1886,
I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with its
accompanying documents, relative to the commerce between the United
States and certain foreign countries in cereals, and the cotton product
during the years 1884 and 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 22, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th
of February last, calling upon the Secretary of State for copies of all
the correspondence relating to the claims of certain governments to be
accorded the reductions and exemptions of tonnage dues accorded to
vessels entering ports of the United States from certain ports named
in the shipping act of June 26, 1884, I transmit the report of that
officer, together with the correspondence.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 25, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the report of the Civil Service Commission for the
year ended on the 16th day of January last.

The exhibit thus made of the operations of the Commission and the
account thus presented of the results following the execution of the
civil-service law can not fail to demonstrate its usefulness and
strengthen the conviction that this scheme for a reform in the methods
of administering the Government is no longer an experiment.

Wherever this reform has gained a foothold it has steadily advanced in
the esteem of those charged with public administrative duties, while the
people who desire good government have constantly been confirmed in
their high estimate of its value and efficiency.

With the benefits it has already secured to the public service plainly
apparent, and with its promise of increased usefulness easily
appreciated, this cause is commended to the liberal care and jealous
protection of the Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 30, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In further answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives
of the 15th of February last, calling upon the Secretary of State for
copies of all correspondence relating to the claims of governments to
be accorded the reductions and exemptions of tonnage dues accorded to
vessels entering the ports of the United States from certain ports named
in the shipping act of June 26, 1884, I transmit herewith a copy of the
reply of the Attorney-General to the letter of the Secretary of State of
December 15, 1885, as found on pages 35 and 36 of Executive Document No.
132, House of Representatives, Forty-ninth Congress, first session,
communicated on the 22d instant.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 1, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In response to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th
of March, relative to the employment of substitutes in the Department of
State, I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State on the
subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 1, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of the Interior and the
accompanying report, submitted by the governor of Alaska in compliance
with section 5 of the act of May 17, 1884, entitled "An act providing a
civil government for Alaska."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 1, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in relation
to the claim of the representatives of the late Hon. James Crooks, a
British subject, against this Government for the seizure of the schooner
_Lord Nelson_ in 1812.

The matter is commended to the favorable consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 6, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress with a view to
appropriate legislation in the premises, a report of the Secretary of
State, with certain correspondence touching the treaty right of Chinese
subjects other than laborers "to go and come of their own free will and
accord,"

In my annual message of the 8th of December last I said:

  In the application of the acts lately passed to execute the treaty of
  1880, restrictive of the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United
  States, individual cases of hardship have occurred beyond the power of
  the Executive to remedy, and calling for judicial determination.


These cases of individual hardship are due to the ambiguous and
defective provisions of the acts of Congress approved respectively on
the 6th May, 1882, and 5th July, 1884. The hardship has in some cases
been remedied by the action of the courts. In other cases, however,
where the phraseology of the statutes has appeared to be conclusive
against any discretion on the part of the officers charged with the
execution of the law, Chinese persons expressly entitled to free
admission under the treaty have been refused a landing and sent back to
the country whence they came without being afforded any opportunity to
show in the courts or otherwise their right to the privilege of free
ingress and egress which it was the purpose of the treaty to secure.

In the language of one of the judicial determinations of the Supreme
Court of the United States to which I have referred--

  The supposition should not be indulged that Congress, while professing
  to faithfully execute the treaty stipulations and recognizing the fact
  that they secure to a certain class the right to go from and come to
  the United States, intended to make its protection depend upon the
  performance of conditions which it was physically impossible to perform.
  (112 U.S. Reports, p. 554, Chew Heong _vs._ United States.)


The act of July 5, 1884, imposes such an impossible condition in not
providing for the admission, under proper certificate, of Chinese
travelers of the exempted classes in the cases most likely to arise in
ordinary commercial intercourse.

The treaty provisions governing the case are as follows:

  ART. I. * * * The limitation or suspension shall be reasonable, and
  shall apply only to Chinese who may go to the United States as laborers,
  other classes not being included in the limitations. * * *

  ART. II. Chinese subjects, whether proceeding to the United States as
  teachers, students, merchants, or from curiosity, together with their
  body and household servants, * * * shall be allowed to go and come of
  their own free will and accord, and shall be accorded all the rights,
  privileges, immunities, and exemptions which are accorded to the
  citizens and subjects of the most favored nation.


Section 6 of the amended Chinese immigration act of 1884 purports to
secure this treaty right to the exempted classes named by means of
prescribed certificates of their status, which certificates shall be the
_prima facie_ and the sole permissible evidence to establish a
right of entry into the United States. But it provides in terms for the
issuance of certificates in two cases only:

(_a_) Chinese subjects departing from a port of China; and

(_b_) Chinese persons (_i.e._, of the Chinese race) who may at
the time be subjects of some foreign government other than China, and
who may depart for the United States from the ports of such other
foreign government.

A statute is certainly most unusual which, purporting to execute the
provisions of a treaty with China in respect of Chinese subjects, enacts
strict formalities as regards the subjects of other governments than
that of China.

It is sufficient that I should call the earnest attention of Congress to
the circumstance that the statute makes no provision whatever for the
somewhat numerous class of Chinese persons who, retaining their Chinese
subjection in some countries other than China, desire to come from such
countries to the United States.

Chinese merchants have trading operations of magnitude throughout the
world. They do not become citizens or subjects of the country where they
may temporarily reside and trade; they continue to be subjects of China,
and to them the explicit exemption of the treaty applies. Yet if such a
Chinese subject, the head of a mercantile house at Hongkong or Yokohama
or Honolulu or Havana or Colon, desires to come from any of these places
to the United States, he is met with the requirement that he must
produce a certificate, in prescribed form and in the English tongue,
issued by the Chinese Government. If there be at the foreign place of
his residence no representative of the Chinese Government competent to
issue a certificate in the prescribed form, he can obtain none, and is
under the provisions of the present law unjustly debarred from entry
into the United States. His usual Chinese passport will not suffice,
for it is not in the form which the act prescribes shall be the sole
permissible evidence of his right to land. And he can obtain no such
certificate from the Government of his place of residence, because he
is not a subject or citizen thereof "at the time," or at any time.

There being, therefore, no statutory provision prescribing the terms
upon which Chinese persons resident in foreign countries but not
subjects or citizens of such countries may prove their status and
rights as members of the exempted classes in the absence of a Chinese
representative in such country, the Secretary of the Treasury, in whom
the execution of the act of July 5, 1884, was vested, undertook to
remedy the omission by directing the revenue officers to recognize
as lawful certificates those issued in favor of Chinese subjects by
the Chinese consular and diplomatic officers at the foreign port of
departure, when viséed by the United States representative thereat.
This appears to be a just application of the spirit of the law, although
enlarging its letter, and in adopting this rule he was controlled by the
authority of high judicial decision as to what evidence is necessary to
establish the fact that an individual Chinaman belongs to the exempted
class.

He, however, went beyond the spirit of the act and the judicial
decisions, by providing, in a circular dated January 14, 1885, for the
original issuance of such a certificate by the United States consular
officer at the port of departure, in the absence of a Chinese diplomatic
or consular representative thereat; for it is clear that the act of
Congress contemplated the intervention of the United States consul only
in a supervisory capacity, his function being to check the proceeding
and see that no abuse of the privilege followed. The power or duty of
original certification is wholly distinct from that supervisory
function. It either dispenses with the foreign certificate altogether,
leaving the consular visé to stand alone and sufficient, or else it
combines in one official act the distinct functions of certification and
verification of the fact certified.

The official character attaching to the consular certification
contemplated by the unamended circular of January 14, 1885, is to be
borne in mind. It is not merely _prima facie_ evidence of the
status of the bearer, such as the courts may admit in their discretion;
it was prescribed as an official attestation, on the strength of which
the customs officers at the port of entry were to admit the bearer
without further adjudication of his status unless question should arise
as to the truth of the certificate itself.

It became, therefore, necessary to amend the circular of January 14,
1885, and this was done on the 13th of June following, by striking out
the clause prescribing original certification of status by the United
States consuls. The effect of this amendment is to deprive any
certificate the United States consuls may issue of the value it
purported to possess as sole permissible evidence under the statute when
its issuance was prescribed by Treasury regulations. There is, however,
nothing to prevent consuls giving certificates of facts within their
knowledge to be received as evidence in the absence of statutory
authentication.

The complaint of the Chinese minister in his note of March 24, 1886,
is that the Chinese merchant Lay Sang, of the house of King Lee & Co.,
of San Francisco, having arrived at San Francisco from Hongkong and
exhibited a certificate of the United States consul at Hongkong as to
his status as a merchant, and consequently exempt under the treaty,
was refused permission to land and was sent back to Hongkong by the
steamer which brought him. While the certificate he bore was doubtless
insufficient under the present law, it is to be remembered that there is
at Hongkong no representative of the Government of China competent or
authorized to issue the certificate required by the statute. The intent
of Congress to legislate in execution of the treaty is thus defeated
by a prohibition directly contrary to the treaty, and conditions are
exacted which, in the words of the Supreme Court hereinbefore quoted,
"it was physically impossible to perform."

This anomalous feature of the act should be reformed as speedily as
possible, in order that the occurrence of such cases may be avoided and
the imputation removed which would otherwise rest upon the good faith of
the United States in the execution of their solemn treaty engagements.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 9, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in relation to
the mercantile marines of France, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 14, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In response to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th
ultimo, requesting the Secretary of State "to communicate to the House
of Representatives, if not incompatible with the public interest, copies
of the recent correspondence and dispatches between the Secretary of
State and the minister of the United States at The Hague touching the
subject of taxation of petroleum in Holland and in the Dutch colonies,
and that of the export therefrom of leaf tobacco to the United States,"
I transmit herewith the report of the Secretary of State on the subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 14, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In response to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
6th instant, requesting the Secretary of State "to transmit, if not
incompatible with the public interest, copies of all correspondence
between his Department and the representatives of France, Germany,
Austria, and any other European country which has partially or entirely
restricted the importation of American pork," I transmit herewith the
report of the Secretary of State on the subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 20, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State on the
manufacture of milk sugar in Switzerland.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 22, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The Constitution imposes upon the President the duty of recommending to
the consideration of Congress from time to time such measures as he
shall judge necessary and expedient.

I am so deeply impressed with the importance of immediately and
thoughtfully meeting the problem which recent events and a present
condition have thrust upon us, involving the settlement of disputes
arising between our laboring men and their employers, that I am
constrained to recommend to Congress legislation upon this serious and
pressing subject.

Under our form of government the value of labor as an element of
national prosperity should be distinctly recognized, and the welfare
of the laboring man should be regarded as especially entitled to
legislative care. In a country which offers to all its citizens the
highest attainment of social and political distinction its workingmen
can not justly or safely be considered as irrevocably consigned to the
limits of a class and entitled to no attention and allowed no protest
against neglect.

The laboring man, bearing in his hand an indispensable contribution to
our growth and progress, may well insist, with manly courage and as a
right, upon the same recognition from those who make our laws as is
accorded to any other citizen having a valuable interest in charge; and
his reasonable demands should be met in such a spirit of appreciation
and fairness as to induce a contented and patriotic cooperation in the
achievement of a grand national destiny.

While the real interests of labor are not promoted by a resort to
threats and violent manifestations, and while those who, under the
pretext of an advocacy of the claims of labor, wantonly attack the
rights of capital and for selfish purposes or the love of disorder sow
seeds of violence and discontent should neither be encouraged nor
conciliated, all legislation on the subject should be calmly and
deliberately undertaken, with no purpose of satisfying unreasonable
demands or gaining partisan advantage.

The present condition of the relations between labor and capital is far
from satisfactory. The discontent of the employed is due in a large
degree to the grasping and heedless exactions of employers and the
alleged discrimination in favor of capital as an object of governmental
attention. It must also be conceded that the laboring men are not always
careful to avoid causeless and unjustifiable disturbance.

Though the importance of a better accord between these interests is
apparent, it must be borne in mind that any effort in that direction
by the Federal Government must be greatly limited by constitutional
restrictions. There are many grievances which legislation by Congress
can not redress, and many conditions which can not by such means be
reformed.

I am satisfied, however, that something may be done under Federal
authority to prevent the disturbances which so often arise from disputes
between employers and the employed, and which at times seriously
threaten the business interests of the country; and, in my opinion, the
proper theory upon which to proceed is that of voluntary arbitration as
the means of settling these difficulties.

But I suggest that instead of arbitrators chosen in the heat of
conflicting claims, and after each dispute shall arise, for the purpose
of determining the same, there be created a commission of labor,
consisting of three members, who shall be regular officers of the
Government, charged among other duties with the consideration and
settlement, when possible, of all controversies between labor and
capital.

A commission thus organized would have the advantage of being a stable
body, and its members, as they gained experience, would constantly
improve in their ability to deal intelligently and usefully with the
questions which might be submitted to them. If arbitrators are chosen
for temporary service as each case of dispute arises, experience and
familiarity with much that is involved in the question will be lacking,
extreme partisanship and bias will be the qualifications sought on
either side, and frequent complaints of unfairness and partiality will
be inevitable. The imposition upon a Federal court of a duty so foreign
to the judicial function as the selection of an arbitrator in such cases
is at least of doubtful propriety.

The establishment by Federal authority of such a bureau would be
a just and sensible recognition of the value of labor and of its right
to be represented in the departments of the Government. So far as its
conciliatory offices shall have relation to disturbances which interfere
with transit and commerce between the States, its existence would
be justified under the provision of the Constitution which gives to
Congress the power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among
the several States;" and in the frequent disputes between the laboring
men and their employers, of less extent, and the consequences of which
are confined within State limits and threaten domestic violence, the
interposition of such a commission might be tendered, upon the
application of the legislature or executive of a State, under the
constitutional provision which requires the General Government to
"protect" each of the States "against domestic violence."

If such a commission were fairly organized, the risk of a loss of
popular support and sympathy resulting from a refusal to submit to
so peaceful an instrumentality would constrain both parties to such
disputes to invoke its interference and abide by its decisions. There
would also be good reason to hope that the very existence of such an
agency would invite application to it for advice and counsel, frequently
resulting in the avoidance of contention and misunderstanding.

If the usefulness of such a commission is doubted because it might lack
power to enforce its decisions, much encouragement is derived from the
conceded good that has been accomplished by the railroad commissions
which have been organized in many of the States, which, having little
more than advisory power, have exerted a most salutary influence in the
settlement of disputes between conflicting interests.

In July, 1884, by a law of Congress, a Bureau of Labor was established
and placed in charge of a Commissioner of Labor, who is required to
"collect information upon the subject of labor, its relations to
capital, the hours of labor and the earnings of laboring men and women,
and the means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, and
moral prosperity."

The commission which I suggest could easily be ingrafted upon the bureau
thus already organized by the addition of two more commissioners and by
supplementing the duties now imposed upon it by such other powers and
functions as would permit the commissioners to act as arbitrators when
necessary between labor and capital, under such limitations and upon
such occasions as should be deemed proper and useful.

Power should also be distinctly conferred upon this bureau to
investigate the causes of all disputes as they occur, whether submitted
for arbitration or not, so that information may always be at hand to aid
legislation on the subject when necessary and desirable.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 26, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State,
accompanied by a report of Mr. Somerville P. Tuck, appointed to carry
out certain provisions of section 5 of an act entitled "An act to
provide for the ascertainment of claims of American citizens for
spoliations committed by the French prior to the 31st day of July,
1801," approved January 20, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[The same message was sent to the Senate.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 5, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 1st instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting a draft of a bill recommended by the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, providing for the payment of
improvements made by settlers on the lands of the Mescalero Indian
Reservation in the Territory of New Mexico.

The subject is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 11, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, dated the 6th
instant, touching the claims of Benjamin Weil and La Abra Silver Mining
Company against the Government of Mexico.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 11, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

By a joint resolution of Congress approved March 3, 1877, the President
was authorized and directed to accept the colossal statue of "Liberty
Enlightening the World" when presented by the citizens of the French
Republic, and to designate and set apart for the erection thereof a
suitable site upon either Governors or Bedloes Island, in the harbor of
New York, and upon the completion thereof to cause the statue "to be
inaugurated with such ceremonies as will serve to testify the gratitude
of our people for this expressive and felicitous memorial of the
sympathy of the citizens of our sister Republic."

The President was further thereby "authorized to cause suitable
regulations to be made for its future maintenance as a beacon and for
the permanent care and preservation thereof as a monument of art and the
continued good will of the great nation which aided us in our struggle
for freedom."

Under the authority of this resolution, on the 4th day of July, 1884,
the minister of the United States to the French Republic, by direction
of the President of the United States, accepted the statue and received
a deed of presentation from the Franco-American Union, which is now
preserved in the archives of the Department of State.

I now transmit to Congress a letter to the Secretary of State from
Joseph W. Drexel, esq., chairman of the executive committee of "the
American committee on the pedestal of the great statue of 'Liberty
Enlightening the World,'" dated the 27th of April, 1886, suggesting
the propriety of the further execution by the President of the joint
resolution referred to by prescribing the ceremonies of inauguration
to be observed upon the complete erection of the statue upon its site
on Bedloes Island, in the harbor of New York.

Thursday, the 3d of September, being the anniversary of the signing of
the treaty of peace at Paris by which the independence of these United
States was recognized and secured, has been suggested by this committee
under whose auspices and agency the pedestal for the statue has been
constructed as an appropriate day for the ceremonies of inauguration.

The international character which has been imprinted upon this work by
the joint resolution of 1877 makes it incumbent upon Congress to provide
means to carry their resolution into effect.

Therefore I recommend the appropriation of such sum of money as in the
judgment of Congress shall be deemed adequate and proper to defray the
cost of the inauguration of this statue.

I have been informed by the committee that certain expenses have been
incurred in the care and custody of the statue since it was deposited on
Bedloes Island, and the phraseology of the joint resolution providing
for "the permanent care and preservation thereof as a monument of art"
would seem to include the payment by the United States of the expense so
incurred since the reception of the statue in this country.

The action of the French Government and people in relation to the
presentation of this statue to the United States will, I hope, meet with
hearty and responsive action upon the part of Congress, in which the
Executive will be most happy to cooperate.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 11, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The last general appropriation bill passed by the legislature of
Utah was vetoed by the then governor of that Territory. It made an
appropriation of money for the support of the district courts of the
Territory, including the pay of reporters, jurors, and witnesses, and
for the completion and maintenance of the Deseret University and the
education of the deaf mutes therein. It also appropriated for the
support of the Territorial insane asylum, as well as the salaries of
Territorial officers, including that of the superintendent of the
district schools, the auditor, the librarian, and the treasurer of the
Territory. It also provided for internal improvements, such as roads and
bridges.

The appropriation for the district courts, for the payment of witnesses
and jurors in criminal cases, was $40,000; that for the Deseret
University and the deaf mutes was $66,000, and for the insane asylum
$25,000.

The board of regents of the Deseret University have borrowed money for
the completion of the university buildings which were authorized by
legislative action, and which is now due and no provision made for the
payment. The act appropriating for the benefit of the Territorial insane
asylum passed by the legislature was also vetoed. This included the sum
of $13,000, which had been borrowed by the board of directors of the
asylum for its completion and furnishing, and which now remains due and
unpaid. It also included the sum of $3,548.85 for the care and
maintenance of the indigent insane.

The legislature of the Territory, under existing law, will not again
convene for nearly two years, there being no authority for a special
session. In the meantime, under present conditions, the good order of
society will be jeopardized, educational and charitable institutions
will be paralyzed, and internal improvements stopped until the
legislature meets and makes provision for their support.

A determination on the part of the General Government to suppress
certain unlawful practices in this Territory demands neither the refusal
of the means to support the local government nor the sacrifice of the
interests of the community.

I therefore recommend the immediate enactment of such legislation as
will authorize the assembling of the legislature of that Territory in
special session at an early day, so that provision can be made to meet
the difficulties herein suggested.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 17, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a supplementary article, signed the 14th instant by the
Secretary of State and the minister of Mexico here, extending until
May 20, 1887, the time specified in Article VIII of the commercial
reciprocity treaty of January 20, 1883, between the United States and
Mexico, for the approval of the laws necessary to carry the said treaty
into effect.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 17, 1886_

_To the Senate_:

In response to a resolution of the Senate of the 5th instant, inquiring
as to the necessity for the continuance of the present charge for
passports for American citizens desiring to visit foreign countries, I
transmit herewith the report of the Secretary of State on the subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 17, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

With reference to the paragraph in my annual message to Congress in
which I called attention to the uncertainty that exists as to the
location of the frontier line between Alaska and British Columbia as
defined by the treaty of cession with Russia of March 30, 1867, I now
transmit herewith, for the information and consideration of Congress,
a report of the Secretary of State upon the subject, with accompanying
papers.

In view of the importance of the subject, I recommend that provision be
made by law for a preliminary survey of the boundary line in question by
officers of the United States, in order that the information necessary
for the basis of a treaty between this country and Great Britain for the
establishment of a definite boundary line may be obtained; and I also
recommend that the sum of $100,000, or so much thereof as may be
necessary, be appropriated for the expenses of making such survey.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 21, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for your consideration with a view to their
ratification, the "convention concerning the international exchanges for
official documents and literary publications" and the "convention for
assuring the immediate exchange of the official journal as well as of
the parliamentary annals and documents."

The first was signed at Brussels on the 15th of March, 1886, by the
plenipotentiaries of the United States, Belgium, Brazil, Spain, Italy,
Portugal, Servia, and Switzerland.

The second was signed at the same place and on the same date by the
plenipotentiaries of the above-named powers, with the exception of
Switzerland.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 21, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, dated the 19th
instant, touching the necessity of legislation to carry into effect the
provisions of Article II of the treaty between the United States and
China of November 17, 1880, for the repression of the opium traffic, and
recommend that appropriate legislation to fulfill that treaty promise of
this Government be provided without further delay.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, accompanying the
report of consuls of the United States on the trade and commerce of
foreign countries.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 1, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In response to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th
of March last, requesting the Secretary of State "to communicate to the
House of Representatives, if not incompatible with the public interest,
copies of recent correspondence and dispatches between the Secretary of
State and the minister of the United States at The Hague touching the
subject of taxation on petroleum in Holland and in the Dutch colonies,
and that of the export therefrom of leaf tobacco to the United States,"
with reference to my message to the House of Representatives of the 14th
ultimo [April], I now transmit a further report of the Secretary of
State on the subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 2, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the request of the House of Representatives of this
date, I return herewith House bill No. 6391, entitled "An act to
authorize the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railway Company to
construct and operate a railway through the Indian Territory, and for
other purposes."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 9, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a letter from the Secretary of State, with an
accompanying paper, in relation to the distribution of the fund
appropriated by the act of April 20, 1882, for the relief of the
captain, owners, officers, and crew of the brig _General Armstrong_.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, June 9, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for your consideration with a view to its
ratification, a convention for the extradition of criminals, signed at
Tokyo on the 29th day of April, 1886, by the plenipotentiaries of the
United States and the Empire of Japan.

The negotiation which led to the conclusion of this convention was
caused immediately by the case of a forger in San Francisco, who, having
fled to Japan, was delivered up to the authorities of the State of
California. It was not possible for this Government to ask his
surrender, but the Japanese Government of its own motion caused his
delivery as a friendly act. It then suggested the conclusion of an
extradition convention between the two countries. The suggestion was
favorably entertained by this Government, not only on account of the
importance of such a treaty to the execution of the criminal laws of the
United States, but also because of the support which its conclusion
would give to Japan in her efforts toward judicial autonomy and complete
sovereignty.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 15, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, concerning the
claim of Benjamin Weil and La Abra Mining Company, of Mexico, agreeably
to the resolution of the House of Representatives dated May 13, 1886.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

Upon an examination of a bill originating in the House of
Representatives, No. 4838, entitled "An act to abolish certain fees for
official services to American vessels, and to amend the laws relating to
shipping commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other
purposes," I find that there is such a failure to adjust existing laws
to the new departure proposed by the bill as to greatly endanger the
public service if this bill should not be amended or at once
supplemented by additional legislation.

The fees which are at present collected from vessels for services
performed by the Bureau of Inspection, and which made up the fund from
which certain expenses appurtenant to that Bureau were paid, are by the
proposed bill abolished, but no provision has been substituted directing
that such expenses shall be paid from the public Treasury or any other
source.

The objects of the bill are in the main so useful and important that I
have concluded to approve the same upon the assurance of those actively
promoting its passage that another bill shall at once be introduced to
cover the defect above referred to.

The necessity of such supplemental legislation is so obvious that I hope
it will receive the immediate action of the Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 28, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith inclose a report from the Secretary of State, with its
accompanying copies of papers, relative to the case of the American
schooner _Ounalaska_, which was duly condemned by the Government of
Salvador for having been employed in aid of an insurrection against that
Republic, and was subsequently presented to the United States. It seems
that an act of Congress accepting the gift on the part of this
Government is necessary to complete the transfer, and I recommend that
legislation in this sense be adopted. It further appears that one
Isidore Gutte, of San Francisco, has sought to obtain possession of the
condemned vessel, and I therefore suggest that a second provision to the
law accepting her be made giving authority to the Court of Claims to
hear and determine the question of title.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 28, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication, with an accompanying paper, from
the Secretary of State, in relation to the distribution of the award of
the late Mexican Claims Commission in the case of S.A. Belden & Co.
against the Republic of Mexico.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 30, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 28th of April last, I
transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State in relation to the
affairs of the independent State of the Kongo.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with a concurrent resolution of this date, I return
herewith House bill No. 3501, entitled "An act granting a pension to
Daniel J. Bingham."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, July 8, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for your consideration with a view to its
ratification, a convention signed at London June 25, 1886, between the
United States of America and Great Britain, concerning the extradition
of persons charged with crime.

I also inclose a report from the Secretary of State and a copy of a
dispatch from the United States minister at London dated June 26, 1886,
in reference thereto.

The question of extradition has been discussed between the two countries
by Secretaries Fish, Evarts, and Frelinghuysen, as well as by the
present Secretary of State, and the method adopted by the inclosed
convention, namely, that of amending and extending the provisions of the
tenth article of the treaty of 1842, has seemed the most convenient and
expeditious.

In view of the continued pendency of the question and its great
importance owing to the contiguity of Her Majesty's territories with
those of the United States, I respectfully urge the consideration of the
convention by the Senate during the present session.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 9, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for your information, a report from the Secretary
of State, inclosing the correspondence which has been exchanged between
the Department of State and the Governments of Switzerland and Italy on
the subject of international copyright.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 12, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 3d instant, with inclosures,
from the Secretary of the Interior, recommending legislative authority
for the use of funds from appropriation, Sioux, etc., 1887, for the
subsistence of certain Northern Cheyenne Indians who have gone or who
may go from the Sioux Reservation in Dakota to the Tongue River Indian
Agency or vicinity, in Montana.

The matter is presented for the favorable consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 24, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolutions of the Senate dated respectively May 10
and July 10, 1886, touching alleged seizures and detentions of vessels
of the United States in British North American waters, I transmit
herewith a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 27, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, in response to the House resolution of the 10th
instant, a report from the Secretary of State, and accompanying papers,
relating to the imprisonment in Ecuador and subsequent release of Julio
R. Santos.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 29, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in reply to the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 27th of May last, in
relation to trust funds.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 29, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith reports from the heads of the several Executive
Departments of the Government, in answer to a resolution of the Senate
of June 18, 1886, which requested certain information regarding
appointments in such Departments, and having relation to the
civil-service law.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 30, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In further response to the Senate resolutions of the 10th of May and
10th of July, 1886, touching the seizure and detention of American
vessels in Canadian waters, I transmit herewith a letter from the
Secretary of State dated the 29th instant, accompanied by a report from
the consul-general at Halifax relative to the subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 31, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I have approved House bill No. 4335, entitled "An act making an
appropriation to continue the construction of a public building at
Clarksburg, W. Va., and changing the limit of cost thereof."

A law passed by the last Congress authorized the construction of this
building and appropriated $50,000 for that purpose, which was declared
to be the limit of its cost. A site has been purchased for said
building, and, as is too often the case, it is now discovered that the
sum appropriated is insufficient to meet the expense of such a building
as is really needed.

The object of the bill which I have approved is to extend the limit of
the cost to $80,000 and to make the additional appropriation to reach
that sum. The first section fixes the limit above mentioned, but the
second section appropriates $35,000, and thus, with the appropriation of
$50,000 heretofore made, the aggregate appropriations exceed the sum to
which the cost of the building is limited by $5,000.

Inasmuch as this latter sum can not properly be applied to the
construction of the building, attention is called to the existence of
this excess of appropriation and the suggestion made that it be returned
to the Treasury.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 2, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of your honorable body of the 26th ultimo,
I transmit a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers,
communicating the information possessed by the Department of State
"concerning the alleged illegal detention of A.K. Cutting, an American
citizen, by the Mexican authorities at El Paso del Norte;" and as to the
further inquiry contained in said resolution, "whether any additional
United States troops have been recently ordered to Fort Bliss," I answer
in the negative.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 2, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In performance of the duty imposed upon me by the Constitution, I
herewith transmit for your information (the same having heretofore been
communicated to the Senate in response to a resolution of inquiry
adopted by that body July 26, 1886) certain correspondence and
accompanying documents in relation to the arrest and imprisonment at
Paso del Norte by Mexican authority of A.K. Cutting, a citizen of the
United States.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 2, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I have this day approved a bill originating in the House of
Representatives entitled "An act defining butter, also imposing a tax
upon and regulating the manufacture, sale, importation, and exportation
of oleomargarine."

This legislation has awakened much interest among the people of the
country, and earnest argument has been addressed to the Executive for
the purpose of influencing his action thereupon. Many in opposition have
urged its dangerous character as tending to break down the boundaries
between the proper exercise of legislative power by Federal and State
authority; many in favor of the enactment have represented that it
promised great advantages to a large portion of our population who sadly
need relief; and those on both sides of the question whose advocacy or
opposition is based upon no broader foundation than local or personal
interest have outnumbered all the others.

This upon its face and in its main features is a revenue bill, and
was first introduced in the House of Representatives, wherein the
Constitution declares that all bills for raising revenue shall
originate.

The Constitution has invested Congress with a very wide legislative
discretion both as to the necessity of taxation and the selection of the
objects of its burdens; and though if the question was presented to me
as an original proposition I might doubt the present need of increased
taxation, I deem it my duty in this instance to defer to the judgment of
the legislative branch of the Government, which has been so emphatically
announced in both Houses of Congress upon the passage of this bill.

Moreover, those who desire to see removed the weight of taxation now
pressing upon the people from other directions may well be justified in
the hope and expectation that the selection of an additional subject
of internal taxation so well able to bear it will in consistency be
followed by legislation relieving our citizens from other revenue
burdens, rendered by the passage of this bill even more than heretofore
unnecessary and needlessly oppressive.

It has been urged as an objection to this measure that while purporting
to be legislation for revenue its real purpose is to destroy, by the use
of the taxing power, one industry of our people for the protection and
benefit of another.

If entitled to indulge in such a suspicion as a basis of official action
in this case, and if entirely satisfied that the consequences indicated
would ensue, I should doubtless feel constrained to interpose Executive
dissent.

But I do not feel called upon to interpret the motives of Congress
otherwise than by the apparent character of the bill which has been
presented to me, and I am convinced that the taxes which it creates can
not possibly destroy the open and legitimate manufacture and sale of the
thing upon which it is levied. If this article has the merit which its
friends claim for it, and if the people of the land, with full knowledge
of its real character, desire to purchase and use it, the taxes exacted
by this bill will permit a fair profit to both manufacturer and dealer.
If the existence of the commodity taxed and the profits of its
manufacture and sale depend upon disposing of it to the people for
something else which it deceitfully imitates, the entire enterprise is
a fraud and not an industry; and if it can not endure the exhibition
of its real character which will be effected by the inspection,
supervision, and stamping which this bill directs, the sooner it is
destroyed the better in the interest of fair dealing.

Such a result would not furnish the first instance in the history of
legislation in which a revenue bill produced a benefit which was merely
incidental to its main purpose.

There is certainly no industry better entitled to the incidental
advantages which may follow this legislation than our farming and dairy
interests, and to none of our people should they be less begrudged than
our farmers and dairymen. The present depression of their occupations,
the hard, steady, and often unremunerative toil which such occupations
exact, and the burdens of taxation which our agriculturists necessarily
bear entitle them to every legitimate consideration.

Nor should there be opposition to the incidental effect of this
legislation on the part of those who profess to be engaged honestly and
fairly in the manufacture and sale of a wholesome and valuable article
of food which by its provisions may be subject to taxation. As long as
their business is carried on under cover and by false pretenses such
men have bad companions in those whose manufactures, however vile and
harmful, take their place without challenge with the better sort in a
common crusade of deceit against the public. But if this occupation and
its methods are forced into the light and all these manufactures must
thus either stand upon their merits or fall, the good and bad must soon
part company and the fittest only will survive.

Not the least important incident related to this legislation is the
defense afforded to the consumer against the fraudulent substitution
and sale of an imitation for a genuine article of food of very general
household use. Notwithstanding the immense quantity of the article
described in this bill which is sold to the people for their consumption
as food, and notwithstanding the claim made that its manufacture
supplies a cheap substitute for butter, I venture to say that hardly a
pound ever entered a poor man's house under its real name and in its
true character.

While in its relation to an article of this description there should
be no governmental regulation of what the citizen shall eat, it is
certainly not a cause of regret if by legislation of this character he
is afforded a means by which he may better protect himself against
imposition in meeting the needs and wants of his daily life.

Having entered upon this legislation, it is manifestly a duty to render
it as effective as possible in the accomplishment of all the good which
should legitimately follow in its train.

This leads to the suggestion that the article proposed to be taxed and
the circumstances which subject it thereto should be clearly and with
great distinctness defined in the statute. It seems to me that this
object has not been completely attained in the phraseology of the second
section of the bill, and that question may well arise as to the precise
condition the article to be taxed must assume in order to be regarded as
"made in imitation or semblance of butter, or, when so made, calculated
or intended to be sold as butter or for butter."

The fourteenth and fifteenth sections of the bill, in my opinion, are in
danger of being construed as an interference with the police powers of
the States. Not being entirely satisfied of the unconstitutionality of
these provisions, and regarding them as not being so connected and
interwoven with the other sections as, if found invalid, to vitiate the
entire measure, I have determined to commend them to the attention of
the House with a view to an immediate amendment of the bill if it should
be deemed necessary and if it is practicable at this late day in the
session of Congress.

The fact, too, that the bill does not take effect by its terms until
ninety days have elapsed after its approval, thus leaving it but one
month in operation before the next session of Congress, when, if time
does not now permit, the safety and efficiency of the measure may be
abundantly protected by remedial legislative action, and the desire
to see realized the beneficial results which it is expected will
immediately follow the inauguration of this legislation, have had their
influence in determining my official action.

The considerations which have been referred to will, I hope, justify
this communication and the suggestions which it contains.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 4, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
3d instant (the Senate concurring), I return herewith Senate bill No.
2056, entitled "An act to amend the pension laws by increasing the
pensions of soldiers and sailors who have lost an arm or leg in the
service."

GROVER CLEVELAND.




VETO MESSAGES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 10, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have carefully considered Senate bill No. 193, entitled "An act for
the relief of John Hollins McBlair," and hereby return the same without
approval to the Senate, where it originated, with my objections to the
same.

The object of this bill is to suspend the provisions of law regulating
appointments in the Army by promotion so far as they affect John Hollins
McBlair, and to authorize the President to nominate and, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint said McBlair a first
lieutenant in the Army and to place him upon the retired list as of the
date of April 8, 1864, with the pay of his rank from April 30, 1884.

The beneficiary named in this bill was appointed a first lieutenant in
the Army, from civil life, in June, 1861, with rank from May 14, 1861.

It appears from his own testimony, afterwards taken before a retiring
board, that at the time he was commissioned he was but 17 years of age.

In October, 1861, he was in the field for five days with his regiment,
within which time he participated in no battle, skirmish, or engagement
of any kind.

After five days spent in marching and camping he was taken sick, and
after remaining in camp six or seven weeks, his illness still
continuing, he was granted sick leave and came to Washington.

In June, 1862, he was put on duty in the Commissary Department at
Washington and remained there until August, 1863, when he was summoned
before a retiring board convened for the purpose of retiring disabled
officers.

From testimony before this board it appears that the illness which
caused him to leave his regiment was one not uncommon in the Army, and
yielded to treatment, so that in April or May, 1862, he was completely
cured.

About this time, however, he was attacked with convulsions, which were
pronounced by the physicians examined before the board to be a form of
epilepsy, and for this cause he was found to be incapacitated for active
service.

The medical testimony, while it suggested various causes for this
epileptic condition, negatives entirely any claim that these attacks
were at all related to the illness which obliged this officer to abandon
service with his regiment. He testified himself that he had been told
he had one or two convulsions in childhood, but there is no direct
testimony that he was subject to epileptic attacks before he entered the
Army.

The retiring board determined upon the proof that this incapacity
did not result from any incident of military service, and therefore
Lieutenant McBlair was in October, 1863, retired wholly from the service
with one year's pay and allowances, which is the usual action in such
cases, and which was approved by the President.

But in April, 1864, the President, in a review of the case, made an
order that instead of this officer being wholly retired he should be
placed upon the retired list as of the date when the action of the
retiring board was originally approved.

For about twenty years, and up to April 30, 1884, he remained upon the
retired list and received the pay to which this position entitled him.

Quite recently, in consequence of a claim of additional pay which he
made upon the Government, his status was examined by the Court of
Claims, which decided that the action of the President in April, 1864,
by which he sought to change the original disposition of the case upon
the findings of the retiring board, was nugatory, and that ever since
October, 1863, this officer had not been connected with the Army and had
been receiving from the Government money to which he was not entitled.

If the bill herewith returned becomes a law, it makes valid all payments
made, and if its purpose is carried out causes such payments to be
resumed.

The finding of the retiring board seems so satisfactory and the merits
of this case so slight in the light of the large sum already paid to
the applicant, while the claims of thousands of wounded and disabled
soldiers wait for justice at the hands of the Government, that I am
constrained to interpose an objection to a measure which proposes to
suspend general and wholesome laws for the purpose of granting what
appears to me to be an undeserved gratuity.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 11, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I return herewith without approval, and with a statement of my
objections thereto, Senate bill No. 150, entitled "An act to quiet title
of settlers on the Des Moines River lands in the State of Iowa, and for
other purposes."

This proposed legislation grows out of a grant of land made to the
Territory of Iowa in the year 1846 to aid in the improvement of the
navigation of the Des Moines River.

The language of this grant was such that it gave rise to conflicting
decisions on the part of the Government Departments as to its extent,
and it was not until 1860 that this question was authoritatively and
finally settled by the Supreme Court of the United States. Its decision
diminished the extent of the grant to a quantity much less than had been
insisted on by certain interested parties and rendered invalid the
titles of parties who held, under the Territory or State of Iowa, lands
beyond the limit of the grant fixed by the decision of the court.

For the purpose of validating such titles and to settle all disputes so
far as the General Government was concerned, the Congress, in the year
1861, by a joint resolution, transferred to the State of Iowa all the
title then retained by the United States to the lands within the larger
limits which had been claimed, and then held by _bona fide_
purchasers from the State; and in 1862 an act of Congress was passed for
the same general purpose.

Without detailing the exact language of this resolution and statute, it
certainly seems to be such a transfer and relinquishment of all
interests in the land mentioned on the part of the United States as to
relieve the Government from any further concern therein.

The questions unfortunately growing out of this grant and the
legislation relating thereto have been passed upon by the United States
Supreme Court in numerous cases, and as late as 1883 that court,
referring to its many previous decisions, adjudged that "the act of 1862
(12 U.S. Statutes at Large, ch. 161, p. 543) transferred the title from
the United States and vested it in the State of Iowa for the use of its
grantees under the river grant."

Bills similar to this have been before Congress for a number of years
and have failed of passage; and at least on one occasion the Committee
on the Judiciary of the Senate reported adversely upon a measure
covering the same ground.

I have carefully examined the legislation upon the subject of this
grant, and studied the decisions of the court upon the numerous and
complicated questions which have arisen from such legislation, and the
positions of the parties claiming an interest in the land covered by
said grant, and I can not but think that every possible question that
can be raised, or at least that ought to be raised, in any suit relating
to these lands has been determined by the highest judicial authority in
the land; and if any substantial point remains yet unsettled, I believe
there is no difficulty in presenting it to the proper tribunal.

This bill declares that certain lands which nearly twenty-four years ago
the United States entirely relinquished are still public lands, and
directs the Attorney-General to begin suits to assert and protect the
title of the United States in such lands.

If it be true that these are public lands, the declaration that they are
so by enactment is entirely unnecessary; and if they are wrongfully
withheld from the Government, the duty and authority of the
Attorney-General are not aided by the proposed legislation. If they are
not public lands because the United States have conveyed them to others,
the bill is subject to grave objections as an attempt to destroy vested
rights and disturb interests which have long since become fixed.

If a law of Congress could, in the manner contemplated by the bill,
change, under the Constitution, the existing rights of any of the
parties claiming interests in these lands, it hardly seems that any new
questions could be presented to the courts which would do more than
raise false hopes and renew useless and bitter strife and litigation.

It seems to me that all controversies which can hereafter arise between
those claiming these lands have been fairly remitted to the State of
Iowa, and that there they can be properly and safely left; and the
Government, through its Attorney-General, should not be called upon to
litigate the rights of private parties.

It is not pleasant to contemplate loss threatened to any party acting
in good faith, caused by uncertainty in the language of laws or their
conflicting interpretation; and if there are persons occupying these
lands who labor under such disabilities as prevent them from appealing
to the courts for a redress of their wrongs, a plain statute, directed
simply to a remedy for such disabilities, would not be objectionable.

Should there be meritorious cases of hardship and loss, caused by an
invitation on the part of the Government to settle upon lands apparently
public, but to which no right or lawful possession can be secured, it
would be better, rather than to attempt a disturbance of titles already
settled, to ascertain such losses and do equity by compensating the
proper parties through an appropriation for that purpose.

A law to accomplish this very object was passed by Congress in the year
1873.

Valuable proof is thus furnished, by the only law ever passed upon the
subject, of the manner in which it was thought proper by the Congress
at that time to meet the difficulties suggested by the bill now under
consideration.

Notwithstanding the fact that there may be parties in the occupancy
of these lands who suffer hardship by the application of strict legal
principles to their claims, safety lies in noninterference by Congress
with matters which should be left to judicial cognizance; and I am
unwilling to concur in legislation which, if not an encroachment upon
judicial power, trenches so closely thereon as to be of doubtful
expediency, and which at the same time increases the elements of
litigation that have heretofore existed and endangers vested rights.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 26, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith return Senate bill No. 349, entitled "An act for the
promotion of anatomical science and to prevent the desecration of
graves," without my approval.

The purpose of this bill is to permit the delivery of certain dead
bodies to the medical colleges located in the District of Columbia for
dissection.

Such disposition of the bodies of unknown and pauper dead is only
excused by the necessity of acquiring by this means proper and useful
anatomical knowledge, and the laws by which it is permitted should, in
deference to a decent and universal sentiment, carefully guard against
abuse and needless offense.

The measure under consideration does not with sufficient care specify
and limit the officers and the parties who it is proposed to invest
with discretion in the disposition of dead bodies remaining in the
institutions and places mentioned in the bill. The second section
indicates an intention to prevent the use of said bodies for any other
purpose than the promotion of anatomical and surgical knowledge within
the District of Columbia, and to secure after such use the decent burial
of the remains. It declares that a bond shall be given providing for the
performance of these conditions. But instead of exacting the bond from
the medical colleges, to which alone, by the terms of the first section,
the bodies are to be delivered, such bond is required of "every
physician or surgeon before receiving such dead body."

The bill also provides that a relative by blood or marriage, or a
friend, may, within forty-eight hours after death, demand that any body
be buried, upon satisfying "the authorities" of the relationship claimed
to the deceased.

The "authorities" to be thus satisfied should be clearly defined, and
the determination of a question so important should be left with those
only who will perform this duty with proper care and consideration.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, April 30, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith return without my approval Senate bill No. 141, entitled "An
act to extend the provisions of the act of June 10, 1880, entitled 'An
act to amend the statutes in relation to immediate transportation of
dutiable goods, and for other purposes,' to the port of Omaha, in the
State of Nebraska."

The statute, which was passed June 10, 1880, referred to in the title of
this bill permitted certain merchandise imported at specified ports, but
which was consigned to certain other ports which were mentioned by name
in the seventh section of said act, to be shipped immediately after
entry at the port of arrival to such destination.

The seventh section of said act contained the names of more than seventy
ports or places to which imported merchandise might be thus immediately
shipped. One of the places thus named is "Omaha, in Nebraska."

But it was declared in a proviso which was made a part of this section
that the privilege of immediate transportation contemplated by the act
should "not extend to any place at which there are not the necessary
officers for the appraisement of merchandise and the collection of
duties."

Because there were no such officers at Omaha the privilege mentioned was
withheld from that place by the Treasury Department.

The bill submitted to me for approval provides that these privileges
conferred by the act of June 10, 1880, be "extended to the port of
Omaha, in the State of Nebraska, as provided for as to the ports
mentioned in section 7 of said act."

I can not see that anything is gained by this legislation.

If the circumstances should warrant such a course, the authority which
withholds such privileges from any of the places mentioned in the law of
1880 can confer the same without the aid of a new statute. This position
is sustained by an opinion of the Attorney-General, dated in February,
1885.

If the legislation now proposed should become operative, the privileges
extended to the city of Omaha would still be subject to the proviso
attached to the seventh section of the law of 1880, and such newly
granted privileges would be liable to immediate withdrawal by the
Secretary of the Treasury.

Thus, if the design of this bill is to restore to the city named the
privileges permitted by the law of 1880, it seems to be entirely
unnecessary, since the power of such restoration is now fully vested
in the Treasury Department. If the object sought is to bestow such
privileges entirely free from the operation of the proviso above
recited, the language of the bill does not accomplish that result.

I understand that the Government has not now at Omaha "the necessary
officers for the appraisement of merchandise and the collection of
duties," which by such proviso are necessary in order to secure to any
place the advantages of immediate transportation. In the absence of such
officers the proposed legislation would be nugatory and inoperative.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 8, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval a bill numbered 3019, entitled "An
act to increase the pension of Abigail Smith," which bill originated in
the House of Representatives.

This proposed legislation does injustice to a very worthy pensioner who
was on the pension roll at the time of the passage of the law which
took effect on the 19th day of March last, and by virtue of which all
pensions of her class were increased from $8 to $12 per month. Under
this law she became entitled to her increased pension from the date of
its passage. The bill now returned allows her the same amount, but if it
became a law I suppose it would supersede her claim under the previous
statute and postpone the receipt by her of the increase to the date of
the passage of the new law.

She would thus lose for nearly two months the increase of pension
already secured to her.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 8, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without my approval House bill No. 1471, entitled "An act
increasing the pension of Andrew J. Hill."

This bill doubles the pension which the person named therein has been
receiving for a number of years. It appears from the report of the
committee to which the bill was referred that a claim made by him for
increased pension has been lately rejected by the Pension Bureau "on the
ground that the claimant is now receiving a pension commensurate with
the degree of disability found to exist."

The policy of frequently reversing by special enactment the decisions
of the Bureau invested by law with the examination of pension claims,
fully equipped for such examination, and which ought not to be suspected
of any lack of liberality to our veteran soldiers, is exceedingly
questionable. It may well be doubted if a committee of Congress has a
better opportunity than such an agency to judge of the merits of these
claims. If, however, there is any lack of power in the Pension Bureau
for a full investigation, it should be supplied; if the system adopted
is inadequate to do full justice to claimants, it should be corrected,
and if there is a want of sympathy and consideration for the defenders
of our Government the Bureau should be reorganized.

The disposition to concede the most generous treatment to the disabled,
aged, and needy among our veterans ought not to be restrained; and it
must be admitted that in some cases justice and equity can not be done
nor the charitable tendencies of the Government in favor of worthy
objects of its care indulged under fixed rules. These conditions
sometimes justify a resort to special legislation, but I am convinced
that the interposition by special enactment in the granting of pensions
should be rare and exceptional. In the nature of things if this is
lightly done and upon slight occasion, an invitation is offered for the
presentation of claims to Congress which upon their merits could not
survive the test of an examination by the Pension Bureau, and whose
only hope of success depends upon sympathy, often misdirected, instead
of right and justice. The instrumentality organized by law for the
determination of pension claims is thus often overruled and discredited,
and there is danger that in the end popular prejudice will be created
against those who are worthily entitled to the bounty of the Government.

There has lately been presented to me, on the same day, for approval,
nearly 240 special bills granting and increasing pensions and restoring
to the pension list the names of parties which for cause have been
dropped. To aid Executive duty they were referred to the Pension Bureau
for examination and report. After a delay absolutely necessary they have
been returned to me within a few hours of the limit constitutionally
permitted for Executive action. Two hundred and thirty-two of these
bills are thus classified:

Eighty-one cover cases in which favorable action by the Pension Bureau
was denied by reason of the insufficiency of the testimony filed to
prove the facts alleged.

These bills I have approved on the assumption that the claims were
meritorious and that by the passage of the bills the Government has
waived full proof of the facts.

Twenty-six of the bills cover claims rejected by the Pension Bureau
because the evidence produced tended to prove that the alleged
disability existed before the claimant's enlistment; 21 cover claims
which have been denied by such Bureau because the evidence tended to
show that the disability, though contracted in the service, was not
incurred in the line of duty; 33 cover claims which have been denied
because the evidence tended to establish that the disability originated
after the soldier's discharge from the Army; 47 cover claims which have
been denied because the general pension laws contain no provisions under
which they could be allowed, and 24 of the claims have never been
presented to the Pension Bureau.

I estimate the expenditure involved in these bills at more than $35,000
annually.

Though my conception of public duty leads me to the conclusion, upon the
slight examination which I have been able to give such of these bills as
are not comprised in the first class above mentioned, that many of them
should be disapproved, I am utterly unable to submit within the time
allowed me for that purpose my objections to the same.

They will therefore become operative without my approval.

A sufficient reason for the return of the particular bill now under
consideration is found in the fact that it provides that the name of
Andrew J. Hill be placed upon the pension roll, while the records of the
Pension Bureau, as well as a medical certificate made a part of the
committee's report, disclose that the correct name of the intended
beneficiary is Alfred J. Hill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 17, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1397, entitled "An act to
establish a port of delivery at Springfield, in the State of
Massachusetts."

It appears that the best reasons urged for the passage of this bill are
that Springfield has a population of about 40,000, that the imports to
the section of country where the city is located for the last year
amounted in value to nearly $3,000,000, and that the importers at this
point labored under a disadvantage in being obliged to go to New York
and Boston to clear their goods, which are frequently greatly delayed.

The Government is now subjected to great loss of revenue through the
intricacies of the present system relating to the collection of customs
dues, and through the frauds and evasions which that system permits and
invites. It is also the cause of much of the delay and vexation to which
the honest importer is subjected.

I am of the opinion that the reforms of present methods which have been
lately earnestly pressed upon Congress should be inaugurated, instead of
increasing the number of ports where present evils may be further
extended.

The bill now under consideration provides that a surveyor of customs
shall be appointed to reside at said port, who shall receive a salary
not to exceed $1,000 per annum.

It is quite obvious that an experienced force of employees at the ports
where goods for Springfield are entered would be much better qualified
to adjust the duties upon the same than the person thus proposed to be
added to the vast army of Federal officials.

There are many cities in the different States having larger populations
than Springfield, and fully as much entitled, upon every ground
presented, to the advantages sought by this bill; and yet it is clear
that the following of the precedent which the proposed legislation would
establish could not fail to produce confusion and uncertainty in the
adjustment of customs dues, leading to irritating discriminations and
probable loss to the Government.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 24, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 2186, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Louis Melcher."

This claimant enlisted on the 25th day of May, 1861, and was discharged
for disability on the 16th day of August, 1861, having been in the
service less than three months.

The certificate of the surgeon of his regiment, made at the time of his
discharge, stated his disability to be "lameness, caused by previous
repeated and extensive ulcerations of his legs, extending deeply among
the muscles and impairing their powers and action by cicatrices, all
existing before enlistment and not mentioned to the mustering officers
at the time."

Upon this certificate, given at the time of the claimant's discharge and
while he was actually under the surgeon's observation, an application
for a pension was rejected by the Pension Bureau.

In the absence of anything impeaching the ability and integrity of the
surgeon of the regiment, his certificate should, in my opinion, be
regarded as a true statement of the condition of the claimant at the
time of his discharge, though the committee's report suggests that the
surgeon's skill may have been at fault when he declared that the ulcers
existed before enlistment. The cicatrices showing beyond a doubt the
previous existence of this difficulty would be plainly apparent upon an
examination by a surgeon, and their origin could hardly be mistaken.
The term of the claimant's service was not sufficiently long to have
developed and healed, even imperfectly, in a location previously
healthy, ulcers of the kind mentioned in the claimant's application.

My approval of this bill is therefore withheld upon the ground that I
find nothing in my examination of the facts connected with the case
which impeaches the value of the surgeon's certificate upon which the
adverse action of the Pension Bureau was predicated.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 24, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

A bill which originated in the Senate, entitled "An act granting a
pension to Edward Ayers," and numbered 363, is herewith returned without
approval.

The person named in this bill enlisted October 3, 1861, in an Indiana
regiment and was mustered out of the service December 13, 1865. He
represents that he was injured in the hip at the battle of Days Gap,
April 30, 1863, and for this a pension is provided for him by the bill
under consideration. His application for pension has been rejected by
the Pension Bureau on the ground that it was proved on a special
examination of the case that the claimant was injured by a fall when a
boy, and that the injury complained of existed prior to his enlistment.

There is not a particle of proof or a fact stated either in the
committee's report or the records in the Pension Bureau, so far as they
are brought to my notice, tending to show that the claimant was in
hospital or under medical care a single day during the whole term of his
enlistment.

The report of the committee contains the following statement:

  The record evidence proves that he was in this engagement, but there is
  no proof from this source that he was wounded. By numerous comrades who
  were present it is proven that he was hurt by the explosion of a shell
  as claimed. It is also shown that he has been disabled ever since; and
  the examining surgeon specifically describes the wound, and twice
  verifies that he is permanently disabled. From the fact that a man was
  exceedingly liable to injury under the circumstances in which he was
  placed, and from the evidence of eyewitnesses, the committee are of
  opinion that he was wounded as alleged.


A wound from a shell causing the person injured to be "disabled ever
since" usually results in hospital or medical treatment. Not only is
there no such claim made in this case, but, on the contrary, it appears
that the claimant served in his regiment two years and nearly eight
months after the alleged injury, and until he was mustered out.

It is represented to me by a report from the Pension Bureau that after
his alleged wound, and in May or June, 1863, the claimant deserted, and
in July of that year was arrested in the State of Indiana and returned
to duty without trial. If this report is correct, the party now seeking
a pension at the hands of the Government for disability incurred in the
service seems to have been capable of considerable physical exertion,
though not very creditable, within a few weeks after he claims to have
received the injury upon which his application is based.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 24, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1630, entitled "An act
granting a pension to James C. Chandler."

It appears from the report of the committee to whom this bill was
referred and from an examination of the official records that the
proposed beneficiary first enlisted on the 27th day of August, 1861,
and about nine months thereafter, on the 1st day of June, 1862, was
discharged on account of disability arising from chronic bronchitis.

Notwithstanding the chronic character of his alleged disability, he
enlisted again on the 3d day of January, 1864, seventeen months after
such discharge.

No statement is presented of the bounty received by him upon either
enlistment.

He was finally mustered out on the 19th day of September, 1865.

He first applied for a pension under the general law in May, 1869,
alleging that in April, 1862, he was run over by a wagon and injured
in his ankle. This accident occurred during his first enlistment; but
instead of the injury having been then regarded a disability, he was
discharged from such enlistment less than two months thereafter on
account of chronic bronchitis.

It appears from the committee's report that his application was rejected
and that another was afterwards made, alleging that the claimant had
been afflicted with typhoid fever contracted in May, 1862, resulting in
"rheumatism and disease of the back in region of kidneys."

This application was also rejected, on the ground that any disability
that might have arisen from the cause alleged "had not existed in a
pensionable degree since the date of filing the claim therefor," which
was February 10, 1885.

There still remained an appeal to Congress, and probably there were not
wanting those who found their interests in advising such an appeal and
who had at hand Congressional precedents which promised a favorable
result. That the parties interested did not miscalculate the chances
of success is demonstrated by the bill now before me, which, in direct
opposition to the action of the Pension Bureau, grants a pension to
a man who, though discharged from enlistment for a certain alleged
disability, made two applications for a pension based upon two distinct
causes, both claimed to exist within two months prior to such discharge,
and both different from the one upon which he accepted the same, and
notwithstanding the fact that the proposed beneficiary, after all these
disabilities had occurred, passed an examination as to his physical
fitness for reenlistment, actually did reenlist, and served till finally
mustered out at the close of the war.

If any money is to be given this man from the public Treasury, it should
not be done under the guise of a pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 24, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 857, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Dudley B. Branch."

This claim is based upon the allegation, as appears by the committee's
report, that the person named in the bill has a hernia, and that on the
9th day of June, 1862, while in the military service and in the line of
duty, "in getting over a fence he fell heavily, striking a stone or hard
substance, and received the hernia in his left side."

In December, 1875, thirteen and a half years thereafter, he filed an
application for a pension, which was rejected by the Pension Bureau on
the ground that there was no record of the alleged hernia, and the
claimant was unable to furnish satisfactory evidence of its origin in
the service.

The fact is stated in the committee's report that late in the year 1863
this soldier was transferred to the Invalid Corps, and the records show
that he was thus transferred for a disability entirely different from
that upon which he now bases his claim. He was mustered out in
September, 1864, at the end of his term of service.

I am convinced that the rejection of this claim by the Pension Bureau
was correct, and think its action should not be reversed.

I suppose an injury of the description claimed, if caused by violence
directly applied, is quite palpable, its effect usually immediate, and
its existence easily proved. The long time which elapsed between the
injury and the claimant's application for a pension may be fairly
considered as bearing upon the merits of such application, while the
fact that the claimant was transferred to the Invalid Corps more than
a year after he alleges the injury occurred, for an entirely different
disability, can not be overlooked. In the committee's report the
statement is found that the beneficiary named in the bill was in two
different hospitals during the year 1863, and yet it is not claimed that
the history of his hospital treatment furnishes any proof of the injury
upon which his claim is now based.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 25, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1998, entitled "An act for the
relief of John D. Ham," which grants a pension to the party named.

The claimant alleges that he enrolled in the Army in January, 1862,
and was "sworn in at his own home;" that the next day he started on
horseback to go to the regiment he was to join, and that on the way his
horse fell upon his left ankle, whereby he sustained an injury which
entitles him to a pension.

His name is not borne upon any of the rolls of the regiment he alleges
he was on his way to join.

He filed his application for pension in the Pension Bureau October 17,
1879 (seventeen years after his alleged injury), which was rejected
apparently on the ground that he was not in the military service when
the disability claimed was incurred.

He was drafted in 1863 and served until he was mustered out in 1865.

It is entirely clear that this claimant was not in the military service
at the time he claims to have been injured; and his conduct in remaining
at home until he was drafted, nearly two years afterwards, furnishes
proof that he did not regard himself as in the meantime owing any
military duty. These considerations, and the further facts that upon
being drafted he was accepted as physically qualified for service, that
he actually thereafter served a year and eight months, and that he
waited seventeen years before claiming pension for his injury, in my
mind present a case upon which the claimant is entitled to no relief
even if charity instead of just liberality is invoked.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 25, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 1290, entitled "An
act granting a pension to David W. Hamilton."

A claim for pension filed by him in November, 1879, was rejected by the
Pension Bureau on the ground that his alleged disability existed prior
to his enlistment.

An examination of the records in the Adjutant-General's Office and
a statement from the Pension Bureau derived from the claimant's
application there for pension, with a reference to the report of the
committee to whom this bill was referred, disclose the following facts:

The claimant was mustered in the service as first lieutenant in
September, 1861, and as captain June 12, 1862. He is reported as present
with his company until the 30th of that month. For the six months
immediately following the latter date he is reported as "absent sick,"
and for the ten months next succeeding, and until October 27, 1863, as
"absent on detached service." On the day last mentioned he tendered his
resignation at Camp Morton, in the State of Indiana, to enable him to
accept an appointment as captain in the Invalid Corps. He was thereupon
so appointed upon account of "chronic enlargement of the spermatic cord
of several years' standing, consequent upon hydrocele." He remained in
the Invalid Corps until July 12, 1864, when, upon the tender of his
resignation, he was discharged.

Less than four months afterwards, and on the 6th day of November, 1864,
he was mustered in the service as a captain in another regiment of
volunteers, and on the 17th day of November, 1865, again tendered his
resignation, and was finally discharged.

Upon his application for pension under the general law, fourteen years
thereafter, he admitted that he suffered from hydrocele as early as
1856, but claimed that an operation then performed for the same had
given him permanent relief.

It will be seen that the claimant's term of service was liberally
interspersed with sick leave, detached service, resignations, and
membership in the Invalid Corps. He admits having the trouble which
would naturally result in his alleged disability long before he entered
the service. The surgeon upon whose certificate he was appointed to the
Invalid Corps must have stated to him the character of his difficulty
and that it was chronic. No application for pension was made until
fourteen years after his discharge and just prior to the expiration of
the time within which large arrearages might have been claimed. There is
no hint of any medical testimony at all contradicting the certificate of
the army surgeon made in 1863, but it is stated in the report of the
committee that he can not procure medical testimony as to his soundness
before entering the service because his family physician is dead. If he
had filed his application earlier, it would have appeared in better
faith, and it may be that he could have secured the evidence of his
family physician if it was of the character he desired.

After the Pension Bureau has been in operation for a score of years
since the late civil war, equipped with thousands of employees charged
with no other duty except the ascertainment and adjustment of the claims
of our discharged soldiers and their surviving relatives, it seems
to me that a stronger case than this should be presented to justify
the passage of a special act, twenty-three years after an alleged
disability, granting a pension which has been refused by the Bureau
especially organized for the purpose of allowing the same under just
and liberal laws.

I am by no means insensible to that influence which leads the judgment
toward the allowance of every claim alleged to be founded upon patriotic
service in the nation's cause; and yet I neither believe it to be a duty
nor a kindness to the worthy citizens for whose benefit our scheme of
pensions was provided to permit the diversion of the nation's bounty to
objects not within its scope and purpose.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 1850, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mrs. Annie C. Owen."

The husband of the claimant was mustered into the service as second
lieutenant December 14, 1861, and discharged October 16, 1862. It
appears that he died in 1876 from neuralgia of the heart. In 1883 the
present claimant filed her application for pension, alleging that her
husband received two shell wounds, one in the calf of his left leg and
one in his left side, on the 1st day of July, 1862, and claiming that
they were in some way connected with the cause of his death.

On the records of his command there is no mention made of either wound,
but it does appear that on the 8th day of July, seven days after the
date of the alleged wounds, he was granted a leave of absence for thirty
days on account, as stated in a medical certificate, of "remittent fever
and diarrhea." A medical certificate dated August 5, 1862, while absent
on leave, represents him to be at that time suffering from "chronic
bronchitis and acute dysentery."

The application made for pension by the widow was rejected by the
Pension Bureau February 1, 1886.

There is nothing before me showing that the husband of the claimant ever
filed an application for pension, though he lived nearly fourteen years
after his discharge; and his widow's claim was not made until twenty-one
years after the alleged wounds and seven years after her husband's
death.

If the information furnished concerning this soldier's service is
correct, this claim for pension must be based upon a mistake. It is
hardly possible that wounds such as are alleged should be received in
battle by a second lieutenant and no record made of them; that he should
seven days thereafter receive a leave of absence for other sickness,
with no mention of these wounds, and that a medical certificate should
be made (probably with a view of prolonging his leave) stating still
other ailments, but silent as to wounds. The further facts that he made
no claim for pension and that the claim of his widow was long delayed
are worthy of consideration. And if the wounds were received as
described there is certainly no necessary connection between them and
death fourteen years afterwards from neuralgia of the heart.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval a bill originating in the House of
Representatives, numbered 2145, and entitled "An act for the relief of
Rebecca Eldridge."

This bill provides for the payment of a pension to the claimant as the
widow of Wilber H. Eldridge, who was mustered into the service on the
24th day of July, 1862, and discharged June 21, 1865. He was pensioned
at the rate of $2 per month for a slight wound in the calf of the left
leg, received on the 25th day of March, 1865. There is no pretense that
this wound was at all serious, and a surgeon who examined it in 1880
reported that in his opinion the wounded man "was not incapacitated from
obtaining his subsistence by manual labor;" that the ball passed "rather
superficially through the muscles," and that the party examined said
there was no lameness "unless after long standing or walking a good
deal."

On the 28th of January, 1881, while working about a building, he fell
backward from a ladder and fractured his skull, from which he died the
same day.

Without a particle of proof and with no fact established which connects
the fatal accident in the remotest degree with the wound referred to, it
is proposed to grant a pension to the widow of $12 per month.

It is not a pleasant thing to interfere in such a case; but we are
dealing with pensions, and not with gratuities.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 1253, entitled "An act
granting a pension to J.D. Haworth."

It is proposed by this bill to grant a pension to the claimant for the
alleged loss of sight in one eye and the impairment of the vision of the
other.

From the information furnished me I am convinced that the difficulty
alleged by this applicant had its origin in causes existing prior to his
enlistment, and that his present condition of disability is not the
result of his service in the Army.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval a bill which originated in the House of
Representatives, numbered 1582, and entitled "An act for the relief of
Eleanor C. Bangham."

The claimant in this case is the widow of John S. Bangham, who was
mustered into the service of the United States as a private on the 26th
day of March, 1864, and was discharged by general order June 23, 1865.

It appears that during his fifteen months of service he was sick a
considerable part of the time, and the records in two of the hospitals
to which he was admitted show that his sickness was epilepsy. There are
no records showing the character of his illness in other hospitals.

His widow, the present claimant, filed an application for pension March
12, 1878, alleging that her husband committed suicide September 10,
1873, from the effects of chronic diarrhea and general debility
contracted in the service. Upon the evidence then produced her claim was
allowed at the rate of $8 a month. She remained upon the rolls until
July, 1885, when a special examination of the case was made, upon which
it was developed and admitted by the pensioner that the deceased soldier
had suffered from epilepsy from early childhood, and that during a
despondent mood following an epileptic fit he committed suicide.

Upon these facts it was determined by the Pension Bureau that the
pension should not have been granted, and it was withdrawn. It was so
satisfactorily proven that the disease which indirectly caused the death
of the claimant's husband was not contracted in the service that, in my
opinion, the conclusion arrived at on such examination should stand.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval bill No. 1406, which originated in the
House of Representatives and is entitled "An act granting a pension to
Simmons W. Harden."

The claimant mentioned in this bill enlisted as a private December 30,
1863, and was discharged May 17, 1865.

He filed an application for pension in 1866, in which he alleged that
he was injured in the left side by a fall from a wagon while in the
service.

In 1880 he filed another application, in which he claimed that he was
afflicted with an enlargement of the lungs and heart from overexertion
at a review. His record in the Army makes no mention of either of these
troubles, but does show that he had at some time during his service
dyspepsia and intermittent fever.

The fact that fourteen years elapsed after he claimed to have been
injured by a fall from a wagon before he discovered that enlargement of
the lungs and heart was his real difficulty is calculated to at least
raise a doubt as to the validity of his claim.

The evidence as to his condition at the time of enlistment, as well as
since, seems quite contradictory and unsatisfactory. The committee to
which the bill was referred report that "the only question in the case
is as to his condition at time of enlistment, and the evidence is so
flatly contradictory on that point that it is impossible to decide that
question."

Notwithstanding this declaration, it is proposed to allow him a pension
of $16 a month, though he has survived all his ailments long enough to
reach the age of 72 years.

I think upon the case presented the action of the Pension Bureau
overruling his claim should not be reversed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 1, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith Senate bill No. 1441, entitled "An act granting a
pension to M. Romahn."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted September 13, 1862, and was
discharged May 24, 1865.

He filed his claim in the Pension Bureau December 5, 1882, alleging
that in the winter of 1862, from being put on duty--standing guard
excessively--he became afflicted with varicose veins. His army record
shows no disability of any kind, though he served more than two years
after the date at which he alleges his injury was incurred. His
application was rejected on the ground that no record of his disability
appeared and that the evidence of the same filed upon such application
was insufficient.

The claim now made to Congress for relief is the same as that made to
the Pension Bureau, with the allegation added that in May, 1865, his
breast and shoulder were injured by a railroad accident while he was on
detail duty.

If the latter-described injury really existed, it is exceeding strange
that it found no place in his claim before the Pension Bureau, while the
account given of the cause of his alleged varicose veins must surprise
those who are at all familiar with the character of that difficulty and
the routine of army service. His continued performance of military
duty after he incurred this infirmity, the fact that he made no claim
for pension on that account until twenty years had passed, and the
unsatisfactory evidence now produced to support his allegation tend
to induce the suspicion that the decision of the Pension Bureau was
entirely just and that this bill is not based upon substantial merits.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 2, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

Senate bill No. 789, entitled "An act granting a pension to John S.
Williams," is herewith returned without approval.

This claimant enlisted in 1861. He alleges that his shoulder was
dislocated in 1862 while ferrying troops across a river. The records of
the War Department fail to furnish any information as to the alleged
injury. He served afterwards until 1865 and was discharged. His claim
for pension was rejected by the Pension Bureau in 1882, twenty years
after the time he fixes as the date of his injury; and after such long
delay he states as an excuse for the unsatisfactory nature of his proof
that the doctors, surgeons, and officers who knew him are dead.

Considering that the injury complained of is merely a dislocation of the
shoulder, and in view of the other facts developed in the case, I think
the Pension Bureau arrived at a correct conclusion when this claim was
rejected.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 2, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 327, entitled "An act granting
a pension to James E. O'Shea."

From the report of the committee to whom this bill was referred I learn
that the claimant enlisted in April, 1861, and was discharged in
October, 1864.

He filed a claim in the Pension Bureau alleging that he received a saber
wound in the head March 7, 1862, and a gunshot wound in the left leg in
the autumn of the same year.

It appears upon examination of his military record that there is no
mention of either disability, and that he served two years after the
time he claims to have received these injuries. So far from being
disabled, it is reported as an incident of his army life that in the
year 1864 this soldier was found guilty of desertion and sentenced to
forfeit all pay and allowances for the time he was absent.

The report of the committee, in apparent explanation of the lack of any
official mention of the injuries alleged, declares that "the fact that
the records of the War Department are often imperfect works great
hardship to men who apply for pensions;" and his conviction of desertion
and the lack of proof to sustain his allegations as to his injuries are
disposed of as follows in the committee's report:

  The Adjutant-General's report shows that the man was under discipline
  for some irregularities, but notwithstanding this and the lack of the
  required proof that he was wounded in the line of duty the committee are
  of the opinion that, situated as he was, he was very liable to and very
  probably did receive the wound from which he has suffered and is still
  suffering.


I am convinced that there exists serious difficulty on the part of the
claimant instead of in the record of the War Department; that the kind
of irregularity for which he was under discipline is calculated to
produce a lack of confidence in his merits as a pensioner, and that the
fact of his situation being such as to render him liable to receive a
wound is hardly sufficient to establish his right to a soldier's
pension, which is only justified by injuries actually received and
affirmatively proven.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 2, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith without approval Senate bill No. 1726, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Augustus Field Stevens."

It appears that this claimant enlisted August 21, 1861, and was
discharged on the 3d day of October, 1861, after a service of less than
two months, upon a medical certificate of disability which represented
him as "incapable of performing the duties of a soldier because of
general debility, advanced age, unfit for service before entering."

His claim is not based upon any wound or injury, but he alleges that
he contracted chronic diarrhea or dysentery while in the service. The
committee to whom the bill was referred by the Senate admit that "there
is a quantity of contradictory testimony, biased in about equal
proportion for and against the claimant."

His claim was rejected by the Pension Bureau in 1882 and again in 1885,
after a special examination concerning the facts, on the ground that the
claimant had failed to show any pensionable disability contracted while
he was in the service.

The medical certificate upon which he was discharged makes no mention
of the disorders of which the applicant for pension now complains, but
contains other statements which demonstrate that no allowance should
be made to him by way of pension, unless such pension is to be openly
and confessedly regarded as a mere charity, or unless the medical
certificate made at the time of discharge, with the patient under
observation, is to be, without any allegation to that effect, impeached.

I am not prepared either to gratuitously set at naught two
determinations of the Pension Bureau, one very lately made after a
special examination, and especially when the evidence produced before
the committee to reverse the Bureau's action is admitted to be
"contradictory" and "biased in about equal proportion for and against
the claimant."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith Senate bill No. 226, entitled "An act granting a
pension to Margaret D. Marchand," without approval.

The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of John B. Marchand, who
entered the United States Navy in 1828, who was promoted to the rank of
commodore in 1866, and who was placed upon the retired list in 1870. He
died in August, 1875, of heart disease.

His widow filed an application for pension in 1883, claiming that his
fatal disease was caused by exposure and exertion in the service during
the War of the Rebellion. The application was rejected because of the
inability to furnish evidence to prove that the death had any relation
to the naval service of the deceased.

I am unable to see how any other conclusion could have been reached. The
information furnished by the report of the committee to whom this bill
was referred and derived from other data before me absolutely fails to
connect the death of Commodore Marchand with any incident of his naval
service.

This officer was undoubtedly brave and efficient, rendering his
country valuable service; but it does not appear to have been of so
distinguished a character, nor are the circumstances of his widow
alleged to be such, as to render a gratuity justifiable.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without my approval Senate bill No. 183, entitled "An
act for the relief of Thomas S. Hopkins, late of Company C, Sixteenth
Maine Volunteers."

This soldier was enrolled in the Army June 2, 1862, and discharged June
30, 1865. He was sent to the Government hospital September 20, 1863, and
thereupon transferred to the Invalid Corps.

He filed his declaration for a pension in November, 1880, alleging that
while in the service he contracted malarial fever and chronic diarrhea,
and was seized with convulsions, suffering from great general debility.

A pension of $50 a month was granted to him in June, 1881, dating from
the time of filing his application, which sum he has been receiving up
to the present time.

This bill proposes to remove the limitation fixed by the law of 1879
prescribing the date prior to which an application for pension must be
filed in order to entitle the claimant to draw the pension allowed from
the time of his discharge from the service.

If this bill should become a law, it would entitle the claimant to about
$9,000 of back pension. This is claimed upon the ground that the soldier
was so sick from the time of the passage of the act creating the
limitation up to the date allowed him to avail himself of the privileges
of the act that he could not file his claim.

I think the limitation thus fixed a very wise one, and that it should
not, in fairness to other claimants, be relaxed for causes not mentioned
in the statute; nor should the door be opened to applications of this
kind.

The beneficiary named in this bill had fifteen years after the accruing
of his claim, and before it is alleged that he was incapacitated, within
which he might have filed his application and entitled himself to the
back pension now applied for.

The facts here presented come so far short of furnishing a satisfactory
excuse for his delay that, in my judgment, the discrimination asked in
his favor should not be granted.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 763, entitled "An act for the
erection of a public building at Sioux City, Iowa."

The report of the committee of the House of Representatives to whom this
bill was referred states that by the census of 1880 the population of
Sioux City was nearly 8,000, and that by other enumerations since made
its population would seem to exceed 23,000. It is further stated in the
report that for the accommodation of this population the city contains
393 brick and 2,984 frame buildings.

It seems to me that in the consideration of the merits of this bill the
necessities of the Government should control the question, and that it
should be decided as a business proposition, depending upon the needs of
a Government building at the point proposed in order to do the
Government work.

This greatly reduces the value of statistics showing population, extent
of business, prospective growth, and matters of that kind, which, though
exceedingly interesting, do not always demonstrate the necessity of the
expenditure of a large sum of money for a public building.

I find upon examination that United States courts are sometimes held
at Sioux City, but that they have been thus far held in the county
court-house without serious inconvenience and without any expense to the
Government. There are actually no other Federal officers there for whom
the Government in any view should provide accommodations except the
postmaster. The post-office is now located in a building rented by the
Government until the 1st day of January, 1889, at the rate of $2,200 per
annum.

By the last report of the Supervising Architect it appears that on
October 1, 1885, there were 80 new public buildings in course of
construction, and that the amount expended thereon during the preceding
year was nearly $2,500,000, while large appropriations are asked to be
expended on these buildings during the current year.

In my judgment the number of public buildings should not at this time be
increased unless a greater public necessity exists therefor than is
apparent in this case.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 206, entitled "An act to
provide for the erection of a public building in the city of Zanesville,
Ohio."

No Federal courts are held at Zanesville, and there are no Government
officers located there who should be provided for at the public expense
except the postmaster.

So far as I am informed the patrons of the post-office are fairly well
accommodated in a building which is rented by the Government at the rate
of $800 per annum; and though the postmaster naturally certifies that he
and his fourteen employees require much more spacious surroundings, I
have no doubt he and they can be induced to continue to serve the
Government in its present quarters.

The public buildings now in process of construction, numbering 80,
involving constant supervision, are all the building projects which the
Government ought to have on hand at one time, unless a very palpable
necessity exists for an increase in the number. The multiplication of
these structures involves not only the appropriations made for their
completion, but great expense in their care and preservation thereafter.

While a fine Government building is a desirable ornament to any town
or city, and while the securing of an appropriation therefor is often
considered as an illustration of zeal and activity in the interest of a
constituency, I am of the opinion that the expenditure of public money
for such a purpose should depend upon the necessity of such a building
for public uses.

In the case under consideration I have no doubt the Government can be
well accommodated for some time to come in all its business relations
with the people of Zanesville by renting quarters, at less expense than
the annual cost of maintaining the proposed new building after its
completion.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 1990, entitled "An act
granting a pension to John Hunter."

The claimant was enrolled July 20, 1864, and was discharged by
expiration of his term of service July 13, 1865.

During four months of the twelve while he remained in the service he is
reported as "absent sick." His hospital record shows that he was treated
for intermittent fever and rheumatism. In 1879, fourteen years after his
discharge, he filed his claim for a pension, alleging that in May, 1864,
he received a gunshot wound in the right leg while in a skirmish. The
month of May, 1864, is included in the time during which, by the record,
he appears to have been absent sick and undergoing treatment for fever
and rheumatism. His claim was rejected in December, 1884, on the ground
that there was no record of the alleged wound and the claimant was
unable, though aided by the Bureau, to prove that the injury claimed was
due to the service.

The evidence recited in the report of the Congressional committee to
whom this bill was referred, though it tends to show, if reliable, that
when the soldier returned from his service his leg was affected, fails
to show a continuous disability from that cause. It is stated that about
five years ago, while the claimant was gathering dandelions, in stepping
across a ditch his leg broke. The doctor who attended him states that
the leg was about four weeks longer in uniting than is usual, but he is
not represented as giving an opinion that the fracture had anything to
do with his patient's military service.

I find no reference to his condition since his recovery from the
fracture of his leg, and there seems to be no allegation of present
disability either from army service or the injury sustained while
gathering dandelions.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without my approval House bill No. 4002, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Carter W. Tiller."

The records of the War Department show that George W. Tiller, the son
of the claimant, enlisted in a Kentucky regiment on the 8th day of
October, 1861, and that he deserted on the 20th day of September, 1863;
that he was captured by the Confederates afterwards, but the time and
circumstances are not given. On the 21st day of July, 1864, he was
admitted to the Andersonville hospital, and died the same day of
scorbutus.

The father filed his claim for a pension in 1877, alleging his
dependence upon the deceased soldier. It is probably true that the son
while in the Army sent money to the claimant, though he appears to have
been employed as a policeman in the city of Louisville ever since his
son's death, at a fair salary.

The claim thus made was rejected by the Pension Bureau on the ground
that the claimant was not dependent upon his son.

I am entirely satisfied of the correctness of this determination, and if
the records presented to me are reliable I think the fact which appears
therefrom, that the death of the soldier occurred ten months after
desertion and had no apparent relation to any service in the Union Army,
is conclusive against the claim now made.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 3826, entitled "An act for the
relief of John Taylor."

By this bill it is proposed to increase the pension of the beneficiary
named to $16 a month. He has been receiving a pension under the general
law, dating from his discharge in 1865. His pension has been twice
already increased, once by the Pension Bureau and once by a special act
passed in 1882. His wound is not such as to cause his disability to
become aggravated by time. The increase allowed by this bill, when
applied for at the Pension Bureau in 1885, was denied on the ground that
"the rate he was receiving was commensurate with the degree of his
disability, a board of surgeons having reported that he was receiving a
liberal rating."

I can discover no just ground for reversing this determination and
making a further discrimination in favor of this pensioner.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5997, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Elizabeth Luce."

The claimant named in this bill is the widow of John W. Luce, who
entered the Army in August, 1861, and who was discharged in January,
1864, for a disability declared at the time in the surgeon's certificate
to arise from "organic stricture of the urethra," which, from his
statement, existed at the time of his enlistment.

Notwithstanding the admission which thus appears to have been made by
him at the time of his discharge, he soon afterwards made an application
for a pension, alleging that his difficulty arose from his being thrown
forward on the pommel of his saddle when in the service.

Upon an examination of this claim by a special examiner, it is stated
that no one could be found who had any knowledge of such an injury, and
the claim was rejected.

In 1883, twenty years after the soldier alleged he was injured in the
manner stated, he died, and the cause of his death was declared to be
"chronic gastritis, complicated with kidney difficulty."

It is alleged that the examinations made by the Pension Bureau developed
the fact that the deceased soldier was a man of quite intemperate
habits.

The theory upon which this widow should be pensioned can only be that
the death of her husband resulted from a disability or injury contracted
or received in the military service. It seems to me that however
satisfactorily the injury which he described may be established, and
though every suspicion as to his habits be dismissed, there can hardly
possibly be any connection between such an injury and the causes to
which his death is attributed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4058, entitled "An act for the
relief of Joel D. Monroe."

The claimant mentioned in this bill enlisted in August, 1864, and was
discharged with his regiment June 4, 1865.

The record of his short military service exhibits no mention of any
injury or disability; but in June, 1880, fifteen years after his
discharge, he filed in the Pension Bureau a claim for a pension based
upon the allegation that in December, 1864, he was injured by the
falling of a tree, which struck him on his head, affecting both of his
eyes. He added to this allegation the further complaint that he
contracted rheumatism while in the service.

The application for a pension was rejected by the Pension Bureau because
there was no record of the disabilities claimed, nor was satisfactory
proof furnished that any such disabilities originated in the service.

I am so entirely satisfied with this determination of the Pension Bureau
that I am constrained to withhold my approval of this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 21, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 3624, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Fred. J. Leese."

This claimant enlisted September 7, 1864, and was discharged June 4,
1865. During his short term of service there does not appear on the
records any evidence of disability.

But in November, 1883, eighteen years after his discharge, he filed his
application for a pension, alleging that in November, 1864, he
contracted chronic diarrhea from exposure and severe work.

His claim has not yet been fully passed upon by the Pension Bureau,
which, in my opinion, is sufficient reason why this bill should not
become a law. I am also thoroughly convinced, from examination of the
case, that the claimant should not be pensioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 21, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 6897, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Henry Hipple, jr."

This claimant entered the Army as a drummer August 6, 1862, and was
discharged May 29, 1863.

In 1879, sixteen years after his discharge, he appears to have
discovered that during his short term of military service in the
inhospitable climate of Port Tobacco, within the State of Maryland, he
contracted rheumatism to such an extent as to entitle him to pension,
for which he then applied.

It is conceded that he received no medical treatment while in the Army
for this complaint, nor does he seem to have been attended by a
physician since his discharge.

Without commenting further upon the features of this case which tend to
discredit it, I deem myself obliged to disapprove this bill on the
ground that there is an almost complete failure to state any facts that
should entitle the claimant to a pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 21, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval a bill originating in the House of
Representatives, entitled "An act granting an increase of pension to
John W. Farris," which bill is numbered 6136.

The claimant mentioned in this bill enlisted in the month of October,
1861, and was mustered out of the service in August, 1865.

In 1881, sixteen years after his discharge, he filed an application
for a pension, alleging that he was afflicted with chronic diarrhea
contracted in the Army, and in 1885 his claim was allowed, and he was
granted a pension for that cause.

In September of the same year, and after this pension was granted, he
filed an application for an increase of his rate, alleging that in 1884
his eyes became affected in consequence of his previous ailments and the
debility consequent thereupon.

The ingenuity developed in the constant and persistent attacks upon
the public Treasury by those claiming pensions, and the increase of those
already granted, is exhibited in bold relief by this attempt to include
sore eyes among the results of diarrhea.

I am entirely satisfied with the opinion of the medical referee, who,
after examining this case in October, 1885, reported that "the disease
of the eyes can not be admitted to be a result of chronic diarrhea."

On all grounds it seems to me that this claimant should be contented
with the pension which has been already allowed him.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 21, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 1707, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Elijah P. Hensley."

The records of the War Department show that this claimant was mustered
into the Third North Carolina Regiment, but on the muster-out roll of
his company he is reported to have deserted April 3, 1865, and there is
no record of any discharge or disability.

In September, 1866, an order was issued from his department headquarters
removing the charge of desertion against him. Thirteen days afterwards,
and on the 25th day of September, 1866, he filed an application for
pension, which in 1868 was granted. He drew such pension dating from
1865 until 1877, when, upon evidence that the injury for which he was
pensioned was not received in the line of duty, his name was dropped
from the rolls.

The pensioner appealed from this determination of the Pension Bureau to
the Secretary of the Interior, who, as lately as May, 1885, rendered a
decision sustaining the action of the Bureau.

I find nothing in the facts presented to me which, in my opinion,
justifies the reversal of the judgment of the Bureau and the Secretary
of the Interior.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 21, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2223, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Elizabeth S. De Krafft."

My objection to this bill is that it is of no possible advantage to the
beneficiary therein mentioned. It directs that her name be placed upon
the pension roll, subject to the provisions and limitations of the
pension laws. The effect of such legislation would be to permit Mrs. De
Krafft to draw a pension at the rate of $30 each month from the date of
the approval of the bill.

On the 26th day of February, 1886, under the provisions of the general
pension law, she was allowed a pension of this exact sum, but the
payments were to date from November 10, 1885.

I am so thoroughly tired of disapproving gifts of public money to
individuals who in my view have no right or claim to the same,
notwithstanding apparent Congressional sanction, that I interpose with
a feeling of relief a veto in a case where I find it unnecessary to
determine the merits of the application. In speaking of the promiscuous
and ill-advised grants of pensions which have lately been presented to
me for approval, I have spoken of their "apparent Congressional
sanction" in recognition of the fact that a large proportion of these
bills have never been submitted to a majority of either branch of
Congress, but are the result of nominal sessions held for the express
purpose of their consideration and attended by a small minority of the
members of the respective Houses of the legislative branch of
Government.

Thus in considering these bills I have not felt that I was aided by the
deliberate judgment of the Congress; and when I have deemed it my duty
to disapprove many of the bills presented, I have hardly regarded my
action as a dissent from the conclusions of the people's
representatives.

I have not been insensible to the suggestions which should influence
every citizen, either in private station or official place, to exhibit
not only a just but a generous appreciation of the services of our
country's defenders. In reviewing the pension legislation presented to
me many bills have been approved upon the theory that every doubt should
be resolved in favor of the proposed beneficiary. I have not, however,
been able to entirely divest myself of the idea that the public money
appropriated for pensions is the soldiers' fund, which should be devoted
to the indemnification of those who in the defense of the Union and in
the nation's service have worthily suffered, and who in the day of
their dependence resulting from such suffering are entitled to the
benefactions of their Government. This reflection lends to the bestowal
of pensions a kind of sacredness which invites the adoption of such
principles and regulations as will exclude perversion as well as insure
a liberal and generous application of grateful and benevolent designs.
Heedlessness and a disregard of the principle which underlies the
granting of pensions is unfair to the wounded, crippled soldier who is
honored in the just recognition of his Government. Such a man should
never find himself side by side on the pension roll with those who have
been tempted to attribute the natural ills to which humanity is heir to
service in the Army. Every relaxation of principle in the granting of
pensions invites applications without merit and encourages those who
for gain urge honest men to become dishonest. Thus is the demoralizing
lesson taught the people that as against the public Treasury the most
questionable expedients are allowable.

During the present session of Congress 493 special pension bills have
been submitted to me, and I am advised that 111 more have received the
favorable action of both Houses of Congress and will be presented within
a day or two, making over 600 of these bills which have been passed up
to this time during the present session, nearly three times the number
passed at any entire session since the year 1861. With the Pension
Bureau, fully equipped and regulated by the most liberal rules, in
active operation, supplemented in its work by constant special
legislation, it certainly is not unreasonable to suppose that in all the
years that have elapsed since the close of the war a majority of the
meritorious claims for pensions have been presented and determined.

I have now more than 130 of these bills before me awaiting Executive
action. It will be impossible to bestow upon them the examination they
deserve, and many will probably become operative which should be
rejected.

In the meantime I venture to suggest the significance of the startling
increase in this kind of legislation and the consequences involved in
its continuance.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 21, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 1584, entitled "An act
for the relief of Cornelia R. Schenck."

It is proposed by this bill to grant a pension to Mrs. Schenck as the
widow of Daniel P. Schenck, who entered the military service of the
United States in August, 1861, and was mustered out October 21, 1864.

The record of his service contains no mention of any disability. He died
in December, 1875, of a disease called gastroenteritis, which, being
interpreted, seems to denote "inflammation of the stomach and small
intestines." So far as the facts are made to appear, the soldier,
neither during the term of his service nor during the eleven years he
lived after his discharge, made any claim of any disability.

The claim of his widow was filed in the Pension Bureau in 1885, ten
years after her husband's death, and is still undetermined.

The fact that her application is still pending in that Bureau is
sufficient reason why this bill should not become a law.

A better reason is based upon the entire lack of any facts shown to
exist which entitle the beneficiary named to a pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith without approval Senate bill No. 1192, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Alfred Denny."

It appears that the claimant entered the United States military service
as captain and assistant quartermaster of volunteers on the 12th day of
June, 1863. After remaining in such position for less than a year he
resigned to accept a civil position.

The short record of his military service discloses no mention of any
accident or disability. But twenty years after his resignation, and on
the 12th day of March, 1884, he reappears as an applicant for a pension,
and alleges in his declaration filed in the Pension Bureau that in
August, 1863, while in the line of duty, he was, by a sudden movement of
the horse he was riding, thrown forward upon the horn of his saddle and
thereby received a rupture in his right side, which at some time and in
a manner wholly unexplained subsequently caused a rupture in his left
side also.

The number of instances in which those of our soldiers who rode horses
during the war were injured by being thrown forward upon their saddles
indicate that those saddles were very dangerous contrivances.

I am satisfied there is not a particle of merit in this claim, and no
facts are presented to me which entitle it to charitable consideration.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 1400, entitled "An act
granting a pension to William H. Beck."

This claimant enlisted in 1861. He reenlisted as a veteran volunteer
January i, 1864, and was finally mustered out April 20, 1866. In all
this time of service his record shows no medical treatment or claim of
disability. Indeed, an abstract of his reenlistment January 1, 1864,
shows a medical examination and perfect soundness.

Notwithstanding all this, he filed his declaration on the 4th day of
April, 1879, nearly thirteen years after his discharge, alleging that in
June, 1863, he incurred epilepsy, to which he has been subject since,
and that his fits have been from one to ten days apart. To connect this
in some way with his military service he stated that the doctor at a
hospital said his epilepsy was caused "by jar to the head from heavy
firing."

Six months after this alleged "jar" and his consequent epilepsy he
reenlisted upon a medical certificate of perfect soundness and served
more than two years thereafter.

Every conceded fact in the case negatives the allegations of his
declaration, and the rejection of his claim necessarily followed.

If this disease can be caused in the manner here detailed, its
manifestations are such as to leave no doubt of its existence, and it
seems to me simply impossible under the circumstances detailed that
there should be any lack of evidence to support the claim upon which
this bill is predicated.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 2005, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary J. Nottage."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of Thomas Nottage, who
enlisted in August, 1861, and was discharged for disability September
17, 1862. The assistant surgeon of his regiment, upon his discharge,
certified the cause to be "disease of the urinary organs," which had
troubled him several years.

He died of consumption January 8, 1879, nearly seventeen years after his
discharge, without ever having made any application for a pension.

In 1880 his widow made an application for pension, alleging that he
contracted in the service "malarial poisoning, causing remittent fever,
piles, general debility, consumption, and death," and that he left two
children, both born after his discharge, one in 1866 and the other in
1874.

The only medical testimony which has been brought to my attention
touching his condition since his discharge is that of a single physician
to the effect that he attended him from the year 1873 to the time of his
death in 1879. He states that the patient had during that time "repeated
attacks of remittent fever and irritability of the bladder, with organic
deposits;" that "in the spring of 1878 he had sore throat and cough,
which resulted in consumption, of which he died."

The claim of the widow was rejected in July, 1885, on the ground that
"the soldier's death was not the result of his service."

I am satisfied that this conclusion of the Pension Bureau was correct.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith without approval Senate bill No. 342, entitled "An Act
granting a pension to Marrilla Parsons, of Detroit, Mich."

No claim has ever been made for a pension in this case to the Pension
Bureau, probably for the reason that there is no pretext that the
beneficiary named is entitled to a pension under any general law.

Daniel P. Parsons was her stepson, who enlisted in 1861 and died of
consumption on the 13th day of August, 1864.

There are no special circumstances to distinguish this case from many
others whose claims might be made by stepparents, and there are no facts
stated in support of the conclusion embodied in the committee's report
that the soldier was taken sick from exposure incident to the service.

To depart from all rules regulating the granting of pensions by such an
enactment as is proposed would establish a precedent which could not
fail to cause embarrassment and perplexity.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1383, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Harriet Welch."

The beneficiary named in this bill asks for a pension as the widow of
Syreannous Welch, who was wounded in 1864 while in the service, and was
pensioned therefor in 1867. In 1876 his rate of pension was increased.
In 1877 he appears to have applied to have his pension again increased.
It is alleged that upon such application he was directed to appear
before an examining board or a surgeon at Green Bay, Wis., for
examination, and in returning to his home from that place on the 7th day
of September, 1877, he fell from the cars and was killed, his remains
having been found on the track the next morning.

No one appears to have seen the accident, but it is claimed that he
could not depend upon his wounded leg, and that it "gave way many times
and caused him to fall." From this statement the inference seems to have
been indulged that his death was attributable to the wound he had
received thirteen years before.

The widow's claim based upon this state of facts was rejected by the
Pension Bureau on the ground that the accident resulting in death was
not the result of his military service, and on an appeal taken to the
Secretary of the Interior from that determination the same was
sustained.

Though this widow admits that prior to her marriage with the deceased
soldier she had married another man whom she could only say she believed
to be dead, I believe her case to be a pitiable one and wish that I
could join in her relief; but, unfortunately, official duty can not
always be well done when directed solely by sympathy and charity.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1288, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Robert Holsey."

This claimant enlisted in 1862, and though he appears to have been sick
on two occasions during his term of service, he remained with his
company until it was mustered out in 1865.

This soldier was really sick during the time he remained in the Army,
and in this respect his claim for a pension has a better origin than
many that are presented. But the fact must be recognized, I suppose,
that every army ailment does not necessarily result in death or
disability.

In 1882, seventeen years after his discharge, this soldier filed his
declaration for a pension, alleging that in 1863 he contracted
intermittent fever, affecting his lungs, kidneys, and stomach.

A board of surgeons, upon an examination made in 1882, find disease of
kidneys, but no indication of lung and stomach trouble; and a medical
referee reported in 1885 that there had been no disease of the stomach
and lungs since the filing of the claim, and that the difficulty
affecting the kidneys had no relation to the sickness for which the
claimant had been treated while in the Army.

I am of the opinion that a correct conclusion was reached when the
application for pension in this case was denied by the Pension Bureau.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 7979, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Jackson Steward."

This claimant's application for pension is now pending in the Pension
Bureau, and has been sent to a special examiner for the purpose of
taking additional proof.

This I deem sufficient reason why the proposed bill should not now
become a law.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 2025, entitled "An act
granting a pension to James Butler."

This claimant was enrolled as a private in a New Hampshire regiment
August 23, 1864, but on the organization of his company, on the 12th day
of September, 1864, he was discharged on account of a fracture of his
leg, which happened on the 11th day of September, 1864.

It appears that before the organization of the company to which he was
attached, and on the 10th day of September, he obtained permission to
leave the place of rendezvous for the purpose of visiting his family,
and was to return the next day. At a very early hour in the morning,
either while preparing to return or actually on his way, he fell into a
new cellar and broke his leg. It is said that the leg fractured is now
shorter than the other.

His claim for pension was rejected in December, 1864, by the Pension
Bureau, and its action was affirmed in 1871 upon the ground that the
injury was received while the claimant was on an individual furlough,
and therefore not in the line of duty.

Considering the fact that neither his regiment nor his company had at
the time of his accident been organized, and that he was in no sense in
the military service of the United States, and that his injury was
received while on a visit, and not in the performance of duty, I can see
no pretext for allowing a pension in this case.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 6688, entitled "An act
for the relief of William Bishop."

This claimant was enrolled as a substitute on the 25th day of March,
1865. He was admitted to a post hospital at Indianapolis on the 3d day
of April, 1865, with the measles; was removed to the City General
Hospital, in Indianapolis, on the 5th day of May, 1865; was returned to
duty May 8, 1865, and was mustered out with a detachment of unassigned
men on the 11th day of May, 1865.

This is the military record of this soldier, who remained in the Army
one month and seventeen days, having entered it as a substitute at a
time when high bounties were paid.

Fifteen years after this brilliant service and this terrific encounter
with the measles, and on the 28th day of June, 1880, the claimant
discovered that his attack of the measles had some relation to his army
enrollment and that this disease had "settled in his eyes, also
affecting his spinal column."

This claim was rejected by the Pension Bureau, and I have no doubt of
the correctness of its determination.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 6266, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Philip Arner."

It is conceded in the application for a pension made by this claimant
that he was perfectly well prior to his enlistment, during his service,
and for a year thereafter. He was discharged in July, 1864, and the
proof is that he was taken seriously ill in the fall of 1865, since
which time he has been troubled with lung difficulty.

He filed his application for pension in 1883. This was rejected on the
ground that the sickness which produced his disability having occurred
more than a year after his discharge from the Army, it can not be
accepted as a result of his military service.

There is absolutely no allegation of any incident of his service which
it is claimed is at all related to his sickness and disability.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 6170, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary A. Van Etten."

In her declaration for a pension, filed July 28, 1885, this claimant
alleges that her husband was drowned upon attempting to cross Braddocks
Bay, near his residence, in the State of New York, on the 16th day of
July, 1875.

It is claimed that in an effort to drive across that bay in a buggy with
his young son the buggy was overturned and both were drowned. The
application for pension was based upon the theory that during his
military service the deceased soldier contracted rheumatism, which so
interfered with his ability to save himself by swimming that his death
may be fairly traced to a disability incurred in the service.

He does not appear to have been treated while in the Army for
rheumatism, though some evidence is presented of his complaining of
rheumatic symptoms.

He was mustered out in 1863, and though he lived twelve years thereafter
it does not appear that he ever applied for a pension; and though he was
drowned in 1875, his widow apparently did not connect his military
service with his death until ten years thereafter.

It seems to me that there is such an entire absence of direct and
tangible evidence that the death of this soldier resulted from any
incident of his service that the granting of a pension upon such a
theory is not justified.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 6117, entitled "An act
granting a pension to James D. Cotton."

The claim for a pension in this case is on behalf of the father of
Thomas Cotton, who was killed at Pittsburg Landing April 6, 1862.

The application of this claimant still remains in the Pension Bureau
undetermined. The doubt in the case appears to relate to the dependence
of the father upon his son at the time of his death.

This is a question which the Bureau is so well fitted to investigate and
justly determine that it is, in my opinion, best to permit the same to
be there fully examined.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 6753, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mrs. Alice E. Travers."

The husband of the beneficiary, John T. Travers, enlisted August 25,
1864, and was discharged June 11, 1866.

He died January 6, 1881, from the effects of an overdose of morphine
which he administered himself. He was a druggist, and when suffering
severely was in the habit of taking opiates for relief and sleep.

The disease from which it is said he suffered was lung difficulty,
claimed to have been caused by a severe cold contracted in the service.

It does not appear that he ever applied for a pension, and the widow's
claim seems to have been properly rejected by the Pension Bureau on the
ground that the soldier's death was not due to his military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 1816, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary Ann Miller."

Hamilton Miller, the husband of the claimant, enlisted April 22, 1861,
and was sent with his regiment to Camp Dennison, in the suburbs of
Cincinnati.

While thus in camp, apparently before he had ever been to the front, and
on the 3d of June, 1861, he obtained permission to go to the city of
Cincinnati, and was there killed by a blow received from some person who
appears to be unknown; but undoubtedly the injury occurred in a fight or
as the result of an altercation.

It is very clear to me that the Pension Bureau properly rejected the
widow's claim for pension, for the reason that the soldier was not in
the line of duty at the date of his death. It is also impossible to
connect the death with any incident of the soldier's military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 7436, entitled "An act
to grant a pension to Mary Anderson."

This claimant is the widow of Richard Anderson, who at the time of his
death was receiving a pension on account of chronic diarrhea contracted
in the service.

On the 7th day of February, 1882, the deceased pensioner went to Sparta,
in the State of Wisconsin, to be examined for an increase of his
pension. He called on the surgeon and was examined, and the next morning
was found beheaded on the railroad track under such circumstances as
indicated suicide.

The claim of the widow was rejected by the Pension Bureau on the ground
that the cause of the death of her husband was in no way connected with
his military service.

His wife and family present pitiable objects for sympathy, but I am
unable to see how they have any claim to a pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill 576, entitled "An act for
the relief of Louisa C. Beezeley."

By this bill it is proposed to grant a pension to the beneficiary named,
as the widow of Nathaniel Beezeley, who was enrolled in an Indiana
regiment as a farrier in September, 1861. He was discharged July 17,
1862, after having been in the hospital considerable of the short time
he was connected with the Army. The surgeon's certificate on his
discharge stated that it was granted by reason of "old age," he then
being 60 years old.

He never made any claim for pension, but in 1877 his widow filed her
declaration, stating that her husband died in 1875 from disease
contracted in the service.

I am convinced that the Pension Bureau acted upon entirely satisfactory
evidence when this claim was rejected upon the ground that the cause of
death originated subsequent to the soldier's discharge.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 6895, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Sarah Harbaugh."

The husband of this claimant enlisted August 1, 1861, and was discharged
September 7, 1864. He received a gunshot wound in the left ankle in May,
1863, and died suddenly of disease of the heart October 4, 1881. He was
insane before his death, but in my opinion any connection between his
injury and his service in the Army is next to impossible.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 7167, entitled "An act
for the relief of Mrs. Maria Hunter."

The beneficiary named in this bill, to whom it is therein proposed to
grant a pension at the rate of $50 a month, on the 23d day of March,
1886, filed her application for a pension in the Pension Bureau, where
it is still pending undetermined.

Although the deceased soldier held a high rank, I have no doubt his
widow will receive ample justice through the instrumentality organized
for the purpose of dispensing the nation's grateful acknowledgment of
military service in its defense.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 3205, entitled "An act
granting a pension to George W. Guyse."

The claimant filed his declaration for a pension in 1878, alleging that
about the 25th day of December, 1863, he received a gunshot wound in his
left knee while engaged in a skirmish.

There has been much testimony taken in this case, and a great deal of
it is exceedingly contradictory. Three of the claimant's comrades, who
originally testified to the receipt of the injury by him, afterwards
denied that he was wounded in the service, and a portion of the evidence
taken by the Bureau tends to establish the fact that the claimant cut
his left knee with a knife shortly after his discharge.

An examining surgeon in November, 1884, reports that he finds "no
indication of a gunshot wound, there being no physical or rational signs
to sustain claimant in his application for pension."

He further reports that there "seems to be an imperfect scar near the
knee, so imperfect as to render its origin uncertain, but in no respect
resembling a gunshot wound."

I think upon all the facts presented the Pension Bureau properly
rejected this claim, because there was no record of the injury and no
satisfactory evidence produced showing that it was incurred in service
and in line of duty, "all sources of information having been exhausted."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7401, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Samuel Miller."

This man was discharged from one enlistment June 16, 1864, and enlisted
again in August of that year. He was finally discharged July 1, 1865.

In 1880 he filed an application for a pension, alleging that in May,
1862, he contracted in the service "kidney disease and weakness of the
back."

A board of surgeons in 1881 reported that they failed to "discover any
evidence of disease of kidneys."

It will be observed that since the date when it is claimed his
disabilities visited him Mr. Miller not only served out his first term
of enlistment, but reenlisted, and necessarily must have passed a
medical examination.

I am entirely satisfied with the rejection of this claim by the Pension
Bureau.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 424, entitled "An act
to pension Giles C. Hawley."

This claimant enlisted August 5, 1861, and was discharged November 14,
1861, upon a surgeon's certificate, in which he stated: "I deem him
unfit to stay in the service on account of deafness. He can not hear an
ordinary command."

Seventeen years after his discharge from a military service of a little
more than three months' duration, and in the year 1878, the claimant
filed an application for pension, in which he alleged that "from
exposure and excessive duty in the service his hearing was seriously
affected."

There is no doubt that his disability existed to quite an extent at
least before his enlistment, and there was plenty of opportunity for its
increase between the time of discharge and of his application for
pension.

I am entirely satisfied that it should not be altogether charged to the
three months he spent in the service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 7222, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Callie West."

I base my action upon the opinion, derived from an examination of the
circumstances attending the death of the claimant's husband, that his
fatal disease did not have its origin in his military service and was
entirely disconnected therewith.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 6257, entitled "An act for the
relief of Julia Connelly."

It is proposed by this bill to grant a pension to the beneficiary named
as the widow of Thomas Connelly.

This man was mustered into the service October 26, 1861. He never did a
day's service so far as his name appears, and the muster-out roll of his
company reports him as having deserted at Camp Cameron, Pa., November
14, 1861.

He visited his family about the 1st day of December, 1861, and was found
December 30, 1861, drowned in a canal about 6 miles from his home.

Those who prosecute claims for pensions have grown very bold when cases
of this description are presented for consideration.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 6774, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Bruno Schultz."

The application of this claimant for a pension, which was filed a number
of years ago, though at one time rejected, has been since opened for
reexamination, and is now awaiting additional evidence.

In this condition of this case I think this bill should not be approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 7298, entitled "An act
for the relief of Charles Schuler."

It is proposed by this bill to grant a pension to the person above
named, who was discharged from the military service in December, 1864.
He filed a declaration for a pension in the Pension Bureau in January,
1883. This application is still pending. Without referring to the merits
of the case, I am of the opinion that the matter should be determined by
the Bureau to which it has properly been presented before special
legislation should be invoked.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 7073, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary S. Woodson."

Henry Woodson, the husband of the beneficiary named, enlisted in
September, 1861, and was discharged in October, 1863, on account of
valvular disease of the heart.

The application for pension on behalf of his widow was filed August 5,
1881.

She concedes that she is unable to furnish any evidence of the date or
the cause of her husband's death.

It appears that he left home in March, 1874, for the purpose of finding
work, and neither she nor her friends have ever heard from him since.
His death may naturally be presumed, and the condition of his family is
such that it would be a positive gratification to aid them in the manner
proposed; but the entire and conceded absence of any presumption,
however weak, that he died from any cause connected with his military
service seems to render it improper to place the widow's name upon the
pension rolls.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7108, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Andrew J. Wilson."

It appears that this man was drafted and entered the service in
February, 1865, and was discharged in September of the same year on
account of "chronic nephritis and deafness."

In 1882 he filed his application for a pension, alleging that in June,
1865, from exposure, he contracted rheumatism. Afterwards he described
his trouble as inflammation of the muscles of the back, with pain in the
kidneys. In another statement, filed in December, 1884, he alleges that
while in the service he contracted diarrhea and was injured in one of
his testicles, producing a rupture.

Whatever else may be said of this claimant's achievements during his
short military career, it must be conceded that he accumulated a great
deal of disability.

There is no doubt in my mind that whatever ailments he may honestly lay
claim to, his title to the same was complete before he entered the Army.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 7703, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Anna A. Probert."

The husband of this beneficiary was pensioned in 1864. He was a druggist
and apothecary at Norwalk, in the State of Ohio. Shortly before his
death, in 1878, he went to Memphis for the purpose of giving his
professional assistance to those suffering from yellow fever at that
place. He was himself attacked by that disease, and died on the 28th day
of October, 1878.

His widow has never herself applied for a pension, but a power of
attorney has been filed, authorizing the prosecution of her claim by
another.

That she has employed an ingenious attorney or agent is demonstrated by
the fact that the bill now before me seems to be based upon the theory
that Mr. Probert might have recovered from his attack of yellow fever
if he had been free from the ailments for which he had been pensioned
fourteen years before.

If such speculations and presumptions as this are to be indulged, we
shall find ourselves surrounded and hedged in by the rule that all men
entering an army were free from disease or the liability to disease
before their enlistment, and every infirmity which is visited upon them
thereafter is the consequence of army service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7162, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Martha McIlwain."

R.J. McIlwain, the husband of the claimant, enlisted in 1861, and was
discharged in 1862 because of the loss of his right leg by a gunshot
wound. He was pensioned for this disability. He died May 15, 1883, from
an overdose of morphia. It is claimed by the widow that her husband was
in the habit of taking morphia to alleviate the pain he endured from his
stump, and that he accidentally took too much.

The case was investigated by a special examiner upon the widow's
application for pension, and his report shows that the deceased had been
in the habit of taking morphia and knew how to use it; that he had been
in the habit of buying 6 grains at a time, and that his death was caused
by his taking one entire purchase of 6 grains while under the influence
of liquor.

In any event it is quite clear that the taking of morphia in any
quantity was not the natural result of military service or injury
received therein.

I concur in the judgment of the Pension Bureau, which rejected the
widow's claim for pension on the ground that "the death of the soldier
was not due to his military service."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 7931, entitled "An act
increasing the pension of Clark Boon."

This claimant filed his declaration for pension February 3, 1874, in
which he states that he lost his health while a prisoner at Tyler, Tex.

On the 19th day of October, 1874, he filed an affidavit claiming that
he contracted diseases of the heart and head while in the service.
In a further application, filed January 16, 1878, he abandoned his
allegations as to disease, and asks for a pension on account of a
gunshot wound in the left ankle. Medical testimony was produced on his
behalf tending to show not only a gunshot wound, but a disease of the
eyes.

A small pension was at last granted him upon the theory advanced by a
board of surgeons in 1880 that it was "possible that applicant was
entitled to a small rating for weakness of ankle."

A declaration was filed June 4, 1885, by which this claimant insists
upon an increase of pension on account of the wound and also for disease
of eyes and rheumatism.

I am entirely satisfied that all has been done in this case that the
most liberal treatment demands.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 7257, entitled "An act
granting a pension to James H. Darling."

This man enlisted in November, 1861, and was reported as having deserted
March 5, 1862. The charge of desertion was, however, removed, and it is
stated that he went to his home in Ohio at the date stated, by proper
authority, where he remained sick till December, 1862, when he was
discharged for disability caused "by a disease of the kidneys known as
Bright's disease," from which, the physician making the certificate
thought, "there was no reasonable prospect of his recovery."

The claimant filed his application for pension, alleging that in
January, 1862, he contracted rheumatism.

The claim was investigated by a special examiner and rejected on the
ground that the evidence produced failed to show the alleged disability
was contracted in the service and in the line of duty.

A medical examination made in 1877 showed that the claimant was "a
well-nourished man, 65 years old; height, 5 feet 8 inches; weight, 165
pounds." No disability was discovered, "but a general stiffness of
joints, especially of legs, which he says is much aggravated in stormy,
cold weather."

Another examination in 1882 found this victim of war disability with
"the appearance of a hale, hearty old man--no disease that was
discoverable by examination (without chemical test), except some
lameness from rheumatism." His weight upon this examination is stated to
be 186 pounds.

It is evident to me that this man ought not to be pensioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without my approval House bill No. 6372, entitled "An
act to pension Charles A. Chase."

This claimant was enrolled September 6, 1864, and mustered out with his
detachment June 1, 1865. His brief service contains no record of
disability.

But in 1880 he filed a declaration for pension, in which he claims that
by reason of exposure suffered in the service about the 20th of October,
1864, he contracted disease of the liver and kidneys.

The application for pension was denied January 9, 1884, because there
was no record of the alleged diseases, and no satisfactory proof of
their contraction in the Army was produced, and because of the meager
and unconvincing evidence of disability found by the surgeon on an
actual examination of the claimant.

I adopt these as the reasons for my action in withholding my approval of
this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 6192, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary Norman."

The husband of this claimant was enrolled May 22, 1863, and was mustered
out of the service June 1, 1866.

He was wounded in the head February 20, 1864; was treated for the same,
and returned to duty September 3, 1864.

In her declaration for pension, filed in February, 1880, the claimant
claims a pension because of his wound and deafness consequent therefrom,
and that he died after he left the service.

In a letter, however, dated October 13, 1880, she states that her
husband was drowned while trying to cross Roanoke River in December,
1868.

Her claim was rejected in 1881 on the ground that the cause of the
soldier's death was accidental drowning, and was not due to his military
service.

In an attempt to meet this objection it was claimed as lately as 1885,
on behalf of the widow, that her husband's wound caused deafness to such
an extent that at the time he was drowned he was unable to hear the
ferryman, with whom he was crossing the river, call out that the boat
was sinking.

How he could have saved his life if he had heard the warning is not
stated.

It seems very clear to me that this is not a proper case for the
granting of a pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without my approval House bill No. 7614, entitled "An
act granting an increase of pension to Hezekiah Tillman."

This claimant, in his declaration for pension, filed in 1866, alleges
that he received a gunshot wound in his right leg November 25, 1862. He
was mustered out with his company September 22, 1864.

He was pensioned for the wound which he claimed to have received as his
only injury.

In another declaration, filed in 1872, he alleged that in December,
1862, he was struck in his left eye by some hard substance, which
destroyed the vision of that organ.

In a subsequent declaration, filed in 1878, he claimed that he received
a shell wound in his left knee in November, 1863.

This latter claim has not been finally acted upon by the Pension Bureau,
and I am of the opinion that with the diverse claims for injuries which
have been there presented on behalf of the beneficiary named justice
will be done in the case.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 6718, entitled "An act granting
a pension to William H. Starr."

An application made by this claimant to the Pension Bureau is still
pending there, and additional evidence has been called for, which the
claim is awaiting before final decision.

I am of the opinion that the investigation there should be fully
completed before special legislation is resorted to.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7109, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Joseph Tuttle."

This man claims a pension as the dependent father of Charles Tuttle, who
enlisted in 1861 and was killed in action May 31, 1862.

The claimant, being, as he says, poor, took his son Charles, at the age
of 9 years, and placed him in charge of an uncle living in Ohio. An
arrangement was afterwards made by which the boy should live with a
stranger named Betts. Upon the death of this gentleman the lad was
transferred to one Captain Hill, with whom he remained until his
enlistment in 1861.

It is stated that during the time he remained with Mr. Hill he sent his
father $5; but the fatherly care and interest of the claimant in his son
is exhibited by his statement that though the son was killed in 1862 his
father was not aware of it until the year 1864.

After the exhibition of heartlessness and abandonment on the part of a
father which is a prominent feature in this case, I should be sorry to
be a party to a scheme permitting him to profit by the death of his
patriotic son. The claimant relinquished the care of his son, and should
be held to have relinquished all claim to his assistance and the
benefits so indecently claimed as the result of his death.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 5995, entitled "An act
granting a pension to David T. Elderkin."

This claimant enlisted August 5, 1862. From his record it appears that
he was dishonorably discharged the service, to date from June 11, 1863,
with a loss of all pay, bounty, and allowances.

He filed a declaration for a pension in 1882, claiming that he was
wounded in the head by a shell January 1, 1863, which cut his cheek
close to his right ear, causing almost total deafness.

There is conflicting evidence as to the claimant's freedom from deafness
prior to enlistment, and on a special examination it was shown that he
was slightly hard of hearing before enlistment. Indeed the claimant
himself stated to the special examiner and also to the board of surgeons
that he had been somewhat deaf from childhood.

In 1882 an examining surgeon reports that he finds no scar or evidence
of wound, but his hearing is very much impaired.

The claim was rejected in 1885 on the ground that deafness existed prior
to enlistment, and also because of no ratable disability by reason of
alleged wound in the cheek.

I think, considering the manner of the soldier's discharge and the facts
developed, that the claimant should not be pensioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 29, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return Senate bill No. 1797, entitled "An act granting a
pension to John S. Kirkpatrick."

This claimant appears to have enlisted December 10, 1861, and to have
been discharged December 20, 1864. He is borne upon the rolls of his
company as present up to June, 1862; in July and August, 1862, as on
detached service as hospital attendant, and so reported February 28,
1863. In March and April, 1863, he is reported as present, and in May
and June, 1863, as on detached service. There is nowhere in his service
any record of disability.

He filed his application for a pension in 1880, in which he alleged that
from hardship and exposure on a long march in New Mexico in the month of
December, 1862, he contracted varicose veins in his legs.

As I understand the record given above, this claimant was on detached
service from July, 1862, to February, 1863.

It will be observed that his claim is that he contracted his disability
within that time, and in December, 1862. He appears also to have served
for two years after the date of his alleged injury, and that he did not
file his application for pension till about sixteen years afterwards.

His claim is still pending, undetermined, in the Pension Bureau, and if
there is merit in it there is no doubt that he will be able to make it
apparent.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 29, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 1077, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Newcomb Parker."

This claimant filed an application for a pension in the year 1880.

Before the passage of the bill herewith returned the Commissioner of
Pensions, in ignorance of the action of Congress, allowed his claim
under the general law. As this decision of the Pension Bureau entitles
the beneficiary named to draw a pension from the date of filing his
application, which, under the provisions of the special bill in his
favor, would only accrue from the time of its passage, I am unwilling
that one found worthy to be placed upon the pension rolls by the Bureau,
to which he properly applied, should be an actual loser by reason of a
special interposition of Congress in his behalf.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 2, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 473, entitled "An act granting
a pension to William Boone."

There is not the slightest room for doubt as to the facts involved in
this case.

No application for pension was ever made to the Pension Bureau by the
beneficiary named in this bill. He enlisted in August, 1862; was in
action November, 1862, and taken prisoner and at once paroled. During
his parole, and at Aurora, in the State of Illinois, he took part in the
celebration of the 4th day of July, 1863, and while so engaged was
terribly injured by the discharge of a cannon. He is poor, and has a
wife and a number of children.

These facts are derived from the report of the committee in Congress to
whom the bill was referred, and from a letter written by the soldier
since favorable action was had upon said bill by both Houses of
Congress, which letter is now before me. In this letter he says:
"I never thought of trying getting a pension until my old comrades urged
me to do so."

This declaration does not in the least, I think, militate against the
present application for pension, but it tends to show the ideas that
have become quite prevalent concerning the facts necessary to be
established in order to procure a pension by special act of Congress.

Let it be conceded that during the three months which elapsed between
the soldier's enlistment and his capture and parole he was constantly
in the field and bravely did his duty. The case presented is that of
a brave soldier, not injured in any engagement with the enemy, but
honorably captured, and by his parole placed in a condition which
prevented for the time being his further active military service. He
proceeded to his home or to his friends and took his place among
noncombatants. Eight months afterwards he joined the citizens of the
place of his sojourn and the citizens of every town and hamlet in the
loyal States in the usual and creditable celebration of our national
holiday. Among the casualties which unfortunately always result from
such celebrations there occurred a premature discharge of a cannon,
which the present claimant for pension was assisting other citizens to
discharge and manage.

Whether any of those thus engaged with him were injured is not
disclosed, but it is certain that the paroled soldier was very badly
hurt.

I am utterly unable to discover any relation between this accident and
the military service, or any reason why, if a pension is granted as
proposed by this bill, there should not also be a pension granted to any
of the companions of the claimant who chanced to be injured at the same
time.

A disabled man and a wife and family in need are objects which appeal to
the sympathy and charitable feelings of any decent man; but it seems to
me that it by no means follows that those intrusted with the people's
business and the expenditure of the people's money are justified in so
executing the pension laws as that they shall furnish a means of relief
in every case of distress or hardship.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 3, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 365, entitled "An act
for the relief of Martin L. Bundy."

By this bill it is proposed to allow in the settlement by the United
States with Mr. Bundy, who was lately a paymaster in the Army, the sum
of $719.47 for the forage of two horses to which he claims he was
entitled while in the service, and which has never been drawn by him.
The time during which it is alleged this forage was due is stated to be
between July 17, 1862, and April 15, 1866.

This claimant was mustered out as paymaster on the last-mentioned date,
and in 1872 a certificate was issued that, his accounts having been
adjusted, they exhibited no indebtedness on his part to the United
States.

Subsequently, however, and in or about the year 1879, it was discovered
that by reason of a duplicate credit, which had been allowed him by
mistake, he was actually indebted to the Government in the sum of
$528.72.

After the fact had been made known to him the claim embodied in this
bill was suggested to or invented by him, which, if allowed, will not
only extinguish his indebtedness to the Government, but leave a balance
due to him.

By the law and the Army Regulations the forage upon which this claim is
based is or should be only allowed to those in the service who actually
have and use horses in the performance of their duties.

And when thus entitled to forage it was necessary to draw it in kind or
in the specific articles permitted every month, and if not thus drawn it
could not afterwards be claimed. There seems to be no such thing as
commutation of forage in such cases.

There is no suggestion that the claimant named in this bill had or
used any horses while in the service. If he did and paid for their
maintenance and at the time of the settlement of his accounts made no
claim for reimbursement, he presents a case of incredible ignorance
of his rights or a wonderful lack of that disposition to gain every
possible advantage which is usually found among those who deal with the
Government.

It is quite apparent that the claim is not valid, and the fact that it
is made long after the discovery of his deficit leads to the suspicion
that it is insisted on merely for the purpose of paying his debt.

Though in this particular case it would do but little more than to
extinguish an indebtedness to the Government, the allowance of this
claim would set a precedent which could hardly be ignored, and which, if
followed, would furnish another means of attack upon the public Treasury
quite as effective as many which are now in active operation.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 7018, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Aretus F. Loomis."

The Commissioner of Pensions, before he became aware of the passage of
this bill, directed favorable action upon the application of the
claimant pending in the Pension Bureau. A certificate has been issued
for the payment of a pension to him, dating from September 30, 1882.

In the interest of the claimant I therefore withhold my signature from
the bill, as the pension granted by special act would only date from the
time of its passage.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 1818, entitled "An act
granting a pension to H.L. Kyler."

A pension was granted to the person named in this bill, dating from
September, 1864, for neuralgia and disease of the eyes.

He was mustered into the service, to serve one hundred days, May 14,
1864, and mustered out September 8, 1864.

In 1880 information reached the Pension Bureau that the pensioner was
treated for neuralgia and disease of the eyes at various times between
the years 1859 and 1864, and this fact appearing to the satisfaction of
the Bureau upon the examination which followed, the pensioner's name was
dropped from the roll.

Afterwards another thorough examination of the case was made, when the
pensioner was permitted to confront the witnesses against him and
produce evidence in his own behalf.

It is claimed that a Dr. Saunders, who testified to treating the
pensioner before his enlistment, was exceedingly unfriendly; but he was
corroborated by his son and by entries on his books. Another physician,
apparently disinterested, also testified to his treatment of the
pensioner in 1860 for difficulties with his eyes and ears. The pensioner
himself admitted that he had trouble with one of his eyes in 1860, but
that he entirely recovered. Six other witnesses testified to the
existence of disease of the pensioner's eyes before enlistment.

Though twelve neighbors of the pensioner testified that he was free from
neuralgia and disease of the eyes before enlistment, I am of the opinion
that the evidence against the pension was quite satisfactory, and that
it should not be restored, as the bill before me proposes.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 3640, entitled "An act
granting a pension to James T. Irwin."

This claimant enlisted in February, 1864, and was mustered out June 10,
1865. He is reported as absent sick from August 20, 1864, until mustered
out. He seems to have been treated for remittent fever, chronic
diarrhea, general debility, and palpitation of the heart.

In 1876 he filed a declaration for pension, alleging that at Petersburg,
July 1, 1864, he contracted fever and inflammation of the eyes.

He filed an affidavit in January, 1877, in which he states that his
diseased eyes resulted from diseased nerves, caused by a wound received
June 18, 1864, at Petersburg, and from a consequent abscess on the back
of the neck.

In an affidavit filed in July, 1878, he states that in June, 1864, in
front of Petersburg, he had his gun smashed in front of his face and his
eyes injured, and afterwards he had an abscess on the back of his neck,
typhoid fever, and disease of the left lung.

His claim founded upon these various allegations of injury was rejected
in February, 1879.

In September, 1884, a declaration was filed for a pension, alleging
disease of the heart contracted at Petersburg June 16, 1864.

The claimant was examined once in 1882 and twice in 1884 by United
States examining surgeons and boards, and it is stated that these
examinations failed to reveal any disease or disability except disease
of the eyes and an irritable heart, the result of indigestion.

An oculist who made an examination in 1884 reported that the unnatural
condition of claimant's eyes was congenital and in no manner the result
of injury or disease.

Upon a consideration of the very short time that the claimant was in
actual service, the different claims he has made touching his alleged
disability, and the positive results of medical examinations, I am
satisfied this pension should not be allowed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without my approval House bill No. 5306, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Roxana V. Rowley."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of Franklin Rowley, who
enlisted February 8, 1865, was promoted to first lieutenant March 13,
1865, and was discharged May 22, 1865, having tendered his resignation,
as it is stated, on account of incompetency. His tender of resignation
was indorsed by the commanding officer of his regiment as follows: "This
man is wholly unfit for an officer."

It will be seen that he was in the service a little more than three
months.

In 1880, fifteen years after his discharge, he applied for a pension,
alleging that he contracted disease of the liver while in the service.

Upon an examination of the claim his attending physician before
enlistment stated that as early as 1854 the claimant was afflicted with
dyspepsia and functional disease of the liver; that he regarded him as
incurable, so far as being restored to sound health was concerned, and
that if he had been at home at the time when he enlisted he would have
advised against it.

The testimony of this physician as to the claimant's condition after his
discharge is referred to in the report of the Committee of the House to
whom this bill was referred, and I do not understand that he is at all
impeached. He certainly is better informed than any other person
regarding the condition of the man who was his patient.

The soldier died in 1881, sixteen years after his discharge, and his
widow filed her claim for pension in 1882, alleging that the death of
her husband was caused by a disease of the liver contracted in the
service.

Her claim was rejected in 1883 upon the ground that the disease of which
her husband died existed prior to his enlistment.

I can not avoid the conclusion, upon all the facts presented, that his
death was not chargeable to any incident of his brief military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 5021, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mrs. Margaret A. Jacoby."

A pension has been allowed on account of the disability of the
claimant's husband, dating from his discharge in 1864.

The beneficiary named in this bill applied for pension in 1885, alleging
that she married the soldier in 1864; that he incurred deafness and
chronic diarrhea while in the service, from the combined effect of which
he partially lost his mind; that on the 7th day of September, 1875, he
disappeared, and that after diligent search and inquiry she is unable to
learn anything of him since that time.

His disability from army service should be conceded and his death at
some time and in some manner may well be presumed; but the fact that he
died from any cause related to his disability or his service in the Army
has no presumption and not a single particle of proof to rest upon.

With proper diligence something should be discovered to throw a little
light upon this subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 3304, entitled "An act to
restore the name of Abner Morehead to the pension roll."

The person mentioned in this bill was pensioned in November, 1867, upon
the claim made by him that in 1863, from hardship and exposure incident
to camp life and field duty, he contracted a fever which settled in his
eyes, almost wholly destroying his sight. Afterwards his pension was
increased to $15 a month, dating from December, 1867, and arrears at the
rate of $8 a month from February, 1864. In 1876 the case was put in the
hands of a special agent of the Pension Bureau for examination, and upon
his report, showing that the claimant's disease of the eyes existed
prior to enlistment, his name was dropped from the rolls.

An application for restoration was made in 1879, and a thorough
examination was made by a special examiner in 1885, who reported that
the testimony taken conclusively established the fact that the claimant
had disease of the eyes prior to the time of enlistment, the result of a
disorder which he specifically mentions, and that he was treated for the
same more than a year subsequently to 1860. He adds:

  There is no merit whatever in this case, and it is evident that he
  obtained a large sum as pension to which, he must have known he was
  not entitled.


The results of these examinations, instituted for the express purpose of
developing the facts, and with nothing apparent to impeach them, should,
I think, control as against the statements of neighbors and comrades
based upon mere general observation, and not necessarily covering the
period which is important to the controversy.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 4782, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Elizabeth McKay."

The beneficiary named is the widow of Rowley S. McKay, who in 1862 seems
to have been employed as pilot on the ram _Switzerland_. He seems
to have been upon the rolls of two other vessels of the United States,
the _Covington_ and _General Price_, but was discharged by Admiral
Porter in June, 1864, with loss of all pay and emoluments.

He filed an application for pension in 1870, alleging that while on duty
as pilot and in action with the rebel ram _Arkansas_ his hearing
became affected by heavy firing. He also claimed that in February, 1863,
while on the vessel _Queen of the West_, she grounded, and to escape
capture he got off and floated down the river on a cotton bale, and,
being in the water about three hours, the exposure caused a disease of
the urinary organs; and that a few days after, while coming up the river
on a transport, the boat was fired into and several balls passed through
his left thigh. It seems that this claim was not definitely passed upon,
but it is stated that the records failed to show that McKay was in the
service of the United States at the time he alleged the contraction of
disease of the urinary organs and was wounded in the thigh.

The beneficiary named in this bill never made application for pension
to the Pension Bureau, but it appears that she bases her claims to
consideration by Congress upon the allegation that in 1862, while her
husband was acting as pilot of the ram or gunboat _Switzerland_, he
contracted chronic diarrhea, from which he never recovered, and that he
died from the effects of said disease in May, 1874.

It will be observed that among the various causes which the soldier or
sailor himself alleged as the grounds of his application for pension
chronic diarrhea is not mentioned.

There does not appear to be any medical testimony to support the claim
thus made by the widow, and the cause of death is not definitely stated.

Taking all together, it has the appearance of a case, by no means rare,
where chronic diarrhea or rheumatism are appealed to as a basis for a
pension claim in the absence of something more substantial and definite.

The fact that the claim of the beneficiary has never been presented to
the Pension Bureau influences in some degree my action in withholding my
approval of this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 3623, entitled "An act
granting a pension to William H. Nevil."

This bill directs that the name of the claimant be placed upon the
pension roll "subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension
laws."

This very thing was done on the 22d day of June, 1865, and the claimant
is in the receipt at the present time of the full amount of pension
allowed by our pension laws as administered by the Pension Bureau.

I suppose the intention of the bill was to increase this pension, but it
is not framed in such a way as to accomplish that object or to benefit
the claimant in any way whatever.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 1505, entitled "An act
granting a pension to William Dermody."

By the records of the War Department which have been furnished me it
appears that this claimant enlisted August 19, 1861; that he deserted
August 29, 1862; in November and December, 1862, he is reported as
present in confinement in regimental guardhouse, to forfeit one month's
pay by sentence of regimental court-martial; he is reported as having
deserted again in December, 1863, but as present for duty in January and
February, 1864; he reenlisted in the latter month, and was mustered out
July 17, 1865, and with his company was paid up to and including July
21, 1865.

He filed a declaration for pension in 1879, alleging that he received a
gunshot wound in the thigh at Trenton, N.J., July 21, 1865, and that the
wound was inflicted by a member of the Invalid Corps, who was whipping a
drummer boy, and the claimant interfered in behalf of the boy.

It is quite certain that the transaction took place July 23.

An examining board, in 1880, found pistol shot in thigh, but refused to
give the claimant a rating, because, as they report, "from the evidence
before the board there is reason to suppose that he was deserting from
the barracks at Trenton July 23, 1865, and was shot by the guard."

This may not be a just suspicion or finding, but he surely was not in
the service nor in the performance of any military duty at the time of
the injury, nor was he engaged in such manner as to entitle him to
indemnification at the hands of the Government.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 1059, entitled "An act
to grant a pension to Joseph Romiser."

The Pension Bureau reports that the records of the office fail to show
that an application has been filed in favor of this claimant, though it
is stated in the report of the House committee that such a claim was
made and rejected on the ground that the claimant was not at the time of
injury in the service of the United States.

It certainly appears from the report of the committee that the
beneficiary named in this bill was not in the service of the Government
at such a time, and also that he had not been mustered into the service
of any State military organization. It is stated that he belonged to
Captain Frank Mason's company of volunteers, of Prostburg, in the State
of Maryland.

Whether this company was organized for the purpose of cooperating at any
time with the Union or State forces is not alleged, and it may well have
been existing merely for the purpose of neighborhood protection.

Such as it was, the company was ordered in June, 1861, to proceed to
Cumberland to repel a threatened attack of Confederate forces. Upon
arriving at that place the men were ordered to uncap their muskets. In
doing this, and through the negligence of another member of the company,
whose musket was discharged, the claimant was wounded.

It does not seem to me that the facts in this case, so far as they have
been developed, justify the passage of this act.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 4226, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Fannie E. Evans."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of George S. Evans. He
was a soldier in the Mexican War, and entered the Union Army in the War
of the Rebellion, on the 16th day of October, 1861, as major of a
California regiment. He became a colonel in February, 1863, and resigned
in April of that year, to take effect on the 31st of May ensuing.

His resignation seems to have been tendered on account of private
matters, and no mention was then made of any disability. It is stated in
the committee's report to the House that in 1864 he accepted the office
of adjutant-general of the State of California, which he held for nearly
four years.

He died in 1883 from cerebral apoplexy.

In March, 1884, his widow filed an application for pension, based upon
the allegation that from active and severe service in a battle with the
Indians at Spanish Fort in 1863 her husband incurred a hernia, which
incapacitated him for active service.

There appears to be evidence to justify this statement, notwithstanding
the fact that the deceased during the twenty years that followed before
his death made no claim for such disability.

But it seems to me that the effort to attribute his death by apoplexy to
the existence of hernia ought not to be successful.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 2971, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Francis Deming."

This claimant entered the service in August, 1861, and was discharged
September 15, 1865.

His hospital record shows that during his service he was treated for
various temporary ailments, among which rheumatism is not included.

He filed an application for pension in September, 1884, alleging that in
August, 1864, he contracted rheumatism, which had resulted in blindness.

On an examination of his case in November, 1884, he stated that his
eyesight began to fail in 1882.

There seems to be no testimony showing his condition from the time of
his discharge to 1880, a period of fifteen years.

The claim that his present condition of blindness is the result of his
army service is not insisted upon as a reason for granting him relief as
strongly as his sad and helpless condition. The committee of the House
to which this bill was referred, after detailing his situation, close
their report with these words: "He served well his country in its dire
need; his necessities now appeal for relief."

We have here presented the case of a soldier who did his duty during
his army service, and who was discharged in 1865 without any record of
having suffered with rheumatism and without any claim of disability
arising from the same. He returned to his place as a citizen, and
in peaceful pursuits, with chances certainly not impaired by the
circumstance that he had served his country, he appears to have held his
place in the race of life for fifteen years or more. Then, like many
another, he was subjected to loss of sight, one of the saddest
afflictions known to human life.

Thereupon, and after nineteen years had elapsed since his discharge from
the Army, a pension is claimed for him upon a very shadowy allegation of
the incurrence of rheumatism while in the service, coupled with the
startling proposition that this rheumatism resulted, just previous to
his application, in blindness. Upon medical examination it appeared that
his blindness was caused by amaurosis, which is generally accepted as an
affection of the optic nerve.

I am satisfied that a fair examination of the facts in this case
justifies the statement that the bill under consideration can rest only
upon the grounds that aid should be furnished to this ex-soldier because
he served in the Army and because he a long time thereafter became
blind, disabled, and dependent.

The question is whether we are prepared to adopt this principle and
establish this precedent.

None of us are entitled to credit for extreme tenderness and
consideration toward those who fought their country's battles. These
are sentiments con|»ion to all good citizens. They lead to the most
benevolent care on the part of the Government and deeds of charity and
mercy in private life. The blatant and noisy self-assertion of those
who, from motives that may well be suspected, declare themselves above
all others friends of the soldier can not discredit nor belittle the
calm, steady, and affectionate regard of a grateful nation.

An appropriation has just been passed setting apart $76,000,000 of
the public money for distribution as pensions, under laws liberally
constructed, with a view of meeting every meritorious case. More than
$1,000,000 was added to maintain the Pension Bureau, which is charged
with the duty of a fair, just, and liberal apportionment of this fund.

Legislation has been at the present session of Congress perfected
considerably increasing the rate of pension in certain cases.
Appropriations have also been made of large sums for the support of
national homes where sick, disabled, or needy soldiers are cared for,
and within a few days a liberal sum has been appropriated for the
enlargement and increased accommodation and convenience of these
institutions.

All this is no more than should be done.

But with all this, and with the hundreds of special acts which have been
passed granting pensions in cases where, for my part, I am willing to
confess that sympathy rather than judgment has often led to the
discovery of a relation between injury or death and military service, I
am constrained by a sense of public duty to interpose against
establishing a principle and setting a precedent which must result in
unregulated, partial, and unjust gifts of public money under the pretext
of indemnifying those who suffered in their means of support as an
incident of military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 4642, entitled "An act
granting a pension to James Carroll."

The claimant alleges that he was wounded while in the service as a
member of Company B, Third Regiment North Carolina Mounted Volunteers,
while securing recruits for the regiment at Watauga, N.C., January 25,
1865.

The records of the War Department develop the fact that the name of this
man is not borne upon any roll of the company to which he claims to
belong.

He stated in his application that he was sworn in by one George W.
Perkins, who, it appears, was a private in said company, and that
Perkins was with him at the time he was shot.

This is undoubtedly true, and that the claimant was injured by a gunshot
is also probably true. He was not, however, at the time regularly in the
United States service, but this objection might in some circumstances
be regarded as technical. The difficulty is that the fact that he was
creditably employed in a service of benefit to the country is not
satisfactorily shown. He gives two accounts of the business in which he
was engaged, and Mr. Perkins's explanation of the manner in which the
two were occupied is somewhat different still.

Carroll's claim, presented to the Pension Bureau, was rejected upon
the ground that there was no record of his service on file; but in his
testimony he stated that Perkins was wounded on the same occasion as
himself, and that he (Perkins) was then a pensioner on account thereof.

The records of the Pension Bureau show that Perkins was pensioned in
1873 on account of three wounds received at the time and place of
Carroll's injury.

It also appears that his name was dropped from the rolls in 1877 on the
ground that his wounds were not received in the line of duty.

After an investigation made at that time by a special examiner, he
reported that Perkins and Carroll had collected a number of men
together, who made their headquarters at the home of Carroll's mother
and were engaged in plundering the neighborhood, and that on account of
their depredations they were hunted down by home guards and shot at the
time they stated.

If this report is accepted as reliable, it should of course lead to the
rejection of the claim for pension on the part of Mr. Carroll.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 3043, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Lewis W. Scanland."

The claimant filed his declaration for a pension in 1884, alleging that
he contracted chronic diarrhea while serving in a company of mounted
Illinois volunteers in the Black Hawk War.

The records show that he served from April 18, 1832, to May 28, in the
same year.

He was examined by a board of surgeons in 1884, when he was said to be
75 years old. In his examination he did not claim to have diarrhea for a
good many years. On the contrary, he claimed to be affected with
constipation, and said he had never had diarrhea of late years, except
at times when he had taken medicine for constipation.

I am inclined to think it would have been a fortunate thing if in this
case it could have been demonstrated that a man could thrive so well
with the chronic diarrhea for fifty-two years as its existence in the
case of this good old gentleman would prove. We should then, perhaps,
have less of it in claims for pensions.

The fact is, in this case there is no disability which can be traced to
the forty days' military service of fifty-four years ago, and I think
little, if any, more infirmity than is usually found in men of the age
of the claimant.

Entertaining this belief, I am constrained to withhold my signature from
this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 5414, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Maria Cunningham."

The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill enlisted January 29,
1862, and was discharged January 20, 1865.

He applied for a pension in 1876, alleging a shell wound in the head.
His claim was rejected on the ground that there appeared to be no
disability from that cause. No other injury or disability was ever
claimed by him, but at the time of his examination in 1876 he was found
to be sickly, feeble, and emaciated, and suffering from an advanced
stage of saccharine diabetes.

His widow filed an application for a pension in 1879, alleging that her
husband died in December, 1877, of spinal disease and diabetes,
contracted in the service.

Her claim was rejected because evidence was not furnished that the cause
of the soldier's death had its origin in the military service.

There seems to be an entire absence of proof of this important fact.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 4797, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Robert H. Stapleton."

This claimant filed an application for pension in the Pension Bureau in
1883, alleging that while acting as lieutenant-colonel of a New Mexico
regiment, on February 21, 1862, the tongue of a caisson struck him,
injuring his left side. A medical examination made in 1882 showed a
fracture of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh ribs of the left side.

If these fractures were the result of the injury alleged, they were
immediately apparent, and the delay of twenty-one years in presenting
the claim for pension certainly needs explanation.

Claims of this description, by a wise provision of law, must, to be
valid, be prosecuted to a successful issue prior to the 4th day of July,
1874.

The rank which this claimant held presupposes such intelligence as
admits of no excuse on the ground of ignorance of the law for his
failure to present his application within the time fixed by law.

The evidence of disability from the cause alleged is weak, to say the
most of it, and I can not think that such a wholesome provision of law
as that above referred to, which limits the time for the adjustment of
such claims, should be modified upon the facts presented in this case.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 5550, entitled "An act
to provide for the erection of a public building at Duluth, Minn."

After quite a careful examination of the public needs at the point
mentioned I am entirely satisfied that the public building provided for
in this bill is not immediately necessary.

Not a little legislation has lately been perfected, and very likely more
will be necessary, to increase miscalculated appropriations for and
correct blunders in the construction of many of the public buildings now
in process of erection.

While this does not furnish a good reason for disapproving the erection
of other buildings where actually necessary, it induces close scrutiny
and gives rise to the earnest wish that new projects for public
buildings shall for the present be limited to such as are required by
the most pressing necessities of the Government's business.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 2043, entitled "An act
to place Mary Karstetter on the pension roll."

The husband of this beneficiary, Jacob Karstetter, was enrolled June 30,
1864, as a substitute in a Pennsylvania regiment, and was discharged for
disability June 20, 1865, caused by a gunshot wound in the left hand.

A declaration for pension was filed by him in 1865, based upon this
wound, and the same was granted, dating from June in that year, which he
drew till the time of his death, August 21, 1874.

In 1882 his widow filed her application for pension, alleging that he
died of wounds received in battle. The claim was made that he was
injured while in the Army by a horse running over him.

There is little or no evidence of such an injury having been received;
and if this was presented there would be no necessary connection between
that and the cause of the soldier's death, which was certified by the
attending physician to be gastritis and congestion of the kidneys.

I can hardly see how the Pension Bureau could arrive at any conclusion
except that the death of the soldier was not due to his military
service, and the acceptance of this finding, after an examination of the
facts, leads me to disapprove this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 5394, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Sallie Ann Bradley."

The husband of this proposed beneficiary was discharged from the
military service in 1865, after a long service, and was afterwards
pensioned for gunshot wound.

He died in 1882. The widow appears to have never filed a claim for
pension in her own right.

No cause is given of the soldier's death, but it is not claimed that it
resulted from his military service, her pension being asked for entirely
because of her needs and the faithful service of her husband and her
sons.

This presents the question whether a gift in such a case is a proper
disposition of money appropriated for the purpose of paying pensions.

The passage of this law would, in my opinion, establish a precedent so
far-reaching and open the door to such a vast multitude of claims not on
principle within our present pension laws that I am constrained to
disapprove the bill under consideration.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 5603, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mrs. Catherine McCarty."

The beneficiary is the widow of John McCarty, of the First Missouri
Regiment of State Militia Volunteers, who died at Clinton, Mo., April 8,
1864.

The widow filed her claim in 1866, alleging that her husband died while
in the service from an overdose of colchicum.

The evidence shows without dispute that on the day previous to the death
of the soldier a comrade procured some medicine from the regimental
surgeon and asked McCarty to smell and taste it; that he did so, and
shortly afterwards became very sick and died the next morning.

It is quite evident that the deceased soldier did more than taste this
medicine.

Although it would be pleasant to aid the widow in this case, it is
hardly fair to ask the Government to grant a pension for the freak or
gross heedlessness and recklessness of this soldier.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without my approval House bill No. 6648, entitled "An
act for the relief of Edward M. Harrington."

It appears that this claimant was enrolled as a recruit December 31,
1863, and mustered in at Dunkirk, N.Y. He remained at the barracks there
until March, 1864, when he was received at the Elmira rendezvous. From
there he was sent to his regiment on the 7th day of April, 1864.

He was discharged June 15, 1864, upon a surgeon's certificate of
disability, declaring the cause of discharge to be epilepsy, produced by
blows of violence over the hypochondrial region while in the service,
producing a deformity of sternum.

The claimant filed an application for pension in June, 1879, and in that
and subsequent affidavits he alleged that while in barracks at Dunkirk,
N.Y., and about the 9th day of January, 1864, and in the line of duty,
he was attacked by one Patrick Burnes, who struck him upon the head and
stamped upon and kicked him, breaking his collar bone and a number of
ribs, causing internal injury and fits, the latter recurring every two
weeks.

It is hardly worth while considering the character of these alleged
injuries or their connection with the fits with which the claimant is
afflicted.

I am entirely unable to see how the injuries are related to the
claimant's army service.

The Government ought not to be called upon to insure against the
quarrelsome propensities of its individual soldiers, nor to compensate
one who is worsted in a fight, or even in an unprovoked attack, when the
cause of injury is in no way connected with or related to any
requirement or incident of military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 7, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2281, entitled "An act
granting to railroads the right of way through the Indian reservation in
northern Montana."

The reservation referred to stretches across the extreme northern
part of Montana Territory, with British America for its northern
boundary. It contains an area of over 30,000 square miles. It is
dedicated to Indian occupancy by treaty of October 17, 1855, and act of
Congress of April 15, 1874. No railroads are within immediate approach
to its boundaries, and only one, as shown on recent maps, is under
construction in the neighborhood leading in its direction. The
surrounding country is sparsely settled, and I have been unable to
ascertain that the necessities of commerce or any public exigencies
demand this legislation, which would affect so seriously the rights and
interests of the Indians occupying the reservation.

The bill is in the nature of a general right of way for railroads
through this Indian reservation. The Indian occupants have not given
their consent to it, neither have they been consulted regarding it, nor
is there any provision in it for securing their consent or agreement to
the location or construction of railroads upon their lands. No routes
are described, and no general directions on which the line of any
railroad will be constructed are given.

No particular organized railway company engaged in constructing a
railroad toward the reservation and ready or desirous to build its road
through the Indian lands to meet the needs and requirements of trade
and commerce is named. The bill gives the right to any railroad in the
country, duly organized under the laws of any Territory, of any State,
or of the United States, except those of the District of Columbia, to
enter this Indian country, prospect for routes of travel, survey them,
and construct routes of travel wherever it may please, with no check
save possible disapproval by the Secretary of the Interior of its maps
of location, and no limitation upon its acts except such rules and
regulations as he may prescribe.

This power vested in the Secretary of the Interior might itself be
improvidently exercised and subject to abuse.

No limit of time is fixed within which the construction of railroads
should begin or be completed. Without such limitations speculating
corporations would be enabled to seek out and secure the right of way
over the natural and most feasible routes, with no present intention of
constructing railroads along such lines, but with the view of holding
their advantageous easements for disposal at some future time to some
other corporation for a valuable consideration. In this way the
construction of needed railroad facilities in that country could be
hereafter greatly obstructed and retarded.

If the United States must exercise its right of eminent domain over the
Indian Territories for the general welfare of the whole country, it
should be done cautiously, with due regard for the interests of the
Indians, and to no greater extent than the exigencies of the public
service require.

Bills tending somewhat in the direction of this general character of
legislation, affecting the rights of the Indians reserved to them by
treaty stipulations, have been presented to me during the present
session of Congress. They have received my reluctant approval, though
I am by no means certain that a mistake has not been made in passing
such laws without providing for the consent to such grants by the
Indian occupants and otherwise more closely guarding their rights and
interests; and I hoped that each of those bills as it received my
approval would be the last of the kind presented. They, however,
designated particular railroad companies, laid down general routes over
which the respective roads should be constructed through the Indian
lands, and specified their direction and termini, so that I was enabled
to reasonably satisfy myself that the exigencies of the public service
and the interests of commerce probably demanded the construction of the
roads, and that by their construction and operation the Indians would
not be too seriously affected.

The bill now before me is much more general in its terms than those
which have preceded it. It is a new and wide departure from the general
tenor of legislation affecting Indian reservations. It ignores the right
of the Indians to be consulted as to the disposition of their lands,
opens wide the door to any railroad corporation to do what, under the
treaty covering the greater portion of the reservation, is reserved to
the United States alone; it gives the right to enter upon Indian lands
to a class of corporations carrying with them many individuals not known
for any scrupulous regard for the interest or welfare of the Indians;
it invites a general invasion of the Indian country, and brings into
contact and intercourse with the Indians a class of whites and others
who are independent of the orders, regulations, and control of the
resident agents.

Corporations operating railroads through Indian lands are strongly
tempted to infringe at will upon the reserved rights and the property of
Indians, and thus are apt to become so arbitrary in their dealings and
domineering in their conduct toward them that the Indians become
disquieted, often threatening outbreaks and periling the lives of
frontier settlers and others.

I am impressed with the belief that the bill under consideration does
not sufficiently guard against an invasion of the rights and a
disturbance of the peace and quiet of the Indians on the reservation
mentioned; nor am I satisfied that the legislation proposed is demanded
by any exigency of the public welfare.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 9, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 524, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Daniel H. Ross."

An application for pension was filed in the Pension Bureau by the
beneficiary named in this bill, and considerable testimony was filed in
support of the same. I do not understand that the claim has been finally
rejected. But however that may be, the claimant died, as I am advised,
on the 1st day of February last. This, of course, renders the proposed
legislation entirely inoperative, if it would not actually prejudice the
claim of his surviving widow. She has already been advised of the
evidence necessary to complete the claim of her husband, and it is not
at all improbable that she will be able to prosecute the same to a
successful issue for her benefit.

At any rate, her rights should not be in the least jeopardized by the
completion of the legislation proposed in this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 9, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 856, entitled "An act
to provide for the erection of a public building in the city of Dayton,
Ohio."

It is not claimed that the Government has any public department or
business which it should quarter at Dayton except its post-office and
internal-revenue office. The former is represented as employing ten
clerks, sixteen regular and two substitute letter carriers, and two
special-delivery employees, who, I suppose, are boys, only occasionally
in actual service. I do not understand that the present post-office
quarters are either insufficient or inconvenient. By a statement
prepared by the present postmaster it appears that they are rented by
the Government for a period of ten years from the 15th day of October,
1883, at an annual rent of $2,950, which includes the cost of heating
the same.

The office of the internal-revenue collector is claimed to be
inadequate, but I am-led to believe that this officer is fairly
accommodated at an annual rental of $900. It is not impossible that a
suggestion to change the area of this revenue district may be adopted,
which would relieve any complaint of inadequacy of office room.

With only these two offices to provide for, I am not satisfied that the
expenditure of $150,000 for their accommodation, as proposed by this
bill, is in accordance with sound business principles or consistent with
that economy in public affairs which has been promised to the people.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 10, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 5546, entitled "An act
for the erection of a public building at Asheville, N.C."

If the needs of the Government are alone considered, the proposed
building is only necessary for the accommodation of two terms of the
United States court in each year and to provide an office for the clerk
of that court and more commodious quarters for the post-office.

The terms of the court are now held in the county court room at
Asheville at an expense to the Government of $50 for each term; the
clerk of the court occupies a room for which an annual rent of $150 is
paid, and the rent paid for the rooms occupied by the post-office is
$180 each year.

The postmaster reports that four employees are regularly engaged in his
office, which is now rated as third class.

I have no doubt that the court could be much more conveniently provided
for in a new building if one should be erected; but it is represented to
me that the regular terms held at Asheville last only two or three weeks
each, though special terms are ordered at times to clear the docket. It
is difficult to see from any facts presented in support of this bill why
the United States court does not find accommodations which fairly answer
its needs in the rooms now occupied by it. The floor space furnished for
the terms of the Federal court is stated to be 75 by 100 feet, which, it
must be admitted, provides a very respectable court room.

It is submitted that the necessity to the Government of a proper place
to hold its courts is the only consideration which should have any
weight in determining upon the propriety of expending the money which
will be necessary to erect the proposed new building.

The limit of its cost is fixed in the bill under consideration at the
sum of $80,000, but the history of such projects justifies the
expectation that this limit will certainly be exceeded.

I am satisfied that the present necessity for this building is not
urgent, and that something may be gained by a delay which will
demonstrate more fully the public needs, and thus better suggest the
style and size of the building to be erected.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 30, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 63, entitled "An act to
authorize the construction of a highway bridge across that part of the
waters of Lake Champlain lying between the towns of North Hero and
Alburg, in the State of Vermont."

On the 20th day of June, 1884, a bill was approved and became a law
having the same title and containing precisely the same provisions and
in the exact words of the bill herewith returned.

The records of the War Department indicate that nothing has been done
toward building the bridge permitted by such prior act. It is hardly
possible that the bill now before me is intended to authorize an
additional bridge between the two towns named, and I have been unable to
discover any excuse or necessity for new legislation on the subject.

I conclude, therefore, that Congress in passing this bill acted in
ignorance of the fact that a law providing for its objects and purposes
was already on the statute book.

My approval of the bill is withheld for this reason and in order to
prevent an unnecessary and confusing multiplicity of laws.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 30, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without my approval House bill No. 1391, entitled "An
act to provide for the erection of a public building at Springfield, Mo."

It appears from the report of the committee of the House of
Representatives to which this bill was referred that the city of
Springfield is in a thriving condition, with stores, banks, and
manufactories, and having, with North Springfield, which is an adjoining
town, about 20,000 inhabitants.

No Federal courts are held at this place, and apparently the only
quarters which the Government should provide are such as are necessary
for the accommodation of the post-office and the land-office located
there.

The postmaster reports that six employees are engaged in his office.

The rooms used as a post-office are now furnished the Government free of
expense, and the rent paid for the quarters occupied as a land-office
amounts to $300 annually.

Upon the facts presented I am satisfied that the business of the
Government at this point can be well transacted for the present without
the construction of the proposed building.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 31, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2160, entitled "A bill
granting a pension to Mary J. Hagerman."

The husband of this proposed beneficiary enlisted in 1861 and was
wounded by a gunshot, which seriously injured his left forearm. In 1864
he was discharged; was afterwards pensioned for his wound, and died in
August, 1884.

Dr. Hageman, who attended the deceased in his last illness, testifies
that he was called to attend him in August, 1884; that he was sick with
typhomalarial fever, and that upon inquiry he (the physician) found that
it was caused by hard work or overexertion and exposure. He was ill for
about ten days.

The application of his widow for pension was rejected in 1885 on the
ground that the fatal disease was not due to military service.

I am unable to discover how any different determination could have been
reached.

To grant a pension in this case would clearly contravene the present
policy of the Government, and either establish a precedent which, if
followed, would allow a pension to the widow of every soldier wounded
or disabled in the war, without regard to the cause of death, or would
unjustly discriminate in favor of the few thus receiving the bounty of
the Government against many whose cases were equally meritorious.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 31, 1886_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without my approval Senate bill No. 1421, entitled "An
act granting a pension to William H. Weaver."

The claimant named in this bill enlisted August 12, 1862, and was
mustered out of service June 12, 1865. During his service he was treated
in hospital for diarrhea and lumbago, and in the reports for May and
June, as well as July and August, 1864, he is reported as absent sick.

He filed his application for pension in November, 1877, alleging that in
March, 1863, he contracted measles, and in May, 1864, remittent fever,
and that as a result of the two attacks he was afflicted with weakness
in the limbs and eyes. He made statements afterwards in support of his
application that he was also troubled in the service with rheumatism and
diarrhea.

The case was examined by several special examiners, from which, as
reported to me, it appeared from the claimant's admission that he had
sore eyes previous to his enlistment, though he claimed they were sound
when he entered the Army.

A surgeon who made an examination in March, 1881, reported that he could
not find any evidence whatever of disease of the eyes, and nothing to
corroborate the claimant's assertion that he was suffering from
rheumatism, piles, or diarrhea.

Another surgeon, who examined the claimant in 1879, reported that he
found the eyelids slightly granulated, producing some irritation of the
eyeball and rendering the eyes a little weak, and that he found no other
disability.

In 1882 a surgeon who made an examination reported that he discovered
indications that the claimant had suffered at some time with chronic
ophthalmia, but that in his opinion his eyes did not disable him in the
least, and that the claimant was well nourished and in good health.

The report of the committee to whom this bill was referred in the Senate
states that six special examinations have been made in the case and that
two of them were favorable to the claim.

The trouble and expense incurred by the Pension Bureau to ascertain the
truth and to deal fairly by this claimant, and the entire absence of any
suspicion of bias against the claim in that Bureau, ought to give weight
to its determination.

The claim was rejected by the Pension Bureau in July, 1885, upon the
ground that disease of the eyes existed prior to enlistment and that the
evidence failed to show that there had existed a pensionable degree of
disability, since discharge, from diarrhea or rheumatism.

It will be observed that this is not a case where there was a lack of
the technical proof required by the Pension Bureau, but that its
judgment was based upon the merits of the application and affected the
very foundation of the claim.

I think it should be sustained; and its correctness is somewhat
strengthened by the fact that the claimant continued in active service
for more than a year after his alleged sickness, that after filing his
claim he added thereto allegations of additional disabilities, and that
he made no application for pension until more than twelve years after
his discharge.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 31, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 3363, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Jennette Dow."

The husband of the claimant enlisted August 7, 1862; received a gunshot
wound in his left knee in September, 1863, and was mustered out with his
company June 10, 1865. He was pensioned for his wound in 1878 at the
rate of $4 per month, dating from the time of his discharge, which
amount was increased to $8 per month from June 4, 1880. The pensioned
soldier died December 17, 1882, and in 1883 his widow, the claimant,
filed an application for pension, alleging that her husband's death
resulted from his wound. Her claim was rejected in 1885 upon the ground
that death was not caused by the wound.

The physician who was present at the time of the death certifies that
the same resulted from apoplexy in twelve hours after the deceased was
attacked.

It also appears from the statement of this physician that the deceased
was employed for years after his discharge from the Army as a railroad
conductor, and that at the time of his death he had with difficulty
reached his home. He then describes as following the attack the usual
manifestations of apoplexy, and adds that he regards the case as one of
"hemiplegia, the outgrowth primarily of nerve injury, aggravated by the
life's calling, and eventuating in apoplexy as stated."

Evidence is filed in the Pension Bureau showing that after his discharge
he was more or less troubled with his wound, though one witness
testifies that he railroaded with him for fifteen years after his
injury. I find no medical testimony referred to which with any
distinctness charges death to the wound, and it would be hardly credible
if such evidence was found.

I am sure that in no case except in an application for pension would an
attempt be made in the circumstances here developed to attribute death
from apoplexy to a wound in the knee received nineteen years before the
apoplectic attack.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 31, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9106, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Rachel Barnes."

William Barnes, the husband of the beneficiary named in this bill,
enlisted in the United States infantry in February, 1838, and was
discharged February 24, 1841.

In 1880 he applied for a pension, alleging that while serving in Florida
in 1840 and 1841 he contracted disease of the eyes. He procured
considerable evidence in support of his claim, but in 1882, and while
still endeavoring to furnish further proof, he committed suicide by
hanging.

The inference that his death thus occasioned was the result of
despondency and despair brought on by his failure to procure a pension,
while it adds a sad feature to the case, does not aid in connecting his
death with his military service.

That this was the view of the committee of the House to whom the bill
was referred is evidenced by the conclusion of their report in these
words:

  And while your committee do not feel justified under the law as at
  present existing in recommending that the name of the widow be placed
  upon the pension roll for the purpose of a pension in her own right as
  widow of the deceased soldier and by reason of the soldier's death,
  they do think that she should be allowed such pension as, had her
  husband's claim been favorably determined on the day of his decease,
  he would have received.


And yet the bill under consideration directs the Secretary of the
Interior to place this widow's name on the pension roll and to "pay her
a pension as such widow from and after the passage of this act, subject
to the provisions and limitations of the pension laws."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 31, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 8336, entitled "An act
granting an increase of pension to Duncan Forbes."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted, under the name of Alexander
Sheret, January 7, 1862, in the Regular Army, and was discharged January
8, 1865.

He applied for a pension in 1879, alleging that he was wounded in his
right breast December 31, 1862, and in his right ankle September 20,
1863. He was pensioned in 1883, dating from January 9, 1865, for the
ankle wound, but that part of his claim based upon the wound in his
breast was rejected upon the ground that there was no record of the same
and the testimony failed to show that such a wound had its origin in the
service.

Though the lack of such a record is sufficiently accounted for, I am
convinced that, conceding both the wounds alleged were received, this
pensioner has been fairly and justly treated.

It appears from the allegations of his application to the Pension Bureau
that after the wound in his breast, in December, 1862, he continued his
service till September, 1863, when he was wounded again in the ankle,
and that with both wounds he served until his discharge in January,
1865. It also appears from the records that after his discharge from
the. Army, and on the 3d day of February, 1865, he enlisted as landsman
in the United States Navy, and served in that branch of the service for
three years.

A medical examination in May, 1885, disclosed the appearance of a
gunshot wound in the right breast, which is thus described:

  The missile struck the seventh rib of right side and glanced off,
  leaving a horizontal scar 2-1/4 inches long and one-half inch wide,
  deeply depressed and firmly adherent.


I credit this claimant with being a good soldier, and I am willing to
believe that his insistence upon a greater pension than that already
allowed by the Pension Bureau, under liberal general laws, enacted for
the benefit of himself and all his comrades, is the result of the
demoralization produced by ill-advised special legislation on the
subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 4, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5389, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Ann Kinney."

This beneficiary applied for a pension in 1877 as the widow of Edward
Kinney, alleging that he died September 5, 1875, from the effects of a
wound received in the Army. He enlisted November 4, 1861, and was
discharged July 28, 1862, on account of a gunshot wound in his left
elbow, for which wound he was pensioned in the year 1865.

A physician testifies that the pensioned soldier's death was, in his
opinion, brought on indirectly by the intemperate use of intoxicating
liquors, and that he died from congestion of the brain.

The marshal of the city where he resided states that on the day of the
soldier's death he was called to remove him from a house in which he was
making a disturbance, and that finding him intoxicated he arrested him
and took him to the lockup and placed him in a cell. In a short time,
not exceeding an hour, thereafter he was found dead. He further states
that he was addicted to periodical sprees.

Another statement is made that the soldier was an intemperate man, and
died very suddenly in the city lockup, where he had been taken by an
officer while on a drunken spree.

This is not a pleasant recital, and as against the widow I should be
glad to avoid its effect. But the most favorable phase of the case does
not aid her, since her claim rests upon the allegation that her husband
was subject to epileptic fits and died from congestion of the brain
while in one of these fits. Even upon this showing the connection
between the fits and the wound in the elbow is not made apparent.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 4, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 8556, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Abraham Points."

This soldier enlisted August 11, 1864, and was mustered out June 28,
1865.

He was treated during his short term of service for "catarrhal,"
"constipation," "diarrhea," "jaundice," and "colic."

He filed an application for pension in 1878, alleging that some of his
comrades in a joke twisted his arm in such a manner that the elbow joint
became stiffened and anchylosed, and that his eyes became sore and have
continued to grow worse ever since. There is no record of either of
these disabilities.

The application was denied upon the ground, as stated in the report from
the Pension Bureau, that the claim "was specially examined, and it was
shown conclusively, from the evidence of neighbors and acquaintances of
good repute and standing, that the alleged disabilities existed at and
prior to claimant's enlistment."

I am satisfied from an examination of the facts submitted to me that
this determination was correct.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 4, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 3551, entitled "An act
granting a pension to George W. Cutler, late a private in Company B,
Ninth New Hampshire Volunteers."

This claimant enlisted July 12, 1862, and was discharged June 22, 1863,
for disability resulting from "scrofulous ulceration of the tibia and
fibula of right leg; loss of sight of left eye."

He made a claim for pension in 1865, alleging an injury while loading
commissary stores, resulting in spitting of blood, injury to lungs, and
heart disease.

This claim was rejected August 31, 1865.

In 1867 he again enlisted in the United States infantry, and was
discharged from that enlistment March 29, 1869, for disability, the
certificate stating that--


  He is unfit for military service by reason of being subject to bleeding
  of the lungs. He was wounded, while in the line of his duty in the
  United States Army, at Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862. Said
  wound is not the cause of his disability.


Afterwards, and in the year 1879, he filed affidavits claiming that he
was wounded by a minie ball at the battle of Fredericksburg, December
13, 1862, and was injured by falling down an embankment.

In 1883 he filed an affidavit in which he stated that the disability for
which he claims a pension arose from injuries received in falling down a
bank at Fredericksburg and being tramped on by troops, causing a
complication of diseases resulting in general debility.

The statement in the certificate of discharge from his second enlistment
as to the wound he received by a minie ball at Fredericksburg was of
course derived from his own statement, as it was related to a prior term
of service.

The records of the Adjutant-General's Office furnish no evidence of
wounds or injury at Fredericksburg.

The injury alleged at first as a consequence of loading commissary
stores seems to have been abandoned by the claimant for the adoption
of a wound at Fredericksburg, which in its turn seems to have been
abandoned and a fall down a bank and trampling upon by troops
substituted.

Whatever injuries he may have suffered during his first enlistment, and
to whatever cause he chooses at last to attribute them, they did not
prevent his reenlistment and passing the physical examination necessary
before acceptance.

The surgeon of the Ninth New Hampshire Volunteers, in which he first
enlisted, states that he remembers the claimant well; that he was
mustered and accepted as a recruit in spite of his (the surgeon's)
protest; that he was physically unfit for duty; that he had the
appearance of impaired health, and that his face and neck were marked by
one or more deep scars, the result, as the claimant himself alleged, of
scrofulous abscesses in early youth. He expresses the opinion that he is
attempting to palm off these old scars as evidence of wounds received,
and that if he had been wounded as he claimed he (the surgeon) would
have known it and remembered it.

It is true that whenever in this case a wound is described it is located
in the jaw, while some of the medical testimony negatives the existence
of any wound.

The contrariety of the claimant's statements and the testimony and
circumstances tend so strongly to impeach his claim that I do not think
the decision of the Pension Bureau should be reversed and the claimant
pensioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 4, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without my approval House bill No. 7234, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Susan Hawes."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the mother of Jeremiah Hawes, who
enlisted in February, 1861, in the United States artillery, and was
discharged in February, 1864. He filed a claim for pension in 1881,
alleging that in 1862, by the premature discharge of a cannon, he
sustained paralysis of his right arm and side. In 1883, while his claim
was still pending, he died.

He does not appear to have made his home with his mother altogether,
if at all. For some years prior to his death and at the time of its
occurrence he was an inmate, or had been an inmate, of a soldiers' home
in Ohio.

But whatever may be said of the character of any injuries he may have
received in the service or of his relations to his mother, the cause of
his death, it seems to me, can not possibly upon any reasonable theory
be attributable to any incident of his military service.

It appears that in July, 1883, while the deceased was on his way from
Buffalo, where he had been in a hospital, to the soldiers' home in Ohio,
he attempted to step on a slowly moving freight train, and making a
misstep a wheel of the car passed over his foot, injuring it so badly
that it was deemed necessary by two physicians who were called to
amputate the foot. An anaesthetic was administered preparatory to the
operation, but before it was entered upon the injured man died, having
survived the accident but two hours.

The physicians who were present stated that in their opinion death was
due to heart disease.

The above account of the death of the soldier is derived from a report
furnished by the Pension Bureau, and differs somewhat from the statement
contained in the report of the House Committee on Invalid Pensions as
related to the intention of the physicians to amputate the injured foot
and their administration of an anaesthetic. But the accident and the
death two hours thereafter under the treatment of the physicians are
conceded facts.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 4, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 1584, entitled "An act
for the relief of Mrs. Aurelia C. Richardson."

Albert H. Fillmore, the son of the beneficiary mentioned in this bill,
enlisted in August, 1862, and died in the service of smallpox, May 20,
1865.

His father having died some time prior to the soldier's enlistment, his
mother in 1858 married Lorenzo D. Richardson. It is stated in the report
upon this case from the Pension Bureau that the deceased did not live
with his mother after her marriage to Richardson, and that there is no
competent evidence that he contributed to her support after that event.

At the time of the soldier's death his stepfather was a blacksmith,
earning at about that time, as it is represented, not less than $70 a
month, and owning considerable property, a part of which still remains
to him.

While in ordinary cases of this kind I am by no means inclined to
distinguish very closely between dependence at the date of the soldier's
death and the date of proposed aid to a needy mother, I think the
circumstances here presented, especially the fact of nonresidence by the
son with his mother since her second marriage, do not call for a
departure from the law governing claims based upon dependence.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




POCKET VETOES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, August 17, 1886_.

Hon. Thos. F. Bayard,
  _Secretary of State_.

DEAR SIR: The President directs me to transmit to you the accompanying
bills and joint resolutions, which failed to become laws at the close of
the late session of Congress, being unsigned and not having been
presented to him ten days prior to adjournment.

I may add that the printed copy of memorandum (without signature) is by
the President, and is attached to each bill and resolution by his
direction.

Very respectfully,

O.L. PRUDEN,
  _Assistant Secretary_.



["An act for the relief of Francis W. Haldeman."--Received July 28,
1886.]

This bill appropriates $200 to the party named therein "as compensation
for services performed and money expended for the benefit of the United
States Army." It appears from a report of the House Committee on War
Claims that in the fall of 1863 Haldeman, a lad 12 years of age,
purchased a uniform and armed himself and attached himself to various
Ohio regiments, and, as is said, performed various duties connected with
the army service until the end of the year 1864, and for this it is
proposed to give him $200.

Of course he never enlisted and never was regularly attached to any
regiment. What kind of arms this boy 12 years of age armed himself with
is not stated, and it is quite evident that his military service could
not have amounted to much more than the indulgence of a boyish freak and
his being made a pet of the soldiers with whom he was associated. There
is a pleasant sentiment connected with this display of patriotism and
childish military ardor, and it is not a matter of surprise that he
should, as stated by the committee, have "received honorable mention by
name in the history of his regiment;" but when it is proposed twenty-two
years after his one year's experience with troops to pay him a sum
nearly if not quite equal to the pay of a soldier who fought and
suffered all the dangers and privations of a soldier's life, I am
constrained to dissent.



["An act for the relief of R.D. Beckley and Leon Howard."--Received July
28, 1886.]

These two men were employed by the Doorkeeper of the Forty-eighth
Congress as laborers at the rate of $720 per annum.

They claim that in both sessions of that Congress they not only
performed the duties appertaining to their positions as laborers, but
also performed the full duties of messengers. Having received their pay
as laborers, this bill proposes to appropriate for them the difference
between their compensation as laborers and $1,200, the pay allowed
messengers.

Congress, in appropriation bills covering the period in which these men
claim to have performed these dual duties, provided for a certain
specified number of messengers and a fixed number of laborers. They both
accepted the latter position. If they actually performed the duties of
both places, their ability to do so is evidence that the labor of either
place was very light. In any case they owed their time and services to
the Government, and while they were performing the duties of messengers
they were not engaged in the harder tasks which might have been required
of them as laborers. They ought not to complain if they have received
the amount for which they agreed to work, and which was allowed for as
the wages of a place which they were glad enough to secure. If they
really did the work of both places, I don't see why they should not be
paid both compensations. This proposition of course would not be
entertained for a moment.

I am of the opinion that claims for extra compensation such as these
should be firmly discountenanced, and I am sure no injustice will be
done by my declining to approve this bill.



["An act for the relief of Thomas P. Morgan, jr."--Received July 31,
1886.--Memorandum.]

Thomas P. Morgan, jr., in the year 1881 entered into a contract with the
Government to do certain excavating in the harbor of Norfolk.

He performed considerable of the work, but though the time limited by
the contract for the completion was extended by the Government, he
failed to complete the work, which necessitated other arrangements, to
the damage of the Government in quite a large sum. His contract was
forfeited by the Government because the progress he made was so slow and
unsatisfactory. It seems that a certain percentage of the money earned
by him in the progress of the work was, under the terms of the contract,
retained by the Government to insure its completion, and when work was
terminated the sum thus retained amounted to $4,898.04, which sum was
justly forfeited to the Government.

The object of this bill is to waive this forfeiture and pay this sum to
the derelict contractor.

Inasmuch as I am unable to see any equities in this case that should
overcome the fact that the amount of loss to the Government through the
contract is greater than the sum thus sought to be released to him, I am
not willing to agree to his release from the consequence of his failure
to perform his contract.



["An act for the relief of Charles F. Bowers."--Received August 2,
1886.]

It appears that Charles P. Bowers, while acting as regimental
quartermaster in 1862, received of John Weeks, assistant quartermaster
of volunteers, the sum of $230, for which he gave a receipt. On the
settlement of his accounts he was unable to account for said sum, for
the reason, as he alleges, that certain of his papers were lost and
destroyed. Thus in the statement of his account he is represented as a
debtor of the Government in that amount.

This bill directs that a credit be allowed to him of the said sum of
$230. But since his account was adjusted as above stated, showing him in
debt to the Government in the amount last stated, he has paid the sum of
$75 and been allowed a credit of $125 for the value of a horse; so that
whatever may be said of the merits of his claim that he should not be
charged with the sum of $230, if he should now be credited with that sum
the Government would owe him upon its books the sum of $30.

The bill is therefore not approved.



["An act to provide for the erection of a public building in the city of
Annapolis, Md."--Received August 3, 1886.--Memorandum.]

The post-office at Annapolis is now accommodated in quarters for which
the Government pays rent at the rate of $500 per annum, and the office
occupied by the collector of customs is rented for $75 per annum.

The Government has no other use for a public building at Annapolis than
is above indicated, and the chief argument urged why a building should
be constructed there is based upon the fact that this city is the
capital of the State of Maryland and should have a Government building
because most if not all the other capitals of the States have such
edifices.

There seems to be so little necessity for the building proposed for the
transaction of Government business, and if there is anything in the
argument last referred to it seems so well answered by the maintenance
of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, this bill is allowed to remain
inoperative.



["An act for the relief of J.A. Henry and others."--Received August 3,
1886.--Memorandum.]

This bill appropriates various sums to the parties named therein, being
claims of rent of quarters occupied during the war by the
Quartermaster's Department of the Army.

Among the appropriations there proposed to be made is one of the sum of
$51 to L.F. Green. This account has been once paid, a special act
directing such payment having been approved February 12, 1885. The fact
of this payment and important information bearing upon the validity of
some of the other claims mentioned in the bill could have been easily
obtained by application to the Third Auditor.



["An act for the relief of William H. Wheeler."--Received August 3,
1886.]

This bill directs the payment of the sum of $633.50 to William H.
Wheeler for quartermaster's stores furnished the Army in the year 1862.

From the data furnished me by the Quartermaster-General I am quite
certain that this claim has been once paid. The circumstances presented
to prove this are so strong that they should be explained before the
relief provided by this bill is afforded the claimant.



["An act granting a pension to Margaret D. Marchand."--Received August
5, 1886.--Memorandum.]

A bill presented to me for approval, granting a pension of $50 per month
to the beneficiary named, was disapproved upon the ground that the death
of her husband did not appear to be in any way related to any incident
of his military service.

This bill differs from the prior one simply in granting a pension
subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension laws instead of
fixing the rate of pension at a specified sum. I am still unable to see
how the objection to the first bill has been obviated.



["Joint resolution providing for the distribution of the Official
Register of the United States."--Received August 5, 1886.--Memorandum.]

This resolution reached me five minutes after the adjournment of the two
Houses of Congress, and is the only enactment of the session which came
to me too late for official action.

I do not understand this resolution nor the purposes sought to be
accomplished by its passage, and while in that frame of mind should have
been constrained to withhold my approval from the same even if it had
reached me in time for consideration.



["Joint resolution directing payment of the surplus in the Treasury on
the public debt."--Received August 5, 1886.--Memorandum.]

This resolution involves so much and is of such serious import that I do
not deem it best to discuss it at this time. It is not approved because
I believe it to be unnecessary and because I am by no means convinced
that its mere passage and approval at this time may not endanger and
embarrass the successful and useful operations of the Treasury
Department and impair the confidence which the people should have in the
management of the finances of the Government.




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it is represented to me by the governor of the Territory of
Washington that domestic violence exists within the said Territory, and
that by reason of unlawful obstructions and combinations and the
assemblage of evil-disposed persons it has become impracticable to
enforce by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings the laws of the
United States at Seattle and at other points and places within said
Territory, whereby life and property are there threatened and
endangered; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the President, an emergency has arisen and a
case is now presented which justifies and requires, under the
Constitution and laws of the United States, the employment of military
force to suppress domestic violence and enforce the faithful execution
of the laws of the United States if the command and warning of this
proclamation be disobeyed and disregarded:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, do hereby command and warn all insurgents and all persons who
have assembled at any point within the said Territory of Washington for
the unlawful purposes aforesaid to desist therefrom and to disperse and
retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before 6 o'clock in
the afternoon of the 10th day of February instant.

And I do admonish all good citizens of the United States and all persons
within the limits and jurisdiction thereof against aiding, abetting,
countenancing, or taking any part in such unlawful acts or assemblages.

In witness whereof I have set my hand and caused the seal of the United
States to be hereunto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 9th day of February, A.D. 1886, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and tenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by a proclamation of the President of the United States dated
the 14th day of February, in the year 1884,[5] upon evidence then
appearing satisfactory to him that the Government of Spain had abolished
the discriminating customs duty theretofore imposed upon the products of
and articles proceeding from the United States of America imported into
the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, such abolition to take effect on
and after the 1st day of March of said year 1884, and, by virtue of the
authority vested in him by section 4228 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States, the President did thereby declare and proclaim that on
and after the said 1st day of March, 1884, so long as the products of
and articles proceeding from the United States imported into the islands
of Cuba and Puerto Rico should be exempt from discriminating customs
duties, any such duties on the products of and articles proceeding from
Cuba and Puerto Rico under the Spanish flag should be suspended and
discontinued; and

Whereas by Article I of the commercial agreement signed at Madrid the
13th day of February, 1884, it was stipulated and provided that "the
duties of the third column of the customs tariffs of Cuba and Puerto
Rico, which implies the suppression of the differential flag duty,"
should at once be applied to the products of and articles proceeding
from the United States of America; and

Whereas the complete suppression of the differential flag duty in
respect of all vessels of the United States and their cargoes entering
the ports of Cuba and Puerto Rico is by the terms of the said agreement
expressly made the consideration for the exercise of the authority
conferred upon the President in respect of the suspension of the
collection of foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and imposts upon
merchandise brought within the United States from Cuba and Puerto Rico
in Spanish vessels by said section 4228 of the Revised Statutes, which
section reads as follows:

  SEC. 4228. Upon satisfactory proof being given to the President by the
  government of any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of
  tonnage or imposts are imposed or levied in the ports of such nation
  upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States, or upon
  the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in the same from the
  United States or from any foreign country, the President may issue his
  proclamation declaring that the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage
  and impost within the United States are suspended and discontinued so
  far as respects the vessels of such foreign nation, and the produce,
  manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States from such
  foreign nation or from any other foreign country; the suspension to take
  effect from the time of such notification being given to the President,
  and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging
  to citizens of the United States, and their cargoes, shall be continued,
  and no longer.


And whereas proof is given to me that such complete suppression of the
differential flag duty in respect of vessels of the United States and
their cargoes entering the ports of Cuba and Puerto Rico has not in fact
been secured, but that, notwithstanding the said agreement dated at
Madrid, February 13, 1884, and in contravention thereof, as well as of
the provisions of the said section 4228 of the Revised Statutes, higher
and discriminating duties continue to be imposed and levied in said
ports upon certain produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported into
said ports from the United States or from any foreign country in vessels
of the United States than is imposed and levied on the like produce,
manufactures, or merchandise carried to said ports in Spanish vessels:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, in execution of the aforesaid section 4228 of the Revised
Statutes, do hereby revoke the suspension of the discriminating customs
imposed and levied in the ports of the United States on the products of
and articles proceeding under the Spanish flag from Cuba and Puerto
Rico, which is set forth and contained in the aforesaid proclamation
dated the 14th day of February, 1884; this revocation of said
proclamation to take effect on and after the 25th day of October
instant.

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 13th day of October, A.D. 1886, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and eleventh.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.

[Footnote 5: See pp. 323-224.]



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas satisfactory proof has been given to me by the Government of
Spain that no discriminating duties of tonnage or imposts are imposed
or levied in the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico upon vessels wholly
belonging to citizens of the United States, or upon the produce,
manufactures, or merchandise imported in the same from the United States
or from any foreign country; and

Whereas notification of such abolition of discriminating duties of
tonnage and imposts as aforesaid has been given to me by a memorandum
of agreement signed this day in the city of Washington between the
Secretary of State of the United States and the envoy extraordinary
and minister plenipotentiary of Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain
accredited to the Government of the United States of America:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 4228 of the
Revised Statutes of the United States, do hereby declare and proclaim
that from and after the date of this my proclamation, being also the
date of the notification received as aforesaid, the foreign
discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States are
suspended and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of Spain and
the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in said vessels into
the United States from the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico or from any
other foreign country; such suspension to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States, and their cargoes, shall be continued in the said islands of
Cuba and Puerto Rico, and no longer. 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 27th day of October, A.D. 1886, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and eleventh.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



A PROCLAMATION

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

It has long been the custom of the people of the United States, on a
day in each year especially set apart for that purpose by their Chief
Executive, to acknowledge the goodness and mercy of God and to invoke
His continued care and protection.

In observance of such custom I, Grover Cleveland, President of the
United States, do hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the 25th day
of November instant, to be observed and kept as a day of thanksgiving
and prayer.

On that day let all our people forego their accustomed employments and
assemble in their usual places of worship to give thanks to the Ruler
of the Universe for our continued enjoyment of the blessings of a free
government, for a renewal of business prosperity throughout our land,
for the return which has rewarded the labor of those who till the soil,
and for our progress as a people in all that makes a nation great.

And while we contemplate the infinite power of God in earthquake, flood,
and storm let the grateful hearts of those who have been shielded from
harm through His mercy be turned in sympathy and kindness toward those
who have suffered through His visitations.

Let us also in the midst of our thanksgiving remember the poor and needy
with cheerful gifts and alms so that our service may by deeds of charity
be made acceptable in the sight of the Lord.

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 1st day of November, A.D. 1886, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and
eleventh.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.


Whereas in an Executive order dated the 21st day of July, 1875,
directing the distribution of the fund of 400,000 pesetas received from
the Spanish Government in satisfaction of the reclamation of the United
States arising from the capture of the _Virginius_, it was provided
"that should any further order or direction be required the same will
hereafter be made in addition hereto;" and

Whereas a further order or direction is deemed necessary:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do
hereby direct that all persons entitled to the benefit of any of the
aforesaid fund of 400,000 pesetas who have not yet presented their
claims thereto shall formulate and present their claims to the Secretary
of State of the United States within six months from the date of this
order, or be held as forever barred from the benefits of said fund.

And I hereby further direct that the balance of the fund which shall
remain unclaimed at the expiration of the aforesaid period of six months
shall be distributed _pro rata_ among the beneficiaries under the
original distribution, provided they or their heirs or representatives
shall within the six months next succeeding the said former period
present to the Secretary of State of the United States petitions for
their shares of said balance.

And to these ends the Secretary of State is requested to cause public
notice to be given of the above direction.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, at the city of
Washington, this 12th day of December, A.D. 1885, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and tenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 9, 1886--4 o'clock p.m._

Tidings of the death of Winfield Scott Hancock, the senior major-general
of the Army of the United States, have just been received.

A patriotic and valiant defender of his country, an able and heroic
soldier, a spotless and accomplished gentleman, crowned alike with the
laurels of military renown and the highest tribute of his
fellow-countrymen to his worth as a citizen, he has gone to his reward.

It is fitting that every mark of public respect should be paid to his
memory.

Therefore it is now ordered by the President that the national flag be
displayed at half-mast upon all the buildings of the Executive
Departments in this city until after his funeral shall have taken place.

By direction of the President:

DANIEL S. LAMONT,
  _Private Secretary_.



In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the following rule for the regulation and improvement
of the executive civil service is hereby amended and promulgated, as
follows:

  Rule XXII.

  Any person in the classified departmental service may be transferred
  and appointed to any other place therein upon the following conditions:

  1. That he is not debarred by clause 2 of Rule XXI.

  2. That the head of a Department has, in a written statement to be
  filed with the Commission, requested such transfer to a place in said
  Department, to be designated in the statement.

  3. That said person is shown in the statement or by other evidence
  satisfactory to the Commission to have been during six consecutive
  months in such service since January 16, 1883.

  4. That such person has passed at the required grade one or more
  examinations under the Commission which are together equal to that
  required for the place to which the transfer is to be made.

  But any person who has for three years last preceding served as a clerk
  in the office of the President of the United States may be transferred
  or appointed to any place in the classified service without examination.


Approved, April 12, 1886.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 20, 1886_.

Under the provisions of section 4 of the act approved March 3, 1883, it
is hereby ordered that the several Executive Departments, the Department
of Agriculture, and the Government Printing Office be closed on Monday,
the 31st instant, to enable the employees to participate in the
decoration of the graves of the soldiers who fell during the rebellion.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 3, 1886_.

_To Heads of the Government Departments_:

Inasmuch as the 4th of July of the present year falls upon Sunday and
the celebration of Independence Day is to be generally observed upon
Monday, July 5, it is hereby ordered that the several Executive
Departments, the Department of Agriculture, and the Government Printing
Office be closed on Monday, the 5th instant.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, July 14, 1886_.

_To the Heads of Departments in the Service of the General Government_:

I deem this a proper time to especially warn all subordinates in the
several Departments and all officeholders under the General Government
against the use of their official positions in attempts to control
political movements in their localities.

Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters. Not only
is their time and labor due to the Government, but they should
scrupulously avoid in their political action, as well as in the
discharge of their official duty, offending by a display of obtrusive
partisanship their neighbors who have relations with them as public
officials.

They should also constantly remember that their party friends from whom
they have received preferment have not invested them with the power of
arbitrarily managing their political affairs. They have no right as
officeholders to dictate the political action of their party associates
or to throttle freedom of action within party lines by methods and
practices which pervert every useful and justifiable purpose of party
organization.

The influence of Federal officeholders should not be felt in the
manipulation of political primary meetings and nominating conventions.
The use by these officials of their positions to compass their selection
as delegates to political conventions is indecent and unfair; and proper
regard for the proprieties and requirements of official place will also
prevent their assuming the active conduct of political campaigns.

Individual interest and activity in political affairs are by no means
condemned. Officeholders are neither disfranchised nor forbidden the
exercise of political privileges, but their privileges are not enlarged
nor is their duty to party increased to pernicious activity by
officeholding.

A just discrimination in this regard between the things a citizen may
properly do and the purposes for which a public office should not be
used is easy in the light of a correct appreciation of the relation
between the people and those intrusted with official place and a
consideration of the necessity under our form of government of political
action free from official coercion.

You are requested to communicate the substance of these views to those
for whose guidance they are intended.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the following rule for the regulation and improvement
of the executive civil service is hereby amended and promulgated, as
follows:


  RULE IX.

  All applications for regular competitive examinations for admission to
  the classified civil service must be made on blank forms to be
  prescribed by the Commission.

  Requests for blank forms of application for competitive examination for
  admission to the classified civil service and all regular applications
  for such examination shall be made--

  1. If for the classified departmental service, to the United States
  Civil Service Commission at Washington, D.C.

  2. If for the classified customs service, to the civil-service board of
  examiners for the customs district in which the person desiring to be
  examined wishes to enter the customs service.

  3. If for the classified postal service, to the civil-service board of
  examiners for the post-office at which the person desiring to be
  examined wishes to enter the postal service.

  Requests for blank forms of application to customs and postal boards of
  examiners must be made in writing by the persons desiring examination,
  and such blank forms shall not be furnished to any other persons.


Approved, August 13, 1886.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 16, 1886_.

Hon. Daniel Manning,
  _Secretary of the Treasury_.

DEAR SIR: In pursuance of a joint resolution of the Congress approved
March 3, 1877, authorizing the President to cause suitable regulations
to be made for the maintenance of the statue of "Liberty Enlightening
the World," now located on Bedloes Island, in the harbor of New York, as
a beacon, I hereby direct that said statue be at once placed under the
care and superintendence of the Light-House Board, and that it be from
henceforth maintained by said board as a beacon, and that it be so
maintained, lighted, and tended in accordance with such rules and
regulations as now exist applicable thereto, or such other and different
rules and regulations as said board may deem necessary to carry out the
design of said joint resolution and this order.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 84.


HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
  ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
    _Washington, November 18, 1886_.

I. The following proclamation [order] has been received from the
President:


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., November 18, 1886_.

_To the People of the United States_:

It is my painful duty to announce the death of Chester Alan Arthur,
lately the President of the United States, which occurred, after an
illness of long duration, at an early hour this morning at his residence
in the city of New York.

Mr. Arthur was called to the chair of the Chief Magistracy of the nation
by a tragedy which cast its shadow over the entire Government.

His assumption of the grave duties was marked by an evident and
conscientious sense of his responsibilities and an earnest desire to
meet them in a patriotic and benevolent spirit.

With dignity and ability he sustained the important duties of his
station, and the reputation of his personal worth, conspicuous
graciousness, and patriotic fidelity will long be cherished by his
fellow-countrymen.

In token of respect to the memory of the deceased it is ordered that the
Executive Mansion and the several departmental buildings be draped in
mourning for a period of thirty days and that on the day of the funeral
all public business in the departments be suspended.

The Secretaries of War and of the Navy will cause orders to be issued
for appropriate military and naval honors to be rendered on that day.

Done at the city of Washington this 18th day of November, A.D. 1886, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and
eleventh.

[SEAL.]

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  THOMAS F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.


II. In compliance with the instructions of the President, on the day
of the funeral, at each military post, the troops and cadets will be
paraded and this order read to them, after which all labors for the day
will cease.

The national flag will be displayed at half-staff.

At dawn of day thirteen guns will be fired, and afterwards at intervals
of thirty minutes between the rising and setting of the sun a single
gun, and at the close of the day a national salute of thirty-eight guns.

The officers of the Army will wear crape on the left arm and on their
swords and the colors of the Battalion of Engineers, of the several
regiments, and of the United States Corps of Cadets will be put in
mourning for the period of six months.

The date and hour of the funeral will be communicated to department
commanders by telegraph, and by them to their subordinate commanders.

By command of Lieutenant-General Sheridan:

R.C. DRUM, _Adjutant-General_.



SPECIAL ORDER.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, _Washington, November 18, 1886_.

The President of the United States announces the death of ex-President
Chester Alan Arthur in the following proclamation [order]:

[For order see preceding page.]

It is hereby directed, in pursuance of the instructions of the
President, that on the day of the funeral, where this order may be
received in time, otherwise on the day after its receipt, the ensign at
each naval station and of each of the vessels of the United States Navy
in commission be hoisted at half-mast from sunrise to sunset, and that
also, at each naval station and on board of flagships and vessels acting
singly, a gun be fired at intervals of every half hour from sunrise to
sunset.

The officers of the Navy and Marine Corps will wear the usual badge of
mourning attached to the sword hilt and on the left arm for a period of
thirty days.

WILLIAM C. WHITNEY,
  _Secretary of the Navy_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 20, 1886_.

_It is hereby ordered_, That the Department of Agriculture, the
Government Printing Office, and all other Government offices in the
District of Columbia be closed on Monday, the 22d instant, the day of
the funeral of the late Chester Alan Arthur, ex-President of the United
States.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.


WASHINGTON, _December 6, 1886_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

In discharge of a constitutional duty, and following a well-established
precedent in the Executive office, I herewith transmit to the Congress
at its reassembling certain information concerning the state of the
Union, together with such recommendations for legislative consideration
as appear necessary and expedient.

Our Government has consistently maintained its relations of friendship
toward all other powers and of neighborly interest toward those whose
possessions are contiguous to our own. Few questions have arisen during
the past year with other governments, and none of those are beyond the
reach of settlement in friendly counsel.

We are as yet without provision for the settlement of claims of citizens
of the United States against Chile for injustice during the late war
with Peru and Bolivia. The mixed commissions organized under claims
conventions concluded by the Chilean Government with certain European
States have developed an amount of friction which we trust can be
avoided in the convention which our representative at Santiago is
authorized to negotiate.

The cruel treatment of inoffensive Chinese has, I regret to say, been
repeated in some of the far Western States and Territories, and acts of
violence against those people, beyond the power of the local constituted
authorities to prevent and difficult to punish, are reported even in
distant Alaska. Much of this violence can be traced to race prejudice
and competition of labor, which can not, however, justify the oppression
of strangers whose safety is guaranteed by our treaty with China equally
with the most favored nations.

In opening our vast domain to alien elements the purpose of our
law-givers was to invite assimilation, and not to provide an arena for
endless antagonism. The paramount duty of maintaining public order and
defending the interests of our own people may require the adoption of
measures of restriction, but they should not tolerate the oppression
of individuals of a special race. I am not without assurance that the
Government of China, whose friendly disposition toward us I am most
happy to recognize, will meet us halfway in devising a comprehensive
remedy by which an effective limitation of Chinese emigration, joined to
protection of those Chinese subjects who remain in this country, may be
secured.

Legislation is needed to execute the provisions of our Chinese
convention of 1880 touching the opium traffic.

While the good will of the Colombian Government toward our country is
manifest, the situation of American interests on the Isthmus of Panama
has at times excited concern and invited friendly action looking to the
performance of the engagements of the two nations concerning the
territory embraced in the interoceanic transit. With the subsidence of
the Isthmian disturbances and the erection of the State of Panama into a
federal district under the direct government of the constitutional
administration at Bogota, a new order of things has been inaugurated,
which, although as yet somewhat experimental and affording scope for
arbitrary-exercise of power by the delegates of the national authority,
promises much improvement.

The sympathy between the people of the United States and France, born
during our colonial struggle for independence and continuing to-day, has
received a fresh impulse in the successful completion and dedication of
the colossal statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World" in New York
Harbor--the gift of Frenchmen to Americans.

A convention between the United States and certain other powers for the
protection of submarine cables was signed at Paris on March 14, 1884,
and has been duly ratified and proclaimed by this Government. By
agreement between the high contracting parties this convention is to go
into effect on the 1st of January next, but the legislation required for
its execution in the United States has not yet been adopted. I earnestly
recommend its enactment.

Cases have continued to occur in Germany giving rise to much
correspondence in relation to the privilege of sojourn of our
naturalized citizens of German origin revisiting the land of their
birth, yet I am happy to state that our relations with that country have
lost none of their accustomed cordiality.

The claims for interest upon the amount of tonnage dues illegally
exacted from certain German steamship lines were favorably reported in
both Houses of Congress at the last session, and I trust will receive
final and favorable action at an early day.

The recommendations contained in my last annual message in relation to a
mode of settlement of the fishery rights in the waters of British North
America, so long a subject of anxious difference between the United
States and Great Britain, was met by an adverse vote of the Senate on
April 13 last, and thereupon negotiations were instituted to obtain an
agreement with Her Britannic Majesty's Government for the promulgation
of such joint interpretation and definition of the article of the
convention of 1818 relating to the territorial waters and inshore
fisheries of the British Provinces as should secure the Canadian rights
from encroachment by the United States fishermen and at the same time
insure the enjoyment by the latter of the privileges guaranteed to them
by such convention.

The questions involved are of long standing, of grave consequence, and
from time to time for nearly three-quarters of a century have given rise
to earnest international discussions, not unaccompanied by irritation.

Temporary arrangements by treaties have served to allay friction, which,
however, has revived as each treaty was terminated. The last
arrangement, under the treaty of 1871, was abrogated after due notice by
the United States on June 30, 1885, but I was enabled to obtain for our
fishermen for the remainder of that season enjoyment of the full
privileges accorded by the terminated treaty.

The joint high commission by whom the treaty had been negotiated,
although invested with plenary power to make a permanent settlement,
were content with a temporary arrangement, after the termination of
which the question was relegated to the stipulations of the treaty of
1818, as to the first article of which no construction satisfactory to
both countries has ever been agreed upon.

The progress of civilization and growth of population in the British
Provinces to which the fisheries in question are contiguous and the
expansion of commercial intercourse between them and the United States
present to-day a condition of affairs scarcely realizable at the date of
the negotiations of 1818.

New and vast interests have been brought into existence; modes of
intercourse between the respective countries have been invented and
multiplied; the methods of conducting the fisheries have been wholly
changed; and all this is necessarily entitled to candid and careful
consideration in the adjustment of the terms and conditions of
intercourse and commerce between the United States and their neighbors
along a frontier of over 3,500 miles.

This propinquity, community of language and occupation, and similarity
of political and social institutions indicate the practicability and
obvious wisdom of maintaining mutually beneficial and friendly
relations. Whilst I am unfeignedly desirous that such relations should
exist between us and the inhabitants of Canada, yet the action of their
officials during the past season toward our fishermen has been such as
to seriously threaten their continuance.

Although disappointed in my efforts to secure a satisfactory settlement
of the fishery question, negotiations are still pending, with reasonable
hope that before the close of the present session of Congress
announcement may be made that an acceptable conclusion has been reached.

As at an early day there may be laid before Congress the correspondence
of the Department of State in relation to this important subject, so
that the history of the past fishing season may be fully disclosed and
the action and the attitude of the Administration clearly comprehended,
a more extended reference is not deemed necessary in this communication.
The recommendation submitted last year that provision be made for a
preliminary reconnoissance of the conventional boundary line between
Alaska and British Columbia is renewed.

I express my unhesitating conviction that the intimacy of our relations
with Hawaii should be emphasized. As a result of the reciprocity treaty
of 1875, those islands, on the highway of Oriental and Australasian
traffic, are virtually an outpost of American commerce and a
stepping-stone to the growing trade of the Pacific. The Polynesian
Island groups have been so absorbed by other and more powerful
governments that the Hawaiian Islands are left almost alone in the
enjoyment of their autonomy, which it is important for us should be
preserved. Our treaty is now terminable on one year's notice, but
propositions to abrogate it would be, in my judgment, most ill advised.
The paramount influence we have there acquired, once relinquished, could
only with difficulty be regained, and a valuable ground of vantage for
ourselves might be converted into a stronghold for our commercial
competitors. I earnestly recommend that the existing treaty stipulations
be extended for a further term of seven years. A recently signed treaty
to this end is now before the Senate.

The importance of telegraphic communication between those islands and
the United States should not be overlooked.

The question of a general revision of the treaties of Japan is again
under discussion at Tokyo. As the first to open relations with that
Empire, and as the nation in most direct commercial relations with
Japan, the United States have lost no opportunity to testify their
consistent friendship by supporting the just claims of Japan to autonomy
and independence among nations.

A treaty of extradition between the United States and Japan, the first
concluded by that Empire, has been lately proclaimed.

The weakness of Liberia and the difficulty of maintaining effective
sovereignty over its outlying districts have exposed that Republic to
encroachment. It can not be forgotten that this distant community is
an offshoot of our own system, owing its origin to the associated
benevolence of American citizens, whose praiseworthy efforts to create
a nucleus of civilization in the Dark Continent have commanded respect
and sympathy everywhere, especially in this country. Although a formal
protectorate over Liberia is contrary to our traditional policy, the
moral right and duty of the United States to assist in all proper
ways in the maintenance of its integrity is obvious, and has been
consistently announced during nearly half a century. I recommend that in
the reorganization of our Navy a small vessel, no longer found adequate
to our needs, be presented to Liberia, to be employed by it in the
protection of its coastwise revenues.

The encouraging development of beneficial and intimate relations between
the United States and Mexico, which has been so marked within the past
few years, is at once the occasion of congratulation and of friendly
solicitude. I urgently renew my former representation of the need of
speedy legislation by Congress to carry into effect the reciprocity
commercial convention of January 20, 1883.

Our commercial treaty of 1831 with Mexico was terminated, according to
its provisions, in 1881, upon notification given by Mexico in pursuance
of her announced policy of recasting all her commercial treaties. Mexico
has since concluded with several foreign governments new treaties of
commerce and navigation, defining alien rights of trade, property, and
residence, treatment of shipping, consular privileges, and the like.
Our yet unexecuted reciprocity convention of 1883 covers none of these
points, the settlement of which is so necessary to good relationship.
I propose to initiate with Mexico negotiations for a new and enlarged
treaty of commerce and navigation.

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, I communicated to that
body on August 2 last, and also to the House of Representatives,[6] the
correspondence in the case of A.K. Cutting, an American citizen, then
imprisoned in Mexico, charged with the commission of a penal offense in
Texas, of which a Mexican citizen was the object.

After demand had been made for his release the charge against him was
amended so as to include a violation of Mexican law within Mexican
territory.

This joinder of alleged offenses, one within and the other exterior to
Mexico, induced me to order a special investigation of the case, pending
which Mr. Cutting was released.

The incident has, however, disclosed a claim of jurisdiction by Mexico
novel in our history, whereby any offense committed anywhere by a
foreigner, penal in the place of its commission, and of which a Mexican
is the object, may, if the offender be found in Mexico, be there tried
and punished in conformity with Mexican laws.

This jurisdiction was sustained by the courts of Mexico in the Cutting
case, and approved by the executive branch of that Government, upon the
authority of a Mexican statute. The appellate court in releasing Mr.
Cutting decided that the abandonment of the complaint by the Mexican
citizen aggrieved by the alleged crime (a libelous publication) removed
the basis of further prosecution, and also declared justice to have been
satisfied by the enforcement of a small part of the original sentence.

The admission of such a pretension would be attended with serious
results, invasive of the jurisdiction of this Government and highly
dangerous to our citizens in foreign lands. Therefore I have denied it
and protested against its attempted exercise as unwarranted by the
principles of law and international usages.

A sovereign has jurisdiction of offenses which take effect within his
territory, although concocted or commenced outside of it; but the right
is denied of any foreign sovereign to punish a citizen of the United
States for an offense consummated on our soil in violation of our laws,
even though the offense be against a subject or citizen of such
sovereign. The Mexican statute in question makes the claim broadly, and
the principle, if conceded, would create a dual responsibility in the
citizen and lead to inextricable confusion, destructive of that
certainty in the law which is an essential of liberty.

When citizens of the United States voluntarily go into a foreign
country, they must abide by the laws there in force, and will not be
protected by their own Government from the consequences of an offense
against those laws committed in such foreign country; but watchful care
and interest of this Government over its citizens are not relinquished
because they have gone abroad, and if charged with crime committed in
the foreign land a fair and open trial, conducted with decent regard for
justice and humanity, will be demanded for them. With less than that
this Government will not be content when the life or liberty of its
citizens is at stake.

Whatever the degree to which extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction may
have been formerly allowed by consent and reciprocal agreement among
certain of the European States, no such doctrine or practice was ever
known to the laws of this country or of that from which our institutions
have mainly been derived.

In the case of Mexico there are reasons especially strong for perfect
harmony in the mutual exercise of jurisdiction. Nature has made us
irrevocably neighbors, and wisdom and kind feeling should make us
friends.

The overflow of capital and enterprise from the United States is a
potent factor in assisting the development of the resources of Mexico
and in building up the prosperity of both countries.

To assist this good work all grounds of apprehension for the security of
person and property should be removed; and I trust that in the interests
of good neighborhood the statute referred to will be so modified as to
eliminate the present possibilities of danger to the peace of the two
countries.

The Government of the Netherlands has exhibited concern in relation to
certain features of our tariff laws, which are supposed by them to be
aimed at a class of tobacco produced in the Dutch East Indies. Comment
would seem unnecessary upon the unwisdom of legislation appearing to
have a special national discrimination for its object, which, although
unintentional, may give rise to injurious retaliation.

The establishment, less than four years ago, of a legation at Teheran is
bearing fruit in the interest exhibited by the Shah's Government in the
industrial activity of the United States and the opportunities of
beneficial interchanges.

Stable government is now happily restored in Peru by the election of a
constitutional President, and a period of rehabilitation is entered
upon; but the recovery is necessarily slow from the exhaustion caused by
the late war and civil disturbances. A convention to adjust by
arbitration claims of our citizens has been proposed and is under
consideration.

The naval officer who bore to Siberia the testimonials bestowed by
Congress in recognition of the aid given to the _Jeannette_
survivors has successfully accomplished his mission. His interesting
report will be submitted. It is pleasant to know that this mark of
appreciation has been welcomed by the Russian Government and people as
befits the traditional friendship of the two countries.

Civil perturbations in the Samoan Islands have during the past
few years been a source of considerable embarrassment to the three
Governments--Germany, Great Britain, and the United States--whose
relations and extraterritorial rights in that important group are
guaranteed by treaties. The weakness of the native administration and
the conflict of opposing interests in the islands have led King Malietoa
to seek alliance or protection in some one quarter, regardless of the
distinct engagements whereby no one of the three treaty powers may
acquire any paramount or exclusive interest. In May last Malietoa
offered to place Samoa under the protection of the United States, and
the late consul, without authority, assumed to grant it. The proceeding
was promptly disavowed and the overzealous official recalled. Special
agents of the three Governments have been deputed to examine the
situation in the islands. With a change in the representation of all
three powers and a harmonious understanding between them, the peace,
prosperity, autonomous administration, and neutrality of Samoa can
hardly fail to be secured.

It appearing that the Government of Spain did not extend to the flag of
the United States in the Antilles the full measure of reciprocity
requisite under our statute for the continuance of the suspension of
discriminations against the Spanish flag in our ports, I was constrained
in October last[7] to rescind my predecessor's proclamation of February
14, 1884,[8] permitting such suspension. An arrangement was, however,
speedily reached, and upon notification from the Government of Spain
that all differential treatment of our vessels and their cargoes, from
the United States or from any foreign country, had been completely and
absolutely relinquished, I availed myself of the discretion conferred by
law and issued on the 27th of October my proclamation[9] declaring
reciprocal suspension in the United States. It is most gratifying to
bear testimony to the earnest spirit in which the Government of the
Queen Regent has met our efforts to avert the initiation of commercial
discriminations and reprisals, which are ever disastrous to the material
interests and the political good will of the countries they may affect.

The profitable development of the large commercial exchanges between
the United States and the Spanish Antilles is naturally an object of
solicitude. Lying close at our doors, and finding here their main
markets of supply and demand, the welfare of Cuba and Puerto Rico and
their production and trade are scarcely less important to us than to
Spain. Their commercial and financial movements are so naturally a part
of our system that no obstacle to fuller and freer intercourse should be
permitted to exist. The standing instructions of our representatives at
Madrid and Havana have for years been to leave no effort unessayed to
further these ends, and at no time has the equal good desire of Spain
been more hopefully manifested than now.

The Government of Spain, by removing the consular tonnage fees on
cargoes shipped to the Antilles and by reducing passport fees, has shown
its recognition of the needs of less trammeled intercourse.

An effort has been made during the past year to remove the hindrances to
the proclamation of the treaty of naturalization with the Sublime Porte,
signed in 1874, which has remained inoperative owing to a disagreement
of interpretation of the clauses relative to the effects of the return
to and sojourn of a naturalized citizen in the land of origin. I trust
soon to be able to announce a favorable settlement of the differences as
to this interpretation.

It has been highly satisfactory to note the improved treatment of
American missionaries in Turkey, as has been attested by their
acknowledgments to our late minister to that Government of his
successful exertions in their behalf.

The exchange of ratifications of the convention of December 5, 1885,
with Venezuela, for the reopening of the awards of the Caracas
Commission under the claims convention of 1866, has not yet been
effected, owing to the delay of the Executive of that Republic in
ratifying the measure. I trust that this postponement will be brief; but
should it much longer continue, the delay may well be regarded as a
rescission of the compact and a failure on the part of Venezuela to
complete an arrangement so persistently sought by her during many years
and assented to by this Government in a spirit of international
fairness, although to the detriment of holders of _bona fide_
awards of the impugned commission.

I renew the recommendation of my last annual message that existing
legislation concerning citizenship and naturalization be revised. We
have treaties with many states providing for the renunciation of
citizenship by naturalized aliens, but no statute is found to give
effect to such engagements, nor any which provides a needed central
bureau for the registration of naturalized citizens.

Experience suggests that our statutes regulating extradition might
be advantageously amended by a provision for the transit across our
territory, now a convenient thoroughfare of travel from one foreign
country to another, of fugitives surrendered by a foreign government to
a third state. Such provisions are not unusual in the legislation of
other countries, and tend to prevent the miscarriage of justice. It is
also desirable, in order to remove present uncertainties, that authority
should be conferred on the Secretary of State to issue a certificate, in
case of an arrest for the purpose of extradition, to the officer before
whom the proceeding is pending, showing that a requisition for the
surrender of the person charged has been duly made. Such a certificate,
if required to be received before the prisoner's examination, would
prevent a long and expensive judicial inquiry into a charge which the
foreign government might not desire to press. I also recommend that
express provision be made for the immediate discharge from custody of
persons committed for extradition where the President is of opinion that
surrender should not be made.

The drift of sentiment in civilized communities toward full recognition
of the rights of property in the creations of the human intellect has
brought about the adoption by many important nations of an international
copyright convention, which was signed at Berne on the 18th of
September, 1885.

Inasmuch as the Constitution gives to the Congress the power "to promote
the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to
authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings
and discoveries," this Government did not feel warranted in becoming a
signatory pending the action of Congress upon measures of international
copyright now before it; but the right of adhesion to the Berne
convention hereafter has been reserved. I trust the subject will receive
at your hands the attention it deserves, and that the just claims of
authors, so urgently pressed, will be duly heeded.

Representations continue to be made to me of the injurious effect upon
American artists studying abroad and having free access to the art
collections of foreign countries of maintaining a discriminating duty
against the introduction of the works of their brother artists of other
countries, and I am induced to repeat my recommendation for the
abolition of that tax.

Pursuant to a provision of the diplomatic and consular appropriation act
approved July 1, 1886, the estimates submitted by the Secretary of State
for the maintenance of the consular service have been recast on the
basis of salaries for all officers to whom such allowance is deemed
advisable. Advantage has been taken of this to redistribute the salaries
of the offices now appropriated for, in accordance with the work
performed, the importance of the representative duties of the incumbent,
and the cost of living at each post. The last consideration has been too
often lost sight of in the allowances heretofore made. The compensation
which may suffice for the decent maintenance of a worthy and capable
officer in a position of onerous and representative trust at a post
readily accessible, and where the necessaries of life are abundant and
cheap, may prove an inadequate pittance in distant lands, where the
better part of a year's pay is consumed in reaching the post of duty,
and where the comforts of ordinary civilized existence can only be
obtained with difficulty and at exorbitant cost. I trust that in
considering the submitted schedules no mistaken theory of economy will
perpetuate a system which in the past has virtually closed to deserving
talent many offices where capacity and attainments of a high order are
indispensable, and in not a few instances has brought discredit on our
national character and entailed embarrassment and even suffering on
those deputed to uphold our dignity and interests abroad.

In connection with this subject I earnestly reiterate the practical
necessity of supplying some mode of trustworthy inspection and report of
the manner in which the consulates are conducted. In the absence of such
reliable information efficiency can scarcely be rewarded or its opposite
corrected.

Increasing competition in trade has directed attention to the value of
the consular reports printed by the Department of State, and the efforts
of the Government to extend the practical usefulness of these reports
have created a wider demand for them at home and a spirit of emulation
abroad. Constituting a record of the changes occurring in trade and of
the progress of the arts and invention in foreign countries, they are
much sought for by all interested in the subjects which they embrace.

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury exhibits in detail the
condition of the public finances and of the several branches of the
Government related to his Department. I especially direct the attention
of the Congress to the recommendations contained in this and the last
preceding report of the Secretary touching the simplification and
amendment of the laws relating to the collection of our revenues, and in
the interest of economy and justice to the Government I hope they may be
adopted by appropriate legislation.

The ordinary receipts of the Government for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1886, were $336,439,727.06. Of this amount $192,905,023.41 was
received from customs and $116,805,936.48 from internal revenue. The
total receipts, as here stated, were $13,749,020.68 greater than for the
previous year, but the increase from customs was $11,434,084.10 and from
internal revenue $4,407,210.94, making a gain in these items for the
last year of $15,841,295.04, a falling off in other resources reducing
the total increase to the smaller amount mentioned.

The expense at the different custom-houses of collecting this increased
customs revenue was less than the expense attending the collection of
such revenue for the preceding year by $490,608, and the increased
receipts of internal revenue were collected at a cost to the
Internal-Revenue Bureau $155,944.99 less than the expense of such
collection for the previous year.

The total ordinary expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1886, were $242,483,138.50, being less by $17,788,797 than such
expenditures for the year preceding, and leaving a surplus in the
Treasury at the close of the last fiscal year of $93,956,588.56, as
against $63,463,771.27 at the close of the previous year, being an
increase in such surplus of $30,492,817.29.

The expenditures are compared with those of the preceding fiscal year
and classified as follows:

  ========================================================================
                                              Year ending     Year ending
                                            June 30, 1886.  June 30, 1885.
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  For civil expenses                        $21,955,604.04  $23,526,942.11
  For foreign intercourse                     1,332,320.88    5,439,609.11
  For Indians                                 6,099,158.17    6,552,494.63
  For pensions                               63,404,864.03   56,102,267.49
  For the military, including river and
    harbor improvements and arsenals         34,324,152.74   42,670,578.47
  For the Navy, including vessels,
    machinery, and improvement of
    navy-yards                               13,907,887.74   16,021,079.69
  For interest on public debt                50,580,145.97   51,386,256.47
  For the District of Columbia                2,892,321.89    3,499,650.95
  Miscellaneous expenditures, including
    public buildings, light-houses, and
    collecting the revenue                   47,986,683.04   54,728,056.21
  ========================================================================

For the current year to end June 30, 1887, the ascertained receipts up
to October 1, 1886, with such receipts estimated for the remainder of
the year, amount to $356,000,000.

The expenditures ascertained and estimated for the same period are
$266,000,000, indicating an anticipated surplus at the close of the year
of $90,000,000.

The total value of the exports from the United States to foreign
countries during the fiscal year is stated and compared with the
preceding year as follows:

  ========================================================================
                                            For the year    For the year
                                            ending          ending
                                            June 30, 1886.  June 30, 1885.
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Domestic merchandise                      $665,964,529    $726,682,946
  Foreign merchandise                         13,560,301      15,506,809
  Gold                                        42,952,191       8,477,892
  Silver                                      29,511,219      33,753,633
  ========================================================================


The value of some of our leading exports during the last fiscal year, as
compared with the value of the same for the year immediately preceding,
is here given, and furnishes information both interesting and suggestive:

  ========================================================================
                                            For the year    For the year
                                            ending          ending
                                            June 30, 1886.  June 30, 1885.
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Cotton and cotton manufactures            $219,045,576    $213,799,049
  Tobacco and its manufactures                30,424,908      24,767,305
  Breadstuffs                                125,846,558     160,370,821
  Provisions                                  90,625,216     107,332,456
  ========================================================================


Our imports during the last fiscal year, as compared with the previous
year, were as follows:

  ========================================================================
                                            For the year    For the year
                                            ending          ending
                                            June 30, 1886.  June 30, 1885.
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Merchandise                               $635,436,136   $579,580,053.80
  Gold                                        20,743,349     26,691,696
  Silver                                      17,850,307     16,550,627
  ========================================================================


In my last annual message to the Congress attention was directed to the
fact that the revenues of the Government exceeded its actual needs, and
it was suggested that legislative action should be taken to relieve the
people from the unnecessary burden of taxation thus made apparent.

In view of the pressing importance of the subject I deem it my duty to
again urge its consideration.

The income of the Government, by its increased volume and through
economies in its collection, is now more than ever in excess of public
necessities. The application of the surplus to the payment of such
portion of the public debt as is now at our option subject to
extinguishment, if continued at the rate which has lately prevailed,
would retire that class of indebtedness within less than one year from
this date. Thus a continuation of our present revenue system would soon
result in the receipt of an annual income much greater than necessary to
meet Government expenses, with no indebtedness upon which it could be
applied. We should then be confronted with a vast quantity of money, the
circulating medium of the people, hoarded in the Treasury when it should
be in their hands, or we should be drawn into wasteful public
extravagance, with all the corrupting national demoralization which
follows in its train.

But it is not the simple existence of this surplus and its threatened
attendant evils which furnish the strongest argument against our present
scale of Federal taxation. Its worst phase is the exaction of such a
surplus through a perversion of the relations between the people and
their Government and a dangerous departure from the rules which limit
the right of Federal taxation.

Good government, and especially the government of which every American
citizen boasts, has for its objects the protection of every person
within its care in the greatest liberty consistent with the good order
of society and his perfect security in the enjoyment of his earnings
with the least possible diminution for public needs. When more of the
people's substance is exacted through the form of taxation than is
necessary to meet the just obligations of the Government and the expense
of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless
extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free
government.

The indirect manner in which these exactions are made has a tendency to
conceal their true character and their extent. But we have arrived at a
stage of superfluous revenue which has aroused the people to a
realization of the fact that the amount raised professedly for the
support of the Government is paid by them as absolutely if added to the
price of the things which supply their daily wants as if it was paid at
fixed periods into the hand of the taxgatherer.

Those who toil for daily wages are beginning to understand that capital,
though sometimes vaunting its importance and clamoring for the
protection and favor of the Government, is dull and sluggish till,
touched by the magical hand of labor, it springs into activity,
furnishing an occasion for Federal taxation and gaining the value which
enables it to bear its burden. And the laboring man is thoughtfully
inquiring whether in these circumstances, and considering the tribute he
constantly pays into the public Treasury as he supplies his daily wants,
he receives his fair share of advantages.

There is also a suspicion abroad that the surplus of our revenues
indicates abnormal and exceptional business profits, which, under the
system which produces such surplus, increase without corresponding
benefit to the people at large the vast accumulations of a few among our
citizens, whose fortunes, rivaling the wealth of the most favored in
antidemocratic nations, are not the natural growth of a steady, plain,
and industrious republic.

Our farmers, too, and those engaged directly and indirectly in supplying
the products of agriculture, see that day by day, and as often as the
daily wants of their households recur, they are forced to pay excessive
and needless taxation, while their products struggle in foreign markets
with the competition of nations, which, by allowing a freer exchange of
productions than we permit, enable their people to sell for prices which
distress the American farmer.

As every patriotic citizen rejoices in the constantly increasing pride
of our people in American citizenship and in the glory of our national
achievements and progress, a sentiment prevails that the leading strings
useful to a nation in its infancy may well be to a great extent
discarded in the present stage of American ingenuity, courage, and
fearless self-reliance; and for the privilege of indulging this
sentiment with true American enthusiasm our citizens are quite willing
to forego an idle surplus in the public Treasury.

And all the people know that the average rate of Federal taxation upon
imports is to-day, in time of peace, but little less, while upon some
articles of necessary consumption it is actually more, than was imposed
by the grievous burden willingly borne at a time when the Government
needed millions to maintain by war the safety and integrity of the
Union.

It has been the policy of the Government to collect the principal part
of its revenues by a tax upon imports, and no change in this policy is
desirable. But the present condition of affairs constrains our people to
demand that by a revision of our revenue laws the receipts of the
Government shall be reduced to the necessary expense of its economical
administration; and this demand should be recognized and obeyed by the
people's representatives in the legislative branch of the Government.

In readjusting the burdens of Federal taxation a sound public policy
requires that such of our citizens as have built up large and important
industries under present conditions should not be suddenly and to their
injury deprived of advantages to which they have adapted their business;
but if the public good requires it they should be content with such
consideration as shall deal fairly and cautiously with their interests,
while the just demand of the people for relief from needless taxation is
honestly answered.

A reasonable and timely submission to such a demand should certainly be
possible without disastrous shock to any interest; and a cheerful
concession sometimes averts abrupt and heedless action, often the
outgrowth of impatience and delayed justice.

Due regard should be also accorded in any proposed readjustment to the
interests of American labor so far as they are involved. We congratulate
ourselves that there is among us no laboring class fixed within
unyielding bounds and doomed under all conditions to the inexorable fate
of daily toil. We recognize in labor a chief factor in the wealth of the
Republic, and we treat those who have it in their keeping as citizens
entitled to the most careful regard and thoughtful attention. This
regard and attention should be awarded them, not only because labor is
the capital of our workingmen, justly entitled to its share of
Government favor, but for the further and not less important reason that
the laboring man, surrounded by his family in his humble home, as a
consumer is vitally interested in all that cheapens the cost of living
and enables him to bring within his domestic circle additional comforts
and advantages.

This relation of the workingman to the revenue laws of the country and
the manner in which it palpably influences the question of wages should
not be forgotten in the justifiable prominence given to the proper
maintenance of the supply and protection of well-paid labor. And these
considerations suggest such an arrangement of Government revenues as
shall reduce the expense of living, while it does not curtail the
opportunity for work nor reduce the compensation of American labor and
injuriously affect its condition and the dignified place it holds in the
estimation of our people.

But our farmers and agriculturists--those who from the soil produce the
things consumed by all--are perhaps more directly and plainly concerned
than any other of our citizens in a just and careful system of Federal
taxation. Those actually engaged in and more remotely connected with
this kind of work number nearly one-half of our population. None labor
harder or more continuously than they. No enactments limit their hours
of toil and no interposition of the Government enhances to any great
extent the value of their products. And yet for many of the necessaries
and comforts of life, which the most scrupulous economy enables them to
bring into their homes, and for their implements of husbandry, they are
obliged to pay a price largely increased by an unnatural profit, which
by the action of the Government is given to the more favored
manufacturer.

I recommend that, keeping in view all these considerations, the
increasing and unnecessary surplus of national income annually
accumulating be released to the people by an amendment to our revenue
laws which shall cheapen the price of the necessaries of life and give
freer entrance to such imported materials as by American labor may be
manufactured into marketable commodities.

Nothing can be accomplished, however, in the direction of this
much-needed reform unless the subject is approached in a patriotic
spirit of devotion to the interests of the entire country and with a
willingness to yield something for the public good.

The sum paid upon the public debt during the fiscal year ended June 30,
1886, was $44,551,043.36.

During the twelve months ended October 31, 1886, 3 per cent bonds were
called for redemption amounting to $127,283,100, of which $80,643,200
was so called to answer the requirements of the law relating to the
sinking fund and $46,639,900 for the purpose of reducing the public debt
by application of a part of the surplus in the Treasury to that object.
Of the bonds thus called $102,269,450 became subject under such calls to
redemption prior to November 1, 1886. The remainder, amounting to
$25,013,650, matured under the calls after that date.

In addition to the amount subject to payment and cancellation prior
to November 1, there were also paid before that day certain of these
bonds, with the interest thereon, amounting to $5,072,350, which were
anticipated as to their maturity, of which $2,664,850 had not been
called. Thus $107,341,800 had been actually applied prior to the 1st of
November, 1886, to the extinguishment of our bonded and interest-bearing
debt, leaving on that day still outstanding the sum of $1,153,443,112.
Of this amount $86,848,700 were still represented by 3 per cent bonds.
They, however, have been since November 1, or will at once be, further
reduced by $22,606,150, being bonds which have been called, as already
stated, but not redeemed and canceled before the latter date.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, there were coined, under the
compulsory silver-coinage act of 1878, 29,838,905 silver dollars, and
the cost of the silver used in such coinage was $23,448,960.01. There
had been coined up to the close of the previous fiscal year under the
provisions of the law 203,882,554 silver dollars, and on the 1st day of
December, 1886, the total amount of such coinage was $247,131,549.

The Director of the Mint reports that at the time of the passage of the
law of 1878 directing this coinage the intrinsic value of the dollars
thus coined was 94-1/4 cents each, and that on the 31st day of July,
1886, the price of silver reached the lowest stage ever known, so that
the intrinsic or bullion price of our standard silver dollar at that
date was less than 72 cents. The price of silver on the 30th day of
November last was such as to make these dollars intrinsically worth 78
cents each.

These differences in value of the coins represent the fluctuations in
the price of silver, and they certainly do not indicate that compulsory
coinage by the Government enhances the price of that commodity or
secures uniformity in its value.

Every fair and legal effort has been made by the Treasury Department
to distribute this currency among the people. The withdrawal of
United States Treasury notes of small denominations and the issuing
of small silver certificates have been resorted to in the endeavor to
accomplish this result, in obedience to the will and sentiments of
the representatives of the people in the Congress. On the 27th day
of November, 1886, the people held of these coins, or certificates
representing them, the nominal sum of $166,873,041, and we still had
$79,464,345 in the Treasury, as against about $142,894,055 so in the
hands of the people and $72,865,376 remaining in the Treasury one year
ago. The Director of the Mint again urges the necessity of more vault
room for the purpose of storing these silver dollars which are not
needed for circulation by the people.

I have seen no reason to change the views expressed in my last annual
message on the subject of this compulsory coinage, and I again urge its
suspension on all the grounds contained in my former recommendation,
reenforced by the significant increase of our gold exportations during
the last year, as appears by the comparative statement herewith
presented, and for the further reasons that the more this currency is
distributed among the people the greater becomes our duty to protect it
from disaster, that we now have abundance for all our needs, and that
there seems but little propriety in building vaults to store such
currency when the only pretense for its coinage is the necessity of its
use by the people as a circulating medium.

The great number of suits now pending in the United States courts for
the southern district of New York growing out of the collection of
customs revenue at the port of New York and the number of such suits
that are almost daily instituted are certainly worthy the attention of
the Congress. These legal controversies, based upon conflicting views by
importers and the collector as to the interpretation of our present
complex and indefinite revenue laws, might be largely obviated by an
amendment of those laws.

But pending such amendment the present condition of this litigation
should be relieved. There are now pending about 2,500 of these suits.
More than 1,100 have been commenced within the past eighteen months, and
many of the others have been at issue for more than twenty-five years.
These delays subject the Government to loss of evidence and prevent the
preparation necessary to defeat unjust and fictitious claims, while
constantly accruing interest threatens to double the demands involved.

In the present condition of the dockets of the courts, well filled with
private suits, and of the force allowed the district attorney, no
greater than is necessary for the ordinary and current business of his
office, these revenue litigations can not be considered.

In default of the adoption by the Congress of a plan for the general
reorganization of the Federal courts, as has been heretofore
recommended, I urge the propriety of passing a law permitting the
appointment of an additional Federal judge in the district where these
Government suits have accumulated, so that by continuous sessions of the
courts devoted to the trial of these cases they may be determined.

It is entirely plain that a great saving to the Government would be
accomplished by such a remedy, and the suitors who have honest claims
would not be denied justice through delay.

The report of the Secretary of War gives a detailed account of the
administration of his Department and contains sundry recommendations for
the improvement of the service, which I fully approve.

The Army consisted at the date of the last consolidated return of 2,103
officers and 24,946 enlisted men.

The expenses of the Department for the last fiscal year were
$36,990,903.38, including $6,294,305.43 for public works and river and
harbor improvements.

I especially direct the attention of the Congress to the recommendation
that officers be required to submit to an examination as a preliminary
to their promotion. I see no objection, but many advantages, in adopting
this feature, which has operated so beneficially in our Navy Department,
as well as in some branches of the Army.

The subject of coast defenses and fortifications has been fully and
carefully treated by the Board on Fortifications, whose report was
submitted at the last session of Congress; but no construction work of
the kind recommended by the board has been possible during the last year
from the lack of appropriations for such purpose.

The defenseless condition of our seacoast and lake frontier is perfectly
palpable. The examinations made must convince us all that certain of our
cities named in the report of the board should be fortified and that
work on the most important of these fortifications should be commenced
at once. The work has been thoroughly considered and laid out, the
Secretary of War reports, but all is delayed in default of Congressional
action.

The absolute necessity, judged by all standards of prudence and
foresight, of our preparation for an effectual resistance against the
armored ships and steel guns and mortars of modern construction which
may threaten the cities on our coasts is so apparent that I hope
effective steps will be taken in that direction immediately.

The valuable and suggestive treatment of this question by the Secretary
of War is earnestly commended to the consideration of the Congress.

In September and October last the hostile Apaches who, under the
leadership of Geronimo, had for eighteen months been on the war path,
and during that time had committed many murders and been the cause of
constant terror to the settlers of Arizona, surrendered to General
Miles, the military commander who succeeded General Crook in the
management and direction of their pursuit.

Under the terms of their surrender as then reported, and in view of the
understanding which these murderous savages seemed to entertain of the
assurances given them, it was considered best to imprison them in such
manner as to prevent their ever engaging in such outrages again, instead
of trying them for murder. Fort Pickens having been selected as a safe
place of confinement, all the adult males were sent thither and will be
closely guarded as prisoners. In the meantime the residue of the band,
who, though still remaining upon the reservation, were regarded as
unsafe and suspected of furnishing aid to those on the war path, had
been removed to Fort Marion. The women and larger children of the
hostiles were also taken there, and arrangements have been made for
putting the children of proper age in Indian schools.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy contains a detailed exhibit of
the condition of his Department, with such a statement of the action
needed to improve the same as should challenge the earnest attention of
the Congress.

The present Navy of the United States, aside from the ships in course of
construction, consists of--

First. Fourteen single-turreted monitors, none of which are in
commission nor at the present time serviceable. The batteries of these
ships are obsolete, and they can only be relied upon as auxiliary ships
in harbor defense, and then after such an expenditure upon them as might
not be deemed justifiable.

Second. Five fourth-rate vessels of small tonnage, only one of which was
designed as a war vessel, and all of which are auxiliary merely.

Third. Twenty-seven cruising ships, three of which are built of iron, of
small tonnage, and twenty-four of wood. Of these wooden vessels it is
estimated by the Chief Constructor of the Navy that only three will be
serviceable beyond a period of six years, at which time it may be said
that of the present naval force nothing worthy the name will remain.

All the vessels heretofore authorized are under contract or in course
of construction except the armored ships, the torpedo and dynamite
boats, and one cruiser. As to the last of these, the bids were in excess
of the limit fixed by Congress. The production in the United States of
armor and gun steel is a question which it seems necessary to settle
at an early day if the armored war vessels are to be completed with
those materials of home manufacture. This has been the subject of
investigation by two boards and by two special committees of Congress
within the last three years. The report of the Gun Foundry Board in
1884, of the Board on Fortifications made in January last, and the
reports of the select committees of the two Houses made at the last
session of Congress have entirely exhausted the subject, so far as
preliminary investigation is involved, and in their recommendations they
are substantially agreed.

In the event that the present invitation of the Department for bids to
furnish such of this material as is now authorized shall fail to induce
domestic manufacturers to undertake the large expenditures required to
prepare for this new manufacture, and no other steps are taken by
Congress at its coming session, the Secretary contemplates with
dissatisfaction the necessity of obtaining abroad the armor and the gun
steel for the authorized ships. It would seem desirable that the wants
of the Army and the Navy in this regard should be reasonably met, and
that by uniting their contracts such inducement might be offered as
would result in securing the domestication of these important interests.

The affairs of the postal service show marked and gratifying improvement
during the past year. A particular account of its transactions and
condition is given in the report of the Postmaster-General, which will
be laid before you.

The reduction of the rate of letter postage in 1883, rendering the
postal revenues inadequate to sustain the expenditures, and business
depression also contributing, resulted in an excess of cost for the
fiscal year ended June 30, 1885, of eight and one-third millions of
dollars. An additional check upon receipts by doubling the measure of
weight in rating sealed correspondence and diminishing one-half the
charge for newspaper carriage was imposed by legislation which took
effect with the beginning of the past fiscal year, while the constant
demand of our territorial development and growing population for the
extension and increase of mail facilities and machinery necessitates
steady annual advance in outlay, and the careful estimate of a year ago
upon the rates of expenditure then existing contemplated the unavoidable
augmentation of the deficiency in the last fiscal year by nearly
$2,000,000. The anticipated revenue for the last year failed of
realization by about $64,000, but proper measures of economy have so
satisfactorily limited the growth of expenditure that the total
deficiency in fact fell below that of 1885, and at this time the
increase of revenue is in a gaining ratio over the increase of cost,
demonstrating the sufficiency of the present rates of postage ultimately
to sustain the service. This is the more pleasing because our people
enjoy now both cheaper postage proportionably to distances and a vaster
and more costly service than any other upon the globe.

Retrenchment has been effected in the cost of supplies, some
expenditures unwarranted by law have ceased, and the outlays for mail
carriage have been subjected to beneficial scrutiny. At the close of the
last fiscal year the expense of transportation on star routes stood at
an annual rate of cost less by over $560,000 than at the close of the
previous year and steamboat and mail-messenger service at nearly
$200,000 less.

The service has been in the meantime enlarged and extended by the
establishment of new offices, increase of routes of carriage, expansion
of carrier-delivery conveniences, and additions to the railway mail
facilities, in accordance with the growing exigencies of the country and
the long-established policy of the Government.

The Postmaster-General calls attention to the existing law for
compensating railroads and expresses the opinion that a method may be
devised which will prove more just to the carriers and beneficial to the
Government; and the subject appears worthy of your early consideration.

The differences which arose during the year with certain of the ocean
steamship companies have terminated by the acquiescence of all in the
policy of the Government approved by the Congress in the postal
appropriation at its last session, and the Department now enjoys the
utmost service afforded by all vessels which sail from our ports upon
either ocean--a service generally adequate to the needs of our
intercourse. Petitions have, however, been presented to the Department
by numerous merchants and manufacturers for the establishment of a
direct service to the Argentine Republic and for semimonthly dispatches
to the Empire of Brazil, and the subject is commended to your
consideration. It is an obvious duty to provide the means of postal
communication which our commerce requires, and with prudent forecast of
results the wise extension of it may lead to stimulating intercourse and
become the harbinger of a profitable traffic which will open new avenues
for the disposition of the products of our industry. The circumstances
of the countries at the far south of our continent are such as to invite
our enterprise and afford the promise of sufficient advantages to
justify an unusual effort to bring about the closer relations which
greater freedom of communication would tend to establish.

I suggest that, as distinguished from a grant or subsidy for the mere
benefit of any line of trade or travel, whatever outlay may be required
to secure additional postal service, necessary and proper and not
otherwise attainable, should be regarded as within the limit of
legitimate compensation for such service.

The extension of the free-delivery service as suggested by the
Post-master-General has heretofore received my sanction, and it is to be
hoped a suitable enactment may soon be agreed upon.

The request for an appropriation sufficient to enable the general
inspection of fourth-class offices has my approbation.

I renew my approval of the recommendation of the Postmaster-General that
another assistant be provided for the Post-Office Department, and I
invite your attention to the several other recommendations in his
report.

The conduct of the Department of Justice for the last fiscal year is
fully detailed in the report of the Attorney-General, and I invite the
earnest attention of the Congress to the same and due consideration of
the recommendations therein contained.

In the report submitted by this officer to the last session of the
Congress he strongly recommended the erection of a penitentiary for the
confinement of prisoners convicted and sentenced in the United States
courts, and he repeats the recommendation in his report for the last
year.

This is a matter of very great importance and should at once receive
Congressional action. United States prisoners are now confined in more
than thirty different State prisons and penitentiaries scattered in
every part of the country. They are subjected to nearly as many
different modes of treatment and discipline and are far too much removed
from the control and regulation of the Government. So far as they are
entitled to humane treatment and an opportunity for improvement and
reformation, the Government is responsible to them and society that
these things are forthcoming. But this duty can scarcely be discharged
without more absolute control and direction than is possible under the
present system.

Many of our good citizens have interested themselves, with the most
beneficial results, in the question of prison reform. The General
Government should be in a situation, since there must be United States
prisoners, to furnish important aid in this movement, and should be able
to illustrate what may be practically done in the direction of this
reform and to present an example in the treatment and improvement of its
prisoners worthy of imitation.

With prisons under its own control the Government could deal with the
somewhat vexed question of convict labor, so far as its convicts were
concerned, according to a plan of its own adoption, and with due regard
to the rights and interests of our laboring citizens, instead of
sometimes aiding in the operation of a system which causes among them
irritation and discontent.

Upon consideration of this subject it might be thought wise to erect
more than one of these institutions, located in such places as would
best subserve the purposes of convenience and economy in transportation.
The considerable cost of maintaining these convicts as at present, in
State institutions, would be saved by the adoption of the plan proposed,
and by employing them in the manufacture of such articles as were needed
for use by the Government quite a large pecuniary benefit would be
realized in partial return for our outlay.

I again urge a change in the Federal judicial system to meet the wants
of the people and obviate the delays necessarily attending the present
condition of affairs in our courts. All are agreed that something should
be done, and much favor is shown by those well able to advise to the
plan suggested by the Attorney-General at the last session of the
Congress and recommended in my last annual message. This recommendation
is here renewed, together with another made at the same time, touching a
change in the manner of compensating district attorneys and marshals;
and the latter subject is commended to the Congress for its action in
the interest of economy to the Government, and humanity, fairness, and
justice to our people.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior presents a comprehensive
summary of the work of the various branches of the public service
connected with his Department, and the suggestions and recommendations
which it contains for the improvement of the service should receive your
careful consideration.

The exhibit made of the condition of our Indian population and the
progress of the work for their enlightenment, notwithstanding the many
embarrassments which hinder the better administration of this important
branch of the service, is a gratifying and hopeful one.

The funds appropriated for the Indian service for the fiscal year just
passed, with the available income from Indian land and trust moneys,
amounting in all to $7,850,775.12, were ample for the service under the
conditions and restrictions of laws regulating their expenditure. There
remained a balance on hand on June 30, 1886, of $1,660,023.30, of which
$1,337,768.21 are permanent funds for fulfillment of treaties and other
like purposes, and the remainder, $322,255.09, is subject to be carried
to the surplus fund as required by law.

The estimates presented for appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year
amount to $5,608,873.64, or $442,386.20 less than those laid before the
Congress last year.

The present system of agencies, while absolutely necessary and well
adapted for the management of our Indian affairs and for the ends in
view when it was adopted, is in the present stage of Indian management
inadequate, standing alone, for the accomplishment of an object which
has become pressing in its importance--the more rapid transition from
tribal organizations to citizenship of such portions of the Indians as
are capable of civilized life.

When the existing system was adopted, the Indian race was outside of the
limits of organized States and Territories and beyond the immediate
reach and operation of civilization, and all efforts were mainly
directed to the maintenance of friendly relations and the preservation
of peace and quiet on the frontier. All this is now changed. There is no
such thing as the Indian frontier. Civilization, with the busy hum of
industry and the influences of Christianity, surrounds these people at
every point. None of the tribes are outside of the bounds of organized
government and society, except that the Territorial system has not been
extended over that portion of the country known as the Indian Territory.
As a race the Indians are no longer hostile, but may be considered as
submissive to the control of the Government. Few of them only are
troublesome. Except the fragments of several bands, all are now gathered
upon reservations.

It is no longer possible for them to subsist by the chase and the
spontaneous productions of the earth.

With an abundance of land, if furnished with the means and implements
for profitable husbandry, their life of entire dependence upon
Government rations from day to day is no longer defensible. Their
inclination, long fostered by a defective system of control, is to cling
to the habits and customs of their ancestors and struggle with
persistence against the change of life which their altered circumstances
press upon them. But barbarism and civilization can not live together.
It is impossible that such incongruous conditions should coexist on the
same soil.

They are a portion of our people, are under the authority of our
Government, and have a peculiar claim upon and are entitled to the
fostering care and protection of the nation. The Government can not
relieve itself of this responsibility until they are so far trained and
civilized as to be able wholly to manage and care for themselves. The
paths in which they should walk must be clearly marked out for them, and
they must be led or guided until they are familiar with the way and
competent to assume the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship.

Progress in this great work will continue only at the present slow pace
and at great expense unless the system and methods of management are
improved to meet the changed conditions and urgent demands of the
service.

The agents, having general charge and supervision in many cases of more
than 5,000 Indians, scattered over large reservations, and burdened with
the details of accountability for funds and supplies, have time to look
after the industrial training and improvement of a few Indians only. The
many are neglected and remain idle and dependent, conditions not
favorable for progress and civilization.

The compensation allowed these agents and the conditions of the service
are not calculated to secure for the work men who are fitted by ability
and skill to properly plan and intelligently direct the methods best
adapted to produce the most speedy results and permanent benefits.

Hence the necessity for a supplemental agency or system directed to the
end of promoting the general and more rapid transition of the tribes
from habits and customs of barbarism to the ways of civilization.

With an anxious desire to devise some plan of operation by which to
secure the welfare of the Indians and to relieve the Treasury as far as
possible from the support of an idle and dependent population, I
recommended in my previous annual message the passage of a law
authorizing the appointment of a commission as an instrumentality
auxiliary to those already established for the care of the Indians. It
was designed that this commission should be composed of six intelligent
and capable persons--three to be detailed from the Army--having
practical ideas upon the subject of the treatment of Indians and
interested in their welfare, and that it should be charged, under the
direction of the Secretary of the Interior, with the management of such
matters of detail as can not with the present organization be properly
and successfully conducted, and which present different phases, as the
Indians themselves differ in their progress, needs, disposition, and
capacity for improvement or immediate self-support.

By the aid of such a commission much unwise and useless expenditure of
money, waste of materials, and unavailing efforts might be avoided; and
it is hoped that this or some measure which the wisdom of Congress may
better devise to supply the deficiency of the present system may receive
your consideration and the appropriate legislation be provided.

The time is ripe for the work of such an agency.

There is less opposition to the education and training of the Indian
youth, as shown by the increased attendance upon the schools, and there
is a yielding tendency for the individual holding of lands. Development
and advancement in these directions are essential, and should have every
encouragement. As the rising generation are taught the language of
civilization and trained in habits of industry they should assume the
duties, privileges, and responsibilities of citizenship.

No obstacle should hinder the location and settlement of any Indian
willing to take land in severalty; on the contrary, the inclination to
do so should be stimulated at all times when proper and expedient. But
there is no authority of law for making allotments on some of the
reservations, and on others the allotments provided for are so small
that the Indians, though ready and desiring to settle down, are not
willing to accept such small areas when their reservations contain ample
lands to afford them homesteads of sufficient size to meet their present
and future needs.

These inequalities of existing special laws and treaties should be
corrected and some general legislation on the subject should be
provided, so that the more progressive members of the different tribes
may be settled upon homesteads, and by their example lead others to
follow, breaking away from tribal customs and substituting therefor the
love of home, the interest of the family, and the rule of the state.

The Indian character and nature are such that they are not easily led
while brooding over unadjusted wrongs. This is especially so regarding
their lands. Matters arising from the construction and operation of
railroads across some of the reservations, and claims of title and right
of occupancy set up by white persons to some of the best land within
other reservations require legislation for their final adjustment.

The settlement of these matters will remove many embarrassments to
progress in the work of leading the Indians to the adoption of our
institutions and bringing them under the operation, the influence, and
the protection of the universal laws of our country.

The recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior and the
Commissioner of the General Land Office looking to the better protection
of public lands and of the public surveys, the preservation of national
forests, the adjudication of grants to States and corporations and of
private land claims, and the increased efficiency of the public-land
service are commended to the attention of Congress. To secure the widest
distribution of public lands in limited quantities among settlers for
residence and cultivation, and thus make the greatest number of
individual homes, was the primary object of the public-land legislation
in the early days of the Republic. This system was a simple one. It
commenced with an admirable scheme of public surveys, by which the
humblest citizen could identify the tract upon which he wished to
establish his home. The price of lands was placed within the reach of
all the enterprising, industrious, and honest pioneer citizens of the
country. It was soon, however, found that the object of the laws was
perverted, under the system of cash sales, from a distribution of land
among the people to an accumulation of land capital by wealthy and
speculative persons. To check this tendency a preference right of
purchase was given to settlers on the land, a plan which culminated in
the general preemption act of 1841. The foundation of this system was
actual residence and cultivation. Twenty years later the homestead law
was devised to more surely place actual homes in the possession of
actual cultivators of the soil. The land was given without price, the
sole conditions being residence, improvement, and cultivation. Other
laws have followed, each designed to encourage the acquirement and use
of land in limited individual quantities. But in later years these laws,
through vicious administrative methods and under changed conditions of
communication and transportation, have been so evaded and violated that
their beneficent purpose is threatened with entire defeat. The methods
of such evasions and violations are set forth in detail in the reports
of the Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner of the General Land
Office. The rapid appropriation of our public lands without _bona
fide_ settlements or cultivation, and not only without intention of
residence, but for the purpose of their aggregation in large holdings,
in many cases in the hands of foreigners, invites the serious and
immediate attention of the Congress.

The energies of the Land Department have been devoted during the present
Administration to remedy defects and correct abuses in the public-land
service. The results of these efforts are so largely in the nature of
reforms in the processes and methods of our land system as to prevent
adequate estimate; but it appears by a compilation from the reports of
the Commissioner of the General Land Office that the immediate effect in
leading cases which have come to a final termination has been the
restoration to the mass of public lands of 2,750,000 acres; that
2,370,000 acres are embraced in investigations now pending before the
Department or the courts, and that the action of Congress has been asked
to effect the restoration of 2,790,000 acres additional; besides which
4,000,000 acres have been withheld from reservation and the rights of
entry thereon maintained.

I recommend the repeal of the preemption and timber-culture acts, and
that the homestead laws be so amended as to better secure compliance
with their requirements of residence, improvement, and cultivation for
the period of five years from date of entry, without commutation or
provision for speculative relinquishment. I also recommend the repeal of
the desert-land laws unless it shall be the pleasure of the Congress to
so amend these laws as to render them less liable to abuses. As the
chief motive for an evasion of the laws and the principal cause of their
result in land accumulation instead of land distribution is the facility
with which transfers are made of the right intended to be secured to
settlers, it may be deemed advisable to provide by legislation some
guards and checks upon the alienation of homestead rights and lands
covered thereby Until patents issue.

Last year an Executive proclamation[10] was issued directing the removal
of fences which inclosed the public domain. Many of these have been
removed in obedience to such order, but much of the public land still
remains within the lines of these unlawful fences. The ingenious methods
resorted to in order to continue these trespasses and the hardihood of
the pretenses by which in some cases such inclosures are justified are
fully detailed in the report of the Secretary of the Interior.

The removal of the fences still remaining which inclose public lands
will be enforced with all the authority and means with which the
executive branch of the Government is or shall be invested by the
Congress for that purpose.

The report of the Commissioner of Pensions contains a detailed and most
satisfactory exhibit of the operations of the Pension Bureau during the
last fiscal year. The amount of work done was the largest in any year
since the organization of the Bureau, and it has been done at less cost
than during the previous year in every division.

On the 30th day of June, 1886, there were 365,783 pensioners on the
rolls of the Bureau.

Since 1861 there have been 1,018,735 applications for pensions filed, of
which 78,834 were based upon service in the War of 1812. There were
621,754 of these applications allowed, including 60,178 to the soldiers
of 1812 and their widows.

The total amount paid for pensions since 1861 is $808,624,811.57.

The number of new pensions allowed during the year ended June 30, 1886,
is 40,857, a larger number than has been allowed in any year save one
since 1861. The names of 2,229 pensioners which had been previously
dropped from the rolls were restored during the year, and after
deducting those dropped within the same time for various causes a net
increase remains for the year of 20,658 names.

From January 1, 1861, to December 1, 1885, 1,967 private pension acts
had been passed. Since the last-mentioned date, and during the last
session of the Congress, 644 such acts became laws.

It seems to me that no one can examine our pension establishment and its
operations without being convinced that through its instrumentality
justice can be very nearly done to all who are entitled under present
laws to the pension bounty of the Government.

But it is undeniable that cases exist, well entitled to relief, in which
the Pension Bureau is powerless to aid. The really worthy cases of this
class are such as only lack by misfortune the kind or quantity of proof
which the law and regulations of the Bureau require, or which, though
their merit is apparent, for some other reason can not be justly dealt
with through general laws. These conditions fully justify application to
the Congress and special enactments. But resort to the Congress for a
special pension act to overrule the deliberate and careful determination
of the Pension Bureau on the merits or to secure favorable action when
it could not be expected under the most liberal execution of general
laws, it must be admitted opens the door to the allowance of
questionable claims and presents to the legislative and executive
branches of the Government applications concededly not within the law
and plainly devoid of merit, but so surrounded by sentiment and
patriotic feeling that they are hard to resist. I suppose it will not be
denied that many claims for pension are made without merit and that many
have been allowed upon fraudulent representations. This has been
declared from the Pension Bureau, not only in this but in prior
Administrations.

The usefulness and the justice of any system for the distribution of
pensions depend upon the equality and uniformity of its operation.

It will be seen from the report of the Commissioner that there are now
paid by the Government 131 different rates of pension.

He estimates from the best information he can obtain that 9,000 of those
who have served in the Army and Navy of the United States are now
supported, in whole or in part, from public funds or by organized
charities, exclusive of those in soldiers' homes under the direction and
control of the Government. Only 13 per cent of these are pensioners,
while of the entire number of men furnished for the late war something
like 20 per cent, including their widows and relatives, have been or now
are in receipt of pensions.

The American people, with a patriotic and grateful regard for our
ex-soldiers, too broad and too sacred to be monopolized by any special
advocates, are not only willing but anxious that equal and exact justice
should be done to all honest claimants for pensions. In their sight the
friendless and destitute soldier, dependent on public charity, if
otherwise entitled, has precisely the same right to share in the
provision made for those who fought their country's battles as those
better able, through friends and influence, to push their claims. Every
pension that is granted under our present plan upon any other grounds
than actual service and injury or disease incurred in such service, and
every instance of the many in which pensions are increased on other
grounds than the merits of the claim, work an injustice to the brave and
crippled, but poor and friendless, soldier, who is entirely neglected or
who must be content with the smallest sum allowed under general laws.

There are far too many neighborhoods in which are found glaring cases of
inequality of treatment in the matter of pensions, and they are largely
due to a yielding in the Pension Bureau to importunity on the part of
those, other than the pensioner, who are especially interested, or they
arise from special acts passed for the benefit of individuals.

The men who fought side by side should stand side by side when they
participate in a grateful nation's kind remembrance.

Every consideration of fairness and justice to our ex-soldiers and the
protection of the patriotic instinct of our citizens from perversion and
violation point to the adoption of a pension system broad and
comprehensive enough to cover every contingency, and which shall make
unnecessary an objectionable volume of special legislation.

As long as we adhere to the principle of granting pensions for service,
and disability as the result of the service, the allowance of pensions
should be restricted to cases presenting these features.

Every patriotic heart responds to a tender consideration for those who,
having served their country long and well, are reduced to destitution
and dependence, not as an incident of their service, but with advancing
age or through sickness or misfortune. We are all tempted by the
contemplation of such a condition to supply relief, and are often
impatient of the limitations of public duty. Yielding to no one in the
desire to indulge this feeling of consideration, I can not rid myself of
the conviction that if these ex-soldiers are to be relieved they and
their cause are entitled to the benefit of an enactment under which
relief may be claimed as a right, and that such relief should be granted
under the sanction of law, not in evasion of it; nor should such worthy
objects of care, all equally entitled, be remitted to the unequal
operation of sympathy or the tender mercies of social and political
influence, with their unjust discriminations.

The discharged soldiers and sailors of the country are our
fellow-citizens, and interested with us in the passage and faithful
execution of wholesome laws. They can not be swerved from their duty of
citizenship by artful appeals to their spirit of brotherhood born of
common peril and suffering, nor will they exact as a test of devotion to
their welfare a willingness to neglect public duty in their behalf.

On the 4th of March, 1885, the current business of the Patent Office
was, on an average, five and a half months in arrears, and in several
divisions more than twelve months behind. At the close of the last
fiscal year such current work was but three months in arrears, and it is
asserted and believed that in the next few months the delay in obtaining
an examination of an application for a patent will be but nominal.

The number of applications for patents during the last fiscal year,
including reissues, designs, trade-marks, and labels, equals 40,678,
which is considerably in excess of the number received during any
preceding year.

The receipts of the Patent Office during the year aggregate
$1,205,167.80, enabling the office to turn into the Treasury a surplus
revenue, over and above all expenditures, of about $163,710.30.

The number of patents granted during the last fiscal year, including
reissues, trade-marks, designs, and labels, was 25,619, a number also
quite largely in excess of that of any preceding year.

The report of the Commissioner shows the office to be in a prosperous
condition and constantly increasing in its business. No increase of
force is asked for.

The amount estimated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, was
$890,760. The amount estimated for the year ending June 30, 1887, was
$853,960. The amount estimated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888,
is $778,770.

The Secretary of the Interior suggests a change in the plan for the
payment of the indebtedness of the Pacific subsidized roads to the
Government. His suggestion has the unanimous indorsement of the persons
selected by the Government to act as directors of these roads and
protect the interests of the United States in the board of direction.
In considering the plan proposed the sole matters which should be taken
into account, in my opinion, are the situation of the Government as a
creditor and the surest way to secure the payment of the principal and
interest of its debt.

By a recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States it has
been adjudged that the laws of the several States are inoperative to
regulate rates of transportation upon railroads if such regulation
interferes with the rate of carriage from one State into another. This
important field of control and regulation having been thus left entirely
unoccupied, the expediency of Federal action upon the subject is worthy
of consideration.

The relations of labor to capital and of laboring men to their employers
are of the utmost concern to every patriotic citizen. When these are
strained and distorted, unjustifiable claims are apt to be insisted upon
by both interests, and in the controversy which results the welfare of
all and the prosperity of the country are jeopardized. Any intervention
of the General Government, within the limits of its constitutional
authority, to avert such a condition should be willingly accorded.

In a special message[11] transmitted to the Congress at its last session
I suggested the enlargement of our present Labor Bureau and adding to
its present functions the power of arbitration in cases where
differences arise between employer and employed. When these differences
reach such a stage as to result in the interruption of commerce between
the States, the application of this remedy by the General Government
might be regarded as entirely within its constitutional powers. And I
think we might reasonably hope that such arbitrators, if carefully
selected and if entitled to the confidence of the parties to be
affected, would be voluntarily called to the settlement of controversies
of less extent and not necessarily within the domain of Federal
regulation.

I am of the opinion that this suggestion is worthy the attention of the
Congress.

But after all has been done by the passage of laws, either Federal or
State, to relieve a situation full of solicitude, much more remains to
be accomplished by the reinstatement and cultivation of a true American
sentiment which recognizes the equality of American citizenship. This,
in the light of our traditions and in loyalty to the spirit of our
institutions, would teach that a hearty cooperation on the part of all
interests is the surest path to national greatness and the happiness of
all our people; that capital should, in recognition of the brotherhood
of our citizenship and in a spirit of American fairness, generously
accord to labor its just compensation and consideration, and that
contented labor is capital's best protection and faithful ally. It would
teach, too, that the diverse situations of our people are inseparable
from our civilization; that every citizen should in his sphere be a
contributor to the general good; that capital does not necessarily tend
to the oppression of labor, and that violent disturbances and disorders
alienate from their promoters true American sympathy and kindly feeling.

The Department of Agriculture, representing the oldest and largest of
our national industries, is subserving well the purposes of its
organization. By the introduction of new subjects of farming enterprise
and by opening new sources of agricultural wealth and the dissemination
of early information concerning production and prices it has contributed
largely to the country's prosperity. Through this agency advanced
thought and investigation touching the subjects it has in charge should,
among other things, be practically applied to the home production at a
low cost of articles of food which are now imported from abroad. Such an
innovation will necessarily, of course, in the beginning be within the
domain of intelligent experiment, and the subject in every stage should
receive all possible encouragement from the Government.

The interests of millions of our citizens engaged in agriculture are
involved in an enlargement and improvement of the results of their
labor, and a zealous regard for their welfare should be a willing
tribute to those whose productive returns are a main source of our
progress and power.

The existence of pleuro-pneumonia among the cattle of various States has
led to burdensome and in some cases disastrous restrictions in an
important branch of our commerce, threatening to affect the quantity and
quality of our food supply. This is a matter of such importance and of
such far-reaching consequences that I hope it will engage the serious
attention of the Congress, to the end that such a remedy may be applied
as the limits of a constitutional delegation of power to the General
Government will permit.

I commend to the consideration of the Congress the report of the
Commissioner and his suggestions concerning the interest intrusted to
his care.

The continued operation of the law relating to our civil service has
added the most convincing proofs of its necessity and usefulness. It is
a fact worthy of note that every public officer who has a just idea of
his duty to the people testifies to the value of this reform. Its
staunchest friends are found among those who understand it best, and its
warmest supporters are those who are restrained and protected by its
requirements.

The meaning of such restraint and protection is not appreciated by those
who want places under the Government regardless of merit and efficiency,
nor by those who insist that the selection of such places should rest
upon a proper credential showing active partisan work. They mean to
public officers, if not their lives, the only opportunity afforded them
to attend to public business, and they mean to the good people of the
country the better performance of the work of their Government.

It is exceedingly strange that the scope and nature of this reform are
so little understood and that so many things not included within its
plan are called by its name. When cavil yields more fully to
examination, the system will have large additions to the number of its
friends.

Our civil-service reform may be imperfect in some of its details; it may
be misunderstood and opposed; it may not always be faithfully applied;
its designs may sometimes miscarry through mistake or willful intent; it
may sometimes tremble under the assaults of its enemies or languish
under the misguided zeal of impracticable friends; but if the people of
this country ever submit to the banishment of its underlying principle
from the operation of their Government they will abandon the surest
guaranty of the safety and success of American institutions.

I invoke for this reform the cheerful and ungrudging support of the
Congress. I renew my recommendation made last year that the salaries of
the Commissioners be made equal to other officers of the Government
having like duties and responsibilities, and I hope that such reasonable
appropriations may be made as will enable them to increase the
usefulness of the cause they have in charge.

I desire to call the attention of the Congress to a plain duty which the
Government owes to the depositors in the Freedman's Savings and Trust
Company.

This company was chartered by the Congress for the benefit of the most
illiterate and humble of our people, and with the intention of
encouraging in them industry and thrift. Most of its branches were
presided over by officers holding the commissions and clothed in the
uniform of the United States. These and other circumstances reasonably,
I think, led these simple people to suppose that the invitation to
deposit their hard-earned savings in this institution implied an
undertaking on the part of their Government that their money should be
safely kept for them.

When this company failed, it was liable in the sum of $2,939,925.22 to
61,131 depositors. Dividends amounting in the aggregate to 62 per cent
have been declared, and the sum called for and paid of such dividends
seems to be $1,648,181.72. This sum deducted from the entire amount of
deposits leaves $1,291,744.50 still unpaid. Past experience has shown
that quite a large part of this sum will not be called for. There are
assets still on hand amounting to the estimated sum of $16,000.

I think the remaining 38 per cent of such of these deposits as have
claimants should be paid by the Government, upon principles of equity
and fairness.

The report of the commissioner, soon to be laid before Congress, will
give more satisfactory details on this subject.

The control of the affairs of the District of Columbia having been
placed in the hands of purely executive officers, while the Congress
still retains all legislative authority relating to its government, it
becomes my duty to make known the most pressing needs of the District
and recommend their consideration.

The laws of the District appear to be in an uncertain and unsatisfactory
condition, and their codification or revision is much needed.

During the past year one of the bridges leading from the District to the
State of Virginia became unfit for use, and travel upon it was
forbidden. This leads me to suggest that the improvement of all the
bridges crossing the Potomac and its branches from the city of
Washington is worthy the attention of Congress.

The Commissioners of the District represent that the laws regulating the
sale of liquor and granting licenses therefor should be at once amended,
and that legislation is needed to consolidate, define, and enlarge the
scope and powers of charitable and penal institutions within the
District.

I suggest that the Commissioners be clothed with the power to make,
within fixed limitations, police regulations. I believe this power
granted and carefully guarded would tend to subserve the good order of
the municipality.

It seems that trouble still exists growing out of the occupation of the
streets and avenues by certain railroads having their termini in the
city. It is very important that such laws should be enacted upon this
subject as will secure to the railroads all the facilities they require
for the transaction of their business and at the same time protect
citizens from injury to their persons or property.

The Commissioners again complain that the accommodations afforded them
for the necessary offices for District business and for the safe-keeping
of valuable books and papers are entirely insufficient. I recommend that
this condition of affairs be remedied by the Congress, and that suitable
quarters be furnished for the needs of the District government.

In conclusion I earnestly invoke such wise action on the part of the
people's legislators as will subserve the public good and demonstrate
during the remaining days of the Congress as at present organized its
ability and inclination to so meet the people's needs that it shall be
gratefully remembered by an expectant constituency.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 6: See p. 406.]

[Footnote 7: See pp. 489-490.]

[Footnote 8: See pp. 223-224.]

[Footnote 9: See pp. 490-491.]

[Footnote 10: See pp. 308-309.]

[Footnote 11: See pp. 394-397.]




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 8, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, which is
accompanied by the correspondence in relation to the rights of American
fishermen in the British North American waters, and commend to your
favorable consideration the suggestion that a commission be authorized
by law to take perpetuating proofs of the losses sustained during the
past year by American fishermen owing to their unfriendly and
unwarranted treatment by the local authorities of the maritime provinces
of the Dominion of Canada.

I may have occasion hereafter to make further recommendations during the
present session for such remedial legislation as may become necessary
for the protection of the rights of our citizens engaged in the open-sea
fisheries in the North Atlantic waters.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 13, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 8th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, an
estimate of appropriation in the sum of $22,000, prepared in the Office
of Indian Affairs, to provide for the payment to the Eel River band of
Miami Indians of a principal sum in lieu of all annuities now received
by them under existing treaty stipulations.

The matter is presented for the consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 13, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to their ratification, an additional
article, signed June 23, 1884, to the treaty of friendship, commerce,
and navigation of July 27, 1853, between the United States and the
Argentine Confederation; also an additional clause to the said
additional article, signed June 25, 1885.

The report of the Secretary of State of even date and the papers
inclosed therewith set forth the reasons which have, in my opinion,
rendered it advisable to again transmit for ratification the additional
article above mentioned, which was withdrawn from the Senate at my
request on April 2, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 15, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for your information, a report from the Secretary
of State, inclosing the correspondence which has passed between the
Department of State and the Governments of Switzerland and France on the
subject of international copyright since the date of my message of July
9, 1886, on this question.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 20, 1886_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in relation
to the invitation from Her Britannic Majesty to this Government to
participate in an international exhibition which is to be held at
Adelaide, South Australia, in 1887.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1886_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I nominate James C. Matthews, of New York, to be recorder of deeds in
the District of Columbia, in the place of Frederick Douglass, resigned.

This nomination was submitted to the Senate at its last session, upon
the retirement of the previous incumbent, who for a number of years had
held the office to which it refers. In the last days of the session the
Senate declined to confirm the nomination.

Opposition to the appointment of Mr. Matthews to the office for which he
was named was developed among the citizens of the District of Columbia,
ostensibly upon the ground that the nominee was not a resident of the
District; and it is supposed that such opposition, to some extent at
least, influenced the determination of the question of his confirmation.

Mr. Matthews has now been in occupancy of the office to which he was
nominated for more than four months, and he has in the performance of
the duties thereof won the approval of all those having business to
transact with such office, and has rendered important service in
rescuing the records of the District from loss and illegibility.

I am informed that his management of this office has removed much of the
opposition to his appointment which heretofore existed.

I have ventured, therefore, in view of the demonstrated fitness of this
nominee, and with the understanding that the objections heretofore urged
against his selection have to a great extent subsided, and confessing a
desire to cooperate in tendering to our colored fellow-citizens just
recognition and the utmost good faith, to again submit this nomination
to the Senate for confirmation, at the same time disclaiming any
intention to question its previous action in the premises.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 5, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Referring to my message of the 12th of January last,[12] transmitting
the final report of the commissioners appointed under the act of July 7,
1884, to visit the States of Central and South America, I have now to
submit a special report by Commissioner Thomas C. Reynolds on the
condition and commerce of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Salvador.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 12: See p. 370.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 5, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, inclosing
statement of customs duties levied by foreign nations upon the produce
and manufactures of the United States.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 10, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 22d ultimo from the Secretary of
the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of proposed
legislation, prepared in the Office of Indian Affairs, providing for
the per capita payment to the Delaware Indians resident in the Cherokee
Nation, in Indian Territory, of the amount of their trust fund,
principal and interest, held by the Government of the United States by
virtue of the several treaties with the said Delaware Indians.

The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 11, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in relation to
an invitation which has been extended to this Government to appoint a
delegate or delegates to the Fourth International Prison Congress, to
meet at St. Petersburg in the year 1890, and commend its suggestions to
the favorable attention of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 13, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a declaration of the late international conference at
Paris, explanatory of the convention of March 14, 1884, for the
protection of submarine cables, made between the United States of
America and Germany, Argentine Confederation, Austria-Hungary, Belgium,
Brazil, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Spain, United States of
Colombia, France, Great Britain, Guatemala, Greece, Italy, Turkey,
Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Salvador, Servia,
Sweden and Norway, and Uruguay.

The declaration has been generally accepted by the signatory powers, and
Mr. McLane, the representative of the United States at the conference,
has been instructed to sign it, subject to the approval of the Senate.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 17, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 11th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a copy
of an agreement duly made under the provisions of the act of May 15,
1886 (24 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 44), with the Indians residing upon
the Fort Berthold Reservation, in Dakota, for the cession of a portion
of their reservation in said Territory, and for other purposes.

The agreement, together with the recommendations of the Department, is
presented for the action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 18, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

Referring to the message of the President of the United States dated
February 2, 1885,[13] I transmit herewith, for your consideration, a
report from the Secretary of State, inclosing a translation of the
convention for the protection of industrial property, of the
_protocole de clôture_ of said convention, and of a protocol
proposed by the conference of 1886 for ratification by the Governments
which have adhered to the convention.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 13: See p. 270.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

As a matter of national interest, and one solely within the discretion
and control of Congress, I transmit the accompanying memorial of the
executive committee of the subconstitutional centennial commission,
proposing to celebrate on the 17th of September, in the city of
Philadelphia, as the day upon which and the place where the convention
that framed the Federal Constitution concluded their labors and
submitted the results for ratification to the thirteen States then
composing the United States.

The epoch was one of the deepest interest and the events well worthy of
commemoration.

I am aware that as each State acted independently in giving its adhesion
to the new Constitution the dates and anniversaries of their several
ratifications are not coincident. Some action looking to a national
expression in relation to the celebration of the close of the first
century of popular government under a written constitution has already
been suggested, and whilst stating the great interest I share in the
renewed examination by the American people of the historical foundations
of their Government, I do not feel warranted in discriminating in favor
or against the propositions to select one day or place in preference to
all others, and therefore content myself with conveying to Congress
these expressions of popular feeling and interest upon the subject,
hoping that in a spirit of patriotic cooperation, rather than of local
competition, fitting measures may be enacted by Congress which will give
the amplest opportunity all over these United States for the
manifestation of the affection and confidence of a free and mighty
nation in the institutions of a Government of which they are the
fortunate inheritors and under which unexampled prosperity has been
enjoyed by all classes and conditions in our social system.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 7th ultimo from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill
"for the relief of Hiatt & Co., late traders for the Osage tribe of
Indians, and for other purposes."

The matter is presented for the consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 20, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to its ratification, a draft of
declaration explanatory of Articles II and IV of the convention for the
protection of submarine cables, which has been proposed by the
conference of 1886 for ratification by the Governments adhering to the
said convention.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 20, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a communication addressed to me by Mr. Samuel C.
Reid, who offers to the United States the battle sword (now in my
custody) of his father, Captain Samuel Chester Reid, who commanded the
United States private armed brig _General Armstrong_ at the battle
of Fayal, in September, 1814.

I respectfully recommend that appropriate action be taken by Congress
for the acceptance of this gift.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 20, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to transmit to the Senate herewith a report of the
Secretary of State, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the
11th instant, requesting "estimates for the contingent fund of each
bureau" in the Department of State.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 20, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in answer to the
resolution of the Senate of December 8, 1886, relative to the claims of
Antonio Pelletier and A.H. Lazare against the Republic of Hayti.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 23, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 21st ultimo, calling
for certain correspondence touching the construction of a ship canal
through Nicaragua, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of
State on the subject, with accompanying papers.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 1, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, together
with a copy of the report, which it incloses, of Lieutenant William H.
Schuetze, United States Navy, who was designated by the Secretary of
the Navy, in pursuance of the act of Congress of March 3, 1885, making
appropriations for the sundry civil expenses of the Government for
the year ending June 30, 1886, to distribute the testimonials of the
Government to subjects of Russia who extended aid to the survivors of
the _Jeannette_ exploring expedition and to the parties dispatched
by this Government to aid the said survivors.

The report is interesting alike to the people of the United States and
to the subjects of Russia, and will be gratifying to all who appreciate
the generous and humane action of Congress in providing for the
testimonials.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 1, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of the House of Representatives adopted on
the 22d ultimo, calling upon me for a "copy of the treaty or convention
proposed to the Senate and ratified by that body between the United
States and the Government of the Hawaiian Islands," I transmit herewith
a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers.

It is proper to remark in this relation that no convention whatever has
been "agreed to and ratified" by "the President and Senate," as is
recited in the preamble to the said resolution of the House of
Representatives, but that the documents referred to, exhibiting the
action of the Executive and the Senate, respectively, are communicated
in compliance with the request of the resolution.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 8, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the House of the
24th ultimo, a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying
copies of correspondence between the Governments of the United States
and Great Britain concerning the rights of American fishermen in the
waters of British North America, supplemental to the correspondence
already communicated to Congress with my message of December 8,
1886.[14]

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 14: See pp. 529-530.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 10, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, accompanying
reports by consular officers of the United States on the extent and
character of the emigration from and immigration into their respective
districts.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 14, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to its ratification, a treaty of amity,
commerce, and navigation, concluded October 2, 1886, in the harbor of
Nukualofa, Tongatabu, between the United States of America and the King
of Tonga.

I also transmit, for your information, a report from the Secretary of
State, inclosing copies of the treaties of friendship concluded between
the Kingdom of Tonga and Germany and Great Britain.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 14, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report furnished by the Secretary of State in
response to a resolution of the Senate of January 31 ultimo, calling for
particulars of the investment and distribution of the indemnity received
in 1875 from Spain, and known as the "_Virginius_ fund."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 15, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 12th instant
(the House of Representatives concurring), I return herewith the bill
(H.R. 5652) for the relief of James W. Goodrich.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 16, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, accompanying
the annual reports of the consuls of the United States on the trade and
industries of foreign countries.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 19, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the House of Representatives a report from the
Secretary of State, in response to a resolution of that body of the 16th
instant, inquiring as to the action of this Department to protect the
interests of American citizens whose property was destroyed by fire
caused by insurgents at Aspinwall in 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant, relating
to the arrest, trial, and discharge of A.K. Cutting, a citizen of the
United States, by the authorities of Mexico, I transmit herewith a
letter from the Secretary of State of this date, with its accompaniment.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 25, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives (the
Senate concurring), I return herewith the bill (H.R. 367) to amend
section 536 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to
the division of the State of Illinois into judicial districts, and to
provide for holding terms of court of the northern district at the city
of Peoria.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 25, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to its ratification, an additional
article to the treaty of extradition concluded October 11, 1870, between
the United States of America and the Republic of Guatemala.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, in reply to a resolution of the Senate of the 21st
ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, relative to the seizure
and sale of the American schooner _Rebecca_ at Tampico and the
resignation of Henry R. Jackson, esq., as minister of the United States
to Mexico. It is not thought compatible with the public interests to
publish the correspondence in either case at the present time.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 28, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 17th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, two
agreements made with Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota under
the provisions of the act of May 15, 1886 (24 U.S. Statutes at Large,
p. 44).

The papers are presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, March 1, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 22d ultimo, requesting
copies of certain letters, dated June 8, 1886, and September 20, 1886,
addressed by the counsel of A.H. Lazare to the Secretary of State, in
regard to the award against the Republic of Hayti in favor of A.H.
Lazare under the protocol signed by the Secretary of State and the
minister of Hayti on May 24, 1884, I transmit a report from the
Secretary of State upon the subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, March 1, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:.

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
28th ultimo (the Senate concurring), I return herewith the bill of the
House (H.R. 7310) granting a pension to Mrs. Arlanta T. Taylor.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 14th ultimo,
requesting information concerning the service rendered by Count
Casimir Pulaski, a brigadier-general of the Army of the United States
in the years 1777, 1778, and 1779, and also respecting his pay and
compensation, I transmit herewith reports upon the subject from the
Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary
of War.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, March 2, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, with
accompanying papers, furnished in response to the resolution of the
Senate of the 26th ultimo, calling for information touching the
conditions under which certain transatlantic telegraph companies have
been permitted to land their cables in the United States, and touching
contracts of such companies with each other or with other cable or
telegraph companies.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




VETO MESSAGES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 19, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2269, entitled "An act
granting a pension to William Dickens."

The beneficiary named in this bill filed his application for pension in
the Pension Bureau in 1880, and in December, 1886, the same was granted,
taking effect from the 15th day of October, 1864.

If the bill herewith returned should become a law, it would permit the
payment of a pension only from the date of its approval. Thus, if it did
not result in loss to the claimant by superseding the action of the
Pension Bureau, it is plain that it would be a useless enactment.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 27, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 2173, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Benjamin Obekiah."

This bill directs that the beneficiary named therein be placed upon the
pension roll, "subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension
laws."

In July, 1886, the person named in this bill was placed upon the pension
roll at a rate determined upon by the Pension Bureau, pursuant to the
provisions and limitations of the pension laws; and it is entirely
certain that the special act now presented to me would give the claimant
no new rights or additional benefits.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 27, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 127, entitled "An act
for the relief of H.K. Belding."

This bill directs the sum of $1,566 to be paid to the said H.K. Belding
"for carrying the mails of the United States between the years 1858 and
1862."

In April, 1858, a contract was awarded to the said Belding for carrying
the mails from Brownsville, Minn., to Carimona, in the same State, a
distance of 63 miles, and return, three times a week, for the sum of
$1,800 per annum, said service to begin on the 1st day of July, 1858,
and to terminate on the 30th day of June, 1862. This contract contained
a provision that the Post-Office Department might discontinue the
service in whole or in part, allowing to the contractor one month's
extra pay therefor.

On May 9, 1859, in consequence of a failure on the part of the Congress
to make the necessary appropriation, a general reduction of mail service
was ordered, and the service under the contract with the claimant was
reduced to two trips per week from May 10, 1859, instead of three, as
stipulated in the contract, and a deduction of one-third of the annual
sum to be paid by the contract was made for such reduced service; and
thereupon one month's extra pay was allowed and paid the contractor on
account of said reduction.

It is conceded that payment was made in full according to the terms of
the contract up to the 10th day of May, 1859, but it is claimed that
notwithstanding the reduction of the service to two trips per week and
the receipt by the contractor of one month's extra pay by reason
thereof, he continued to perform the full service of three trips per
week from the 10th day of May, 1859, to the 30th day of September, 1860,
being seventeen months.

Of the sum directed to be paid to him in the bill under consideration,
$850 is allowed him on account of this service, he having been paid
for the period stated at the rate of $1,200 per annum. The contractor
claims that this full service was performed after the reduction by the
Post-Office Department because he had received an intimation from the
Postmaster-General that if the full service was continued after such
reduction there was no doubt that the Congress would at its next session
make provision for the payment of the sum deducted.

Of course no legal claim in favor of the contractor can be predicated
upon the facts which he alleges; and if he did continue full service
under the circumstances stated, it must be conceded that his conduct was
hardly in accordance with the rules which regulate transactions of this
kind.

But a thorough search of the correspondence and records in the
Post-Office Department fails to disclose any letter, document, or record
giving the least support to the allegation that any such intimation or
assurance as is claimed was given; nor is there the least evidence in
the Department that the full service was actually performed. There is,
however, on the files of the Department a letter from the claimant,
dated August 25, 1860, containing the following statement:

  When I received official information of the curtailing service, the
  reasons why, I wrote to the Department that I would, if allowed,
  continue service three times a week and take certificates, if I could
  be allowed to connect with La Crosse at _pro rata_ rates. That letter
  was never answered and I continued service three times a week till
  3d of September following, then run twice a week.


Thus it appears that this contractor, who in August, 1860, claimed that
he continued full service upon the invitation of his own unanswered
letter for less than four months, insists twenty-seven years after the
date of the alleged service that he performed such service for seventeen
months, and up to October, 1860. Not only has he himself in this manner
almost conclusively shown that the claim now made and allowed is
exorbitant, but the evidence gives rise to a strong presumption that it
is entirely fictitious.

The remainder of the amount allowed to the claimant in this bill is
based upon an alleged performance by the contractor of the same mail
service which has been referred to from October 1, 1860, to February 14,
1861, a period of four months and fourteen days.

Prior to October 1, 1860, the claimant's contract was annulled and a new
or more extended route established, entirely covering that upon which he
had carried the mails. Thereupon a month's extra pay was allowed to him,
and new contractors undertook the service and were paid therefor by the
Government for the period covered by the claimant's alleged service.
From the 14th day of February, 1861, Mr. Belding's contract with the
Government was reinstated; but if he performed the service alleged
during the period of four months and fourteen days immediately prior to
that date, it is quite clear that he did so under an arrangement with
the new contractors, and not under circumstances creating any legal or
equitable claim against the Government.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 31, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 2167, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mrs. Margaret Dunlap."

By this bill it is proposed to grant a pension to the beneficiary
therein named as the mother of James F. Dunlap, who enlisted in the
Seventh Missouri State Militia Cavalry in 1862 and died in July, 1864,
of wounds received at the hand of a comrade.

The favorable action of the Senate upon this bill appears to be based,
so far as the cause of death is concerned, upon an affidavit contained
in the report of the committee to which the bill was referred, made
by one G. Will Houts, second lieutenant in the company to which the
deceased soldier belonged, in which the affiant deposes that some of
the comrades of the deceased being engaged in an affray he attempted
to separate the combatants, whereupon one of them, without cause or
provocation, stabbed the deceased in the breast, from which, in a few
days thereafter, he died; to which affidavit is added the finding of a
court-martial that the party inflicting the wound was found guilty of
manslaughter and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

Upon this showing it might be difficult to spell out the facts that the
injury to the soldier was received in the line of duty or that any
theory of granting pensions covered the case.

But the weak features of this application are not alluded to in the
committee's report.

The record of the soldier's death states that he was "killed by one of
his comrades in a difficulty."

The same Lieutenant Houts who in 1872 made oath that the soldier
was wounded while attempting to separate comrades who were fighting
testified in 1864 before the court-martial upon the trial of the man
who did the wounding, and whose name was Capehart, that Dunlap, the
deceased, stated to him "that he was more to blame than Capehart, and
that they had been scuffling, at first good-naturedly, and then both got
angry; that he was rougher with Capehart than he ought to have been."

Another witness testified that the affray took place between Dunlap and
Capehart; that Dunlap handled Capehart very roughly, kicking him, etc.,
and that finally Capehart stabbed Dunlap, upon which the latter
attempted to get his gun, but was prevented from doing so by the
witness.

Of course there can be no pretense of any kind of claim against the
Government arising from these facts.

It is quite evident that the affidavit presented to the Senate committee
was contrived to deceive, and it is to be feared that it is but a sample
of many that are made in support of claims for pensions.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 3, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 6443, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Alexander Falconer."

This claimant filed his application for pension in 1879, alleging that
in 1837, being then an enlisted man in the United States Army, he
received a gunshot wound in his right leg below the knee at the battle
of Okeechobee Lake, Florida.

The records disclose the fact that this soldier enlisted in 1834, and
was almost continuously in the service and attached to the same company
until 1846.

It further appears that he is reported sick during the month in which
the battle was fought. The list of casualties does not contain his name
among the wounded.

He reenlisted in 1846 and again in 1847, and was finally discharged in
1848. These latter enlistments were for service in the Mexican War.

His claim for pension was denied in 1885 on the ground that no
disability existed in a pensionable degree from the alleged gunshot
wound in his leg.

It is perfectly clear that the only pretexts for giving this claimant a
pension are military service, old age, and poverty.

Inasmuch as he was a soldier in the Mexican War, his case is undoubtedly
provided for by a general law approved within the last few days.

Under this bill the amount to be paid him is fixed, while if the bill
herewith returned were approved the sum to be paid him would depend
upon the determination of the Pension Bureau as to the extent of his
disability as the result of his wound. As that Bureau has quite lately
determined that there was no disability, it is evident that this old
soldier can better rely upon the general law referred to.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 3, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 6132, entitled "An act
granting a pension to William Lynch."

The claimant mentioned in this bill enlisted in the Fifth Regiment
United States Infantry in 1849, and was discharged, after a
reenlistment, September 8, 1859.

He filed a claim for pension more than twenty-four years afterwards, in
April, 1884, claiming that he contracted rheumatism of the right hip and
leg in the winter of 1857-58, while serving in Utah. He admitted that he
was not under treatment while in the service and that he never consulted
a physician in regard to his disability until he commenced proceedings
for a pension.

The evidence disclosed to me falls far short of establishing this claim
for pension upon its merits.

The application made to the Pension Bureau is still pending and awaiting
answer to inquiries made by the Bureau in January, 1886.

I do not understand that the Congress intends to pass special acts in
cases thus situated.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 7698, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Robert K. Bennett."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted in September, 1862, and it
appears that very soon after that he was detailed to the cook shop. This
seems to be the only military service he rendered, and on February 7,
1863, five months after enlistment, he was received into the marine
hospital at New Orleans for varicocele. He was discharged from the
service February 22, 1863, and the cause of discharge is stated to be
"varicocele, to which he was subject four years before enlistment."

Seventeen years thereafter, and in June, 1880, this claimant filed an
application for pension in the Pension Bureau, alleging that about the
10th day of February, 1863, in unloading a barrel it fell upon him,
producing a hernia, shortly after which he was affected by piles.

It will be seen that he fixes this injury as occurring three days after
his admission to the hospital, but he might well be honestly mistaken as
to this date. If the injury, however, was such as he stated, it is
difficult to see why no mention was made of it in the hospital records.

He persisted at all times, as I understand the case, until the rejection
of his claim in 1883, that his disability arose from hernia and piles.
The reason of this rejection is stated to be that varicocele existed
prior to enlistment and that there was no evidence of the existence of
piles in the service or at discharge. From a medical examination made in
December, 1882, it appears that there was "no evidence or symptoms of
disability resulting from piles or hernia."

Subsequent to the rejection of this claim some proof was filed tending
to show that the disability was in the right leg, but it is of such a
nature, in the light of the claimant's own previous allegations, that I
think the Pension Bureau did entirely right in informing his attorney
that the additional evidence did not change the status of the case.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 7540, entitled "An act
to increase the pension of Franklin Sweet."

This soldier was pensioned in 1863 as sergeant, though before that time
he had been acting as captain, and was in command of his company when he
was wounded. He is entitled in equity, and, I think, upon the theory of
an act very recently approved, in law, to be treated in regard to his
pension as a captain; and the Pension Bureau has within the last few
days ordered a certificate for pension to issue to him as captain as of
the date of his discharge.

I fully approve this action of the Bureau, and as this is much more
favorable to a deserving soldier than his remedy under this bill, I am
not willing that the action, so lately and so justly taken in his behalf
under the general law should be superseded by the approval of this act.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 8834, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Abraham P. Griggs."

The claimant mentioned in this bill enlisted in a New Jersey regiment
August 14, 1861, and was discharged for disability November 17, 1863.

He entered hospital January 2, 1863, and was transferred to general
hospital at Newark, N.J., March 28, 1863, with "debility." He was
discharged from that hospital and from the service in November, 1863,
as above stated, and the following statement from his certificate of
discharge, if trustworthy, sheds some light upon the kind of debility
with which he was afflicted:

  This man has been in this hospital for the past eight months. We do not
  believe him sick, or that he has been sick, but completely worthless.
  He is obese and a malingerer to such an extent that he is almost an
  imbecile--worthlessness, obesity, and imbecility and laziness. He is
  totally unfit for the Invalid Corps or for any other military duty.


I do not regard it at all strange that this claimant, encouraged by the
ease with which special acts are passed, seeks relief through such
means, after his application, filed in the Pension Bureau nearly twenty
years after his discharge, had been rejected.

Of the four comrades who make affidavit in support of his claim, two of
them are recorded as deserters.

His claim is predicated upon rheumatism. He alleges that after his
discharge from his enlistment he was drafted and served in the Third New
York Cavalry, but the Adjutant-General reports that his name does not
appear on the rolls of the company to which he says he was attached.

The board of United States examining surgeons at Trenton, N.J., report
as the result of an examination as late as May 27, 1885, that they found
"no disease of heart or lungs, no thickening or wasting of any of the
joints of the body, no evidence of any rheumatic diathesis, no rupture
or hemorrhoids, no disease of his spleen or kidney; hands are hard and
indicate an ability to work."

I can not think that the official statements referred to, and which
militate so strongly against the merits of the claimant, should be
impeached or set aside by any of the other testimony which has been
brought to my attention.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 927, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Cudbert Stone."

The report of the committee of the House of Representatives to whom this
bill was referred states that the claimant enlisted October 3, 1861, in
Company H, Fourteenth Kentucky Volunteers, and was honorably discharged
on the 31st day of January, 1865; that he filed his claim for pension
July 20, 1881, more than sixteen years thereafter, alleging that he
contracted piles while in the service, from exposure while in the line
of duty, and that his claim was rejected in October, 1884, on the ground
that the allegation of the claimant shows that his disability originated
while undergoing the sentence of a court-martial, and therefore not in
the line of duty.

The report of the committee closes with the statement that--

  In view of the long and faithful service and high character of the
  claimant and the well-established facts that claimant was a stout and
  able-bodied man, free from any and all disease when he enlisted, and
  that by reason of his faithful service to his country and the great
  suffering and hardship through which he passed while in said service
  his health was permanently destroyed, the committee earnestly recommend
  the passage of the bill.


The records of the War Department show that the claimant enlisted
October 25, 1861, and that on the muster-in roll of his company dated
December 10, 1861, he is reported as present; that on the roll dated
December 31, 1861, he is reported as absent without leave; that on the
roll for January and February, 1862, he is reported as deserted; that he
is not borne on subsequent rolls until that for November, 1864, when he
is reported as gained from desertion; he was mustered out with his
company January 31, 1865, and the records offered no evidence of
disability; that in his claim for pension, filed in 1881, he alleges
that he contracted piles in the winter of 1863.

In a subsequent statement he alleges that this date is erroneous,
and that his disability was contracted in October, 1864, and that he
believes it was the result of his having diarrhea for about twelve
months prior to that date, contracted while he was being carried from
place to place as a prisoner, he having been tried by a court-martial
in May, 1862, for desertion and sentenced to imprisonment until the
expiration of his term of enlistment.

Thus it quite plainly appears that this claimant spent the most of his
term of enlistment in desertion or in imprisonment as a punishment of
that offense; and thus is exhibited the "long and faithful service and
the high character of the claimant" mentioned as entitling him to
consideration by the committee who reported favorably upon this bill.

I withhold my assent from this bill because, if the facts before me,
derived from the army records and the statements of the claimant are
true, the allowance of this claim would, in my opinion, be a travesty
upon our whole scheme of pensions and an insult to every decent veteran
soldier.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 8150, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Jesse Campbell."

The claim for a pension made by the beneficiary named in this bill to
the Pension Bureau, and rejected in 1881, was reopened upon further
proof in January, 1887, and the claimant was ordered before a board of
examining surgeons, upon which a report has not yet been made.

Inasmuch as the only ground for the rejection of his claim was the
nonexistence of pensionable disability from the cause he alleged, and in
view of the fact that he now alleges a different disability, which the
new evidence seems to support, there is no doubt that justice will be
done the claimant under the general law.

This bill if passed would only place the name of the beneficiary upon
the pension roll, "subject to the restrictions and limitations of the
pension laws." Whether any sum was allowed him or not would still depend
upon the existence of a disability; and if this is found upon the
examination lately ordered, he will undoubtedly be put upon the pension
roll, under existing law, in accordance with his supplementary claim.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I hereby return without approval House bill No. 6832, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mrs. Catharine Sattler."

The beneficiary named in this bill claims a pension as the surviving
widow of Julius Sattler, who enlisted in Company A, Seventh New York
Volunteers, and was in the service from March 10, 1864, to March 22,
1865, when he was discharged because of the amputation of his left
forearm in consequence of a wound received in the battle of Deep Bottom,
Virginia, on the 14th day of August, 1864. He was pensioned in 1865 at
the rate of $8 per month, which was afterwards increased to $15 per
month, dating from June 6, 1866.

In October, 1867, he was employed as a watchman in the United States
bonded warehouse in the city of New York, and on the 31st day of that
month he received his monthly pay of $50. He disappeared on that day,
and on the 13th day of November, 1867, his body was found in the North
River, at the foot of West Thirteenth street, in the city of New York
without his hat, coat, watch, or money.

These facts, with the further statement that he was a strong and healthy
man at the time of his death, constitute the case on the part of the
widow, who filed her application for a pension July 8, 1884, nearly
seventeen years after her husband's death, alleging that she was married
to the deceased in 1865, after the amputation of his arm.

Her claim was rejected in November, 1884, upon the ground that the
soldier's death was not due to his military service.

This rejection was clearly right, unless the Government is to be held as
an insurer against every fatal casualty incurred by those who have
served in the Army, without regard to the manner of its occurrence.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 6825, entitled "An act
granting a pension to James R. Baylor."

The claim of the beneficiary named in this bill is based upon an injury
to his left ankle in 1862.

A medical examination in 1877 showed no appearance of there ever having
been a fracture of the left ankle, as alleged by the claimant, and
it was determined that there was no disability. A later examination
in the same year was had with the same result. Still another medical
examination was had in June, 1884, which, although nearly agreeing with
the previous ones, and giving rise to some suspicion that the claimant
was inclined to exaggerate and prevent a free and fair examination,
still does not absolutely exclude a very slight disability.

Upon the report of this last examination the case has been reopened for
further proof of disability since discharge, which if found will entitle
the claimant to a pension under general laws. On the question to be
determined he would have no advantage under a special act, inasmuch as
there must be a ratable disability to entitle him to any payment in
pursuance of its provisions.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 11, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without my approval House bill No. 10457, entitled
"An act for the relief of dependent parents and honorably discharged
soldiers and sailors who are now disabled and dependent upon their own
labor for support."

This is the first general bill that has been sanctioned by the Congress
since the close of the late civil war permitting a pension to the
soldiers and sailors who served in that war upon the ground of service
and present disability alone, and in the entire absence of any injuries
received by the casualties or incidents of such service.

While by almost constant legislation since the close of this war there
has been compensation awarded for every possible injury received as a
result of military service in the Union Army, and while a great number
of laws passed for that purpose have been administered with great
liberality and have been supplemented by numerous private acts to reach
special cases, there has not until now been an avowed departure from the
principle thus far adhered to respecting Union soldiers, that the bounty
of the Government in the way of pensions is generously bestowed when
granted to those who, in this military service and in the line of
military duty, have to a greater or less extent been disabled.

But it is a mistake to suppose that service pensions, such as are
permitted by the second section of the bill under consideration, are new
to our legislation. In 1818, thirty-five years after the close of the
Revolutionary War, they were granted to the soldiers engaged in that
struggle, conditional upon service until the end of the war or for a
term not less than nine months, and requiring every beneficiary under
the act to be one "who is, or hereafter by reason of his reduced
circumstances in life shall be, in need of assistance from his country
for support." Another law of a like character was passed in 1828,
requiring service until the close of the Revolutionary War; and still
another, passed in 1832, provided for those persons not included in the
previous statute, but who served two years at some time during the war,
and giving a proportionate sum to those who had served not less than six
months.

A service-pension law was passed for the benefit of the soldiers of 1812
in the year 1871, fifty-six years after the close of that war, which
required only sixty days' service; and another was passed in 1878,
sixty-three years after the war, requiring only fourteen days' service.

The service-pension bill passed at this session of Congress, thirty-nine
years after the close of the Mexican War, for the benefit of the
soldiers of that war, requires either some degree of disability or
dependency or that the claimant under its provisions should be 62 years
of age, and in either case that he should have served sixty days or been
actually engaged in a battle.

It will be seen that the bill of 1818 and the Mexican pension bill,
being thus passed nearer the close of the wars in which its
beneficiaries were engaged than the others--one thirty-five years and
the other thirty-nine years after the termination of such wars--embraced
persons who were quite advanced in age, assumed to be comparatively few
in number, and whose circumstances, dependence, and disabilities were
clearly defined and could be quite easily fixed.

The other laws referred to appear to have been passed at a time so
remote from the military service of the persons which they embraced that
their extreme age alone was deemed to supply a presumption of dependency
and need.

The number of enlistments in the Revolutionary War is stated to be
309,791, and in the War of 1812 576,622; but it is estimated that on
account of repeated reenlistments the number of individuals engaged in
these wars did not exceed one-half of the number represented by these
figures. In the war with Mexico the number of enlistments is reported to
be 112,230, which represents a greater proportion of individuals engaged
than the reported enlistments in the two previous wars.

The number of pensions granted under all laws to soldiers of the
Revolution is given at 62,069; to soldiers of the War of 1812 and their
widows, 60,178; and to soldiers of the Mexican War and their widows,
up to June 30, 1885, 7,619. The latter pensions were granted to the
soldiers of a war involving much hardship for disabilities incurred as a
result of such service; and it was not till within the last month that
the few remaining survivors were awarded a service pension.

The War of the Rebellion terminated nearly twenty-two years ago; the
number of men furnished for its prosecution is stated to be 2,772,408.
No corresponding number of statutes have ever been passed to cover every
kind of injury or disability incurred in the military service of any
war. Under these statutes 561,576 pensions have been granted from the
year 1861 to June 30, 1886, and more than 2,600 pensioners have been
added to the rolls by private acts passed to meet cases, many of them of
questionable merit, which the general laws did not cover.

On the 1st day of July, 1886, 365,763 pensioners of all classes were
upon the pension rolls, of whom 305,605 were survivors of the War of the
Rebellion and their widows and dependents. For the year ending June 30,
1887, $75,000,000 have been appropriated for the payment of pensions,
and the amount expended for that purpose from 1861 to July 1, 1886, is
$808,624,811.51.

While annually paying out such a vast sum for pensions already granted,
it is now proposed by the bill under consideration to award a service
pension to the soldiers of all wars in which the United States has been
engaged, including of course the War of the Rebellion, and to pay those
entitled to the benefits of the act the sum of $12 per month.

So far as it relates to the soldiers of the late civil war, the bounty
it affords them is given thirteen years earlier than it has been
furnished the soldiers of any other war, and before a large majority of
its beneficiaries have advanced in age beyond the strength and vigor of
the prime of life.

It exacts only a military or naval service of three months, without any
requirement of actual engagement with an enemy in battle, and without a
subjection to any of the actual dangers of war.

The pension it awards is allowed to enlisted men who have not suffered
the least injury, disability, loss, or damage of any kind, incurred in
or in any degree referable to their military service, including those
who never reached the front at all and those discharged from rendezvous
at the close of the war, if discharged three months after enlistment.
Under the last call of the President for troops, in December, 1864,
11,303 men were furnished who were thus discharged.

The section allowing this pension does, however, require, besides a
service of three months and an honorable discharge, that those seeking
the benefit of the act shall be such as "are now or may hereafter be
suffering from mental or physical disability, not the result of their
own vicious habits or gross carelessness, which incapacitates them for
the performance of labor in such a degree as to render them unable to
earn a support, and who are dependent upon their daily labor for
support."

It provides further that such persons shall, upon making proof of the
fact, "be placed on the list of invalid pensioners of the United States,
and be entitled to receive for such total inability to procure their
subsistence by daily labor $12 per month; and such pension shall
commence from the date of the filing of the application in the Pension
Office, upon proof that the disability then existed, and continue during
the existence of the same in the degree herein provided: _Provided_,
That persons who are now receiving pensions under existing laws, or
whose claims are pending in the Pension Office, may, by application to
the Commissioner of Pensions, in such form as he may prescribe, receive
the benefit of this act."

It is manifestly of the utmost importance that statutes which, like
pension laws, should be liberally administered as measures of
benevolence in behalf of worthy beneficiaries should admit of no
uncertainty as to their general objects and consequences.

Upon a careful consideration of the language of the section of this bill
above given it seems to me to be so uncertain and liable to such
conflicting constructions and to be subject to such unjust and
mischievous application as to alone furnish sufficient ground for
disapproving the proposed legislation.

Persons seeking to obtain the pension provided by this section must be
now or hereafter--

1. "Suffering from mental or physical disability."

2. Such disability must not be "the result of their own vicious habits
or gross carelessness."

3. Such disability must be such as "incapacitates them for the
performance of labor in such a degree as to render them unable to earn
a support."

4. They must be "dependent upon their daily labor for support."

5. Upon proof of these conditions they shall "be placed on the lists of
invalid pensioners of the United States, and be entitled to receive for
such total inability to procure their subsistence by daily labor $12 per
month."

It is not probable that the words last quoted, "such total inability to
procure their subsistence by daily labor," at all qualify the conditions
prescribed in the preceding language of the section. The "total
inability" spoken of must be "such" inability--that is, the inability
already described and constituted by the conditions already detailed in
the previous parts of the section.

It thus becomes important to consider the meaning and the scope of these
last-mentioned conditions.

The mental and physical disability spoken of has a distinct meaning in
the practice of the Pension Bureau and includes every impairment of
bodily or mental strength and vigor. For such disabilities there are now
paid 131 different rates of pension, ranging from $1 to $100 per month.

This disability must not be the result of the applicant's "vicious
habits or gross carelessness." Practically this provision is not
important. The attempt of the Government to escape the payment of a
pension on such a plea would of course in a very large majority of
instances, and regardless of the merits of the case, prove a failure.
There would be that strange but nearly universal willingness to help the
individual as between him and the public Treasury which goes very far to
insure a state of proof in favor of the claimant.

The disability of applicants must be such as to "incapacitate them for
the performance of labor in such a degree as to render them unable to
earn a support."

It will be observed that there is no limitation or definition of the
incapacitating injury or ailment itself. It need only be such a degree
of disability from any cause as renders the claimant unable to earn a
support by labor. It seems to me that the "support" here mentioned as
one which can not be earned is a complete and entire support, with no
diminution on account of the least impairment of physical or mental
condition. If it had been intended to embrace only those who by disease
or injury were totally unable to labor, it would have been very easy to
express that idea, instead of recognizing, as is done, a "degree" of
such inability.

What is a support? Who is to determine whether a man earns it, or has
it, or has it not? Is the Government to enter the homes of claimants for
pension and after an examination of their surroundings and circumstances
settle those questions? Shall the Government say to one man that his
manner of subsistence by his earnings is a support and to another that
the things his earnings furnish are not a support? Any attempt, however
honest, to administer this law in such a manner would necessarily
produce more unfairness and unjust discrimination and give more scope
for partisan partiality, and would result in more perversion of the
Government's benevolent intentions, than the execution of any statute
ought to permit.

If in the effort to carry out the proposed law the degree of disability
as related to earnings be considered for the purpose of discovering if
in any way it curtails the support which the applicant, if entirely
sound, would earn, and to which he is entitled, we enter the broad field
long occupied by the Pension Bureau, and we recognize as the only
difference between the proposed legislation and previous laws passed for
the benefit of the surviving soldiers of the Civil War the incurrence in
one case of disabilities in military service and in the other
disabilities existing, but in no way connected with or resulting from
such service.

It must be borne in mind that in no case is there any grading of this
proposed pension. Under the operation of the rule first suggested, if
there is a lack in any degree, great or small, of the ability to earn
such a support as the Government determines the claimant should have,
and, by the application of the rule secondly suggested, if there is a
reduction in any degree of the support which he might earn if sound, he
is entitled to a pension of $12.

In the latter case, and under the proviso of the proposed bill
permitting persons now receiving pensions to be admitted to the benefits
of the act, I do not see how those now on the pension roll for
disabilities incurred in the service, and which diminish their earning
capacity, can be denied the pension provided in this bill.

Of course none will apply who are now receiving $12 or more per month.
But on the 30th day of June, 1886, there were on the pension rolls
202,621 persons who were receiving fifty-eight different rates of
pension from $1 to $11.75 per month. Of these, 28,142 were receiving $2
per month; 63,116, $4 per month; 37,254, $6 per month, and 50,274, whose
disabilities were rated as total, $8 per month.

As to the meaning of the section of the bill under consideration there
appears to have been quite a difference of opinion among its advocates
in the Congress. The chairman of the Committee on Pensions in the House
of Representatives, who reported the bill, declared that there was in it
no provision for pensioning anyone who has a less disability than a
total inability to labor, and that it was a charity measure. The
chairman of the Committee on Pensions in the Senate, having charge of
the bill in that body, dissented from the construction of the bill
announced in the House of Representatives, and declared that it not only
embraced all soldiers totally disabled, but, in his judgment, all who
are disabled to any considerable extent; and such a construction was
substantially given to the bill by another distinguished Senator, who,
as a former Secretary of the Interior, had imposed upon him the duty of
executing pension laws and determining their intent and meaning.

Another condition required of claimants under this act is that they
shall be "dependent upon their daily labor for support."

This language, which may be said to assume that there exists within the
reach of the persons mentioned "labor," or the ability in some degree to
work, is more aptly used in a statute describing those not wholly
deprived of this ability than in one which deals with those utterly
unable to work.

I am of the opinion that it may fairly be contended that under the
provisions of this section any soldier whose faculties of mind or body
have become impaired by accident, disease, or age, irrespective of his
service in the Army as a cause, and who by his labor only is left
incapable of gaining the fair support he might with unimpaired powers
have provided for himself, and who is not so well endowed with this
world's goods as to live without work, may claim to participate in its
bounty; that it is not required that he should be without property, but
only that labor should be necessary to his support in some degree; nor
is it required that he should be now receiving support from others.

Believing this to be the proper interpretation of the bill, I can not
but remember that the soldiers of our Civil War in their pay and bounty
received such compensation for military service as has never been
received by soldiers before since mankind first went to war; that never
before on behalf of any soldiery have so many and such generous laws
been passed to relieve against the incidents of war; that statutes have
been passed giving them a preference in all public employments; that the
really needy and homeless Union soldiers of the rebellion have been to a
large extent provided for at soldiers' homes, instituted and supported
by the Government, where they are maintained together, free from the
sense of degradation which attaches to the usual support of charity; and
that never before in the history of the country has it been proposed to
render Government aid toward the support of any of its soldiers based
alone upon a military service so recent, and where age and circumstances
appeared so little to demand such aid.

Hitherto such relief has been granted to surviving soldiers few in
number, venerable in age, after a long lapse of time since their
military service, and as a parting benefaction tendered by a grateful
people.

I can not believe that the vast peaceful army of Union soldiers, who,
having contentedly resumed their places in the ordinary avocations of
life, cherish as sacred the memory of patriotic service, or who, having
been disabled by the casualties of war, justly regard the present
pension roll on which appear their names as a roll of honor, desire at
this time and in the present exigency to be confounded with those who
through such a bill as this are willing to be objects of simple charity
and to gain a place upon the pension roll through alleged dependence.

Recent personal observation and experience constrain me to refer to
another result which will inevitably follow the passage of this bill. It
is sad, but nevertheless true, that already in the matter of procuring
pensions there exists a widespread disregard of truth and good faith,
stimulated by those who as agents undertake to establish claims for
pensions heedlessly entered upon by the expectant beneficiary, and
encouraged, or at least not condemned, by those unwilling to obstruct
a neighbor's plans.

In the execution of this proposed law under any interpretation a wide
field of inquiry would be opened for the establishment of facts largely
within the knowledge of the claimants alone, and there can be no doubt
that the race after the pensions offered by this bill would not only
stimulate weakness and pretended incapacity for labor, but put a further
premium on dishonesty and mendacity.

The effect of new invitations to apply for pensions or of new advantages
added to causes for pensions already existing is sometimes startling.

Thus in March, 1879, large arrearages of pensions were allowed to be
added to all claims filed prior to July 1, 1880. For the year from July
1, 1879, to July 1, 1880, there were filed 110,673 claims, though in the
year immediately previous there were but 36,832 filed, and in the year
following but 18,455.

While cost should not be set against a patriotic duty or the recognition
of a right, still when a measure proposed is based upon generosity or
motives of charity it is not amiss to meditate somewhat upon the expense
which it involves. Experience has demonstrated, I believe, that all
estimates concerning the probable future cost of a pension list are
uncertain and unreliable and always fall far below actual realization.

The chairman of the House Committee on Pensions calculates that the
number of pensioners under this bill would be 33,105 and the increased
cost $4,767,120. This is upon the theory that only those who are
entirely unable to work would be its beneficiaries. Such was the
principle of the Revolutionary pension law of 1818, much more clearly
stated, it seems to me, than in this bill. When the law of 1818 was upon
its passage in Congress, the number of pensioners to be benefited
thereby was thought to be 374; but the number of applicants under the
act was 22,297, and the number of pensions actually allowed 20,485,
costing, it is reported, for the first year, $1,847,900, instead of
$40,000, the estimated expense for that period.

A law was passed in 1853 for the benefit of the surviving widows of
Revolutionary soldiers who were married after January 1, 1800. It was
estimated that they numbered 300 at the time of the passage of the act;
but the number of pensions allowed was 3,742, and the amount paid for
such pensions during the first year of the operation of the act was
$180,000, instead of $24,000, as had been estimated.

I have made no search for other illustrations, and the above, being at
hand, are given as tending to show that estimates can not be relied upon
in such cases.

If none should be pensioned under this bill except those utterly unable
to work, I am satisfied that the cost stated in the estimate referred to
would be many times multiplied, and with a constant increase from year
to year; and if those partially unable to earn their support should be
admitted to the privileges of this bill, the probable increase of
expense would be almost appalling.

I think it may be said that at the close of the War of the Rebellion
every Northern State and a great majority of Northern counties and
cities were burdened with taxation on account of the large bounties paid
our soldiers; and the bonded debt thereby created still constitutes
a large item in the account of the tax gatherer against the people.
Federal taxation, no less borne by the people than that directly levied
upon their property, is still maintained at the rate made necessary by
the exigencies of war. If this bill should become a law, with its
tremendous addition to our pension obligation, I am thoroughly convinced
that further efforts to reduce the Federal revenue and restore some part
of it to our people will, and perhaps should, be seriously questioned.

It has constantly been a cause of pride and congratulation to the
American citizen that his country is not put to the charge of
maintaining a large standing army in time of peace. Yet we are now
living under a war tax which has been tolerated in peaceful times to
meet the obligations incurred in war. But for years past, in all parts
of the country, the demand for the reduction of the burdens of taxation
upon our labor and production has increased in volume and urgency.

I am not willing to approve a measure presenting the objections to which
this bill is subject, and which, moreover, will have the effect of
disappointing the expectation of the people and their desire and hope
for relief from war taxation in time of peace.

In my last annual message the following language was used:

  Every patriotic heart responds to a tender consideration for those who,
  having served their country long and well, are reduced to destitution
  and dependence, not as an incident of their service, but with advancing
  age or through sickness or misfortune. We are all tempted by the
  contemplation of such a condition to supply relief, and are often
  impatient of the limitations of public duty. Yielding to no one in the
  desire to indulge this feeling of consideration, I can not rid myself
  of the conviction that if these ex-soldiers are to be relieved they
  and their cause are entitled to the benefit of an enactment under
  which relief may be claimed as a right, and that such relief should be
  granted under the sanction of law, not in evasion of it; nor should
  such worthy objects of care, all equally entitled, be remitted to the
  unequal operation of sympathy or the tender mercies of social and
  political influence, with their unjust discriminations.


I do not think that the objects, the conditions, and the limitations
thus suggested are contained in the bill under consideration.

I adhere to the sentiments thus heretofore expressed. But the evil
threatened by this bill is, in my opinion, such that, charged with a
great responsibility in behalf of the people, I can not do otherwise
than to bring to the consideration of this measure my best efforts of
thought and judgment and perform my constitutional duty in relation
thereto, regardless of all consequences except such as appear to me
to be related to the best and highest interests of the country.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 16, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without my approval House bill No. 10203, entitled "An act to
enable the Commissioner of Agriculture to make a special distribution of
seeds in the drought-stricken counties of Texas, and making an
appropriation therefor."

It is represented that a long-continued and extensive drought has
existed in certain portions of the State of Texas, resulting in a
failure of crops and consequent distress and destitution.

Though there has been some difference in statements concerning the
extent of the people's needs in the localities thus affected, there
seems to be no doubt that there has existed a condition calling for
relief; and I am willing to believe that, notwithstanding the aid
already furnished, a donation of seed grain to the farmers located in
this region, to enable them to put in new crops, would serve to avert
a continuance or return of an unfortunate blight.

And yet I feel obliged to withhold my approval of the plan, as proposed
by this bill, to indulge a benevolent and charitable sentiment through
the appropriation of public funds for that purpose.

I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and
I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought
to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no
manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent
tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should,
I think, be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson should be
constantly enforced that though the people support the Government the
Government should not support the people.

The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon
to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly
and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the
expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens
the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the
indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which
strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood.

It is within my personal knowledge that individual aid has to some
extent already been extended to the sufferers mentioned in this bill.
The failure of the proposed appropriation of $10,000 additional to meet
their remaining wants will not necessarily result in continued distress
if the emergency is fully made known to the people of the country.

It is here suggested that the Commissioner of Agriculture is annually
directed to expend a large sum of money for the purchase, propagation,
and distribution of seeds and other things of this description,
two-thirds of which are, upon the request of Senators, Representatives,
and Delegates in Congress, supplied to them for distribution among their
constituents.

The appropriation of the current year for this purpose is $100,000, and
it will probably be no less in the appropriation for the ensuing year.
I understand that a large quantity of grain is furnished for such
distribution, and it is supposed that this free apportionment among
their neighbors is a privilege which may be waived by our Senators and
Representatives.

If sufficient of them should request the Commissioner of Agriculture
to send their shares of the grain thus allowed them to the suffering
farmers of Texas, they might be enabled to sow their crops, the
constituents for whom in theory this grain is intended could well bear
the temporary deprivation, and the donors would experience the
satisfaction attending deeds of charity.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 19, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 859, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Charlotte O'Neal."

This bill proposes to grant a pension to the beneficiary therein named
as the widow of Richard O'Neal, late colonel of the Twenty-sixth
Regiment Indiana Volunteers.

In the report of the committee in the Senate to whom this bill was
referred it is stated that the deceased soldier was the first colonel of
the regiment named; that he resigned from the Army, and was by order of
the governor of Indiana put in charge of the United States camps at
Indianapolis. A military order is made part of the report, announcing
that the funeral of Lieutenant-Colonel Richard O'Neal will take place
January 6, 1863, and reciting the fact that the deceased had charge of
the camps near Indianapolis for the preceding four months.

It is distinctly alleged in the report that the beneficiary did not
apply to the Pension Bureau for relief because the disease of which her
husband died was incurred after his resignation.

The records of the War Department fail to show that there was a colonel
of the Twenty-sixth Indiana Regiment named Richard O'Neal, but it does
appear that Richard Neal was lieutenant-colonel of said regiment; that
he was mustered in August 31, 1861, and resigned June 30, 1862.

If this is the officer whose widow is named in the bill, the proposition
is to pension a widow of a soldier who, after ten months' service,
resigned, and who seven months after his resignation died of disease
which was in no manner related to his military service.

There is besides such a discrepancy between the name given in the bill
and the name of the officer who served as lieutenant-colonel in the
regiment mentioned that if the merits were with the widow the bill would
need further Congressional consideration.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 19, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 1626, entitled "An
act granting a pension to John Reed, Sr."

The report of the Senate Committee on Pensions merely states that the
mother of John Reed was granted a pension, commencing the 5th day of
December, 1862; that she has since died, and that the proposed bill is
to secure a pension to John Reed, Sr., the aged and dependent father of
the deceased soldier.

The records show that the beneficiary named in this bill filed an
application for a pension in 1877, alleging that he was the father of
John Reed, who died in the service, and that his wife, the mother of the
deceased soldier, died May 10, 1872, and that he, the father, was mainly
dependent upon his son for support. He filed evidence of the mother's
death, and one witness alleged that he was present at her death and
attended her funeral.

In 1864 Martha Reed, the mother of the soldier, filed her application
for pension, in which she at first claimed to be the widow of John Reed.
She afterwards, however, alleged that her husband, John Reed, abandoned
his family in 1859 and had not thereafter contributed to their support,
and that the soldier was her main support after such abandonment. She
was allowed a pension as dependent mother, which commenced in 1862, the
date of her son's death, and seems to have terminated July 22, 1884,
when she died.

The claim of the father was rejected in 1883 for the reason that the
mother, who had a prior right, was still living, and when his claim was
again pressed in 1886 he was informed that his abandonment of his family
in 1859 precluded the idea that he was entitled to a pension as being
dependent upon the soldier for support.

Of course these decisions were correct in law, in equity, and in morals.

This case demonstrates the means employed in attempts to cheat the
Government in applications for pensions--too often successful.

The allegation in 1877 of the man who now poses as the aged and
dependent father of a dead soldier that the mother died in 1872, when
at that time her claim was pending for pension largely based upon his
abandonment; the affidavit of the man who testified that he saw her die
in 1872; the effrontery of this unworthy father renewing his claim after
the detection of his fraud and the actual death of the mother, and the
allegation of the mother that she was a widow when in fact she was an
abandoned wife, show the processes which enter into these claims for
pensions and the boldness with which plans are sometimes concocted to
rob the Government by actually trafficking in death and imposing upon
the sacred sentiments of patriotism and national gratitude.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 21, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 2452, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Rachel Ann Pierpont."

At the time this bill was introduced and passed an application for
pension on behalf of the beneficiary named was pending in the Pension
Bureau. This application was filed in December, 1879. Within the last
few days, and on the 17th day of February, 1887, a pension was granted
upon said application and a certificate issued at precisely the same
rate which the bill herewith returned authorizes.

But the pension under the general laws dates from the time of filing the
application in 1879, while under a special act it would date only from
the time of its passage.

In the interest of the beneficiary and for her advantage the special
bill is therefore disapproved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 21, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith without approval Senate bill No. 2111, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Jacob Smith."

The beneficiary named in this bill filed his claim for a pension
November 11, 1882. He seems upon the facts presented to be justly
entitled to it, and since this bill has been in my hands the
Commissioner of Pensions has reported to me that a certificate therefor
would at once be issued.

Under such a certificate this disabled soldier's pension will commence
November 11, 1882. Under this bill, if approved, it would date only from
the time of its approval. I suppose his certificate has already been
issued, and I am unwilling to jeopardize the advantages he has gained
thereunder, as might be done if the bill herewith returned became a law.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 21, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 1768, entitled "An
act granting a pension to John D. Fincher."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted August 6, 1862, and was
discharged for disability February 24, 1863.

The surgeon's certificate of disability given at the time of the
soldier's discharge recites "general debility, which will disable him
from performing the duties of a soldier for a good period of time. The
disease was contracted by exposure and fatigue while performing the
duties of a soldier."

The claimant filed his application for pension in September, 1882,
nearly twenty years after his discharge, alleging that in November,
1862, he was attacked with bilious fever, followed by chronic diarrhea
and lung trouble.

In support of his application an affidavit of a comrade was filed,
setting forth the fact that the claimant was taken sick, as he alleged,
in the fall of 1862, and that he was sent to the hospital on that
account. The affidavit further expresses the belief that the claimant
still suffers from the effects of his sickness and exposure.

So far as I am informed, and so far as the committee's report discloses,
this is the only proof furnished of any continuance of disability at the
time of filing the application for pension, and this proof, if it may
be so regarded, is the mere expression of an opinion or belief, not
necessarily based upon any personal knowledge, and which might have been
honestly expressed if derived from representations of the claimant
himself.

In this condition of the case the claimant was examined by a surgeon in
1882, whose report seems to negative all ailments except as one may be
found in the fact alleged therein that he had pneumonia in 1868, and
that there might be some pleuritic adhesions, plainly inferring that if
such adhesions existed they were the result of the sickness to which he
refers.

In February, 1885, the claimant was again examined by a board of
surgeons. This examination seems to have been very carefully and
thoroughly made, and as a result of the same the board reported that
there was no disability. On this ground the claim was rejected.

There is no doubt as to the sickness of the claimant during his service
and his disability at the time of his discharge, but unless the report
of the board of surgeons is to be impeached without apparent reason
there is as little doubt of the claimant's complete recovery.

No case has been presented to me in which the evidence afforded of a
continuance of disability seems so inconclusive. In these circumstances
the report of the board of surgeons appears to be upon the evidence
before me almost uncontradicted.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No 7327, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Anthony McRobertson."

The beneficiary named in this bill was badly wounded in a battle which
occurred about the 17th day of November, 1863.

He applied for pension in 1874, and the same was granted in November,
1886, to date from the time of his disability, November 17, 1863.

He is now receiving the highest rate allowed under the general law for
cases such as his, and he would be entitled to no more under the special
act.

It could not, therefore, by any possibility be of the least benefit to
him, but, on the other hand, might jeopardize his advantages already
gained.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 8002, entitled "An act
to increase the pension of Loren Burritt."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted in October, 1863, and in
December of that year was mustered in as major of the Eighth Regiment
United States Colored Troops; was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and
very badly wounded in February, 1864, and was mustered out with his
regiment November 10, 1865.

His condition at the present time is most pitiable, and his helplessness
is such that he needs the constant care and assistance of others. He was
obliged to give up business about the year 1873.

In 1866 he was pensioned for his wound, which was in the right leg; and
such pension has been increased from time to time until he is now in the
receipt of $72 per month, the highest pension allowed under general
laws. This rate was awarded him under a law passed in 1880, increasing
from $50 to $72 per month the pensions of those who were rendered
permanently and totally helpless, so that they required the regular and
personal attendance of another.

On the 30th day of June, 1886, there were 1,009 persons on the rolls
receiving this rate of pension.

This bill was reported upon adversely by the House Committee on
Pensions, and they, while fully acknowledging the distressing
circumstances surrounding the case, felt constrained to adverse action
on the ground, as stated in the language of their report, that "there
are many cases just as helpless and requiring as much attention as this
one, and were the relief asked for granted in this instance it might
reasonably be looked for in all."

No man can check, if he would, the feeling of sympathy and pity aroused
by the contemplation of utter helplessness as the result of patriotic
and faithful military service; but in the midst of all this I can not
put out of mind the soldiers in this condition who were privates in the
ranks, who sustained the utmost hardships of war, but who, because they
were privates and in the humble walks of life, are not so apt to share
in special favors of Congressional action. I find no reason why this
beneficiary should be singled out from his class, except it be that he
was a lieutenant-colonel instead of a private.

I am aware of a precedent for the legislation proposed, which is
furnished by an enactment of the last session of Congress, to which I
assented, as I think improvidently; but I am certain that exact equality
and fairness in the treatment of our veterans is, after all, more just,
beneficent, and useful than unfair discrimination in favor of officers
or the special benefit born of sympathy in individual cases.

I am constrained, therefore, to agree with the House Committee on
Pensions in their views of this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 10082, entitled "An
act to increase the pension of Margaret R. Jones."

The beneficiary mentioned in this bill is now receiving the highest rate
of pension allowed in cases such as hers under the general law.

All the information which is available to me fails to furnish any reason
why this pension should be specially increased, except the general
statement in the claimant's petition that she is in necessitous
circumstances and that the rate now allowed her is insufficient for her
support.

The further statement in the petition that her husband's death "was
caused prematurely by his endeavor to comply with unusual,
disrespectful, and indefinite orders" to go to League Island Navy-Yard
certainly does not in all its bearings furnish conclusive proof that his
widow's pension should be increased beyond that furnished others in her
situation.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5877, entitled "An act for the
relief of William H. Morhiser."

This beneficiary, though apparently not regularly enlisted in the
military service of the country during the time covered by this bill for
his relief, performed military duty, was captured and imprisoned. No
technicality should be interposed in considering this bill to prevent
the receipt by him of the same pay and allowances awarded under like
circumstances to soldiers regularly enlisted.

But this bill proposes to appropriate for the benefit of this claimant
such sum as pay and allowances as would be allowed a private of cavalry
from November 30, 1863, to January 1, 1865. It appears from the records
of the War Department that he has already been paid for at least two
months of that time.

The bill also provides that there shall also be allowed to the claimant
such additional pay and allowances, as commutation of rations and so
forth, as were allowed prisoners of war, from July 30, 1864, to January
1, 1865. The records disclose the fact that he has been allowed
commutation of rations from July 30, 1864, to December 11, 1864.

As the purpose of this bill, as gathered from the report of the
committee to whom it was referred, appears to be to secure for the
claimant therein named compensation "at the rate at which other soldiers
in the same situation were paid," and as he seems already to have
received a considerable part of the compensation provided for in the
bill, I am led to suppose that a mistake has been made in framing the
same.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 24, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 7648, entitled "An act
for the relief of the estate of the late John How, Indian agent, and his
sureties."

John How was appointed Indian agent in July, 1878, and upon such
appointment gave a bond to the Government in the penal sum of $10,000
conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties as such agent and
to protect the Government from loss by mismanagement or malfeasance in
his official conduct. The parties named in the bill were his sureties on
said bond.

On the 23d day of December, 1881, upon a report of inspectors connected
with the Indian Bureau suggesting frauds and mismanagement in the
conduct of this agency, Mr. How was suspended from his office, which
suspension was approved by the President in January, 1882.

After such suspension the accounts of the agent were examined and
various explanations offered by him in relation thereto. It is stated,
however, in a report from the Indian Office now before me, that such
explanations were deemed by that office sufficient to remove only a
small part of the items in the accounts which were questioned. The
matter was thereupon referred to the Treasury Department for further
examination and adjustment.

The Second Comptroller reports that the final settlement of this agent's
accounts was pending before the accounting officers for upward of
eighteen months, affording ample opportunity for any explanation which
might be deemed necessary and proper, and that on the 21st day of July,
1885, a final adjustment was made of the said accounts, by which a sum
very much in excess of the penalty of his bond was found due from said
agent to the Government.

A suit was afterwards instituted against the agent and his sureties to
recover the amount thus found due, so far as the bond covered the same.

This suit is still pending.

The object of the bill now under consideration is to wholly release and
discharge these sureties from any liability upon said bond.

It seems to be the opinion of all the officers of the Government who
have examined the matter at all that a debt exists in favor of the
Government upon this bond. It is reported that a large amount of
evidence has been taken, and that in the opinion of these officers the
amount due the Government can not be reduced to a less amount than the
penalty of the bond.

The Second Comptroller states, as results of examinations made in his
office and by the Second Auditor, that it appears that many of the
vouchers presented by the agent were fictitious, the persons in whose
names they were given testifying that services and supplies therein
mentioned were never rendered or furnished; that in other cases parties
denied the genuineness of vouchers purporting to be made by them; that a
large voucher apparently given for cattle was actually given for money
loaned, and that supplies bought with Government funds were appropriated
for the agent's personal benefit.

I do not suppose that it was intended by the Congress to entirely
relieve these sureties if a condition exists such as is above set out,
which results in an indebtedness to the Government. The proposed
legislation, judging from the report of the House Committee on Claims,
seems rather to proceed upon the theory that no sum is due the
Government in the premises.

I think it will hardly be claimed that the patient investigation of the
accounting officers should be lightly discredited in this case; and it
seems to me that justness to the Government and fairness to the sureties
seeking relief will presumably be secured by the further prosecution of
the suit already instituted, in which the truth of all matters involved
can be thoroughly tested.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 25, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 1162, entitled "An
act for the erection of a post-office building at Lynn, Mass."

The title of this bill sufficiently indicates its purpose.

Congressional action in its favor appears to be based, as usual in such
cases, upon representations concerning the population of the town in
which it is proposed to erect the building, and the increase in such
population, the number of railroad trains arriving and departing daily,
and various other items calculated to demonstrate the importance of the
city selected for Federal decoration.

These statements are supplemented by a report from the postmaster,
setting forth that his postal receipts are increasing, giving the number
of square feet now occupied by his office, the amount of rent paid, and
the number of his employees.

This bill, unlike others of its class which seek to provide a place for
a number of Federal offices, simply authorizes the construction of a
building for the accommodation of the post-office alone.

The report of the postmaster differs also in this case from those which
are usually furnished, inasmuch as it is therein distinctly stated that
the space now furnished for his office is sufficient for its present
operations. He adds, however, that from present indications there will
be a large increase in the business of the office during the next ten
years.

It is quite apparent that there is no necessity for the expenditure of
$100,000, the amount limited in this bill, or any other sum, for the
construction of the proposed building to meet the wants of the
Government, and for this reason I am constrained to disapprove the
proposed legislation.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 2045, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Mrs. Sarah Hamilton."

Thomas Hamilton, the husband of the beneficiary named in this bill,
enlisted September 2, 1862. Upon the records he is reported present
to April 30, 1863; deserted May 27, 1863. His name is dropped from
subsequent rolls to February 29, 1864, when he is reported as a deserter
in arrest. He is not borne upon the rolls for March and April, 1864;
for May and June, 1864, he is reported absent in arrest; for July and
August, present under arrest; and for September and October, present for
duty. He was mustered out with his company May 24, 1865.

He applied for a pension in 1872, alleging that he received an injury to
his left leg about February 15, 1863, at St. Louis, by falling from a
ladder, causing varicose veins and stiffening of the leg.

He was granted a pension January 29, 1881, to commence May 25, 1865.

He subsequently applied for an increase of pension, claiming that
his eyes had become affected as a result of his varicose veins. This
application was rejected upon the ground that the disability for which
he was pensioned had not increased and that the disease of his eyes was
not a result of such disability.

The pensioner died April 22, 1883, twenty years after his alleged
injury, of cerebral apoplexy; and a physician states it as his judgment
that the varicosed condition of the venous system was primarily the
cause of his disabilities and death.

His widow filed an application for pension October 31, 1883, which was
rejected upon the ground that the soldier's death was not the result of
his military service.

Notwithstanding the record of the deceased soldier, stained as it is
with the charge of desertion, and the entire absence of any record proof
of sickness and injury, I should consider myself, in favor of his widow,
bound by the act of the Pension Bureau in allowing him a pension, and
should cheerfully aid her attempt to procure a pension for herself in
her needy condition, if I was not thoroughly convinced that her
husband's death had no relation to his military service or any injury
for which he was pensioned.

To the ordinary mind it seems impossible that apoplexy could result
from such a varicosed condition as is described in this case. I do not
understand that the physician who gives a contrary opinion bases his
judgment upon actual observation at the time the soldier died. The last
medical examination by the Pension Bureau before the soldier's death was
in October, 1882, and resulted in the following report of the examining
surgeon:

  Weight, 180 pounds; age, 69 years; has varicose veins of left leg, but
  not to such an extent as to increase the size of the leg or result in
  marked disability; he is entirely blind in both eyes from glaucoma,
  which does not in any degree, in my opinion, depend upon the pensioned
  disability--varicose veins.


It appears that the benefit proposed by this bill can neither be
properly regarded as a gratuity, based upon the honorable service and
record of the soldier, nor predicated on his death resulting from a
disability incurred in such service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 2210, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Anna Wright."

The beneficiary named in this bill was granted a pension on the 17th day
of November, 1886, dating from May 25, 1863, and is now under the
general law receiving precisely the pension which she would receive
under the bill herewith returned if the same should be approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 26, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 6976, entitled "An act
to erect a public building at Portsmouth, Ohio."

It is represented in support of this bill that Portsmouth by its last
census had a population of 11,321, and that, it contains at present
not less than 15,000 inhabitants; that it is a place of considerable
manufacturing and commercial importance, and that there is no public
building for the transaction of the business of the General Government
nearer than Columbus or Cincinnati, both about 100 miles distant.

It is further stated in a communication from the promoter of this bill
that--

  There is not a Federal public building in the State of Ohio east of the
  line drawn on the accompanying map from Cleveland through Columbus to
  Cincinnati; and when wealth and population and the needs of the public
  service are considered, the distribution of public buildings in the
  State is an unfair one.


Here is disclosed a theory of expenditure for public buildings which I
can hardly think should be adopted. If an application for the erection
of such a building is to be determined by the distance between its
proposed location and another public building, or upon the allegation
that a certain division of a State is without a Government building,
or that the distribution of these buildings in a particular State
is unfair, we shall rapidly be led to an entire disregard of the
considerations of necessity and public need which it seems to me should
alone justify the expenditure of public funds for such a purpose.

The care and protection which the Government owes to the people do
not embrace the grant of public buildings to decorate thriving and
prosperous cities and villages, nor should such buildings be erected
upon any principle of fair distribution among localities.

The Government is not an almoner of gifts among the people, but an
instrumentality by which the people's affairs should be conducted upon
business principles, regulated by the public needs.

Applying these principles to the case embraced in the bill under
consideration, we find that at Portsmouth there is a post-office and
an internal revenue collector's office for which the Government should
provide.

It is represented that the quarters now furnished for these offices
are inadequate and that more spacious rooms are desirable. In the
post-office there are six employees, and the collector of internal
revenue has five assistants. The annual rent paid for both these offices
is $600.

Upon these facts the proposition is to expend $60,000 for a building to
accommodate these offices, entailing after its completion quite a large
sum annually for its care and superintendence.

Though the sum of $60,000 is the limit fixed for the cost of this
building, if it should be completed for this sum it would be an
exception to the rule in such cases; and if it is absolutely impossible
to do the public business in the quarters now occupied by these offices,
which does not appear to be claimed, there can be no difficulty in
securing in this enterprising city adequate accommodations at a rent not
largely in excess of that at present paid.

Upon the whole it does not appear, as a business proposition, that the
building proposed should be undertaken.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 28, 1887_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 531, entitled "An act
to provide for the erection of a public building at Lafayette, Ind."

This bill appropriates $50,000 for the purpose indicated in its title.

It is represented that a deputy internal-revenue collector is located at
Lafayette, but no information is furnished that he has an office there
which is or ought to be furnished by the Government. It is not claimed
that the Federal business at this point requires other accommodation
except for the post-office located there.

As usual in such cases, the postmaster reports, in reply to inquiries,
that his present quarters are inadequate, and, as usual, it appears that
the postal business is increasing. The rent paid for the rooms or
building in which the post-office is kept is $1, 100 per annum.

I have been informed since this bill has been in my hands that last
spring a building was erected at Lafayette with special reference to
its use for the post-office, and that a part of it was leased by the
Government for that purpose for the term of five years. Upon the faith
of such lease the premises thus rented were fitted up and furnished by
the owner of the building in a manner especially adapted to postal uses,
and an account of such fitting up and furnishing is before me, showing
the expense of the same to have been more than $2,500.

In view of such new and recent arrangements made by the Government for
the transaction of its postal business at this place, it seems that the
proposed expenditure for the erection of a building for that purpose is
hardly necessary or justifiable.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas satisfactory proof has been given to me by the Government
of the Netherlands that no light-house and light dues, tonnage dues,
or beacon and buoy dues are imposed in the ports of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands; that no other equivalent tax of any kind is imposed upon
vessels in said ports, under whatever flag they may sail; that vessels
belonging to the United States of America and their cargoes are not
required in the Netherlands to pay any fee or due of any kind or nature,
or any import due higher or other than is payable by vessels of the
Netherlands or their cargoes; that no export duties are imposed in the
Netherlands; and that in the free ports of the Dutch East Indies, to
wit, Riouw (in the island of Riouw), Pabean, Sangrit, Loloan, and
Tamboekoes (in the island of Bali), Koepang (in the island of Timor),
Makassar, Menado, Kema, and Gorontalo (in the island of Celebes),
Amboina, Saparoa, Banda, Ternate, and Kajeli (in the Moluccas), Olehleh
and Bengkalis (in the island of Sumatra), vessels are subjected to no
fiscal tax, and no import or export duties are there levied:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 11 of the
act of Congress entitled "An act to abolish certain fees for official
services to American vessels, and to amend the laws relating to shipping
commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other purposes,"
approved June 19, 1886, do hereby declare and proclaim that from and
after the date of this my proclamation shall be suspended the collection
of the whole of the duty of 6 cents per ton, not to exceed 30 cents per
ton per annum (which is imposed by said section of said act), upon
vessels entered in the ports of the United States from any of the ports
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe, or from any of the above
named free ports of the Dutch East Indies.

_Provided_, That there shall be excluded from the benefits of the
suspension hereby declared and proclaimed the vessels of any foreign
country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or nature imposed on
vessels of the United States, or the import or export duties on their
cargoes, are in excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the
vessels of such foreign country or their cargoes, or of the fees, dues,
or duties imposed on the vessels of the country in which are the ports
mentioned in this proclamation, or the cargoes of such vessels.

And the suspension hereby declared and proclaimed shall continue so long
as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the
United States and their cargoes shall be continued in the said ports of
the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe and the said free ports of the
Dutch East Indies, and no longer.

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 22d day of April, A.D. 1887, and of
the Independence of the United States the one hundred and eleventh.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas satisfactory proof has been given to me by the Government of
Spain that no discriminating duties of tonnage or imposts are imposed
or levied in the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, and
all belonging to the Crown of Spain, upon vessels wholly belonging to
citizens of the United States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or
merchandise imported in the same from the United States or from any
foreign country; and

Whereas notification of such abolition of discriminating duties of
tonnage and imposts as aforesaid has been given to me by a memorandum
of agreement signed this day at the city of Washington between the
Secretary of State of the United States and the envoy extraordinary
and minister plenipotentiary of Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain
accredited to the Government of the United States of America:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States
of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 4228
of the Revised Statutes of the United States, do hereby declare and
proclaim that from and after the date of this my proclamation, being
also the date of the notification received as aforesaid, the foreign
discriminating duties of tonnage and imposts within the United States
are suspended and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of Spain
and the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in said vessels
into the United States from the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, the
Philippines, and all other countries belonging to the Crown of Spain, or
from any other foreign country; such suspension to continue so long as
the reciprocal exemption of Vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States and their cargoes shall be continued in the said islands of Cuba
and Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, and all other Spanish possessions,
and no longer.

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 21st day of September, A.D. 1887,
and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and
twelfth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



A PROCLAMATION

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

The goodness and the mercy of God, which have followed the American
people during all the days of the past year, claim their grateful
recognition and humble acknowledgment. By His omnipotent power He has
protected us from war and pestilence and from every national calamity;
by His gracious favor the earth has yielded a generous return to the
labor of the husbandman, and every path of holiest toil has led to
comfort and contentment; by His loving kindness the hearts of our people
have been replenished with fraternal sentiment and patriotic endeavor,
and by His unerring guidance we have been directed in the way of
national prosperity.

To the end that we may with one accord testify our gratitude for all
these blessings, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do
hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the 24th day of November next,
as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by all the people of
the land.

On that day let all secular work and employment be suspended, and let
our people assemble in their accustomed places of worship and with
prayer and songs of praise give thanks to our Heavenly Father for all
that He has done for us, while we humbly implore the forgiveness of our
sins and a continuance of His mercy.

Let families and kindred be reunited on that day, and let their hearts,
filled with kindly cheer and affectionate reminiscence, be turned in
thankfulness to the source of all their pleasures and the giver of all
that makes the day glad and joyous.

And in the midst of our worship and our happiness let us remember the
poor, the needy, and the unfortunate, and by our gifts of charity and
ready benevolence let us increase the number of those who with grateful
hearts shall join in our thanksgiving.

In witness whereof I have set my hand and caused the seal of the United
States to be hereunto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 25th day of October, A.D. 1887, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twelfth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.


JANUARY 4, 1887.

In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the following regulations governing promotions in the
customs service at the city of New York are hereby approved and
promulgated:

  REGULATION 1.

  The board of examiners at the New York customs district may at any time,
  with the approval of the Civil Service Commission, order an examination
  for promotion, and at least five days before the examination is to take
  place shall cause a notice to be posted conspicuously in the office for
  which such examination is to be held, and shall state in said notice the
  class or classes to test fitness for promotion to which the examination
  is to be held and the time and place of examination. Promotions shall
  be from class to class, and the examination of persons in one class
  shall be to test their fitness for promotion to the next higher class:
  _Provided, however_, That if in any examination for promotion the
  competitors in the next lower class shall not exceed three in number,
  the board may, at its discretion, open the competition to one or more
  of the classes below the class in which there are not more than three
  competitors. All persons in the class immediately below the class for
  which promotions are to be made, and who have been in said class at
  least six months, must be examined for promotion.

  REGULATION 2.

  The examination must be held upon such subjects as in the opinion
  of the board of examiners, with the approval of the Commission, the
  general nature of the business of the office and the special nature
  of the positions to be filled may require. In grading the competitors
  due weight must be given to the efficiency with which the several
  competitors shall have performed their duties in the office; but none
  who shall fail to attain a minimum standard of 75 per cent in the
  written examination shall be certified for promotion.

  REGULATION 3.

  The whole list of eligibles from which the promotion is to be made shall
  be certified to the nominating officer.

  REGULATION 4.

  Any person employed in any of the offices to which these regulations
  apply may be transferred without examination, after service of six
  months consecutively since January 16, 1883, from one office to a
  class no higher in another office, upon certification by the board of
  examiners that he has passed an examination for the class in which he
  is doing duty, and with the consent of the heads of the respective
  offices and the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.

  REGULATION 5.

  The Civil Service Commission may at any time amend these regulations
  or substitute other regulations therefor.


The foregoing regulations are adopted and approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the following rule for the regulation and improvement
of the executive civil service is hereby amended and promulgated, as
follows:


  RULE IV.

  1. The Civil Service Commission shall have authority to appoint the
  following-named boards of civil-service examiners:

  _The central board_.--This board shall be composed of seven
  members, who shall be detailed from the Departments in which they may
  be serving at the time of appointment for continuous service at the
  office of the Civil Service Commission. Under the supervision of the
  Commission, the central board shall examine and mark the papers of all
  examinations for entrance to the departmental service, and also such
  of the papers of examinations for entrance to either the customs or
  the postal service as shall be submitted to it by the Commission. The
  Commission shall have authority to require any customs or postal board
  to send the papers of any examination conducted by said board to be
  examined and marked by the central board. The persons composing this
  board shall be in the departmental service.

  _Special boards_.--These boards shall mark the papers of special
  examinations for the classified departmental service, and shall be
  composed of persons in the public service.

  _Supplementary boards_.--These boards shall mark the papers of
  supplementary examinations for the classified departmental service, and
  shall be composed of persons in the public service.

  _Local departmental boards_.--These boards shall be organized at
  one or more places in each State and Territory where examinations for
  the departmental service are to be held, and shall each be composed of
  persons in the public service residing in the State or Territory in
  which the board is to act.

  _Customs boards_.--One for each classified customs district, to be
  composed of persons in the customs service in the district for which
  the board is to act. These boards shall conduct examinations for
  entrance to and promotion in the classified customs service.

  _Postal boards_.--One for each classified post-office, to be
  composed of persons in the postal service at the post-office for which
  said board is to act. These boards shall conduct examinations for
  entrance to and promotions in the postal service.

  2. No person shall be appointed a member of any board of examiners named
  herein until after consultation by the Civil Service Commission with the
  head of the Department or office in which the person whom it desires to
  appoint is serving.

  3. It shall be the duty of the head of any classified customs office or
  classified post-office to promptly inform the Civil Service Commission,
  in writing, of the removal or resignation from the public service, or
  of the death, of any member of a board of examiners appointed from his
  office; and upon request of the Commission such officer shall state to
  the Commission which of the persons employed in his office he regards as
  most competent to fill the vacancy thus occasioned, or any vacancy which
  may otherwise occur; and in making this statement the officer shall
  mention generally the qualifications of each of the persons named
  therein by him.

  4. The duties of a member of a special, supplementary, local,
  departmental, customs, or postal board of examiners shall be regarded as
  a part of the public duties of such examiner, and each examiner shall be
  allowed time during office hours to perform the duties required of him.

  5. The Civil Service Commission shall have authority to adopt
  regulations which shall (1) prescribe the manner of organizing the
  several boards of civil-service examiners herein named, (2) more
  particularly state the powers of each of said boards, and (3)
  specifically define the duties of the members thereof.

  6. The Civil Service Commission shall have authority to change at any
  time the membership of any of the above-named boards of civil-service
  examiners.


Approved, January 15, 1887.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



REGULATIONS FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF ARMS, ORDNANCE STORES,
QUARTERMASTER'S STORES, AND CAMP EQUIPAGE TO THE TERRITORIES AND THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, PRESCRIBED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
IN CONFORMITY WITH THE SECOND SECTION OF THE ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO
AMEND SECTION 1661, REVISED STATUTES, MAKING AN ANNUAL APPROPRIATION TO
PROVIDE ARMS AND EQUIPMENTS FOR THE MILITIA."

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 22, 1887_.

1. Each Territory shall, if included within the provisions of said act,
annually receive arms, ordnance stores, quartermaster's stores, and camp
equipage equivalent to the quota of a State having the least
representation in Congress, and the District of Columbia shall annually
receive arms, ordnance stores, quartermaster's stores, and camp equipage
not exceeding double the quota of a State having the least
representation in Congress.

2. Arms, ordnance stores, quartermaster's stores, and camp equipage
shall be issued to the Territories on requisitions of the governors
thereof and to the District of Columbia on requisitions approved by the
senior general of the District Militia present for duty. Returns shall
be made annually by the senior general of the District Militia in the
manner as required by sections 3 and 4 of the act above referred to in
the case of States and Territories.

3. It is forbidden to make issues to States and Territories in excess of
the amount to their credit under the provisions of section 1161, Revised
Statutes, as amended by the above act.

4. The regulations established by President Pierce April 30, 1855, under
the act approved March 30, 1855, are hereby revoked.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, Rules IV, VI, XIX, XXI of the rules for the regulation
and improvement of the executive civil service are hereby amended and
promulgated as follows:


  RULE IV.

  I. The Commission may appoint boards of examiners as follows:

  _The central board_.--A board composed of seven members, who shall
  be detailed from the Departments in which they are serving when
  appointed for continuous service at the office of the Commission. This
  board shall mark such papers of examinations for admission to the
  departmental, customs, and postal services as the Commission may direct.

  _Departmental special boards_.--These boards shall mark such papers
  of special examinations for the departmental service as the Commission
  may direct, and shall be composed of persons in the public service.

  _Departmental supplementary boards_.--These boards shall mark the
  papers of such supplementary examinations for the departmental service
  as the Commission may direct, and shall be composed of persons in the
  public service.

  _Departmental promotion boards_.--One for each of the Executive
  Departments, of three members, and one auxiliary member for each bureau
  of the Department for which the board is to act.

  _Departmental local boards_.--These boards shall be organized at
  one or more places in each State and Territory where examinations for
  the departmental service are to be held, and shall each be composed of
  persons in the public service residing in the State or Territory in
  which the board is to act.

  _Customs boards_.--One for each classified customs district, to be
  composed of persons in the customs service in the district for which
  said board is to act. These boards shall conduct examinations for
  entrance to and promotions in the classified customs service, and shall
  mark such of the examination papers for that service as the Commission
  shall direct. They shall also conduct such departmental examinations as
  the Commission may direct.

  _Postal boards_.--One for each classified post-office, to be
  composed of persons in the postal service at the post-office in which
  said board is to act. These boards shall conduct examinations for
  entrance to and promotions in the postal service, and shall mark such of
  the examination papers for that service as the Commission may direct.
  They shall also conduct such departmental examinations as the Commission
  may direct.

  2. No person shall be appointed an examiner until after consultation by
  the Commission with the head of the Department or office in which the
  person whom it desires to appoint is serving.

  3. It shall be the duty of the head of any classified customs office or
  post-office to promptly give written information to the Commission of
  the removal or resignation from the public service, or of the inability
  or refusal to act, of any examiner in his office; and on request of the
  Commission such officer shall state which of the persons in his office
  he regards as most competent to fill the vacancy, and shall mention
  generally the qualifications of each person named by him.

  4. The duties of an examiner shall be regarded as a part of his public
  duties, and each examiner shall be allowed time during office hours to
  perform the duties required of him.

  5. The Commission may adopt regulations which shall prescribe (1) the
  manner of organizing the boards of examiners, (2) the powers of each
  board, and (3) the duties of the members thereof.

  6. The Commission may create additional boards of examiners and may
  change the membership of any board; and boards of examiners shall
  perform such other appropriate duties as the Commission may impose
  upon them.


  RULE VI.

  1. There shall be open competitive examinations for testing the fitness
  of applicants for admission to the service. Such examinations shall be
  practical in their character, and so far as may be shall relate to those
  matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the
  persons examined to discharge the duties of the branch of the service
  which they seek to enter.

  2. And for the purpose of establishing in the classified service the
  principle of compulsory competitive examination for promotion there
  shall be, so far as practicable and useful, such examinations of a
  suitable character to test the fitness of persons for promotion in the
  service, and the Commission may make regulations applying them to any
  classified Department, customs office, or post-office, under which
  regulations examinations for promotion shall be conducted and all
  promotions made; but until regulations made by the Commission in
  accordance herewith have been applied to a classified Department,
  customs office, or post-office, promotions therein may be made upon any
  test of fitness determined upon by the promoting officer. And in any
  classified Department, customs office, or post-office in which
  promotions are made under examinations as herein provided the Commission
  may, in special session, if the exigencies of the service require such
  action, provide noncompetitive examinations for promotion.


  RULE XIX.

  There are excepted from examination the following: (1) The confidential
  clerk or secretary of any head of a Department or office; (2) cashiers
  of collectors; (3) cashiers of postmasters; (4) superintendents of
  money-order divisions in post-offices; (5) the direct custodians of
  money for whose fidelity another officer is under official bond, and
  disbursing officers having the custody of money, who give bonds; but
  these exceptions shall not extend to any official below the grade of
  assistant cashier or teller; (6) persons employed exclusively in the
  secret service of the Government, or as translators or interpreters or
  stenographers; (7) persons whose employment is exclusively professional,
  but medical examiners are not included among such persons; (8) chief
  clerks, deputy collectors, deputy naval officers, deputy surveyors of
  customs, and superintendents or chiefs of divisions or bureaus. But no
  person so excepted shall be either transferred, appointed, or promoted,
  unless to some excepted place, without an examination under the
  Commission, which examination shall not take place within six months
  after entering the service.


  RULE XXI.

  1. No person, unless excepted under Rule XIX, shall be admitted into the
  classified civil service from any place not within said service without
  an examination and certification under the rules, with this exception,
  that any person who shall have been an officer for one year or more last
  preceding in any Department or office in a grade above the classified
  service thereof may be transferred or appointed to any place in the
  service of the same without examination.

  2. No person who has passed only a limited examination under clause 4 of
  Rule VII for the lower classes or grades in the departmental or customs
  service shall be appointed or be promoted within two years after
  appointment to any position giving a salary of $1,000 or upward without
  first passing an examination under clause 1 of said rule; and such
  examination shall not be allowed within the first year after
  appointment.

  3. But a person who has passed the examination under said clause 1 and
  has accepted a position giving a salary of $900 or less shall have the
  same right of promotion as if originally appointed to a position giving
  a salary of $1,000 or more.

  4. The Commission may at any time certify for a $900 or any lower place
  in the classified service any person upon the register who has passed
  the examination under clause 1 of Rule VII, if such person does not
  object before such certification is made.

  5. The provisions of this rule relating to promotions shall cease to be
  operative in any classified Department, customs office, or post-office
  when regulations for promotions have been applied thereto by the
  Commission under the authority conferred by clause 2 of Rule VI.


Approved, May 5, 1887.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 9, 1887_.

The executive offices and Departments at the seat of Government,
including the public printing establishment, will be closed at noon on
Thursday, the 12th instant, to enable persons employed therein to attend
the exercises at the unveiling of the statue of the late President
Garfield.

And employees in such offices and Departments who desire to accompany
any organization to which they belong in the parade or other exercises
preceding on that day the unveiling ceremonies may, by permission of the
heads of their respective offices or Departments, also be granted such
leave of absence as may be necessary for that purpose.

Members of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland desiring to attend
any meeting of such society on Wednesday, the 11th instant, may, by
special permission of the respective heads of Departments and offices,
be excused from duty during the hours on that day as said meetings may
be held.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
  _Washington, April 30, 1887_.

HON. WILLIAM C. ENDICOTT,
  _Secretary of War_.

SIR: I have the honor to state that there are now in this office, stored
in one of the attic rooms of the building, a number of Union flags
captured in action, but recovered on the fall of the Confederacy and
forwarded to the War Department for safe-keeping, together with a number
of Confederate flags which the fortunes of war placed in our hands
during the late Civil War.

While in the past favorable action has been taken on applications
properly supported for the return of Union flags to organizations
representing survivors of the military regiments in the service of the
Government, I beg to submit that it would be a graceful act to
anticipate future requests of this nature, and venture to suggest the
propriety of returning all the flags (Union and Confederate) to the
authorities of the respective States in which the regiments which bore
these colors were organized, for such final disposition as they may
determine.

While in all the civilized nations of the world trophies taken in war
against foreign enemies have been carefully preserved and exhibited as
proud mementos of the nation's military glories, wise and obvious
reasons have always excepted from the rule evidences of past internecine
troubles which by appeals to the arbitrament of the sword have disturbed
the peaceful march of a people to its destiny.

Over twenty years have elapsed since the termination of the late Civil
War. Many of the prominent leaders, civil and military, of the late
Confederate States are now honored representatives of the people in the
national councils, or in other eminent positions lend the aid of their
talents to the wise administration of affairs of the whole country; and
the people of the several States composing the Union are now united,
treading the broader road to a glorious future.

Impressed with these views, I have the honor to submit the suggestion
made in this letter for the careful consideration it will receive at
your hands.

Very truly, yours,

R.C. DRUM,
  _Adjutant-General_.

[Indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, _May 26, 1887_.

The within recommendation approved by the President, and the
Adjutant-General will prepare letters to governors of those States whose
troops carried the colors and flags now in this Department, with the
offer to return them as herein proposed. The history of each flag and
the circumstances of its capture or recapture should be given.

HON. WILLIAM C. ENDICOTT,
  _Secretary of War_.



WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
  _Washington, June 7, 1887_.

Honorable GOVERNOR OF ----.

SIR: The President of the United States having approved the
recommendation that all the flags in the custody of the War Department
be returned to the authorities of the respective States in which the
regiments which bore them were organized, for such final disposition as
they may determine, I am instructed by the honorable Secretary of War to
make you, in the name of the War Department, a tender of the flags now
in this office belonging to the late volunteer organizations of the
State of ----.

In discharging this pleasant duty I beg you will please advise me of
your wishes in this matter. It is the intention in returning each flag
to give its history as far as it is possible to do so, stating the
circumstances of its capture and recovery.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R.C. DRUM, _Adjutant-General._



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, June 16, 1887_.

The SECRETARY OF WAR:

I have to-day considered with more care than when the subject was orally
presented me the action of your Department directing letters to be
addressed to the governors of all the States offering to return, if
desired, to the loyal States the Union flags captured in the War of the
Rebellion by the Confederate forces and afterwards recovered by
Government troops, and to the Confederate States the flags captured by
the Union forces, all of which for many years have been packed in boxes
and stored in the cellar and attic of the War Department.

I am of the opinion that the return of these flags in the manner thus
contemplated is not authorized by existing law nor justified as an
executive act.

I request, therefore, that no further steps be taken in the matter
except to examine and inventory these flags and adopt proper measures
for their preservation. Any direction as to the final disposition of
them should originate with Congress.

Yours, truly,

GROVER CLEVELAND.



WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
  _Washington, June --, 1887_.

Hon. ---- ----,
  _Governor of ----_.

SIR: Referring to the letter from this office dated June --, 1887, on
the subject of the return to the respective States of the flags now in
the custody of the War Department, I am instructed by the Secretary of
War to inform you of the withdrawal of the offer made therein, as on a
more careful consideration of the legal points involved in the proposed
action the President of the United States is of the opinion that the
return of these flags is not authorized by existing law nor justified as
an executive act, and that any direction as to their final disposition
should originate with Congress.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

---- ----, _Adjutant-General_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, August 25, 1887_.

It appearing to me that the promoters of the International Military
Encampment to be held in Chicago in October proximo, in commemoration of
the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of that city, have extended
to the militia organizations of foreign countries, in behalf of the
citizen soldiers of the State of Illinois, an invitation to take part
in said encampment as the guests of the city of Chicago, and that
representatives of the soldiery of certain foreign countries have
accepted such invitation and are about to arrive in the United States:

I hereby direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the collectors
of customs at the several ports of entry that upon being satisfied that
such visitors come as guests, in pursuance of the aforesaid invitation,
they shall permit the entrance of such foreign soldiers into the United
States, with their personal baggage, uniforms, arms, and equipments,
without payment of customs duties thereon, and without other formality
than such as may be necessary to insure the reexportation of said
uniforms, baggage, arms, and equipments.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, _Washington, October 24, 1887_.

By direction of the President the undersigned is charged with the sad
duty of announcing the death, on the 22d instant, at 4 o'clock p.m., at
his residence, Chicago, Ill., of Elihu B. Washburne, an illustrious
citizen, formerly Secretary of State of the United States.

Mr. Washburne rendered great service to the people of the United States
in many and important capacities. As a Representative from the State
of Illinois in the National Legislature, and subsequently as envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to
France, his career was marked by eminent usefulness, in which abilities
of a high order were applied with unsparing devotion and fidelity in the
performance of the trusts of public power.

His private life was unstained, his public service unquestionably great,
and his memory will be cherished with affection and respect by his
grateful countrymen.

On the day of his funeral this Department will be closed for all public
business, and be draped in mourning for ten days thereafter.

The diplomatic and consular officers of the United States in foreign
countries will be directed to make proper expression of the public
sorrow experienced by the death of Mr. Washburne.

T.F. BAYARD, _Secretary of State_.




THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.


WASHINGTON, _December 6, 1887_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

You are confronted at the threshold of your legislative duties with a
condition of the national finances which imperatively demands immediate
and careful consideration.

The amount of money annually exacted, through the operation of present
laws, from the industries and necessities of the people largely exceeds
the sum necessary to meet the expenses of the Government.

When we consider that the theory of our institutions guarantees to every
citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his industry and
enterprise, with only such deduction as may be his share toward the
careful and economical maintenance of the Government which protects him,
it is plain that the exaction of more than this is indefensible
extortion and a culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice. This
wrong inflicted upon those who bear the burden of national taxation,
like other wrongs, multiplies a brood of evil consequences. The public
Treasury, which should only exist as a conduit conveying the people's
tribute to its legitimate objects of expenditure, becomes a hoarding
place for money needlessly withdrawn from trade and the people's use,
thus crippling our national energies, suspending our country's
development, preventing investment in productive enterprise, threatening
financial disturbance, and inviting schemes of public plunder.

This condition of our Treasury is not altogether new, and it has more
than once of late been submitted to the people's representatives in the
Congress, who alone can apply a remedy. And yet the situation still
continues, with aggravated incidents, more than ever presaging financial
convulsion and widespread disaster.

It will not do to neglect this situation because its dangers are not now
palpably imminent and apparent. They exist none the less certainly, and
await the unforeseen and unexpected occasion when suddenly they will be
precipitated upon us.

On the 30th day of June, 1885, the excess of revenues over public
expenditures, after complying with the annual requirement of the
sinking-fund act, was $17,859,735.84; during the year ended June 30,
1886, such excess amounted to $49,405,545.20, and during the year ended
June 30, 1887, it reached the sum of $55,567,849.54.

The annual contributions to the sinking fund during the three years
above specified, amounting in the aggregate to $138,058,320.94, and
deducted from the surplus as stated, were made by calling in for that
purpose outstanding 3 per cent bonds of the Government. During the six
months prior to June 30, 1887, the surplus revenue had grown so large by
repeated accumulations, and it was feared the withdrawal of this great
sum of money needed by the people would so affect the business of the
country, that the sum of $79,864,100 of such surplus was applied to
the payment of the principal and interest of the 3 per cent bonds
still outstanding, and which were then payable at the option of the
Government. The precarious condition of financial affairs among the
people still needing relief, immediately after the 30th day of June,
1887, the remainder of the 3 per cent bonds then outstanding, amounting
with principal and interest to the sum of $18,877,500, were called in
and applied to the sinking-fund contribution for the current fiscal
year. Notwithstanding these operations of the Treasury Department,
representations of distress in business circles not only continued, but
increased, and absolute peril seemed at hand. In these circumstances
the contribution to the sinking fund for the current fiscal year was at
once completed by the expenditure of $27,684,283.55 in the purchase of
Government bonds not yet due bearing 4 and 4-1/2 per cent interest,
the premium paid thereon averaging about 24 per cent for the former and
8 per cent for the latter. In addition to this, the interest accruing
during the current year upon the outstanding bonded indebtedness of
the Government was to some extent anticipated, and banks selected as
depositories of public money were permitted to somewhat increase their
deposits.

While the expedients thus employed to release to the people the money
lying idle in the Treasury served to avert immediate danger, our surplus
revenues have continued to accumulate, the excess for the present year
amounting on the 1st day of December to $55,258,701.19, and estimated to
reach the sum of $113,000,000 on the 30th of June next, at which date it
is expected that this sum, added to prior accumulations, will swell the
surplus in the Treasury to $140,000,000.

There seems to be no assurance that, with such a withdrawal from use of
the people's circulating medium, our business community may not in the
near future be subjected to the same distress which was quite lately
produced from the same cause. And while the functions of our National
Treasury should be few and simple, and while its best condition would be
reached, I believe, by its entire disconnection with private business
interests, yet when, by a perversion of its purposes, it idly holds
money uselessly subtracted from the channels of trade, there seems to be
reason for the claim that some legitimate means should be devised by the
Government to restore in an emergency, without waste or extravagance,
such money to its place among the people.

If such an emergency arises, there now exists no clear and undoubted
executive power of relief. Heretofore the redemption of 3 per cent
bonds, which were payable at the option of the Government, has afforded
a means for the disbursement of the excess of our revenues; but these
bonds have all been retired, and there are no bonds outstanding the
payment of which we have a right to insist upon. The contribution to
the sinking fund which furnishes the occasion for expenditure in the
purchase of bonds has been already made for the current year, so that
there is no outlet in that direction.

In the present state of legislation the only pretense of any existing
executive power to restore at this time any part of our surplus revenues
to the people by its expenditure consists in the supposition that the
Secretary of the Treasury may enter the market and purchase the bonds
of the Government not yet due, at a rate of premium to be agreed upon.
The only provision of law from which such a power could be derived is
found in an appropriation bill passed a number of years ago, and it is
subject to the suspicion that it was intended as temporary and limited
in its application, instead of conferring a continuing discretion and
authority. No condition ought to exist which would justify the grant
of power to a single official, upon his judgment of its necessity, to
withhold from or release to the business of the people, in an unusual
manner, money held in the Treasury, and thus affect at his will the
financial situation of the country; and if it is deemed wise to lodge
in the Secretary of the Treasury the authority in the present juncture
to purchase bonds, it should be plainly vested, and provided, as far
as possible, with such checks and limitations as will define this
official's right and discretion and at the same time relieve him from
undue responsibility.

In considering the question of purchasing bonds as a means of restoring
to circulation the surplus money accumulating in the Treasury, it
should be borne in mind that premiums must of course be paid upon
such purchase, that there may be a large part of these bonds held
as investments which can not be purchased at any price, and that
combinations among holders who are willing to sell may unreasonably
enhance the cost of such bonds to the Government.

It has been suggested that the present bonded debt might be refunded
at a less rate of interest and the difference between the old and new
security paid in cash, thus finding use for the surplus in the Treasury.
The success of this plan, it is apparent, must depend upon the volition
of the holders of the present bonds; and it is not entirely certain that
the inducement which must be offered them would result in more financial
benefit to the Government than the purchase of bonds, while the latter
proposition would reduce the principal of the debt by actual payment
instead of extending it.

The proposition to deposit the money held by the Government in banks
throughout the country for use by the people is, it seems to me,
exceedingly objectionable in principle, as establishing too close a
relationship between the operations of the Government Treasury and the
business of the country and too extensive a commingling of their money,
thus fostering an unnatural reliance in private business upon public
funds. If this scheme should be adopted, it should only be done as a
temporary expedient to meet an urgent necessity. Legislative and
executive effort should generally be in the opposite direction, and
should have a tendency to divorce, as much and as fast as can be safely
done, the Treasury Department from private enterprise.

Of course it is not expected that unnecessary and extravagant
appropriations will be made for the purpose of avoiding the accumulation
of an excess of revenue. Such expenditure, besides the demoralization of
all just conceptions of public duty which it entails, stimulates a habit
of reckless improvidence not in the least consistent with the mission of
our people or the high and beneficent purposes of our Government.

I have deemed it my duty to thus bring to the knowledge of my
countrymen, as well as to the attention of their representatives charged
with the responsibility of legislative relief, the gravity of our
financial situation. The failure of the Congress heretofore to provide
against the dangers which it was quite evident the very nature of the
difficulty must necessarily produce caused a condition of financial
distress and apprehension since your last adjournment which taxed to the
utmost all the authority and expedients within executive control; and
these appear now to be exhausted. If disaster results from the continued
inaction of Congress, the responsibility must rest where it belongs.

Though the situation thus far considered is fraught with danger which
should be fully realized, and though it presents features of wrong to
the people as well as peril to the country, it is but a result growing
out of a perfectly palpable and apparent cause, constantly reproducing
the same alarming circumstances--a congested National Treasury and a
depleted monetary condition in the business of the country. It need
hardly be stated that while the present situation demands a remedy, we
can only be saved from a like predicament in the future by the removal
of its cause.

Our scheme of taxation, by means of which this needless surplus is
taken from the people and put into the public Treasury, consists of a
tariff or duty levied upon importations from abroad and internal-revenue
taxes levied upon the consumption of tobacco and spirituous and malt
liquors. It must be conceded that none of the things subjected to
internal-revenue taxation are, strictly speaking, necessaries. There
appears to be no just complaint of this taxation by the consumers of
these articles, and there seems to be nothing so well able to bear the
burden without hardship to any portion of the people.

But our present tariff laws, the vicious, inequitable, and illogical
source of unnecessary taxation, ought to be at once revised and amended.
These laws, as their primary and plain effect, raise the price to
consumers of all articles imported and subject to duty by precisely the
sum paid for such duties. Thus the amount of the duty measures the tax
paid by those who purchase for use these imported articles. Many of
these things, however, are raised or manufactured in our own country,
and the duties now levied upon foreign goods and products are called
protection to these home manufactures, because they render it possible
for those of our people who are manufacturers to make these taxed
articles and sell them for a price equal to that demanded for the
imported goods that have paid customs duty. So it happens that while
comparatively a few use the imported articles, millions of our people,
who never used and never saw any of the foreign products, purchase and
use things of the same kind made in this country, and pay therefor
nearly or quite the same enhanced price which the duty adds to the
imported articles. Those who buy imports pay the duty charged thereon
into the public Treasury, but the great majority of our citizens,
who buy domestic articles of the same class, pay a sum at least
approximately equal to this duty to the home manufacturer. This
reference to the operation of our tariff laws is not made by way of
instruction, but in order that we may be constantly reminded of the
manner in which they impose a burden upon those who consume domestic
products as well as those who consume imported articles, and thus create
a tax upon all our people.

It is not proposed to entirely relieve the country of this taxation.
It must be extensively continued as the source of the Government's
income; and in a readjustment of our tariff the interests of American
labor engaged in manufacture should be carefully considered, as well
as the preservation of our manufacturers. It may be called protection
or by any other name, but relief from the hardships and dangers of
our present tariff laws should be devised with especial precaution
against imperiling the existence of our manufacturing interests. But
this existence should not mean a condition which, without regard
to the public welfare or a national exigency, must always insure the
realization of immense profits instead of moderately profitable returns.
As the volume and diversity of our national activities increase, new
recruits are added to those who desire a continuation of the advantages
which they conceive the present system of tariff taxation directly
affords them. So stubbornly have all efforts to reform the present
condition been resisted by those of our fellow-citizens thus engaged
that they can hardly complain of the suspicion, entertained to a certain
extent, that there exists an organized combination all along the line to
maintain their advantage.

We are in the midst of centennial celebrations, and with becoming pride
we rejoice in American skill and ingenuity, in American energy and
enterprise, and in the wonderful natural advantages and resources
developed by a century's national growth. Yet when an attempt is made to
justify a scheme which permits a tax to be laid upon every consumer in
the land for the benefit of our manufacturers, quite beyond a reasonable
demand for governmental regard, it suits the purposes of advocacy to
call our manufactures infant industries still needing the highest and
greatest degree of favor and fostering care that can be wrung from
Federal legislation.

It is also said that the increase in the price of domestic manufactures
resulting from the present tariff is necessary in order that higher
wages may be paid to our workingmen employed in manufactories than are
paid for what is called the pauper labor of Europe. All will acknowledge
the force of an argument which involves the welfare and liberal
compensation of our laboring people. Our labor is honorable in the eyes
of every American citizen; and as it lies at the foundation of our
development and progress, it is entitled, without affectation or
hypocrisy, to the utmost regard. The standard of our laborers' life
should not be measured by that of any other country less favored, and
they are entitled to their full share of all our advantages.

By the last census it is made to appear that of the 17,392,099 of our
population engaged in all kinds of industries 7,670,493 are employed in
agriculture, 4,074,238 in professional and personal service (2,934,876
of whom are domestic servants and laborers), while 1,810,256 are
employed in trade and transportation and 3,837,112 are classed as
employed in manufacturing and mining.

For present purposes, however, the last number given should be
considerably reduced. Without attempting to enumerate all, it will be
conceded that there should be deducted from those which it includes
375,143 carpenters and joiners, 285,401 milliners, dressmakers, and
seamstresses, 172,726 blacksmiths, 133,756 tailors and tailoresses,
102,473 masons, 76,241 butchers, 41,309 bakers, 22,083 plasterers, and
4,891 engaged in manufacturing agricultural implements, amounting in the
aggregate to 1,214,023, leaving 2,623,089 persons employed in such
manufacturing industries as are claimed to be benefited by a high
tariff.

To these the appeal is made to save their employment and maintain their
wages by resisting a change. There should be no disposition to answer
such suggestions by the allegation that they are in a minority among
those who labor, and therefore should forego an advantage in the
interest of low prices for the majority. Their compensation, as it may
be affected by the operation of tariff laws, should at all times be
scrupulously kept in view; and yet with slight reflection they will not
overlook the fact that they are consumers with the rest; that they too
have their own wants and those of their families to supply from their
earnings, and that the price of the necessaries of life, as well as the
amount of their wages, will regulate the measure of their welfare and
comfort.

But the reduction of taxation demanded should be so measured as not to
necessitate or justify either the loss of employment by the working-man
or the lessening of his wages; and the profits still remaining to the
manufacturer after a necessary readjustment should furnish no excuse
for the sacrifice of the interests of his employees, either in their
opportunity to work or in the diminution of their compensation. Nor can
the worker in manufactures fail to understand that while a high tariff
is claimed to be necessary to allow the payment of remunerative wages,
it certainly results in a very large increase in the price of nearly all
sorts of manufactures, which, in almost countless forms, he needs for
the use of himself and his family. He receives at the desk of his
employer his wages, and perhaps before he reaches his home is obliged,
in a purchase for family use of an article which embraces his own labor,
to return in the payment of the increase in price which the tariff
permits the hard-earned compensation of many days of toil.

The farmer and the agriculturist, who manufacture nothing, but who pay
the increased price which the tariff imposes upon every agricultural
implement, upon all he wears, and upon all he uses and owns, except
the increase of his flocks and herds and such things as his husbandry
produces from the soil, is invited to aid in maintaining the present
situation; and he is told that a high duty on imported wool is necessary
for the benefit of those who have sheep to shear, in order that the
price of their wool may be increased. They, of course, are not reminded
that the farmer who has no sheep is by this scheme obliged, in his
purchases of clothing and woolen goods, to pay a tribute to his
fellow-farmer as well as to the manufacturer and merchant, nor is any
mention made of the fact that the sheep owners themselves and their
households must wear clothing and use other articles manufactured from
the wool they sell at tariff prices, and thus as consumers must return
their share of this increased price to the tradesman.

I think it may be fairly assumed that a large proportion of the sheep
owned by the farmers throughout the country are found in small flocks,
numbering from twenty-five to fifty. The duty on the grade of imported
wool which these sheep yield is 10 cents each pound if of the value of
30 cents or less and 12 cents if of the value of more than 30 cents. If
the liberal estimate of 6 pounds be allowed for each fleece, the duty
thereon would be 60 or 72 cents; and this may be taken as the utmost
enhancement of its price to the farmer by reason of this duty. Eighteen
dollars would thus represent the increased price of the wool from
twenty-five sheep and $36 that from the wool of fifty sheep; and at
present values this addition would amount to about one-third of its
price. If upon its sale the farmer receives this or a less tariff
profit, the wool leaves his hands charged with precisely that sum, which
in all its changes will adhere to it until it reaches the consumer. When
manufactured into cloth and other goods and material for use, its cost
is not only increased to the extent of the farmer's tariff profit, but a
further sum has been added for the benefit of the manufacturer under the
operation of other tariff laws. In the meantime the day arrives when the
farmer finds it necessary to purchase woolen goods and material to
clothe himself and family for the winter. When he faces the tradesman
for that purpose, he discovers that he is obliged not only to return in
the way of increased prices his tariff profit on the wool he sold, and
which then perhaps lies before him in manufactured form, but that he
must add a considerable sum thereto to meet a further increase in cost
caused by a tariff duty on the manufacture. Thus in the end he is
aroused to the fact that he has paid upon a moderate purchase, as a
result of the tariff scheme, which when he sold his wool seemed so
profitable, an increase in price more than sufficient to sweep away all
the tariff profit he received upon the wool he produced and sold.

When the number of farmers engaged in wool raising is compared with all
the farmers in the country and the small proportion they bear to our
population is considered; when it is made apparent that in the case of
a large part of those who own sheep the benefit of the present tariff
on wool is illusory; and, above all, when it must be conceded that
the increase of the cost of living caused by such tariff becomes a
burden upon those with moderate means and the poor, the employed and
unemployed, the sick and well, and the young and old, and that it
constitutes a tax which with relentless grasp is fastened upon the
clothing of every man, woman, and child in the land, reasons are
suggested why the removal or reduction of this duty should be included
in a revision of our tariff laws.

In speaking of the increased cost to the consumer of our home
manufactures resulting from a duty laid upon imported articles of the
same description, the fact is not overlooked that competition among our
domestic producers sometimes has the effect of keeping the price of
their products below the highest limit allowed by such duty. But it is
notorious that this competition is too often strangled by combinations
quite prevalent at this time, and frequently called trusts, which have
for their object the regulation of the supply and price of commodities
made and sold by members of the combination. The people can hardly hope
for any consideration in the operation of these selfish schemes.

If, however, in the absence of such combination, a healthy and free
competition reduces the price of any particular dutiable article of home
production below the limit which it might otherwise reach under our
tariff laws, and if with such reduced price its manufacture continues to
thrive, it is entirely evident that one thing has been discovered which
should be carefully scrutinized in an effort to reduce taxation.

The necessity of combination to maintain the price of any commodity to
the tariff point furnishes proof that someone is willing to accept lower
prices for such commodity and that such prices are remunerative; and
lower prices produced by competition prove the same thing. Thus where
either of these conditions exists a case would seem to be presented for
an easy reduction of taxation.

The considerations which have been presented touching our tariff laws
are intended only to enforce an earnest recommendation that the surplus
revenues of the Government be prevented by the reduction of our customs
duties, and at the same time to emphasize a suggestion that in
accomplishing this purpose we may discharge a double duty to our people
by granting to them a measure of relief from tariff taxation in quarters
where it is most needed and from sources where it can be most fairly and
justly accorded.

Nor can the presentation made of such considerations be with any
degree of fairness regarded as evidence of unfriendliness toward our
manufacturing interests or of any lack of appreciation of their value
and importance.

These interests constitute a leading and most substantial element of
our national greatness and furnish the proud proof of our country's
progress. But if in the emergency that presses upon us our manufacturers
are asked to surrender something for the public good and to avert
disaster, their patriotism, as well as a grateful recognition of
advantages already afforded, should lead them to willing cooperation. No
demand is made that they shall forego all the benefits of governmental
regard; but they can not fail to be admonished of their duty, as well
as their enlightened self-interest and safety, when they are reminded
of the fact that financial panic and collapse, to which the present
condition tends, afford no greater shelter or protection to our
manufactures than to other important enterprises. Opportunity for safe,
careful, and deliberate reform is now offered; and none of us should
be unmindful of a time when an abused and irritated people, heedless of
those who have resisted timely and reasonable relief, may insist upon
a radical and sweeping rectification of their wrongs.

The difficulty attending a wise and fair revision of our tariff laws is
not underestimated. It will require on the part of the Congress great
labor and care, and especially a broad and national contemplation of the
subject and a patriotic disregard of such local and selfish claims as
are unreasonable and reckless of the welfare of the entire country.

Under our present laws more than 4,000 articles are subject to duty.
Many of these do not in any way compete with our own manufactures, and
many are hardly worth attention as subjects of revenue. A considerable
reduction can be made in the aggregate by adding them to the free list.
The taxation of luxuries presents no features of hardship; but the
necessaries of life used and consumed by all the people, the duty upon
which adds to the cost of living in every home, should be greatly
cheapened.

The radical reduction of the duties imposed upon raw material used in
manufactures, or its free importation, is of course an important factor
in any effort to reduce the price of these necessaries. It would not
only relieve them from the increased cost caused by the tariff on
such material, but the manufactured product being thus cheapened that
part of the tariff now laid upon such product, as a compensation to
our manufacturers for the present price of raw material, could be
accordingly modified. Such reduction or free importation would serve
besides to largely reduce the revenue. It is not apparent how such a
change can have any injurious effect upon our manufacturers. On the
contrary, it would appear to give them a better chance in foreign
markets with the manufacturers of other countries, who cheapen their
wares by free material. Thus our people might have the opportunity of
extending their sales beyond the limits of home consumption, saving them
from the depression, interruption in business, and loss caused by a
glutted domestic market and affording their employees more certain and
steady labor, with its resulting quiet and contentment.

The question thus imperatively presented for solution should be
approached in a spirit higher than partisanship and considered in the
light of that regard for patriotic duty which should characterize the
action of those intrusted with the weal of a confiding people. But the
obligation to declared party policy and principle is not wanting to
urge prompt and effective action. Both of the great political parties
now represented in the Government have by repeated and authoritative
declarations condemned the condition of our laws which permit the
collection from the people of unnecessary revenue, and have in the most
solemn manner promised its correction; and neither as citizens nor
partisans are our countrymen in a mood to condone the deliberate
violation of these pledges.

Our progress toward a wise conclusion will not be improved by dwelling
upon the theories of protection and free trade. This savors too much of
bandying epithets. It is a _condition_ which confronts us, not a
theory. Relief from this condition may involve a slight reduction
of the advantages which we award our home productions, but the entire
withdrawal of such advantages should not be contemplated. The question
of free trade is absolutely irrelevant, and the persistent claim made in
certain quarters that all the efforts to relieve the people from unjust
and unnecessary taxation are schemes of so-called free traders is
mischievous and far removed from any consideration for the public good.

The simple and plain duty which we owe the people is to reduce taxation
to the necessary expenses of an economical operation of the Government
and to restore to the business of the country the money which we hold in
the Treasury through the perversion of governmental powers. These things
can and should be done with safety to all our industries, without danger
to the opportunity for remunerative labor which our workingmen need, and
with benefit to them and all our people by cheapening their means of
subsistence and increasing the measure of their comforts.

The Constitution provides that the President "shall from time to time
give to the Congress information of the state of the Union." It has been
the custom of the Executive, in compliance with this provision, to
annually exhibit to the Congress, at the opening of its session, the
general condition of the country, and to detail with some particularity
the operations of the different Executive Departments. It would be
especially agreeable to follow this course at the present time and to
call attention to the valuable accomplishments of these Departments
during the last fiscal year; but I am so much impressed with the
paramount importance of the subject to which this communication has thus
far been devoted that I shall forego the addition of any other topic,
and only urge upon your immediate consideration the "state of the Union"
as shown in the present condition of our Treasury and our general fiscal
situation, upon which every element of our safety and prosperity
depends.

The reports of the heads of Departments, which will be submitted,
contain full and explicit information touching the transaction, of
the business intrusted to them and such recommendations relating to
legislation in the public interest as they deem advisable. I ask for
these reports and recommendations the deliberate examination and action
of the legislative branch of the Government.

There are other subjects not embraced in the departmental reports
demanding legislative consideration, and which I should be glad to
submit. Some of them, however, have been earnestly presented in previous
messages, and as to them I beg leave to repeat prior recommendations.

As the law makes no provision for any report from the Department of
State, a brief history of the transactions of that important Department,
together with other matters which it may hereafter be deemed essential
to commend to the attention of the Congress, may furnish the occasion
for a future communication.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 14, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to its ratification, a final protocol,
signed at Paris on the 7th day of July, 1887, by the plenipotentiaries
of the United States and of the other powers parties to the convention
of March 14, 1884, for the protection of submarine cables, fixing the
1st day of May, 1888, as the date on which the said convention of March
14, 1884, shall take effect, provided that those of the contracting
Governments that have not adopted the measures provided for by article
12 of the said convention shall have conformed to that stipulation.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 14, 1887_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to its ratification, a convention
between the United States and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the
extradition of criminals, signed at Washington on the 2d day of June,
1887.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 19, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in relation
to the invitation from Her Britannic Majesty to this Government to
participate in the international exhibition which is to be held at
Melbourne in 1888 to celebrate the centenary of the founding of New
South Wales, the first Australian colony.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 19, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in relation to
an invitation which has been extended to this Government to appoint a
delegate or delegates to the International Exposition of Labor to be
held in April, 1888, at Barcelona, Spain, and commend its suggestions to
the favorable attention of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 20, 1887_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State,
accompanied by the report of Mr. Edward Atkinson, of Massachusetts, who
was specially designated by me, under the provisions of successive acts
of Congress in that behalf, to visit the financial centers of Europe in
order to ascertain the feasibility of establishing by international
arrangement a fixity of rates between the two precious metals in free
coinage of both.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 4, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 23d ultimo from the Secretary of
the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill to
amend section 2148 of the Revised Statutes of the United States,
relating to trespasses upon Indian lands.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 4, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 23d ultimo from the Secretary of
the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill
granting a right of way to the Jamestown and Northern Railroad Company
through the Devils Lake Indian Reservation, in the Territory of Dakota.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 4, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 22d ultimo from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill
to amend section 5388 of the Revised Statutes of the United States,
relating to timber trespasses upon the public lands, so as to include
Indian lands.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 4, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 27th December, 1887, from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, draft
of a bill "to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to fix the amount
of compensation to be paid for the right of way for railroads through
Indian reservations in certain contingencies."

The matter is commended to the consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 4, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 22d ultimo from the Secretary of
the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill
to accept and ratify an agreement made with the Indians of the Yakima
Reservation, in Washington Territory, for the right of way of the
Northern Pacific Railroad across said reservation, etc.

The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 4, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 24th ultimo from the Secretary of
the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill to
accept and ratify an agreement made by the Pi-Ute Indians, and granting
a right of way to the Carson and Colorado Railroad Company through the
Walker River Reservation, in Nevada.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 4, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 24th ultimo from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of a bill to accept and ratify an agreement made with the Sisseton and
Wahpeton Indians, and to grant a right of way for the Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul Railway through the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, in
Dakota.

The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 23d ultimo from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting a draft of a bill "to provide for the
reduction of the Round Valley Indian Reservation, in the State of
California, and for other purposes," with accompanying papers relating
thereto. The documents thus submitted exhibit extensive and entirely
unjustifiable encroachments upon lands set apart for Indian occupancy
and disclose a disregard of Indian rights so long continued that the
Government can not further temporize without positive dishonor. Efforts
to dislodge trespassers upon these lands have in some cases been
resisted upon the ground that certain moneys due from the Government for
improvements have not been paid. So far as this claim is well founded
the sum necessary to extinguish the same should be at once appropriated
and paid. In other cases the position of these intruders is one of
simple and barefaced wrongdoing, plainly questioning the inclination of
the Government to protect its dependent Indian wards and its ability to
maintain itself in the guaranty of such protection.

These intruders should forthwith feel the weight of the Government's
power. I earnestly commend the situation and the wrongs of the Indians
occupying the reservation named to the early attention of the Congress,
and ask for the bill herewith transmitted careful and prompt attention.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 28th of February last,
requesting the President of the United States to obtain certain
information from the Government of Great Britain relative to the
proceedings of the authorities of New Zealand concerning the titles to
lands in that colony claimed by American citizens, I transmit a report
of the Secretary of State, together with the accompanying documents.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to its ratification, a treaty of
friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the
Republic of Peru, signed at Lima on the 31st day of August, 1887.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit, with a view to its ratification, an additional article,
signed October 22, 1887, to the treaty for the extradition of criminals
concluded October 11, 1870, between the United States and the Republic
of Guatemala, and, for the reasons suggested by the Secretary of State
in his report, request the return of the additional article to the
above-mentioned treaty signed February 4, 1887, and transmitted to the
Senate on February 24[*25] of the same year.[15]

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 15: See p. 538.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 9, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 30th of December, 1887, from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, two
additional reports from the commission appointed to conduct negotiations
with certain tribes and bands of Indians for reduction of reservations,
etc., under the provisions of the act of May 15, 1886 (24 U.S. Statutes
at Large, p. 44), providing therefor.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 9, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State,
relative to the requests which have been received from various maritime
associations and chambers of commerce of this country asking that
measures be taken to convoke an international conference at Washington
of representatives of all maritime nations to devise measures for the
greater security of life and property at sea.

I commend this important subject to the favorable consideration of
Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 9, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, recommending
that this Government take action to approve the resolutions of the
Washington International Meridian Conference, held in October, 1884, in
favor of fixing a prime meridian and a universal day, and to invite the
powers with whom this country has diplomatic relations to accede to the
same.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 9, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, relative to the
legislation required to carry into effect the international convention
of March 14, 1884, for the protection of submarine cables, to which this
country is a party.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in relation to
the invitation from the Government of France to this Government to
participate in the international exhibition which is to be held at Paris
in 1889.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 16, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the Senate of the
21st ultimo, a report of the Secretary of State touching correspondence
of this Government with that of Hawaii, or of any foreign country,
concerning any change or proposed change in the Government of the
Hawaiian Islands.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 17, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

On the 3d day of March last an act was passed authorizing the
appointment of three commissioners who should investigate the affairs of
such railroads as have received aid from the United States Government.
Among other things, the contemplated investigation included a history of
the construction of these roads, their relations and indebtedness to the
Government, and the question whether in the interest of the United
States any extension of the time for the performance of the obligations
of said roads to the Government should be granted; and if so, the said
commissioners were directed to submit a scheme for such extension.

The commissioners were further directed by said act to report in full to
the President upon all the matters submitted to them, and he was by said
act required to forward said report to Congress with such
recommendations or comments as he should see fit to make in the
premises.

The commissioners immediately after their selection entered upon the
discharge of their duties, and have prosecuted their inquiries with
commendable industry, intelligence, and thoroughness. A large amount of
testimony has been taken, and all the facts have been developed which
appear to be necessary for the consideration of the questions arising
from the condition of these aided railroads and their relations to the
Government.

The commissioners have, however, been unable to agree upon the manner in
which these railroads should be treated respecting their indebtedness to
the United States, or to unite upon the plan best calculated to secure
the payment of such indebtedness.

This disagreement has resulted in the preparation of two reports, both
of which are herewith submitted to the Congress.

These reports exhibit such transactions and schemes connected with the
construction of the aided roads and their management, and suggest the
invention of such devices on the part of those having them in charge,
for the apparent purpose of defeating any chance for the Government's
reimbursement, that any adjustment or plan of settlement should be
predicated upon the substantial interests of the Government rather than
any forbearance or generosity deserved by the companies.

The wide publication which has already been given to the substance of
the commissioners' reports obviates the necessity of detailing in this
communication the facts found upon the investigation.

The majority report, while condemning the methods adopted by those who
formerly had charge of the Union Pacific Railroad, declares that since
its present management was inaugurated, in 1884, its affairs have been
fairly and prudently conducted, and that the present administration "has
devoted itself honestly and intelligently to the herculean task of
rescuing the Union Pacific Railway from the insolvency which seriously
threatened it at the inception of its work;" that it "has devoted
itself, by rigid economy, by intelligent management, and by an
application of every dollar of the earning capacity of the system to its
improvement and betterment, to place that company on a sound and
enduring financial foundation."

The condition of the present management of the Union Pacific Company has
an important bearing upon its ability to comply with the terms of any
settlement of its indebtedness which may be offered by the Government.

The majority of the commission are in favor of an extension of the time
for the payment of the Government indebtedness of these companies, upon
certain conditions; but the chairman of the commission, presenting the
minority report, recommends, both upon principle and policy, the
institution of proceedings for the forfeiture of the charters of the
corporations and the winding up of their affairs.

I have been furnished with a statement or argument in defense of the
transactions connected with the construction of the Central Pacific road
and its branch lines, from which it may not be amiss to quote for the
purpose of showing how some of the operations of the directors of such
road, strongly condemned by the commissioners, are defended by the
directors themselves. After speaking of a contract for the construction
of one of these branch lines by a corporation called the Contract and
Finance Company, owned by certain directors of the Central Pacific
Railroad, this language is used:

  It may be said of this contract, as of many others that were let to the
  different construction companies in which the directors of the Central
  Pacific have been stockholders, that they built the road with the moneys
  furnished by themselves and had the road for their outlay. In other
  words, they paid to the construction company the bonds and stock of the
  railroad so constructed, and waited until such time as they could
  develop sufficient business on the road built to induce the public to
  buy the bonds or the stock. If the country through which the railroad
  ran developed sufficient business, then the project was a success; if it
  did not, then the operation was a loss. These gentlemen took all the
  responsibility; any loss occurring was necessarily theirs, and of right
  the profit belonged to them.

  But it is said that they violated a well-known rule of equity in dealing
  with themselves; that they were trustees, and that they were
  representing both sides of the contract.

  The answer is that they did not find anybody else to deal with. They
  could not find anyone who would take the chances of building a road
  through what was then an almost uninhabited country and accept the bonds
  and stock of the road, in payment. And when it is said that they were
  trustees, if they did occupy such relation it was merely technical, for
  they represented only their own interests on both sides, there being no
  one else concerned in the transaction. They became the incorporators of
  the company that was to build the road, subscribed for its stock, and
  were the only subscribers; therefore it is difficult to see how anyone
  was wronged by their action. The rule of equity invoked, which has its
  origin in the injunction "No man can serve two masters," certainly did
  not apply to them, because they were acting in their own interests and
  were not charged with the duty of caring for others' rights, there being
  no other persons interested in the subject-matter.


In view of this statement and the facts developed in the commissioners'
reports, it seems proper to recall the grants and benefits derived from
the General Government by both the Union and Central Pacific companies
for the purpose of aiding the construction of their roads.

By an act passed in 1862 it was provided that there should be advanced
to said companies by the United States, to aid in such construction, the
bonds of the Government amounting to $16,000 for every mile constructed,
as often as a section of 40 miles of said roads should be built; that
there should also be granted to said companies, upon the completion of
every said section of 40 miles of road, five entire sections of public
land for each mile so built; that the entire charges earned by said
roads on account of transportation and service for the Government should
be applied to the reimbursement of the bonds advanced by the United
States and the interest thereon, and that to secure the repayment of
the bonds so advanced, and interest, the issue and delivery to said
companies of said bonds should constitute a first mortgage on the whole
line of their roads and on their rolling stock, fixtures, and property
of every kind and description.

The liberal donations, advances, and privileges provided for in this law
were granted by the General Government for the purpose of securing the
construction of these roads, which would complete the connection between
our eastern and western coasts; and they were based upon a consideration
of the public benefits which would accrue to the entire country from
such consideration.

But the projectors of these roads were not content, and the sentiment
which then seemed to pervade the Congress had not reached the limit
of its generosity. Two years after the passage of this law it was
supplemented and amended in various important particulars in favor of
these companies by an act which provided, among other things, that the
bonds, at the rate already specified, should be delivered upon the
completion of sections of 20 miles in length instead of 40; that the
lands to be conveyed to said companies on the completion of each section
of said road should be ten sections per mile instead of five; that only
half of the charges for transportation and service due from time to time
from the United States should be retained and applied to the advances
made to said companies by the Government, thus obliging immediate
payment to its debtor of the other half of said charges, and that the
lien of the United States to secure the reimbursement of the amount
advanced to said companies in bonds, which lien was declared by the law
of 1862 to constitute a first mortgage upon all the property of said
companies, should become a junior lien and be subordinated to a mortgage
which the companies were by the amendatory act authorized to execute
to secure bonds which they might from time to time issue in sums not
exceeding the amount of the United States bonds which should be advanced
to them.

The immense advantages to the companies of this amendatory act are
apparent; and in these days we may well wonder that even the anticipated
public importance of the construction of these roads induced what must
now appear to be a rather reckless and unguarded appropriation of the
public funds and the public domain.

Under the operation of these laws the principal of the bonds which
have been advanced is $64,023,512, as given in the reports of the
commissioners; the interest to November 1, 1887, is calculated
to be $76,024,206.58, making an aggregate at the date named of
$140,047,718.58. The interest calculated to the maturity of the bonds
added to the principal produces an aggregate of $178,884,759.50.
Against these amounts there has been repaid by the companies the sum
of $30,955,039.61.

It is almost needless to state that the companies have availed
themselves to the utmost extent of the permission given them to issue
their bonds and to mortgage their property to secure the payment of the
same, by an incumbrance having preference to the Government's lien and
precisely equal to it in amount.

It will be seen that there was available for the building of each mile
of these roads $16,000 of United States bonds, due in thirty years, with
6 per cent interest; $16,000 in bonds of the companies, secured by a
first mortgage on all their property, and ten sections of Government
land, to say nothing of the stock of the companies.

When the relations created between the Government and these companies by
the legislation referred to is considered, it is astonishing that the
claim should be made that the directors of these roads owed no duty
except to themselves in their construction; that they need regard no
interests but their own, and that they were justified in contracting
with themselves and making such bargains as resulted in conveying
to their pockets all the assets of the companies. As a lienor the
Government was vitally interested in the amount of the mortgage to which
its security had been subordinated, and it had the right to insist that
none of the bonds secured by this prior mortgage should be issued
fraudulently or for the purpose of division among these stockholders
without consideration.

The doctrine of complete independence on the part of the directors of
these companies and their freedom from any obligation to care for other
interests than their own in the construction of these roads seems to
have developed the natural consequences of its application, portrayed as
follows in the majority report of the commissioners:

  The result is that those who have controlled and directed the
  construction and development of these companies have become possessed
  of their surplus assets through issues of bonds, stocks, and payment
  of dividends voted by themselves, while the great creditor, the United
  States, finds itself substantially without adequate security for the
  repayment of its loans.


The laws enacted in aid of these roads, while they illustrated a profuse
liberality and a generous surrender of the Government's advantages,
which it is hoped experience has corrected, were nevertheless passed
upon the theory that the roads should be constructed according to the
common rules of business, fairness, and duty, and that their value and
their ability to pay their debts should not be impaired by unfair
manipulations; and when the Government subordinated its lien to another
it was in the expectation that the prior lien would represent in its
amount only such bonds as should be necessarily issued by the companies
for the construction of their roads at fair prices, agreed upon in an
honest way between real and substantial parties. For the purpose of
saving or improving the security afforded by its junior lien the
Government should have the right now to purge this paramount lien of all
that is fraudulent, fictitious, or unconscionable. If the transfer to
innocent hands of bonds of this character secured by such first mortgage
prevents their cancellation, it might be well to seek a remedy against
those who issued and transferred them. If legislation is needed to
secure such a remedy, the Congress can readily supply it.

I desire to call attention also to the fact that if all that was to be
done on the part of the Government to fully vest in these companies the
grants and advantages contemplated by the acts passed in their interest
has not yet been perfected, and if the failure of such companies to
perform in good faith their part of the contract justifies such a
course, the power rests with the Congress to withhold further
performance on the part of the Government. If donated lands are not yet
granted to these companies, and if their violation of contract and of
duty are such as in justice and morals forfeit their rights to such
lands, Congressional action should intervene to prevent further
consummation. Executive power must be exercised according to existing
laws, and Executive discretion is probably not broad enough to reach
such difficulties.

The California and Oregon Railroad is now a part of the Central Pacific
system, and is a land-grant road. Its construction has been carried on
with the same features and incidents which have characterized the other
constructions of this system, as is made apparent on pages 78, 79, and
80 of the report of the majority of the commissioners. I have in my
hands for approval the report of the commissioners appointed to examine
two completed sections of this road. Upon such approval the company or
the Central Pacific Company will be entitled to patents for a large
quantity of public lands. I especially commend to the attention of
Congress this condition of affairs, in order that it may determine
whether or not it should intervene to save these lands for settlers,
if such a course is justifiable.

It is quite time that the troublesome complications surrounding this
entire subject, which has been transmitted to us as a legacy from former
days, should be adjusted and settled.

No one, I think, expects that these railroad companies will be able to
pay their immense indebtedness to the Government at its maturity.

Any proceeding or arrangement that would result now, or at any other
time, in putting these roads, or any portion of them, in the possession
and control of the Government is, in my opinion, to be rejected,
certainly as long as there is the least chance for indemnification
through any other means.

I suppose we are hardly justified in indulging the irritation and
indignation naturally arising from a contemplation of malfeasance to
such an extent as to lead to the useless destruction of these roads or
loss of the advances made by the Government. I believe that our efforts
should be in a more practical direction, and should tend, with no
condonation of wrongdoing, to the collection by the Government, on
behalf of the people, of the public money now in jeopardy.

While the plan presented by a majority of the commission appears to be
well devised and gives at least partial promise of the results sought,
the fact will not escape attention that its success depends upon its
acceptance by the companies and their ability to perform its conditions
after acceptance. It is exceedingly important that any adjustment now
made should be final and effective. These considerations suggest the
possibility that the remedy proposed in the majority report might well
be applied to a part only of these aided railroad companies.

The settlement and determination of the questions involved are
peculiarly within the province of the Congress. The subject has been
made quite a familiar one by Congressional discussion. This is now
supplemented in a valuable manner by the facts presented in the reports
herewith submitted.

The public interest urges prompt and efficient action.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 23, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the first report of the board of control created by
the act of Congress approved August 4, 1886 (24 U.S. Statutes at Large,
p. 252), for the management of an industrial home in the Territory of
Utah, containing a statement of the action of the board in establishing
the home and an account of expenditures from the appropriation made for
that purpose in the act above mentioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 30, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, in response to the resolution of the Senate of the
21st of December last, a report from the Secretary of State, in relation
to Midway Island.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 7, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit, with a view to its ratification, a declaration, signed
December 1, 1886, and March 23, 1887, for Germany, by the delegates of
the powers signatories of the convention of March 14, 1884, for the
protection of submarine cables, defining the sense of articles 2 and 4
of the said convention.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 7, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of 4th instant from the Secretary of
the Interior, submitting, with other papers, a draft of a bill to accept
and ratify an agreement made with the Shoshone and Bannock Indians for
the surrender and relinquishment to the United States of a portion of
the Fort Hall Reservation, in the Territory of Idaho, for the purposes
of a town site, and for the grant of a right of way through said
reservation to the Utah and Northern Railway Company, and for other
purposes.

The matter is presented for the consideration of the Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 20, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report furnished by the Secretary of State in
response to a resolution of the Senate of the 2d instant, making inquiry
respecting the present condition of the _Virginius_ indemnity fund.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 20, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith and commend to your favorable consideration a report
from the Secretary of State, in relation to an invitation which this
Government has received from the Belgian Government to participate in an
international exhibition of sciences and industry which will open at
Brussels in the month of May next.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 20, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In my annual message transmitted to the Congress in December, 1886, it
was stated that negotiations were then pending for the settlement of the
questions growing out of the rights claimed by American fishermen in
British North American waters.

As a result of such negotiations a treaty has been agreed upon between
Her Britannic Majesty and the United States, concluded and signed in
this capital, under my direction and authority, on the 15th of February
instant, and which I now have the honor to submit to the Senate with the
recommendation that it shall receive the consent of that body, as
provided in the Constitution, in order that the ratifications thereof
may be duly exchanged and the treaty be carried into effect.

Shortly after Congress had adjourned in March last, and in continuation
of my efforts to arrive at such an agreement between the Governments of
Great Britain and the United States as would secure to the citizens of
the respective countries the unmolested enjoyment of their just rights
under existing treaties and international comity in the territorial
waters of Canada and of Newfoundland, I availed myself of opportune
occurrences indicative of a desire to make without delay an amicable and
final settlement of a long-standing controversy, productive of much
irritation and misunderstanding between the two nations, to send through
our minister in London proposals that a conference should take place on
the subject at this capital.

The experience of the past two years had demonstrated the dilatory and
unsatisfactory consequences of our indirect transaction of business
through the foreign office in London, in which the views and wishes of
the government of the Dominion of Canada were practically predominant,
but were only to find expression at second hand.

To obviate this inconvenience and obstruction to prompt and well-defined
settlement, it was considered advisable that the negotiations should be
conducted in this city and that the interests of Canada and Newfoundland
should be directly represented therein.

The terms of reference having been duly agreed upon between the two
Governments and the conference arranged to be held here, by virtue of
the power in me vested by the Constitution I duly authorized Thomas F.
Bayard, the Secretary of State of the United States, William L. Putnam,
a citizen of the State of Maine, and James B. Angell, a citizen of the
State of Michigan, for and in the name of the United States, to meet and
confer with the plenipotentiaries representing the Government of Her
Britannic Majesty, for the purpose of considering and adjusting in a
friendly spirit all or any questions relating to rights of fishery in
the seas adjacent to British North America and Newfoundland which were
in dispute between the Government of the United States and that of Her
Britannic Majesty, and jointly and severally to conclude and sign any
treaty or treaties touching the premises; and I herewith transmit for
your information full copies of the power so given by me.

In execution of the powers so conveyed the said Thomas F. Bayard,
William L. Putnam, and James B. Angell, in the month of November last,
met in this city the plenipotentiaries of Her Britannic Majesty and
proceeded in the negotiation of a treaty as above authorized. After many
conferences and protracted efforts an agreement has at length been
arrived at, which is embodied in the treaty which I now lay before you.

The treaty meets my approval, because I believe that it supplies a
satisfactory, practical, and final adjustment, upon a basis honorable
and just to both parties, of the difficult and vexed question to which
it relates.

A review of the history of this question will show that all former
attempts to arrive at a common interpretation, satisfactory to both
parties, of the first article of the treaty of October 20, 1818, have
been unsuccessful, and with the lapse of time the difficulty and
obscurity have only increased.

The negotiations in 1854 and again in 1871 ended in both cases in
temporary reciprocal arrangements of the tariffs of Canada and
Newfoundland and of the United States, and the payment of a money award
by the United States, under which the real questions in difference
remained unsettled, in abeyance, and ready to present themselves anew
just so soon as the conventional arrangements were abrogated.

The situation, therefore, remained unimproved by the results of the
treaty of 1871, and a grave condition of affairs, presenting almost
identically the same features and causes of complaint by the United
States against Canadian action and British default in its correction,
confronted us in May, 1886, and has continued until the present time.

The greater part of the correspondence which has taken place between the
two Governments has heretofore been communicated to Congress, and at as
early a day as possible I shall transmit the remaining portion to this
date, accompanying it with the joint protocols of the conferences which
resulted in the conclusion of the treaty now submitted to you.

You will thus be fully possessed of the record and history of the case
since the termination on June 30, 1885, of the fishery articles of the
treaty of Washington of 1871, whereby we were relegated to the
provisions of the treaty of October 20, 1818.

As the documents and papers referred to will supply full information of
the positions taken under my Administration by the representatives of
the United States, as well as those occupied by the representatives of
the Government of Great Britain, it is not considered necessary or
expedient to repeat them in this message. But I believe the treaty will
be found to contain a just, honorable, and therefore satisfactory
solution of the difficulties which have clouded our relations with our
neighbors on our northern border.

Especially satisfactory do I believe the proposed arrangement will be
found by those of our citizens who are engaged in the open-sea fisheries
adjacent to the Canadian coast, and resorting to those ports and harbors
under treaty provisions and rules of international law.

The proposed delimitation of the lines of the exclusive fisheries from
the common fisheries will give certainty and security as to the area
of their legitimate field. The headland theory of imaginary lines is
abandoned by Great Britain, and the specification in the treaty of
certain named bays especially provided for gives satisfaction to the
inhabitants of the shores, without subtracting materially from the value
or convenience of the fishery rights of Americans.

The uninterrupted navigation of the Strait of Canso is expressly and for
the first time affirmed, and the four purposes for which our fishermen
under the treaty of 1818 were allowed to enter the bays and harbors of
Canada and Newfoundland within the belt of 3 marine miles are placed
under a fair and liberal construction, and their enjoyment secured
without such conditions and restrictions as in the past have embarrassed
and obstructed them so seriously.

The enforcement of penalties for unlawfully fishing or preparing to fish
within the inshore and exclusive waters of Canada and Newfoundland is to
be accomplished under safeguards against oppressive or arbitrary action,
thus protecting the defendant fishermen from punishment in advance of
trial, delays, and inconvenience and unnecessary expense.

The history of events in the last two years shows that no feature of
Canadian administration was more harassing and injurious than the
compulsion upon our fishing vessels to make formal entry and clearance
on every occasion of temporarily seeking shelter in Canadian ports and
harbors.

Such inconvenience is provided against in the proposed treaty, and this
most frequent and just cause of complaint is removed.

The articles permitting our fishermen to obtain provisions and the
ordinary supplies of trading vessels on their homeward voyages, and
under which they are accorded the further and even more important
privilege on all occasions of purchasing such casual or needful
provisions and supplies as are ordinarily granted to trading vessels,
are of great importance and value.

The licenses, which are to be granted without charge and on application,
in order to enable our fishermen to enjoy these privileges, are
reasonable and proper checks in the hands of the local authorities to
identify the recipients and prevent abuse, and can form no impediment to
those who intend to use them fairly.

The hospitality secured for our vessels in all cases of actual distress,
with liberty to unload and sell and transship their cargoes, is full and
liberal.

These provisions will secure the substantial enjoyment of the treaty
rights for our fishermen under the treaty of 1818, for which contention
has been steadily made in the correspondence of the Department of State
and our minister at London and by the American negotiators of the
present treaty.

The right of our fishermen under the treaty of 1818 did not extend to
the procurement of distinctive fishery supplies in Canadian ports and
harbors, and one item supposed to be essential--to wit, bait--was
plainly denied them by the explicit and definite words of the treaty of
1818, emphasized by the course of the negotiation and express decisions
which preceded the conclusion of that treaty.

The treaty now submitted contains no provision affecting tariff duties,
and, independently of the position assumed upon the part of the United
States that no alteration in our tariff or other domestic legislation
could be made as the price or consideration of obtaining the rights of
our citizens secured by treaty, it was considered more expedient to
allow any change in the revenue laws of the United States to be made by
the ordinary exercise of legislative will and in the promotion of the
public interests. Therefore the addition to the free list of fish, fish
oil, whale and seal oil, etc., recited in the last article of the
treaty, is wholly left to the action of Congress; and in connection
therewith the Canadian and Newfoundland right to regulate sales of bait
and other fishing supplies within their own jurisdiction is recognized,
and the right of our fishermen to freely purchase these things is made
contingent by this treaty upon the action of Congress in the
modification of our tariff laws.

Our social and commercial intercourse with those populations who have
been placed upon our borders and made forever our neighbors is made
apparent by a list of United States common carriers, marine and inland,
connecting their lines with Canada, which was returned by the Secretary
of the Treasury to the Senate on the 7th day of February, 1888, in
answer to a resolution of that body; and this is instructive as to the
great volume of mutually profitable interchanges which has come into
existence during the last half century.

This intercourse is still but partially developed, and if the amicable
enterprise and wholesome rivalry between the two populations be not
obstructed the promise of the future is full of the fruits of an
unbounded prosperity on both sides of the border.

The treaty now submitted to you has been framed in a spirit of liberal
equity and reciprocal benefits, in the conviction that mutual advantage
and convenience are the only permanent foundation of peace and
friendship between States, and that with the adoption of the agreement
now placed before the Senate a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse
between the two countries will be established so as to secure perpetual
peace and harmony.

In connection with the treaty herewith submitted I deem it also my duty
to transmit to the Senate a written offer or arrangement, in the nature
of a _modus vivendi_, tendered after the conclusion of the treaty
on the part of the British plenipotentiaries, to secure kindly and
peaceful relations during the period that may be required for the
consideration of the treaty by the respective Governments and for the
enactment of the necessary legislation to carry its provisions into
effect if approved.

This paper, freely and on their own motion signed by the British
conferees, not only extends advantages to our fishermen pending the
ratification of the treaty, but appears to have been dictated by a
friendly and amicable spirit.

I am given to understand that the other Governments concerned in this
treaty will within a few days, in accordance with their methods of
conducting public business, submit said treaty to their respective
legislatures, when it will be at once published to the world. In view of
such action it appears to be advisable that by publication here early
and full knowledge of all that has been done in the premises should be
afforded to our people.

It would also seem to be useful to inform the popular mind concerning
the history of the long-continued disputes growing out of the subject
embraced in the treaty and to satisfy the public interests touching the
same, as well as to acquaint our people with the present status of the
questions involved, and to give them the exact terms of the proposed
adjustment, in place of the exaggerated and imaginative statements which
will otherwise reach them.

I therefore beg leave respectfully to suggest that said treaty and all
such correspondence, messages, and documents relating to the same as may
be deemed important to accomplish those purposes be at once made public
by the order of your honorable body.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 20, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, relative to an
invitation from the Imperial German Government to the Government of the
United States to become a party to the International Geodetic
Association.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 27, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report furnished by the Secretary of State in
response to a resolution of the Senate of January 12, 1888, making
various inquiries respecting the awards of the late Spanish and American
Claims Commission and the disposition of moneys received in satisfaction
thereof.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America_:

I transmit herewith, for the information and consideration of Congress,
a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying correspondence,
touching the action of the Government of Venezuela in conveying to that
country for interment the remains of the distinguished Venezuelan
soldier and statesman, General Jose Antonio Paez, and take pleasure in
expressing my concurrence in the suggestion therein referred to, that
the employment of a national vessel of war for the transportation of
General Paez's remains from New York to La Guayra be authorized and
provided for by Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, relative to an
invitation which the Royal Bavarian Government has extended to this
Government to participate in the Third International Exhibition of the
Fine Arts, which is to be held at Munich, Bavaria, during the present
year.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a letter from the Secretary of State, accompanied by
documents and correspondence, in relation to the recent negotiations
with Great Britain concerning American fishing interests in British
North American waters.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with its
inclosures, in response to the resolution of the Senate of the 21st of
December, 1887, and the 16th of January, 1888, touching the awards of
the late Mexican Claims Commission, and especially those in favor of
Benjamin Weil and La Abra Silver Mining Company.

It will be seen that the report concludes with a suggestion that these
claims be referred to the Court of Claims, or such other court as may be
deemed proper, in order that the charges of fraud made in relation to
said claims may be fully investigated.

If for any reason this proceeding be considered inadvisable, I
respectfully ask that some final and definite action be taken directing
the executive department of the Government what course to pursue in the
premises.

In view of the long delay that has already occurred in these cases, it
would seem but just to all parties concerned that the Congress should
speedily signify its final judgment upon the awards referred to and make
the direction contemplated by the act of 1878, in default of which the
money now on hand applicable to such awards now remains undistributed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 7, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 24th of February,
1888, calling for information as to whether the Government of France has
prohibited the importation into the country of any American products,
and, if so, what products of the United States are affected thereby, and
also as to whether any correspondence upon said subject has passed
between the Governments of the United States and France, I transmit
herewith a report from the Secretary of State on the subject, with the
accompanying correspondence.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 8, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

A copy of the following resolution, passed by the Senate on the 1st day
of the present month, was delivered to me on the 3d instant:

  _Resolved_, That in view of the difficulties and embarrassments
  that have attended the regulation of the immigration of Chinese laborers
  to the United States under the limitations of our treaties with China,
  the President of the United States be requested to negotiate a treaty
  with the Emperor of China containing a provision that no Chinese laborer
  shall enter the United States.


The importance of the subject referred to in this resolution has by no
means been overlooked by the executive branch of the Government, charged
under the Constitution with the formulation of treaties with foreign
countries.

Negotiation with the Emperor of China for a treaty such as is mentioned
in said resolution was commenced many months ago and has been since
continued. The progress of the negotiation thus inaugurated has
heretofore been freely communicated to such members of the Senate and of
its Committee on Foreign Relations as sought information concerning the
same. It is, however, with much gratification that I deem myself now
justified in expressing to the Senate, in response to its resolution,
the hope and expectation that a treaty will soon be concluded concerning
the immigration of Chinese laborers which will meet the wants of our
people and the approbation of the body to which it will be submitted for
confirmation.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, March 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to its ratification, a treaty between
the United States of America and Zanzibar, concluded July 3, 1886,
enlarging and defining the stipulations of the treaty of September 21,
1833, between the United States of America and His Majesty Seyed Syed
bin Sultan of Muscat and Sovereign of Zanzibar, which treaty has
continued in force as to Zanzibar and its dependencies after the
separation of Zanzibar from Muscat, and has been accepted, ratified,
and confirmed by the Sultan of Zanzibar on October 20, 1879.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, March 16, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith and recommend for your
constitutional approval a convention signed and concluded in this city
on the 12th instant, under my direction, between the United States and
China, for the exclusion hereafter of Chinese laborers from coming into
this country.

This treaty is accompanied by a letter from the Secretary of State in
recital of its provisions and explanatory of the reasons for its
negotiation, and with it are transmitted sundry documents giving the
history of events connected with the presence and treatment of Chinese
subjects in the United States.

In view of the public interest which has for a long time been manifested
in relation to the question of Chinese immigration, it would seem
advisable that the full text of this treaty should be made public, and I
respectfully recommend that an order to that effect be made by your
honorable body.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 16, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit, in compliance with the resolution of the Senate of
the 16th ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied by
certain correspondence in regard to the Mexican _zona libre_.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 20, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 13th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, with accompanying papers, and submitting the
draft of a proposed bill to forfeit lands granted to the State of Oregon
for the construction of certain wagon roads, and for other purposes.

The presentation of facts by the Secretary of the Interior herewith
transmitted is the result of an examination made under his direction,
which has developed, as it seems to me, the most unblushing frauds upon
the Government, which, if remaining unchallenged, will divert several
hundred thousand acres of land from the public domain and from the reach
of honest settlers to those who have attempted to prevent and prostitute
the beneficent designs of the Government. The Government sought by the
promise of generous donations of land to promote the building of wagon
roads for public convenience and for the purpose of encouraging
settlement upon the public lands. The roads have not been built, and yet
an attempt is made to claim the lands under a title which depends for
its validity entirely upon the construction of these roads.

The evidence which has been collected by the Secretary of the Interior,
plainly establishing this attempt to defraud the Government and exclude
the settlers who are willing to avail themselves of the liberal policy
adopted for the settlement of the public lands, is herewith submitted
to the Congress, with the recommendation that the bill which has been
prepared, and which is herewith transmitted, may become a law, and with
the earnest hope that the opportunity thus presented to demonstrate a
sincere desire to preserve the public domain for settlers and to
frustrate unlawful attempts to appropriate the same may not be
neglected.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, March 22, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, for your advice and consent to the ratification
thereof, a convention between the United States and Venezuela, signed
the 15th instant, supplementary to the convention between the same
powers for the settlement of claims signed December 5, 1885.

I transmit also a report of the Secretary of State thereon and copies of
correspondence had with the diplomatic representative of Venezuela at
this capital in relation thereto.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 22, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

In response to the resolution adopted by your honorable body on the 16th
instant, as follows--

  _Resolved_, That the President of the United States be requested,
  if in his judgment not incompatible with the public interest, to
  transmit to the Senate copies of the minutes and daily protocols of
  the meetings of the commissioners who negotiated the treaty with Great
  Britain submitted by the President to the Senate on the 20th of
  February, 1888--


I submit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, which I hope will
satisfactorily meet the request for information embraced in said
resolution.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 27, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from Hon. George H. Pendleton, our minister
to Germany, dated January 30, 1888, from which it appears that
trichinosis prevails to a considerable extent in certain parts of
Germany and that a number of persons have already died from the effects
of eating the meat of diseased hogs which were grown in that country.

I also transmit a report from our consul at Marseilles, dated February
4, 1888, representing that for a number of months a highly contagious
and fatal disease has prevailed among the swine of a large section of
France, which disease is thought to be very similar to hog cholera by
the Commissioner of Agriculture, whose statement is herewith submitted.

It is extremely doubtful if the law passed April 29, 1878, entitled "An
act to prevent the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases
into the United States," meets cases of this description.

In view of the danger to the health and lives of our people and the
contagion that may be spread to the live stock of the country by the
importation of swine or hog products from either of the countries named,
I recommend the passage of a law prohibiting such importation, with
proper regulations as to the continuance of such prohibition, and
permitting such further prohibitions in other future cases of a like
character as safety and prudence may require.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, April 2, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with its
inclosures, in response to the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 8th ultimo, in relation to affairs in Samoa.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[A similar message was sent to the Senate in answer to a resolution of
that body of December 21, 1887.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 3d instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill
to provide for the revocation of the withdrawal of lands made for the
benefit of certain railroads, and for other purposes.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 9, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication of the 6th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft
of proposed legislation, prepared in the Office of Indian Affairs, to
authorize the use of certain funds therein specified in the purchase of
lands in the State of Florida upon which to locate the Seminole Indians
in that State.

The matter is presented for the favorable consideration of Congress.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith and commend to your favorable consideration a letter
from the Secretary of State, outlining a plan for publishing the
important collections of historical manuscripts now deposited in the
Department of State.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate dated March 8, calling for
the correspondence respecting the seizure of the American steamships
_Hero_, _San Fernando_, and _Nutrias_, the property of the Venezuela
Steam Transportation Company of New York, and the imprisonment of their
officers by the authorities in Venezuela, I transmit herewith the report
of the Secretary of State on the subject, together with the accompanying
documents.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 18, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 5th of March last,
calling upon the Secretary of State for copies of the correspondence
relating to the claim of William H. Frear against the Government of
France for money due him for provisions furnished in March, 1871, for
revictualing Paris, I transmit a report from that officer, together with
the correspondence called for by the resolution.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, April 23, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State and
accompanying papers, in response to the resolution of the Senate of the
25th of January last, requesting correspondence and other information in
relation to the claims convention of December 5, 1885, between the
United States and Venezuela.

This resolution was adopted in open session; but in view of the change
of circumstances since its adoption, by the signature on the 15th ultimo
of the convention which I transmitted to the Senate with my message of
the 22d ultimo,[16] and which is now under consideration there in
executive session, I transmit the accompanying report as a confidential
document also.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 16: See p. 611.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 8, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I retransmit herewith a convention for the surrender of criminals
between the United States and the Republic of Guatemala, concluded
October 11, 1870, and ratified by the President of the United States,
as amended by the Senate, on April 11, 1871, calling attention to the
accompanying report of the Secretary of State as explanatory of my
action.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 8, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of April 12, directing
the Secretary of State to transmit to the Senate a copy of the
correspondence in his Department in regard to the case of John Fruchier,
an American citizen who has been impressed into the military service of
France, I transmit herewith a report in relation thereto from the
Secretary of State, together with the accompanying papers, not
considering their communication to be incompatible with the public
interests.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 14, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, relative to
the claim of Mr. Rudolph Lobsiger, a Swiss citizen, against the United
States, and recommend that provision be made by law for referring the
matter to the Court of Claims for examination on its merits.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 14, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State,
accompanied by a report of Mr. Somerville P. Tuck, appointed to carry
out certain provisions of section 5 of an act entitled "An act to
provide for the ascertainment of claims of American citizens for
spoliations committed by the French prior to the 31st day of July,
1801," approved January 20, 1885.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 15, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with a resolution originating in the House of
Representatives and concurred in by the Senate, I return herewith the
bill (H.R. 2699) entitled "An act for the relief of the heirs of the
late Solomon Spitzer."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, June 14, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the Senate of
the 11th instant, a report of the Secretary of State, to whom said
resolution was addressed, together with a copy of the letter addressed
by William H. Seward, Secretary of State, to the governors of certain
States of the Union, under date of October 14, 1861, as described in
said resolution.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 26, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied
with selected correspondence relating to foreign affairs for the year
1887.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, July 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to its ratification, a convention for
the extradition of criminals between the United States of America and
the Republic of Colombia, signed at Bogota on the 7th of May, 1888, and
I at the same time call attention to the accompanying report of the
Secretary of State, suggesting certain amendments to the convention.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, July 18, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit, with a view to its ratification, a convention between the
United States and Mexico, signed July 11, 1888, regulating the crossing
and recrossing of the frontier between the two countries by pasturing
estray or stolen cattle, and I at the same time call attention to the
report of the Secretary of State and accompanying papers, relating to
the convention in question.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 18, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State,
submitting a series of reports on taxation, prepared by the consular
officers of the United States.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 18, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, accompanying
the annual reports of the consuls of the United States on the trade and
industries of foreign countries.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 18, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Acting Secretary of State and
accompanying documents, being reports from the consuls of the United
States on the production of and trade in coffee among the Central and
South American States.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 23, 1888_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

Pursuant to the second section of chapter 27 of the laws of 1883,
entitled "An act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United
States," I herewith transmit the fourth report of the United States
Civil Service Commission, covering the period between the 16th day of
January, 1886, and the 1st day of July, 1887.

While this report has especial reference to the operations of the
Commission during the period above mentioned, it contains, with its
accompanying appendixes, much valuable information concerning the
inception of civil-service reform and its growth and progress which can
not fail to be interesting and instructive to all who desire improvement
in administrative methods.

During the time covered by the report 15,852 persons were examined for
admission in the classified civil service of the Government in all its
branches, of whom 10,746 passed the examination and 5,106 failed. Of
those who passed the examination 2,977 were applicants for admission
to the departmental service at Washington, 2,547 were examined for
admission to the customs service, and 5,222 for admission to the postal
service. During the same period 547 appointments were made from the
eligible lists to the departmental service, 641 to the customs service,
and 3,254 to the postal service.

Concerning separations from the classified service, the report only
informs us of such as have occurred among employees in the public
service who had been appointed from eligible lists under civil-service
rules. When these rules took effect, they did not apply to the persons
then in the service, comprising a full complement of employees, who
obtained their positions independently of the new law. The Commission
has no record of the separations in this numerous class. And the
discrepancy apparent in the report between the number of appointments
made in the respective branches of the service from the lists of the
Commission and the small number of separations mentioned is to a great
extent accounted for by vacancies, of which no report was made to the
Commission, occurring among those who held their places without
examination and certification, which vacancies were filled by
appointment from the eligible lists.

In the departmental service there occurred between the 16th day of
January, 1886, and the 30th day of June, 1887, among the employees
appointed from the eligible lists under civil-service rules, 17
removals, 36 resignations, and 5 deaths. This does not include 14
separations in the grade of special pension examiners--4 by removal,
5 by resignation, and 5 by death.

In the classified customs and postal services the number of separations
among those who received absolute appointments under civil-service rules
is given for the period between the 1st day of January, 1886, and the
30th day of June, 1887. It appears that such separations in the customs
service for the time mentioned embraced 21 removals, 5 deaths, and 18
resignations, and in the postal service 256 removals, 23 deaths, and 469
resignations.

More than a year has passed since the expiration of the period covered
by the report of the Commission. Within the time which has thus elapsed
many important changes have taken place in furtherance of a reform in
our civil service. The rules and regulations governing the execution of
the law upon the subject have been completely remodeled in such manner
as to render the enforcement of the statute more effective and greatly
increase its usefulness.

Among other things, the scope of the examinations prescribed for those
who seek to enter the classified service has been better defined and
made more practical, the number of names to be certified from the
eligible lists to the appointing officers from which a selection is made
has been reduced from four to three, the maximum limitation of the age
of persons seeking entrance to the classified service to 45 years has
been changed, and reasonable provision has been made for the transfer
of employees from one Department to another in proper cases. A plan
has also been devised providing for the examination of applicants for
promotion in the service, which, when in full operation, will eliminate
all chance of favoritism in the advancement of employees, by making
promotion a reward of merit and faithful discharge of duty.

Until within a few weeks there was no uniform classification of
employees in the different Executive Departments of the Government. As a
result of this condition, in some of the Departments positions could be
obtained without civil-service examination, because they were not within
the classification of such Department, while in other Departments an
examination and certification were necessary to obtain positions of the
same grade, because such positions were embraced in the classifications
applicable to those Departments.

The exception of laborers, watchmen, and messengers from examination and
classification gave opportunity, in the absence of any rule guarding
against it, for the employment, free from civil-service restrictions, of
persons under these designations, who were immediately detailed to do
clerical work.

All this has been obviated by the application to all the Departments of
an extended and uniform classification embracing grades of employees not
theretofore included, and by the adoption of a rule prohibiting the
detail of laborers, watchmen, or messengers to clerical duty.

The path of civil-service reform has not at all times been pleasant nor
easy. The scope and purpose of the reform have been much misapprehended;
and this has not only given rise to strong opposition, but has led to
its invocation by its friends to compass objects not in the least
related to it. Thus partisans of the patronage system have naturally
condemned it. Those who do not understand its meaning either mistrust it
or, when disappointed because in its present stage it is not applied to
every real or imaginary ill, accuse those charged with its enforcement
with faithlessness to civil-service reform. Its importance has
frequently been underestimated, and the support of good men has thus
been lost by their lack of interest in its success. Besides all these
difficulties, those responsible for the administration of the Government
in its executive branches have been and still are often annoyed and
irritated by the disloyalty to the service and the insolence of
employees who remain in place as the beneficiaries and the relics and
reminders of the vicious system of appointment which civil-service
reform was intended to displace.

And yet these are but the incidents of an advance movement which is
radical and far-reaching. The people are, notwithstanding, to be
congratulated upon the progress which has been made and upon the firm,
practical, and sensible foundation upon which this reform now rests.

With a continuation of the intelligent fidelity which has hitherto
characterized the work of the Commission; with a continuation and
increase of the favor and liberality which have lately been evinced by
the Congress in the proper equipment of the Commission for its work;
with a firm but conservative and reasonable support of the reform by
all its friends, and with the disappearance of opposition which must
inevitably follow its better understanding, the execution of the
civil-service law can not fail to ultimately answer the hopes in which
it had its origin.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 26, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the Senate of 11th
April last, a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying
correspondence, relating to the pending dispute between the Government
of Venezuela and the Government of Great Britain concerning the
boundaries between British Guiana and Venezuela.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 6, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

It becomes my painful duty to announce to the Congress and to the people
of the United States the death of Philip H. Sheridan, General of the
Army, which occurred at a late hour last night at his summer home in the
State of Massachusetts.

The death of this valiant soldier and patriotic son of the Republic,
though his long illness has been regarded with anxiety, has nevertheless
shocked the country and caused universal grief.

He had established for himself a stronghold in the hearts of his
fellow-countrymen, who soon caught the true meaning and purpose of his
soldierly devotion and heroic temper.

His intrepid courage, his steadfast patriotism, and the generosity of
his nature inspired with peculiar warmth the admiration of all the
people.

Above his grave affection for the man and pride in his achievements will
struggle for mastery, and too much honor can not be accorded to one who
was so richly endowed with all the qualities which make his death a
national loss.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 7, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant (the
House of Representatives concurring), I return herewith the enrolled
bill (S. 3303) amendatory of "An act relating to postal crimes and
amendatory of the statutes therein mentioned," approved June 18, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State,
accompanied by a report of the delegate on the part of the United States
to the Fourth International Conference of the Red Cross Association,
held at Carlsruhe, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, in September last.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 23, 1888_.

_To the Congress_:

The rejection by the Senate of the treaty lately negotiated for the
settlement and adjustment of the differences existing between the United
States and Great Britain concerning the rights and privileges of
American fishermen in the ports and waters of British North America
seems to justify a survey of the condition to which the pending question
is thus remitted.

The treaty upon this subject concluded in 1818, through disagreements as
to the meaning of its terms, has been a fruitful source of irritation
and trouble. Our citizens engaged in fishing enterprises in waters
adjacent to Canada have been subjected to numerous vexatious
interferences and annoyances; their vessels have been seized upon
pretexts which appeared to be entirely inadmissible, and they have been
otherwise treated by the Canadian authorities and officials in a manner
inexcusably harsh and oppressive.

This conduct has been justified by Great Britain and Canada by the claim
that the treaty of 1818 permitted it and upon the ground that it was
necessary to the proper protection of Canadian interests. We deny that
treaty agreements justify these acts, and we further maintain that aside
from any treaty restraints of disputed interpretation the relative
positions of the United States and Canada as near neighbors, the growth
of our joint commerce, the development and prosperity of both countries,
which amicable relations surely guarantee, and, above all, the
liberality always extended by the United States to the people of Canada
furnished motives for kindness and consideration higher and better than
treaty covenants.

While keenly sensitive to all that was exasperating in the condition and
by no means indisposed to support the just complaints of our injured
citizens, I still deemed it my duty, for the preservation of important
American interests which were directly involved, and in view of all the
details of the situation, to attempt by negotiation to remedy existing
wrongs and to finally terminate by a fair and just treaty these
ever-recurring causes of difficulty.

I fully believe that the treaty just rejected by the Senate was well
suited to the exigency, and that its provisions were adequate for our
security in the future from vexatious incidents and for the promotion of
friendly neighborhood and intimacy, without sacrificing in the least our
national pride or dignity.

I am quite conscious that neither my opinion of the value of the
rejected treaty nor the motives which prompted its negotiation are of
importance in the light of the judgment of the Senate thereupon. But it
is of importance to note that this treaty has been rejected without any
apparent disposition on the part of the Senate to alter or amend its
provisions, and with the evident intention, not wanting expression, that
no negotiation should at present be concluded touching the matter at
issue.

The cooperation necessary for the adjustment of the long-standing
national differences with which we have to deal by methods of conference
and agreement having thus been declined, I am by no means disposed to
abandon the interests and the rights of our people in the premises or to
neglect their grievances; and I therefore turn to the contemplation of a
plan of retaliation as a mode which still remains of treating the
situation.

I am not unmindful of the gravity of the responsibility assumed in
adopting this line of conduct, nor do I fail in the least to appreciate
its serious consequences. It will be impossible to injure our Canadian
neighbors by retaliatory measures without inflicting some damage upon
our own citizens. This results from our proximity, our community of
interests, and the inevitable commingling of the business enterprises
which have been developed by mutual activity.

Plainly stated, the policy of national retaliation manifestly embraces
the infliction of the greatest harm upon those who have injured us,
with the least possible damage to ourselves. There is also an evident
propriety, as well as an invitation to moral support, found in visiting
upon the offending party the same measure or kind of treatment of which
we complain, and as far as possible within the same lines. And above all
things, the plan of retaliation, if entered upon, should be thorough and
vigorous.

These considerations lead me at this time to invoke the aid and counsel
of the Congress and its support in such a further grant of power as
seems to me necessary and desirable to render effective the policy I
have indicated.

The Congress has already passed a law, which received Executive assent
on the 3d day of March, 1887, providing that in case American fishing
vessels, being or visiting in the waters or at any of the ports of
the British dominions of North America, should be or lately had been
deprived of the rights to which they were entitled by treaty or law, or
if they were denied certain other privileges therein specified or vexed
and harassed in the enjoyment of the same, the President might deny to
vessels and their masters and crews of the British dominions of North
America any entrance into the waters, ports, or harbors of the United
States, and also deny entry into any port or place of the United States
of any product of said dominions or other goods coming from said
dominions to the United States.

While I shall not hesitate upon proper occasion to enforce this act,
it would seem to be unnecessary to suggest that if such enforcement is
limited in such a manner as shall result in the least possible injury to
our own people the effect would probably be entirely inadequate to the
accomplishment of the purpose desired.

I deem it my duty, therefore, to call the attention of the Congress to
certain particulars in the action of the authorities of the Dominion
of Canada, in addition to the general allegations already made, which
appear to be in such marked contrast to the liberal and friendly
disposition of our country as in my opinion to call for such legislation
as will, upon the principles already stated, properly supplement the
power to inaugurate retaliation already vested in the Executive.

Actuated by the generous and neighborly spirit which has characterized
our legislation, our tariff laws have since 1866 been so far waived
in favor of Canada as to allow free of duty the transit across the
territory of the United States of property arriving at our ports and
destined to Canada, or exported from Canada to other foreign countries.

When the treaty of Washington was negotiated, in 1871, between the
United States and Great Britain, having for its object very largely the
modification of the treaty of 1818, the privileges above referred to
were made reciprocal and given in return by Canada to the United States
in the following language, contained in the twenty-ninth article of said
treaty:

  It is agreed that for the term of years mentioned in Article XXXIII of
  this treaty goods, wares, or merchandise arriving at the ports of New
  York, Boston, and Portland, and any other ports in the United States
  which have been or may from time to time be specially designated by the
  President of the United States, and destined for Her Britannic Majesty's
  possessions in North America, may be entered at the proper custom-house
  and conveyed in transit, without the payment of duties, through the
  territory of the United States, under such rules, regulations, and
  conditions for the protection of the revenue as the Government of the
  United States may from time to time prescribe; and, under like rules,
  regulations, and conditions, goods, wares, or merchandise may be
  conveyed in transit, without the payment of duties, from such
  possessions through the territory of the United States, for export from
  the said ports of the United States.

  It is further agreed that for the like period goods, wares, or
  merchandise arriving at any of the ports of Her Britannic Majesty's
  possessions in North America, and destined for the United States, may
  be entered at the proper custom-house and conveyed in transit, without
  the payment of duties, through the said possessions, under such rules
  and regulations and conditions for the protection of the revenue as the
  governments of the said possessions may from time to time prescribe;
  and, under like rules, regulations, and conditions, goods, wares, or
  merchandise may be conveyed in transit, without payment of duties, from
  the United States through the said possessions to other places in the
  United States, or for export from ports in the said possessions.


In the year 1886 notice was received by the representatives of our
Government that our fishermen would no longer be allowed to ship their
fish in bond and free of duty through Canadian territory to this
country, and ever since that time such shipment has been denied.

The privilege of such shipment, which had been extended to our
fishermen, was a most important one, allowing them to spend the time
upon the fishing grounds which would otherwise be devoted to a voyage
home with their catch, and doubling their opportunities for profitably
prosecuting their vocation.

In forbidding the transit of the catch of our fishermen over their
territory in bond and free of duty the Canadian authorities deprived us
of the only facility dependent upon their concession and for which we
could supply no substitute.

The value to the Dominion of Canada of the privilege of transit for
their exports and imports across our territory and to and from our
ports, though great in every aspect, will be better appreciated when
it is remembered that for a considerable portion of each year the St.
Lawrence River, which constitutes the direct avenue of foreign commerce
leading to Canada, is closed by ice.

During the last six years the imports and exports of British Canadian
Provinces carried across our territory under the privileges granted by
our laws amounted in value to about $270,000,000, nearly all of which
were goods dutiable under our tariff laws, by far the larger part of
this traffic consisting of exchanges of goods between Great Britain and
her American Provinces brought to and carried from our ports in their
own vessels.

The treaty stipulation entered into by our Government was in harmony
with laws which were then on our statute book and are still in force.

I recommend immediate legislative action conferring upon the Executive
the power to suspend by proclamation the operation of all laws and
regulations permitting the transit of goods, wares, and merchandise in
bond across or over the territory of the United States to or from
Canada.

There need be no hesitation in suspending these laws arising from the
supposition that their continuation is secured by treaty obligations,
for it seems quite plain that Article XXIX of the treaty of 1871, which
was the only article incorporating such laws, terminated the 1st day of
July, 1885.

The article itself declares that its provisions shall be in force "for
the term of years mentioned in Article XXXIII of this treaty." Turning
to Article XXXIII, we find no mention of the twenty-ninth article, but
only a provision that Articles XVIII to XXV, inclusive, and Article
XXX shall take effect as soon as the laws required to carry them into
operation shall be passed by the legislative bodies of the different
countries concerned, and that "they shall remain in force for the period
of ten years from the date at which they may come into operation, and,
further, until the expiration of two years after either of the high
contracting parties shall have given notice to the other of its wish to
terminate the same."

I am of the opinion that the "term of years mentioned in Article
XXXIII," referred to in Article XXIX as the limit of its duration, means
the period during which Articles XVIII to XXV, inclusive, and Article
XXX, commonly called the "fishery articles," should continue in force
under the language of said Article XXXIII.

That the joint high commissioners who negotiated the treaty so
understood and intended the phrase is certain, for in a statement
containing an account of their negotiations, prepared under their
supervision and approved by them, we find the following entry on the
subject:

  The transit question was discussed, and it was agreed that any
  settlement that might be made should include a reciprocal arrangement
  in that respect for the period for which the fishery articles should
  be in force.


In addition to this very satisfactory evidence supporting this
construction of the language of Article XXIX, it will be found that
the law passed by Congress to carry the treaty into effect furnishes
conclusive proof of the correctness of such construction.

This law was passed March 1, 1873, and is entitled "An act to carry into
effect the provisions of the treaty between the United States and Great
Britain signed in the city of Washington the 8th day of May, 1871,
relating to the fisheries." After providing in its first and second
sections for putting in operation Articles XVIII to XXV, inclusive, and
Article XXX of the treaty, the third section is devoted to Article XXIX,
as follows:


  SEC. 3. That from the date of the President's proclamation authorized by
  the first section of this act, and so long as the articles eighteenth to
  twenty-fifth, inclusive, and article thirtieth of said treaty shall
  remain in force according to the terms and conditions of article
  thirty-third of said treaty, all goods, wares, and merchandise, arriving


etc., etc., following in the remainder of the section the precise words
of the stipulation on the part of the United States as contained in
Article XXIX, which I have already fully quoted.

Here, then, is a distinct enactment of the Congress limiting the
duration of this article of the treaty to the time that Articles XVIII
to XXV, inclusive, and Article XXX should continue in force. That in
fixing such limitation it but gave the meaning of the treaty itself is
indicated by the fact that its purpose is declared to be to carry into
effect the provisions of the treaty, and by the further fact that this
law appears to have been submitted before the promulgation of the treaty
to certain members of the joint high commission representing both
countries, and met with no objection or dissent.

There appearing to be no conflict or inconsistency between the treaty
and the act of the Congress last cited, it is not necessary to invoke
the well-settled principle that in case of such conflict the statute
governs the question.

In any event, and whether the law of 1873 construes the treaty or
governs it, section 29 of such treaty, I have no doubt, terminated with
the proceedings taken by our Government to terminate Articles XVIII to
XXV, inclusive, and Article XXX of the treaty. These proceedings had
their inception in a joint resolution of Congress passed May 3, 1883,
declaring that in the judgment of Congress these articles ought to
be terminated, and directing the President to give the notice to the
Government of Great Britain provided for in Article XXXIII of the
treaty. Such notice having been given two years prior to the 1st day of
July, 1885, the articles mentioned were absolutely terminated on the
last-named day, and with them Article XXIX was also terminated.

If by any language used in the joint resolution it was intended to
relieve section 3 of the act of 1873, embodying Article XXIX of the
treaty, from its own limitations, or to save the article itself, I am
entirely satisfied that the intention miscarried.

But statutes granting to the people of Canada the valuable privileges of
transit for their goods from our ports and over our soil, which had been
passed prior to the making of the treaty of 1871 and independently of
it, remained in force; and ever since the abrogation of the treaty, and
notwithstanding the refusal of Canada to permit our fishermen to send
their fish to their home market through her territory in bond, the
people of that Dominion have enjoyed without diminution the advantages
of our liberal and generous laws.

Without basing our complaint upon a violation of treaty obligations,
it is nevertheless true that such refusal of transit and the other
injurious acts which have been recited constitute a provoking insistence
upon rights neither mitigated by the amenities of national intercourse
nor modified by the recognition of our liberality and generous
considerations.

The history of events connected with this subject makes it manifest
that the Canadian government can, if so disposed administer its laws
and protect the interests of its people without manifestation of
unfriendliness and without the unneighborly treatment of our fishing
vessels of which we have justly complained, and whatever is done on our
part should be done in the hope that the disposition of the Canadian
government may remove the occasion of a resort to the additional
executive power now sought through legislative action.

I am satisfied that upon the principles which should govern retaliation
our intercourse and relations with the Dominion of Canada furnish no
better opportunity for its application than is suggested by the
conditions herein presented, and that it could not be more effectively
inaugurated than under the power of suspension recommended.

While I have expressed my clear conviction upon the question of the
continuance of section 29 of the treaty of 1871, I of course fully
concede the power and the duty of the Congress, in contemplating
legislative action, to construe the terms of any treaty stipulation
which might upon any possible consideration of good faith limit such
action, and likewise the peculiar propriety in the case here presented
of its interpretation of its own language, as contained in the laws
of 1873 putting in operation said treaty and of 1883 directing the
termination thereof; and if in the deliberate judgment of Congress any
restraint to the proposed legislation exists, it is to be hoped that the
expediency of its early removal will be recognized. I desire also to
call the attention of the Congress to another subject involving such
wrongs and unfair treatment to our citizens as, in my opinion, require
prompt action.

The navigation of the Great Lakes and the immense business and carrying
trade growing out of the same have been treated broadly and liberally
by the United States Government and made free to all mankind, while
Canadian railroads and navigation companies share in our country's
transportation upon terms as favorable as are accorded to our own
citizens.

The canals and other public works built and maintained by the Government
along the line of the lakes are made free to all.

In contrast to this condition, and evincing a narrow and ungenerous
commercial spirit, every lock and canal which is a public work of the
Dominion of Canada is subject to tolls and charges.

By Article XXVII of the treaty of 1871 provision was made to secure to
the citizens of the United States the use of the Welland, St. Lawrence,
and other canals in the Dominion of Canada on terms of equality with the
inhabitants of the Dominion, and to also secure to the subjects of Great
Britain the use of the St. Clair Flats Canal on terms of equality with
the inhabitants of the United States.

The equality with the inhabitants of the Dominion which we were promised
in the use of the canals of Canada did not secure to us freedom from
tolls in their navigation, but we had a right to expect that we, being
Americans and interested in American commerce, would be no more burdened
in regard to the same than Canadians engaged in their own trade; and
the whole spirit of the concession made was, or should have been, that
merchandise and property transported to an American market through these
canals should not be enhanced in its cost by tolls many times higher
than such as were carried to an adjoining Canadian market. All our
citizens, producers and consumers as well as vessel owners, were to
enjoy the equality promised.

And yet evidence has for some time been before the Congress, furnished
by the Secretary of the Treasury, showing that while the tolls charged
in the first instance are the same to all, such vessels and cargoes as
are destined to certain Canadian ports are allowed a refund of nearly
the entire tolls, while those bound for American ports are not allowed
any such advantage.

To promise equality, and then in practice make it conditional upon our
vessels doing Canadian business instead of their own, is to fulfill a
promise with the shadow of performance.

I recommend that such legislative action be taken as will give Canadian
vessels navigating our canals, and their cargoes, precisely the
advantages granted to our vessels and cargoes upon Canadian canals, and
that the same be measured by exactly the same rule of discrimination.

The course which I have outlined and the recommendations made relate to
the honor and dignity of our country and the protection and preservation
of the rights and interests of all our people. A government does but
half its duty when it protects its citizens at home and permits them
to be imposed upon and humiliated by the unfair and over-reaching
disposition of other nations. If we invite our people to rely upon
arrangements made for their benefit abroad, we should see to it that
they are not deceived; and if we are generous and liberal to a
neighboring country, our people should reap the advantage of it by a
return of liberality and generosity.

These are subjects which partisanship should not disturb or confuse. Let
us survey the ground calmly and moderately; and having put aside other
means of settlement, if we enter upon the policy of retaliation let us
pursue it firmly, with a determination only to subserve the interests of
our people and maintain the high standard and the becoming pride of
American citizenship.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 27, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
27th instant (the Senate concurring), I return herewith House bill No.
10060, entitled "An act prescribing the times for sales and for notice
of sales of property in the District of Columbia for overdue taxes."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 7, 1888_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In reply to the resolution of the Senate in the words following--

  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, _September 5, 1888_.

  _Resolved_, That the President is requested, if not incompatible
  with the public interests, to inform the Senate whether the recent
  treaty with China and the amendments adopted by the Senate have been
  ratified by the Emperor of China--


I have to communicate the annexed copies of dispatches from our minister
to China, giving the only official information at hand in relation to
the matter to which reference is had.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

Responding to the inquiries contained in the subjoined resolution of the
Senate of the 28th ultimo, I have the honor to state in reply to the
subject first therein mentioned, calling upon the Executive for "copies
of all communications, if any, addressed by his direction to the
Government of Great Britain, remonstrating with that Government against
the wrongs and unfair treatment to our citizens by the action of the
Canadian Government in refunding to vessels and cargoes which pass
through the Welland and other Canadian canals nearly the entire tolls
if they are destined to Canadian ports, while those bound for American
ports are not allowed any such advantage, and the breach of the
engagement contained in the treaty of 1871 whereby Great Britain
promised to the United States equality in the matter of such canal
transportation; also copies of any demand made by his direction upon
Great Britain for the redress of such wrongs, and the replies of Great
Britain to such communication and demand," that I herewith transmit
copies of all communications between the Department of State and the
United States consul at Ottawa, which are accompanied by copies of the
orders of the Canadian officials in relation to the subject inquired of;
also correspondence between the Department of State and the British
minister at this capital, with copies of the documents therein referred
to.

I also inclose, as connected therewith, a copy of Executive Document
No. 406, House of Representatives, Fiftieth Congress, first session,
containing the answer of the Acting Secretary of the Treasury, dated
July 23, 1888, in reply to a resolution of the House of Representatives
relating to the navigation of the Welland Canal, and the documents thus
transmitted comprise the entire correspondence in relation to the
subjects referred to in that portion of the resolution of inquiry which
is above quoted.

The second branch of inquiry is in the words following:

  And also that there be communicated to the Senate copies of all papers,
  correspondence, and information touching the matter of the refusal of
  the British Government, or that of any of her North American dominions,
  to allow the entry at Dominion seaports of American fish or other
  cargoes for transportation in bond to the United States since the 1st
  day of July, 1885.


It will be remembered that though the fishing articles of the treaty of
1871 expired on the said 1st day of July, 1885, a temporary arrangement
was made whereby the privileges accorded to our fishermen under said
articles were continued during the remainder of that year's fishing
season.

No instance of refusal by the Canadian authorities since July 1, 1885,
up to the present time to allow the entry at Dominion seaports of
American cargoes other than fish for transportation in bond across the
territory of Canada to the United States has been made known to the
Department of State.

The case of the fishing steamer _Novelty_, involving, among
other things, a refusal, on July 1, 1886, of the right to permit the
transshipment of fish in bond at the port of Pictou, Nova Scotia, was
duly communicated to Congress in my message of December 8, 1886, a copy
of which I herewith transmit. (Ex. Doc. No. 19, Forty-ninth Congress,
second session, p. 1.)

On page 16 of this document will be found a copy of a communication
addressed by the Secretary of State to the British minister, dated June
14, 1886, on the subject of the refusal of transshipment of fish in
bond. At page 24 of the same publication will be found the protest of
the Secretary of State in the case of the _Novelty_, and at pages
49-50 are the response of the British minister and report of the
Canadian privy council.

On the 26th of January, 1887, a revised list of cases of alleged ill
treatment of our fishing vessels in Canadian waters was furnished by the
Secretary of State to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate,
in which the above case is included, a copy of which, being Senate
Executive Document No. 55 of the second session Forty-ninth Congress, is
herewith inclosed; and in the report by Mr. Edmunds, from the Committee
on Foreign Relations (No. 1683 of the same session), the case referred
to was again published. And, as relating to the subject of the
resolution now before me, the following pertinent passage, taken from
the said report, may be of interest:

  As regards commercial and other friendly business intercourse between
  ports and places in the Dominion and the United States, it is, of
  course, of much importance that regulations affecting the same should
  be mutually reasonable and fairly administered. If an American vessel
  should happen to have caught a cargo of fish at sea 100 miles distant
  from some Canadian port, from which there is railway communication to
  the United States, and should be denied the privilege of landing and
  shipping its cargo therefrom to the United States, as the Canadians
  do, it would be, of course, a serious disadvantage; and there is, it
  is thought, nothing in the treaty of 1818 which would warrant such an
  exclusion. But the Dominion laws may make such a distinction, and it is
  understood that in fact the privilege of so shipping fish from American
  vessels has been refused during the last year.


I also respectfully refer to Senate Miscellaneous Document No. 54,
Forty-ninth Congress, second session, being a communication from the
Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries to Hon. George F. Edmunds, chairman
of the Committee on Foreign Relations, dated February 5, 1887, which is
accompanied by a partial list of vessels injuriously treated by the
Canadian authorities, based upon information furnished to the United
States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries.

This list is stated to be supplementary to the revised list which had
been transmitted to the committee by the Secretary of State January 26,
1887.

Of the sixty-eight vessels comprised in this list it is stated that six,
to wit, the _Nellie M. Snow_, _Andrew Burnham_, _Harry G. French_,
_Col. J.H. French_, _W.H. Wellington_, and _Ralph Hodgdon_, were
refused permission to transship fish. None of these cases, however, were
ever reported to the Department of State by the parties interested, or
were accompanied by affidavit; nor does it appear the facts ever were
investigated in any of the cases by the parties making the reports,
which were obtained by circulars issued by order of the Commissioner of
Fish and Fisheries. The concluding inquiry is as follows:

  And also that he communicate to the Senate what instances have occurred
  since the 3d of March, 1887, of wrongs to American fishing vessels or
  other American vessels in the ports or waters of British North America,
  and what steps, if any, have been taken in respect thereto.


Soon after the passage of the act of March 3, 1887, the negotiation
which had been proceeding for several months previously progressed
actively, and the proposed conference and the presence at this capital
of the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments, out of which the since
rejected treaty of February 7, 1888, eventuated, had their natural
influence in repressing causes of complaint in relation to the
fisheries. Therefore since March 3, 1887, no case has been reported to
the Department of State wherein complaint was made of unfriendly or
unlawful treatment of American fishing vessels on the part of the
Canadian authorities in which reparation was not promptly and
satisfactorily obtained by the United States consul-general at Halifax.

A single case of alleged unjust treatment of an American merchant
vessel, not engaged in fishing, has been reported since March 3, 1887.
This was the ship _Bridgewater_, which was first brought to the
attention of the Department of State by the claimant by petition filed
June 1, 1888.

On June 18, 1888, legal counsel, who appeared and desired to be
heard, filed their formal authority and the claim was at once duly
investigated, and on June 22, 1888, a communication was addressed by the
Secretary of State to the British minister, which sets forth the history
of the claim, and a copy of which is herewith transmitted; and of this
formal acknowledgment was made, but no further reply has been received.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 18, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith transmit, in reply to the resolution of the Senate of the
11th instant, a copy of a report from the Secretary of State, with
accompanying documents, relative to the pending treaty with China.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 1, 1888_.

_To the Congress_:

I have this day approved House bill No. 11336, supplementary to an act
entitled "An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to
Chinese," approved the 6th day of May, 1882.

It seems to me that some suggestions and recommendations may properly
accompany my approval of this bill.

Its object is to more effectually accomplish by legislation the
exclusion from this country of Chinese laborers.

The experiment of blending the social habits and mutual race
idiosyncrasies of the Chinese laboring classes with those of the great
body of the people of the United States has been proved by the
experience of twenty years, and ever since the Burlingame treaty of
1868, to be in every sense unwise, impolitic, and injurious to both
nations. With the lapse of time the necessity for its abandonment has
grown in force, until those having in charge the Government of the
respective countries have resolved to modify and sufficiently abrogate
all those features of prior Conventional arrangements which permitted
the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States.

In modification of prior conventions the treaty of November 17, 1880,
was concluded, whereby, in the first article thereof, it was agreed that
the United States should at will regulate, limit, or suspend the coming
of Chinese laborers to the United States, but not absolutely prohibit
it; and under this article an act of Congress, approved on May 6, 1882
(see 22 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 58), and amended July 5, 1884 (23
U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 115), suspended for ten years the coming of
Chinese laborers to the United States, and regulated the going and
coming of such Chinese laborers as were at that time in the United
States.

It was, however, soon made evident that the mercenary greed of the
parties who were trading in the labor of this class of the Chinese
population was proving too strong for the just execution of the law, and
that the virtual defeat of the object and intent of both law and treaty
was being fraudulently accomplished by false pretense and perjury,
contrary to the expressed will of both Governments.

To such an extent has the successful violation of the treaty and the
laws enacted for its execution progressed that the courts in the Pacific
States have been for some time past overwhelmed by the examination of
cases of Chinese laborers who are charged with having entered our ports
under fraudulent certificates of return or seek to establish by perjury
the claim of prior residence.

Such demonstration of the inoperative and inefficient condition of the
treaty and law has produced deep-seated and increasing discontent among
the people of the United States, and especially with those resident on
the Pacific Coast. This has induced me to omit no effort to find an
effectual remedy for the evils complained of and to answer the earnest
popular demand for the absolute exclusion of Chinese laborers having
objects and purposes unlike our own and wholly disconnected with
American citizenship.

Aided by the presence in this country of able and intelligent diplomatic
and consular officers of the Chinese Government, and the representations
made from time to time by our minister in China under the instructions
of the Department of State, the actual condition of public sentiment and
the status of affairs in the United States have been fully made known to
the Government of China.

The necessity for remedy has been fully appreciated by that Government,
and in August, 1886, our minister at Peking received from the Chinese
foreign office a communication announcing that China, of her own accord,
proposed to establish a system of strict and absolute prohibition of her
laborers, under heavy penalties, from coming to the United States, and
likewise to prohibit the return to the United States of any Chinese
laborer who had at any time gone back to China, "in order" (in the words
of the communication) "that the Chinese laborers may gradually be
reduced in number and causes of danger averted and lives preserved."

This view of the Chinese Government, so completely in harmony with that
of the United States, was by my direction speedily formulated in a
treaty draft between the two nations, embodying the propositions so
presented by the Chinese foreign office.

The deliberations, frequent oral discussions, and correspondence on the
general questions that ensued have been fully communicated by me to the
Senate at the present session, and, as contained in Senate Executive
Document O, parts 1 and 2, and in Senate Executive Document No. 272,
may be properly referred to as containing a complete history of the
transaction.

It is thus easy to learn how the joint desires and unequivocal mutual
understanding of the two Governments were brought into articulated
form in the treaty, which, after a mutual exhibition of plenary powers
from the respective Governments, was signed and concluded by the
plenipotentiaries of the United States and China at this capital on
March 12 last.

Being submitted for the advice and consent of the Senate, its
confirmation, on the 7th day of May last, was accompanied by two
amendments which that body ingrafted upon it.

On the 12th day of the same month the Chinese minister, who was the
plenipotentiary of his Government in the negotiation and the conclusion
of the treaty, in a note to the Secretary of State gave his approval to
these amendments, "as they did not alter the terms of the treaty," and
the amendments were at once telegraphed to China, whither the original
treaty had previously been sent immediately after its signature on March
12.

On the 13th day of last month I approved Senate bill No. 3304, "to
prohibit the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States." This bill
was intended to supplement the treaty, and was approved in the confident
anticipation of an early exchange of ratifications of the treaty and its
amendments and the proclamation of the same, upon which event the
legislation so approved was by its terms to take effect.

No information of any definite action upon the treaty by the Chinese
Government was received until the 21st ultimo--the day the bill which
I have just approved was presented to me--when a telegram from our
minister at Peking to the Secretary of State announced the refusal of
the Chinese Government to exchange ratifications of the treaty unless
further discussion should be had with a view to shorten the period
stipulated in the treaty for the exclusion of Chinese laborers and to
change the conditions agreed on, which should entitle any Chinese
laborer who might go back to China to return again to the United States.

By a note from the chargé d'affaires _ad interim_ of China to the
Secretary of State, received on the evening of the 25th ultimo (a copy
of which is herewith transmitted, together with the reply thereto), a
third amendment is proposed, whereby the certificate under which any
departing Chinese laborer alleging the possession of property in the
United States would be enabled to return to this country should be
granted by the Chinese consul instead of the United States collector,
as had been provided in the treaty.

The obvious and necessary effect of this last proposition would be
practically to place the execution of the treaty beyond the control of
the United States.

Article I of the treaty proposed to be so materially altered had in the
course of the negotiations been settled in acquiescence with the request
of the Chinese plenipotentiary and to his expressed satisfaction.

In 1886, as appears in the documents heretofore referred to, the Chinese
foreign office had formally proposed to our minister strict exclusion of
Chinese laborers from the United States without limitation, and had
otherwise and more definitely stated that no term whatever for exclusion
was necessary, for the reason that China would of itself take steps to
prevent its laborers from coming to the United States.

In the course of the negotiations that followed suggestions from the
same quarter led to the insertion in behalf of the United States of a
term of "thirty years," and this term, upon the representations of the
Chinese plenipotentiary, was reduced to "twenty years," and finally so
agreed upon.

Article II was wholly of Chinese origination, and to that alone owes its
presence in the treaty.

And it is here pertinent to remark that everywhere in the United States
laws for the collection of debts are equally available to all creditors
without respect to race, sex, nationality, or place of residence, and
equally with the citizens or subjects of the most favored nations and
with the citizens of the United States recovery can be had in any court
of justice in the United States by a subject of China, whether of the
laboring or any other class.

No disability accrues from nonresidence of a plaintiff, whose claim can
be enforced in the usual way by him or his assignee or attorney in our
courts of justice.

In this respect it can not be alleged that there exists the slightest
discrimination against Chinese subjects, and it is a notable fact that
large trading firms and companies and individual merchants and traders
of that nation are profitably established at numerous points throughout
the Union, in whose hands every claim transmitted by an absent Chinaman
of a just and lawful nature could be completely enforced.

The admitted and paramount right and duty of every government to exclude
from its borders all elements of foreign population which for any reason
retard its prosperity or are detrimental to the moral and physical
health of its people must be regarded as a recognized canon of
international law and intercourse. China herself has not dissented from
this doctrine, but has, by the expressions to which I have referred, led
us confidently to rely upon such action on her part in cooperation with
us as would enforce the exclusion of Chinese laborers from our country.

This cooperation has not, however, been accorded us. Thus from the
unexpected and disappointing refusal of the Chinese Government to
confirm the acts of its authorized agent and to carry into effect an
international agreement, the main feature of which was voluntarily
presented by that Government for our acceptance, and which had been the
subject of long and careful deliberation, an emergency has arisen, in
which the Government of the United States is called upon to act in
self-defense by the exercise of its legislative power. I can not but
regard the expressed demand on the part of China for a reexamination and
renewed discussion of the topics so completely covered by mutual treaty
stipulations as an indefinite postponement and practical abandonment of
the objects we have in view, to which the Government of China may justly
be considered as pledged.

The facts and circumstances which I have narrated lead me, in the
performance of what seems to me to be my official duty, to join the
Congress in dealing legislatively with the question of the exclusion of
Chinese laborers, in lieu of further attempts to adjust it by
international agreement.

But while thus exercising our undoubted right in the interest of our
people and for the general welfare of our country, justice and fairness
seem to require that some provision should be made by act or joint
resolution under which such Chinese laborers as shall actually have
embarked on their return to the United States before the passage of the
law this day approved, and are now on their way, may be permitted to
land, provided they have duly and lawfully obtained and shall present
certificates heretofore issued permitting them to return in accordance
with the provisions of existing law.

Nor should our recourse to legislative measures of exclusion cause us to
retire from the offer we have made to indemnify such Chinese subjects as
have suffered damage through violence in the remote and comparatively
unsettled portions of our country at the hands of lawless men. Therefore
I recommend that, without acknowledging legal liability therefor, but
because it was stipulated in the treaty which has failed to take effect,
and in a spirit of humanity befitting our nation, there be appropriated
the sum of $276,619.75, payable to the Chinese minister at this capital
on behalf of his Government, as full indemnity for all losses and
injuries sustained by Chinese subjects in the manner and under the
circumstances mentioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, October 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit, with a view to its ratification, a convention between the
United States of America and Venezuela to further extend the period for
the exchange of ratifications of the claims convention of December 5,
1885, between the said contracting parties and to extend the period for
the exchange of ratifications of the convention of March 15, 1888,
between the same contracting parties, also relating to claims.

I invite attention to the accompanying report of the Secretary of State
and the papers inclosed therein.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




VETO MESSAGES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, April 4, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill 2477, entitled "An act for
the relief of Nathaniel McKay and the executors of Donald McKay."

It is proposed by this bill to allow the beneficiaries named therein to
present to the Court of Claims for determination certain demands made
by them against the Government on account of the construction of two
ironclad monitors called the _Squando_ and the _Nauset_ and a
side-wheel steamer called the _Ashuelot_.

The contracts for building these vessels were made early in 1863. It was
agreed that they should be completed within six or eight months. It was
also provided in these contracts that the Government "should have the
privilege of making alterations and additions to the plans and
specifications at any time during the progress of the work, as it may
deem necessary and proper," and that if said alterations and additions
should cause extra expense to the contractors the Government would "pay
for the same at fair and reasonable rates."

It thus appears that the time allowed for the completion of these
vessels was with the assent of the contractors made exceedingly short;
that notwithstanding this fact they consented to permit such alterations
of plans as must almost necessarily prolong the time, fixing no limit to
such extension, and that in the same breath they fix their measure of
compensation for such alterations and an extended time consequent
thereon at "a fair and reasonable rate" for the extra expense caused
thereby.

Almost immediately upon the beginning of their work alterations and
changes were made in the original plans for these vessels, and they were
repeated and continued to such a degree that the completion of the
vessels was delayed many months.

In the latter part of the year 1864 and early in the year 1865 payments
in excess of the contract price were made by the Navy Department to the
contractors under the provisions of the contract above recited. The
contract price for the _Squando_ was $395,000. The contractors
claimed extra compensation amounting to $337,329.46, and there was
allowed $194,525.70. The contract price of the _Nauset_ was
$386,000, the extra compensation claimed was $314,768.93, and the amount
allowed $192,110.98. The contract price of the side-wheel steamer
_Ashuelot_ was $275,000, the extra compensation claimed was
$81,447.50, and the amount allowed was $22,415.92. The different sums as
thus adjusted were received by the contractors in settlement of their
claims for extra expense, and receipts in full were given by them to the
Government.

A number of other contractors had done like work for the Government and
claimed to have demands growing out of the same for extra compensation.

Evidently with the view of investigating and settling these claims, on
the 9th day of March, 1865, the Senate passed the following resolution:

  _Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Navy be requested to organize
  a board of not less than three persons, whose duty it shall be to
  inquire into and determine how much the vessels of war and steam
  machinery contracted for by the Department in the years 1862 and 1863
  cost the contractors over and above the contract price and allowance
  for extra work, and report the same to the Senate at its next session;
  none but those that have given satisfaction to the Department to be
  considered.


This board was appointed by the Secretary of the Navy on the 25th
day of May, 1865, and consisted of a commodore, a chief engineer,
and a paymaster in the Navy. Its powers were broad and liberal, and
comprehended an inquiry touching all things that made up "the cost to
the contractors" of their work in excess of the contract price and
allowances for extra work.

The board convened on the 6th day of June, 1865, and sat continuously
until the 23d day of December following, and made numerous awards to
contractors. The parties mentioned in the bill now under consideration
were notified on the 9th and 15th days of June, 1865, to prepare and
submit testimony to the board in support of their claims, and they
repeatedly signified their intention to do so.

Donald McKay was the contractor for the construction of the monitor
_Nauset_ and the steamer _Ashuelot_. The proceedings of the
board show that on the 11th day of August, 1865, he notified the board
that the only claim he made for loss was on the hull, boiler, and
machinery of the _Ashuelot_, which he would be prepared to present
in about six weeks.

Neither of these parties presented any statement to the board, and no
claim of theirs was passed upon.

On the 2d day of March, 1867, an act was passed directing the Secretary
of the Navy to investigate the claims of all contractors for building
vessels of war and steam machinery for the same under contracts made
after May 1, 1861, and before January 1, 1864. He was by said act
required "to ascertain the additional cost which was necessarily
incurred by each contractor in the completion of his work by reason of
any changes or alterations in the plans and specifications required and
delays in the prosecution of the work occasioned by the Government which
were not provided for in the original contract." It was further provided
that there should be reported to Congress a tabular statement of each
case, which should contain "the name of the contractor, a description of
the work, the contract price, the whole increased cost of the work over
the contract price, and the amount of such increased cost caused by the
delay and action of the Government as aforesaid, and the amount already
paid the contractor over and above the contract price."

Under this act Commodore J.A. Marchand, Chief Engineer J.W. King, and
Paymaster Edward Foster, of the Navy, were designated by the Secretary
of the Navy to make the investigation required. These officers on the
26th day of November, 1867, made a report of their proceedings, which
was submitted to the Senate with a tabulated statement of all the claims
examined by them and their findings thereon.

It appears by this report that the claims of the beneficiaries mentioned
in the bill herewith returned were examined by the board, and that
nothing was found due thereon under the terms of the law directing their
examination.

These claims have frequently been before Congress since that time. They
have been favorably reported and acted upon a number of times, and have
also been more than once strongly condemned by committees to whom they
were referred.

A resolution was passed in 1871 by the Congress referring these and
other claims of a like character to the Court of Claims for
adjudication, but it was vetoed by the President for reasons not
necessarily affecting the merits of the claims.

The case of Chouteau _vs_. The United States, reported in Fifth
Otto, page 61, which arose out of the contract to build a vessel called
the _Etlah_, appears to present the same features that belong to
the claims here considered. It is stated in the report of the House
committee on this bill that "the _Squando_ and _Nauset_ were
identical in the original plans and the changes and alterations thereon
with the _Etlah_ and _Shiloh_, built in St. Louis;" and yet
the Supreme Court of the United States distinctly decided in the
_Etlah_ case that the only pretext for further compensation should
be sought for in the contract, where the contractor had evidently been
content to provide for all the remedy he desired.

It seems, then, that the contractors mentioned in this bill, after
entering into contracts plainly indicating that changes of plans and
consequent delay in their work were in their contemplation, availed
themselves of the remedy which they themselves had provided, and
thereupon received about 50 per cent in the case of two of these vessels
of the contract price for extra work, giving the Government a receipt in
full. When soon thereafter opportunity was offered them to make further
claim of as broad a nature as they could desire, they failed to do so,
and one of them disclaimed any right to recover on account of one of the
vessels, though all are now included in the present bill. In 1867 the
claims were fully examined under a law of Congress and rejected, and the
Supreme Court in an exactly similar case finds neither law nor equity
supporting them.

If it be claimed that no compensation has been yet allowed solely for
the increase in the price of labor and material caused by delay in
construction, it is no hardship to say that as the contractors made
provision for change of plans and delay they must be held to have taken
the risk of such rise in price and be satisfied with the provision they
have made against it. Besides, much of the increase in the price of
labor and material is included in the extra cost which has already been
reimbursed to them.

But the bill does not provide that these contractors shall be limited in
the Court of Claims to a recovery solely for loss occasioned by increase
of the cost of labor and material during the delay caused by the
Government. By the terms of the proposed act the court is directed to
ascertain the additional cost necessarily incurred in building the
vessels by reason of any changes or alterations in the plans and
specifications and delays in the prosecution of the work. This, it seems
to me, would enable these contractors to open the whole question of
compensation for extra work.

It hardly seems fair to the Government to permit these claims to be
presented after a lapse of twenty-three years since a settlement in full
was made and receipts given, after the opportunity which has been
offered for establishing further claims if they existed, and when, as a
consequence of the contractor's neglect, the Government would labor
under great disadvantages in its defense.

I am of the opinion, in view of the history of these claims and the
suspicion naturally excited as to their merit, that no injustice will be
done if they are laid at rest instead of being given new life and vigor
in the Court of Claims.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 16, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 445, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Laura A. Wright."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of Charles H. Wright,
who was pensioned for a gunshot wound received in the military service
of the United States on the 19th day of September, 1864. He continued
in the receipt of such pension until June 25, 1884, when he committed
suicide by hanging.

It is alleged on behalf of his widow that the pain caused by his wound
was so great that it caused temporary insanity, under the influence of
which he destroyed himself.

There is not a particle of proof that I can discover tending to show an
unsound mind, unless it be the fact of his suicide. He suffered much
pain at intervals. He was a farmer in comfortable circumstances, and
according to the testimony of one of the physicians, filed in support
of the widow's claim, his health was good up to the time of his death,
except for the wound and its results. The day before his death he was
engaged in work connected with his farming occupation, though he
complained of pain from his wound. Early the next morning, still
complaining, as it is alleged, of his wound, he went out, declaring he
was going out to milk, and not returning in due time, upon search his
body was found and his self-destruction discovered. This was nearly
twenty years after the deceased received his wound, and there is not
a suggestion of any act or word of his in all that time indicating
insanity. It seems to me it can hardly be assumed in such circumstances
that the insanity and death of the soldier resulted from pain arising
from his wound, merely because no other explanation can be given. In
numerous cases of suicide no cause or motive for self-destruction is
discovered.

We have within our borders thousands of widows living in poverty, and
some of them in need, whose dead husbands fought bravely and well in
defense of the Government, but whose deaths were not occasioned by any
incident of military service. In these cases the wife's long vigil at
the bed of wasting disease, the poverty that came before the death, and
the distressing doubt and uncertainty which darkened the future have not
secured to such widows the aid of our pension laws.

With these in sight the bounty of the Government may without injustice
be withheld from one whose soldier husband received a pension for nearly
twenty years, though all that time able to labor, and who, having
reached a stage of comfortable living, made his wife a widow by
destroying his own life.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 16, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith without approval Senate bill No. 809, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Betsey Mannsfield."

It is proposed to grant a pension to the beneficiary named in this bill
as the mother of Franklin J. Mannsfield, who enlisted as a private April
27, 1861, and died in camp of disease on the 14th day of November, in
the same year. His mother filed an application for pension in June,
1882.

The testimony filed in the Pension Bureau discloses the following facts:

At the time of the death of the soldier the family, besides himself,
consisted of three persons--his father and mother and an unmarried
sister. They owned and resided upon a homestead in Wisconsin comprising
293 acres, 20 of which were cleared, the balance being in timber, all
unencumbered. The assessed valuation was $1,170, the real value being
considerably more. The father was a farmer and blacksmith, healthy and
able-bodied, and furnishing a comfortable support, but shortly after the
soldier's death he began to drink and his health began to fail. Upon the
marriage of the daughter he deeded her 50 acres of the land. He became
indebted, and from time to time sold portions of his homestead to pay
debts; but in 1882, at the time the mother's application for pension was
filed, there still remained 110 acres of land, valued at about $3,300,
40 acres of which was mortgaged in 1880 for $600. Since 1879 the farm
had been rented, except 8 or 10 acres reserved for a residence for the
family. They owned two cows, and the rent averaged about $125 a year.

This was the condition of affairs as late as 1886, when the claim of the
mother for a pension was, after investigation, rejected by the Pension
Bureau, and it is supposed to be substantially the same now.

It also appears that a son, born since the soldier's death, and upward
of 18 years of age, resides with his parents and furnishes them some
assistance.

The claimant certainly was not dependent in the least degree upon the
soldier at the time of his death, and she did not file her claim for
pension until nearly twenty-one years thereafter.

Though the lack of dependence at the date of the soldier's death is
sufficient to defeat a parent's claim for pension under our laws, I
believe that in proper cases a relaxation of rules and a charitable
liberality should be shown to parents old and in absolute need through
default of the help which, it may be presumed, a son would have
furnished if his life had not been sacrificed in his country's service.

But it seems to me the case presented here can not be reached by any
theory of pensions which has yet been suggested.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 16, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return herewith without approval Senate bill No. 549, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Hannah R. Langdon."

The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill entered the military
service of the United States as assistant surgeon in a Vermont regiment
on the 7th day of October, 1862, and less than six months thereafter
tendered his resignation, based upon a surgeon's certificate of
disability on account of chronic hepatitis (inflammation of the liver)
and diarrhea.

On the 12th day of June, 1880, more than seventeen years after his
discharge, he filed a claim for pension, alleging chronic diarrhea and
resulting piles. He was allowed a pension in January, 1881, and died of
consumption on the 24th day of September, in the same year.

Prior to the allowance of his claim for pension he wrote to the Bureau
of Pensions a full history of his disability as resulting from chronic
diarrhea and piles, and in that letter he made the following statement:

  I have had no other disease, except last September (1880) I had
  pleurisy and congestion of my left lung.


From other sources the Bureau derived the information that the deceased
had suffered an attack of pleuro-pneumonia on his left side, and that
his recovery had been partial.

In December, 1880, he was examined by two members of the board of
surgeons at Burlington, Vt., of which board he was also a member, and
the following facts were certified:

  For the past fifteen years claimant has practiced his profession in this
  city, and has up to within a year or a year and a half of this date
  shown a vigor and power of endurance quite equal to the labor imposed
  upon him by the popular demand for his services. About a year ago he
  evinced symptoms of breaking down, cough, emaciation, and debility.


These results--"breaking down, cough, emaciation, and debility"--are
the natural effects of such an attack as the deceased himself reported,
though not made by him any ground of a claim for pension, and it seems
quite clear that his death in September, 1881, must be chargeable to the
same cause.

His widow, the beneficiary named in this bill, filed her claim for
pension December 5, 1881, based upon the ground that her husband's death
from consumption was due to the chronic diarrhea for which he was
pensioned. Upon such application the testimony of Dr. H.H. Atwater was
filed, to the effect that about 1879 he began to treat the deceased
regularly for pleuro-pneumonia, followed by abscesses and degeneration
of lung tissue, which finally resulted in death, and that these diseased
conditions were complicated with digestive affections, such as diarrhea,
dyspepsia, and indigestion. Another affidavit of Dr. Atwater, made in
1886, will be found in the report upon this bill made by the House
Committee on Invalid Pensions.

The claimant's application for a pension was rejected by the Pension
Bureau on the ground that the cause of her husband's death was not shown
to have been connected in any degree with the disease on account of
which he was pensioned or with his military service.

I am entirely satisfied that this determination was correct.

I am constrained to disapprove the bill under consideration, because
it is thus far our settled and avowed policy to grant pensions only to
widows whose husbands have died from causes related to military service,
and because the proposed legislation would, in my opinion, result in
a discrimination in favor of this claimant unfair and unjust toward
thousands of poor widows who are equally entitled to our sympathy and
benevolence.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 18, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 258, entitled "An act for the
relief of Major Daniel N. Bash, paymaster, United States Army."

The object of this bill is to release Paymaster Bash from all liability
to the Government for the loss by theft of $7,350.93, which was
intrusted to him for the payment of United States troops at various
posts, one of which was Fort McKinney, in Wyoming Territory.

He started from Cheyenne Depot, accompanied by his clerk, D.F. Bash.
Before starting he attempted to procure an iron safe in which he could
deposit the money which he should have in his possession during his
absence, but was unable to do so. It is alleged that it is customary for
paymasters in such cases to be furnished with safes by the Government.

On the 17th day of March, 1887, Major Bash arrived at Douglas, Wyoming
Territory, having in his possession $350.93, which was a balance left
in his hands after making previous payments on the way. At Douglas he
received by express $7,000, $250 of which were in silver. He was met
here by an escort consisting of a sergeant and private soldier, who had
been sent from Fort McKinney, and who were under orders to report to the
paymaster at Douglas and to act as guard from that place to Fort
McKinney.

Another unsuccessful attempt having been made at Douglas to obtain
a safe or treasure box in which to carry the money, the same was
put in a leather valise as the best thing that could be done in the
circumstances. The money was first handed by the paymaster to his clerk,
and by the clerk put in the valise and handed to the sergeant of the
escort. There is evidence that the sergeant was told not to permit it
to be out of his sight. Immediately after supper at Douglas the entire
party entered the stage and proceeded upon their journey, the sergeant
carrying the valise. Major Bash asserts that he said to the sergeant,
"You must take good care of the valise; it contains the money."

The next morning, on the 18th day of March, the party arrived at Dry
Cheyenne. When the paymaster went in to breakfast at that place, he
found all the party at the breakfast table. After breakfast he walked
out to the stage, the sergeant going at the same time. He asked him what
he had done with the valise, and received the reply that it was in the
stage. He then said to the sergeant, "You ought to have brought it in
with you; you should take better care of that valise." The valise was
then examined and the money was found untouched.

Pursuing their journey, the party arrived at Antelope Springs, Wyoming
Territory, at half past 10 o'clock the same morning. The paymaster
alleges that he asked the sergeant if he should take dinner there, and
that, being answered in the negative, he remarked to him that he might
then stay at the stage; that he then went to the stage station, leaving
the two soldiers and the clerk at the stage; that he remained at the
station warming himself a short time, finding there three citizens, one
of whom he afterwards learned was Parker, the thief; that he left the
room in which he had been warming himself and went to the dining room,
passing along the front of the house, and as he did so noticed the stage
standing there with no one near it except a stock tender; that on
reaching the dining room he found his entire party at the table; that he
looked "pretty sharp" at the sergeant, as he was surprised to see him
there, but as he was just eating his pie he (the paymaster) said nothing
to him; that not more than a minute after that the sergeant and driver
got up and went out; that three or four minutes after they went out they
rushed back and said that the valise had been taken.

It was found that the valise and money had been taken by Parker, who had
mounted a horse and ridden away. He was pursued so closely that revolver
shots were exchanged between the sergeant, who was badly mounted, and
the thief. The sergeant alleged that he could have shot Parker if he had
been provided with a gun instead of a revolver.

The facts in relation to this subject were developed upon a court of
inquiry called for that purpose; and much of the above recited is
derived from the evidence of Major Bash himself, taken upon such
inquiry.

The following is the finding of the court concerning the conduct of the
paymaster in the premises:

  That Major Daniel N. Bash, paymaster, United States Army, did not give
  such direct and detailed orders to the members of the escort as to the
  manner in which they should guard the public money in his (Bash's)
  possession while en route to Fort McKinney as the importance of the
  matter required, and that he did not take the proper and necessary pains
  to see that any orders which he had given on this subject were duly
  obeyed.


This finding defines a case of negligence which renders the paymaster
liable for the loss of these funds. But a number of army officers,
including the members of the court of inquiry, suggest that the
paymaster thus found at fault should be relieved from responsibility.
This is much the fashion in these days.

It is said that a safe should have been provided; that the paymaster
had the right to rely upon the fidelity and efficiency of the escort,
and that the two men furnished him as an escort were unintelligent
and negligent; that they should have been armed with guns instead of
pistols, and that the instructions given to the escort by the paymaster
were sufficient to acquit him of culpable neglect.

It seems to me that the omissions of care on the part of this officer
are of such a nature as to render much that is urged in his favor
irrelevant. He had the charge of this money. It was his care, vigilance,
and intelligence which were the safeguards of its protection. If he had
as full an appreciation as he indicates of the importance of having a
safe, he must have known that in its absence additional care and
watchfulness on his part were necessary, whatever his escort or his
clerk might do.

But notwithstanding all this he seemed quite content to leave this large
sum of money in the hands of those sent to him, not to have the custody
of his funds, but to guard him from violence and robbery. On the very
morning of the day the theft was committed he had found fault with the
sergeant for leaving the money in the stage while he took breakfast, and
had said to him that he (the sergeant) ought to have brought it in with
him. He here furnishes his own definition of the kind of care which
should have been taken of the money--the sergeant "ought to have brought
it in with him;" and this suggests the idea that it would have been
quite consistent with his duty, and perhaps not much beneath his
dignity, if he had taken it in himself. (Chief Paymaster Terrell, in a
letter favoring leniency, states that the coin could not have weighed
less than 15 pounds.)

It must certainly be conceded that what then took place plainly warned
him that to insure the safety of this money he must either take personal
charge of it or he must at least be sure that those to whom he
surrendered it were watchful and vigilant. And yet when, a few hours
later, on the same day, upon arriving at Antelope Springs, he was
informed by the sergeant that he did not propose to take dinner there,
the paymaster almost casually said to him, "Then you stay at the stage,"
and he himself went to a room at the station to warm himself. When, as
he went from there to the dining room, he passed the stage and saw no
one near it except a stock tender, a very conservative idea of duty and
care would have induced him to stop at the stage and ascertain the
condition of affairs. If he had done so, he probably would have found
the money there, and could have taken it in with him or watched it until
some of his party came out from dinner. Instead of doing this, he
himself went to the dining room, and indicated his surprise at seeing
the sergeant there by looking at him sharply. However, as he was just
eating his pie, nothing was said.

It is not improbable that the thief waited for the clerk and escort, and
lastly the paymaster himself, to enter the dining room before venturing
to take, entirely unmolested, the valise containing the money. When it
is considered that after finishing his pie the sergeant came out to
the stage so nearly the exact moment of the theft that, though badly
mounted, he was able to approach near enough in pursuit of the fleeing
thief to exchange revolver shots with him, it is quite apparent that the
loss might have been prevented if the paymaster had remained a short
time by the stage when he saw it unprotected, or had taken the valise in
with him, or promptly diverted the attention of the sergeant from his
pie to the money which all had abandoned.

When, therefore, it is said that this loss can be charged in any degree
to the neglect or default of the Government, it is answered that the
direct and immediate cause of the loss was the omission on the part of
this paymaster of the Government, in whose custody these funds were
placed, of the plainest and simplest acts of prudence and care.

The temptation is very strong to yield assent to the proposition for
the relief of a citizen from liability to the Government arising from
conduct not absolutely criminal; but the bonds and the security wisely
exacted by the Government from its officers to insure proper discharge
of public duty will be of very limited value if everything is to be
excused except actual dishonesty.

I am thoroughly convinced that the interests of the public would
be better protected if fewer private bills were passed relieving
officials, upon slight and sentimental grounds, from their pecuniary
responsibilities; and the readiness with which army officers join in
applications for the condonation of negligence on the part of their
army comrades does not tend, in my opinion, to maintain that regard
for discipline and that scrupulous observance of duty which should
characterize those belonging to their honorable profession.

I can not satisfy myself that the negligence made apparent in this case
should be overlooked.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 21, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 823, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Hannah C. De Witt."

An act the precise duplicate of this was passed at the present session
of the Congress, and received Executive approval on the 10th day of
March, 1888. Pursuant to said act the name of the beneficiary mentioned
in the bill herewith returned has been placed upon the pension rolls.
The second enactment is of course entirely useless, and was evidently
passed by mistake.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 21, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 418, entitled "An act granting
a pension to William H. Brokenshaw."

The history of the military service of the beneficiary mentioned in this
bill, as derived from the records of the War Department, shows that he
was received at draft rendezvous at Jackson, Mich., on the 25th day of
March, 1865; that he was sent to the Twenty-fourth Regiment of Michigan
Volunteers on the 29th day of the same month, and that he was present
with his command, without any record of disability, from that date until
the 30th day of June, 1865, when he was mustered out with his company.
It will thus be seen that he was in the service a few days more than
three months, just at the close of the war. It is not alleged that he
did any actual fighting.

In 1883 he filed an application for pension, alleging that on the
evening of the 25th of March, 1865, being the day he was received at
rendezvous, he was injured in his ribs while getting into his bunk by
three other recruits, who were scuffling in the room and who jumped upon
him or crushed him against the side of his bunk.

An examination upon such application made in 1884 tended to show an
injury to his ribs, but the claim was rejected upon the ground that no
injury was incurred in the line of duty. It must be conceded that upon
the claimant's own showing he was not injured as an incident to military
service.

Aside from this objection, it is hardly possible that an injury of this
kind, producing the consequences which it is alleged followed its
infliction, could have been sustained by this soldier and not in the
least interrupted the performance of his military service, though such
service was very short and probably not severe. When with this it is
considered that eighteen years elapsed between the date of the alleged
injury and the soldier's application for pension, I am satisfied that no
injustice will be done if the disposition made of this case by the
Pension Bureau is allowed to stand.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 21, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4633, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Morris T. Mantor."

The records in this case show that the beneficiary named in this bill
enlisted on the 25th day of February, 1864, and that he was mustered out
July 18, 1865.

It is also shown that though he was reported sick a considerable part of
his period of service there is no mention of any trouble with his eyes.

In the year 1880 he filed an application for pension, alleging dropsy
and disease of his eyes, caused by an explosion of ammunition.

The case was examined in 1882 and 1883, and was again specially examined
very thoroughly and critically in 1885.

The evidence thus secured seemed to establish the fact that the
claimant's eyes were sore for many years before enlistment, and that
their condition before that date, during his service, and after his
discharge did not materially differ. It also appeared that no
pensionable disability from dropsy had existed since the filing of his
application.

On these grounds the application was rejected, and I am convinced such
action was entirely justified.

The reported conduct of the claimant on the last examination and his
attempts to influence witnesses in their testimony add weight to the
proposition, quite well established by the proof, that his claim to a
pension lacks merit.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 24, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5247, entitled "An act granting
a pension to William H. Brimmer."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted September 5, 1864, as a
wagon master, and was discharged on the 30th day of May, 1865. There is
no record of any disability during his short service.

In February, 1888, nearly twenty-three years after his discharge, he
filed an application for a pension, alleging that in the fall of 1864 he
was made to carry sacks of corn, which produced a weakness of the walls
of the abdomen, resulting in rupture. In an affidavit filed upon said
application the claimant testifies that he said nothing about his injury
or disability to anyone while in the service and can furnish no evidence
except his own statement.

The first and only medical evidence presented touching this claim is
that of Dr. Reynolds, who examined him in 1880 or 1881, who then came
to the conclusion that the claimant was suffering from an incomplete
hernia, which a few months thereafter developed in the right groin. From
this examination and testimony no hint is furnished that the injury was
due to military service, nor any intimation that it might be.

In February, 1888, a medical examination was made under direction of
the Pension Bureau, when it was found that the claimant had the general
appearance of being healthy and well nourished, but that he had a small
uncomplicated inguinal hernia on the right side, which was easily
retained.

I can not believe upon the facts presented that an injury of the
character alleged could have been sustained in the service and still
permitted the performance of all the duties of wagon master for months
thereafter, remaining undeveloped for so many years, and that there
should now be such a lack of testimony connecting it with any incident
of military service.

I believe the rejection of this claim was right and just upon its
merits.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 24, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill 6908, entitled "An act granting a
pension to William P. Witt."

The beneficiary named in the bill was enrolled for one hundred days'
service on the 13th day of July, 1864, and was mustered out on the 16th
day of November, in the same year. The record shows that he was reported
present on all rolls until he was mustered out.

He filed a claim for pension in 1884, alleging that he incurred chronic
diarrhea, liver disease, rheumatism, and a disease of the head affecting
his hearing during his military service. Two comrades testify to his
being sick and being in the hospital to such an extent as to wholly
discredit his presence with his company. A physician testifies that he
prescribed for him some time in the month of November, 1864, for liver
disease and jaundice, to which rheumatism supervened, confining him six
weeks or more.

There seems to be a complete hiatus of any medical or other evidence
concerning his physical condition from that time until nearly twenty
years thereafter, in July, 1884, when he was examined, and it was found
that he had impaired hearing in both ears, but no symptoms of
rheumatism, and that his liver was normal.

Without further detailing particulars, the entire complexion of this
case satisfies me that the claimant contracted no pensionable disability
during his one hundred days of service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 24, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4550, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Chloe Quiggle, widow of Phillip Quiggle."

The husband of the beneficiary named enlisted February 11, 1865, and was
discharged September 27, 1865. The records show that he was reported
August 31, 1865, as "absent, confined in post prison at Chattanooga
since August 18, 1865."

He filed a claim for pension June 25, 1880, alleging that after a march
from Chattanooga to a point 1-1/2 miles distant and back he upon his
return drank some water, which produced diarrhea, since which time he
had been troubled also with disease of kidneys and rheumatism.

He died in September, 1882, and the claim then pending on his behalf
was completed by his widow. After a special examination the claim for
diarrhea was, on the 21st day of April, 1887, allowed from September 28,
1865, to January 1, 1870, when it was shown that any disability from
this cause ceased. The claim for disease of kidneys and rheumatism was
rejected upon the ground that no such disabilities were shown to be due
to military service.

The widow filed a claim on her own behalf August 27, 1883, alleging the
death of the soldier from the results of prostration by heat while
marching near Nashville, Tenn., and also from disease of kidneys,
rheumatism, and chronic diarrhea.

It is reported to me that the evidence taken during a special
examination of this case established that before and after enlistment
the soldier was addicted to the excessive use of intoxicating liquors.

One physician stated to the examiner that shortly after the soldier's
discharge he found him suffering from disease of kidneys and from
rheumatism and diarrhea, but that he concluded the disease of the
kidneys had been coming on for a year; that it could not have been
caused by a sunstroke a few weeks previously, and that the diseases were
of longer standing than that.

Another physician who attended the soldier during his last illness
testified that he did not know that he suffered from any disease until
the summer of 1882; that he found him suffering from retention of urine,
and that the difficulty rapidly developed into an acute attack of
Bright's disease; that no indications of rheumatism were found, but that
the disease progressed steadily and was a well-marked case of Bright's
disease of the kidneys. He also testified that the origin of the disease
was no doubt recent, though possibly it might have existed in a low form
for some years.

A medical examination in May, 1882, developed no disease of the kidneys.

It seems to me that all the reliable testimony in the case tends to show
beyond a doubt that the soldier's death was not due to any incident of
his military service. I do not find that the medical testimony given by
his neighbors makes a suggestion that it was, and upon all the facts I
am of the opinion that the pension which has been already allowed was a
liberal disposition of the case.

The beneficiary named in this bill is aged, and it would certainly be a
gratification to grant her relief; but the question is whether we do
well to establish a precedent for the allowance of claims of this
character in the distribution of pension funds.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 30, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 465, entitled "An act granting
a pension to William Sackman, sr."

The beneficiary named in this bill served from December 24, 1861, to
February 29, 1864, in the Fifth Regiment of the Missouri Militia
Cavalry.

He was discharged on the day last named for disability. His certificate
of discharge states his disability as follows:

  Palpitation of the heart and defective lungs, the disability caused by
  falling off his horse near Fredericktown, Mo., while intoxicated, on
  detached service, in the month of September, 1862. Not having done any
  duty since, a discharge would benefit the Government and himself.


It appears that a claim for pension was filed in the year 1881, in which
the claimant alleged that--

  At Fredericktown, Mo., about the 10th or 12th of April, 1863, he had
  three ribs broken by falling from his horse while surrounded by
  guerrillas.


It will be seen that while the certificate of discharge mentions a fall
in September, 1862, no allusion is made to any fracture of ribs, while
the claimant alleges such an injury occurred in April, 1863.

In 1885 the surgeon who made the medical certificate attached to the
discharge, in answer to an inquiry made by the Commissioner of Pensions,
says:

  I have to state that I remember the case very distinctly. I made the
  examination in person, and was thoroughly acquainted with the case. I
  read the statement on which the application for discharge was based to
  the man, and he consented to have the papers forwarded as they read.
  The application for pension is fraudulent and should not be allowed.


I have omitted references made to the habits of the soldier by this
medical officer.

Of course much reliance should be placed upon these statements made by
an officer whose business it was to know the exact facts, and who made
his certificate at a time when such facts were fresh in his mind. There
is no intimation that the surgeon who made the statement referred to was
inimical to the soldier or influenced by any unjust motive.

The attempt to impeach the record thus made is based upon affidavits
made by a number of the soldier's comrades, who testify to his character
and habits, and only three of whom speak of an injury to the soldier
caused by falling from his horse. Two of these affiants allege that they
were with the claimant on detached duty when his horse took fright and
ran away with him, injuring him so that he could not rise and get on his
horse without assistance. So far as these affidavits are before me, no
date of this occurrence is given, nothing is said as to the character of
the injuries, and no reference is made to the condition of the soldier
at the time. The third affiant, who speaks of an injury, says that it
occurred while on duty on the march from Pilot Knob to Cape Girardeau,
in the year 1862 or 1863, and that it was caused by the soldier's being
thrown from his horse. He says further that the soldier was not
intoxicated at that time.

No mention is made that I can discover of any fracture of the ribs
except in the claimant's application for pension made in 1881, seventeen
years after his discharge, and in a report of an examining surgeon made
in 1882.

With no denial of the soldier's condition, as stated by the surgeon,
on the part of the only parties who claim to have been present at
the time of the injury, I can not satisfy myself, in view of the other
circumstances surrounding this case, that the allegations contained in
the claimant's discharge are discredited.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 30, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 838, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mary Sullivan."

On the 1st day of July, 1886, an act was approved which is an exact copy
of the one herewith returned. In pursuance of that act the beneficiary's
name was placed upon the pension rolls.

A second law for the same purpose is of course unnecessary.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 1, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 19, entitled "An act for the
relief of H.B. Wilson, administrator of the estate of William Tinder,
deceased."

The purpose of this bill is to refund to the estate of William Tinder
the sum of $5,000, which was paid to the Government by his administrator
in June, 1880, upon the following facts:

In 1876 two indictments were found against one Evans, charging him with
passing counterfeit money. In May, 1878, he was tried upon one of said
indictments and the jury failed to agree. Thereupon the prisoner entered
into two recognizances in the sum of $5,000 each, with W.R. Evans and
William Tinder as sureties, conditioned for the appearance of the
prisoner Evans at the next term of the court, in November, 1878, for
trial upon said indictment. Before that date, however, the prisoner fled
the country and failed to appear according to the condition of his bond.
In the meantime William Tinder died and H.B. Wilson was appointed his
administrator.

Suits were brought upon the two bail bonds, and, the liability of the
sureties not being admitted, the suits were tried in March, 1880,
resulting in two judgments in favor of the United States and against the
surety Evans and the estate of Tinder for $5,000 each and the costs.

Soon thereafter an application was made by the administrator of the
estate of William Tinder for relief, and an offer was made by him to pay
$5,000 and the costs in compromise and settlement of the liability of
said estate upon said two judgments.

These judgments were a preferred claim against the estate, which was
represented to be worth sixteen or eighteen thousand dollars. The other
surety, Evans, was alleged to be worthless, and it was claimed that
neither the administrator of the Tinder estate nor his attorneys had
known the whereabouts of the indicted party since his flight, and that
some time would elapse before certain litigation in which the estate was
involved could be settled and the claims against it paid.

It was considered best by the officers of the Government to accept the
proposition of the administrator, which was done in June, 1880. The sum
of $5,099.06, the amount of one of said judgments, with interest and
costs, was paid into the United States Treasury, and the estate of
Tinder was in consideration thereof released and discharged from all
liability upon both of said judgments.

Thus was the transaction closed, in exact accordance with the wishes and
the prayer of the representative of this estate and by the favor and
indulgence of the Government upon his application. There was, so far as
I can learn, no condition attached, and no understanding or agreement
that any future occurrence would affect the finality of the compromise
by which the Government had accepted one-half of its claim in full
settlement.

It appears that in 1881 the party indicted was arrested and brought to
trial, which resulted in his conviction; and apparently for this reason
alone it is proposed by the bill under consideration to open the
settlement made at the request of the administrator and refund to him
the sum which he paid on such settlement pursuant to his own offer.

I can see no fairness or justice to the Government in such a proposition.
I do not find any statement that the administrator delivered the
prisoner to the United States authorities for trial. On the contrary, it
appears from an examination made in the First Comptroller's Office that
he was arrested by the marshal on the 25th day of May, 1881, who charged
and was paid his fees therefor. And if the administrator had surrendered
the prisoner to justice it would not entitle him to the repayment of the
money he has paid to compromise the two judgments against him.

The temptation to relieve from contracts with the Government upon
plausible application is, in my opinion, not sufficiently resisted;
but to refund money paid into the public Treasury upon such a liberal
compromise as is exhibited in this case seems like a departure from all
business principles and an unsafe concession that the interests of the
Government are to be easily surrendered.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 3, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4534, entitled "An act for the
relief of Emily G. Mills."

The object of this bill is to provide a pension for the beneficiary
named therein as the widow of Oscar B. Mills, late a second assistant
engineer, retired, in the United States Navy. The deceased was appointed
an acting third assistant engineer in October, 1862, and in 1864 he was
promoted to the place of second assistant engineer.

It is supposed that while in active service he did his full duty, though
I am not informed of any distinguished acts of bravery or heroism. In
February, 1871, he was before a naval retiring board, which found that
he was incapacitated for active service on account of malarious fever,
contracted in 1868, and recommended that he be allowed six months' leave
of absence to recover his health.

In December, 1871, he was again examined for retirement, and the board
found that he was not in any way incapacitated from performing the
duties of his office. The next year, in 1872, another retiring board,
upon an examination of his case, found that he was "laboring under
general debility, the effect of intermittent fever acting upon an
originally delicate constitution," and he was thereupon placed upon the
retired list of the Navy.

On the 10th day of August, 1873, he was accidentally shot and killed by
a neighbor, who was attempting to shoot an owl.

As long as there is the least pretense of limiting the bestowal of
pensions to disability or death in some way related to the incidents of
military and naval service, claims of this description can not
consistently be allowed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 7, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 1406, entitled "An act to
provide for the sale of certain New York Indian lands in Kansas."

Prior to the year 1838 a number of bands and tribes of New York
Indians had obtained 500,000 acres of land in the State of Wisconsin,
upon which they proposed to reside. In the year above named a treaty was
entered into between the United States and these Indians whereby they
relinquished to the Government these Wisconsin lands. In consideration
thereof, and, as the treaty declares, "in order to manifest the deep
interest of the United States in the future peace and prosperity of
the New York Indians," it was agreed there should be set apart as a
permanent home for all the New York Indians then residing in the State
of New York, or in Wisconsin, or elsewhere in the United States, who
had no permanent home, a tract of land amounting to 1,824,000 acres,
directly west of the State of Missouri, and now included in the State
of Kansas--being 320 acres for each Indian, as their number was then
computed--"to have and to hold the same in fee simple to the said tribes
or nations of Indians by patent from the President of the United
States."

Full power and authority was also given to said Indians "to divide said
lands among the different tribes, nations, or bands in severalty," with
the right to sell and convey to and from each other under such rules and
regulations as should be adopted by said Indians in their respective
tribes or in general council.

The treaty further provided that such of the tribes of these Indians as
did not accept said treaty and agree to remove to the country set apart
for their new homes within five years or such other time as the
President might from time to time appoint should forfeit all interest
in the land so set apart to the United States; and the Government
guaranteed to protect and defend them in the peaceable possession and
enjoyment of their new homes.

I have no positive information that any considerable number of these
Indians removed to the lands provided for them within the five years
limited by the treaty. Their omission to do so may have been owing to
the failure of the Government to appropriate the money to pay the
expense of such removal, as it agreed to do in the treaty.

It is, however, stated in a letter of the Secretary of the Interior
dated April 6, 1878, contained in the report of the Senate committee to
whom the bill under consideration was referred, that in the year 1842
some of these Indians settled upon the lands described in the treaty;
and it is further alleged in said report that in 1846 about two hundred
more of them were removed to said lands.

The letter of the Secretary of the Interior above referred to contains
the following statement concerning these Indian occupants:

  From death and the hostility of the settlers, who were drawn in that
  direction by the fertility of the soil and other advantages, all of the
  Indians gradually relinquished their selections, until of the Indians
  who had removed thither from the State of New York only thirty-two
  remained in 1860.


And the following further statement is made:

  The files of the Indian Office show abundant proof that they did not
  voluntarily relinquish their occupation.


The proof thus referred to is indeed abundant, and is found in official
reports and affidavits made as late as the year 1859. By these it
appears that during that year, in repeated instances, Indian men and
widows of deceased Indians were driven from their homes by the threats
of armed men; that in one case at least the habitation of an Indian
woman was burned, and that the kind of outrages were resorted to which
too often follow the cupidity of whites and the possession of fertile
lands by defenseless and unprotected Indians.

An agent, in an official letter dated August 9, 1859, after detailing
the cruel treatment of these occupants of the lands which the Government
had given them, writes:

  Since these Indians have been placed under my charge, which was, I
  think, in 1855, I have endeavored to protect them; but complaint after
  complaint has reached me, and I have reported their situation again and
  again; and I hope that it will not be long when the Indians who are
  entitled to land under the decision of the Indian Office shall have it
  set apart to them.


The same agent, under date of January 18, 1860, referring to these
Indians, declares:

  These Indians have been driven off their land and claims upon the New
  York tract by the whites, and they are now very much scattered and many
  of them are very destitute.


It was found in 1860 that of all the Indians who had prior to that
date selected and occupied part of these lands but thirty-two remained,
and it seems to have been deemed but justice to them to confirm their
selections by some kind of governmental grant or declaration, though
it does not appear that any of them had been able to maintain actual
possession of all their selected lands against white intrusion. Thus
certain special commissioners appointed to examine this subject, under
date of May 29, 1860, make the following statement:

  In this connection it may be proper to remark that many of the tracts
  so selected were claimed by lawless men who had compelled the Indians
  to abandon them under threats of violence; but we are confident that no
  serious injury will be done to anyone, as the improvements are of but
  little value.


On the 14th day of September, 1860, certificates were issued to the
thirty-two Indians who had made selections of lands and who still
survived, with a view of securing to them such selections and at the
same time granting to them the number of acres which it was provided
they should have by the treaty of 1838. These certificates were made
by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and declared that in conformity
with the provisions of the treaty of 1838 there had been assigned and
allotted to the person named therein 320 acres of the land designated in
said treaty, which land was particularly described in said certificates,
which concluded as follows:

  And the selection of said tract for the exclusive use and benefit of
  said reserve, having been approved by the Secretary of the Interior, is
  not subject to be alienated in fee, leased, or otherwise disposed of
  except to the United States.


In a letter dated September 13, 1860, from the Indian Commissioner to
the agent in the neighborhood of these lands reference is made to the
conduct of white intruders upon the same, and the following instructions
were given to said agent:


In view of these representations and the fact that these white persons
who are in possession of the land are intruders, I have to direct
that you will visit the New York Reserve in Kansas at your earliest
convenience, accompanied by those Indians living among the Osages to
whom said lands have been allotted, with a view to place them in
possession of the lands to which they are entitled; and if you should
meet with any forcible resistance from white settlers you will report
their names to this office, in order that appropriate action may be
taken in the premises, and you will inform them that if they do not
immediately abandon said lands they will be removed by force. When you
shall have given the thirty-two Indians peaceable possession of their
lands, or attempted to do so and have been prevented by forcible
resistance, you will make a report of your action to this Bureau.

The records of the Indian Bureau do not disclose that any report was
ever made by the agent to whom these instructions were given.

In 1861 and 1862 mention was made by the agents of the destitute
condition of these Indians and of their being deprived of their lands,
and in these years petitions were presented in their behalf asking that
justice be done them on account of the failure of the Government to
provide them with homes.

In the meantime, and in December, 1860, the remainder of the reserve not
allotted to the thirty-two survivors was thrown open to settlement by
Executive proclamation. Of course this was followed by increased
conflict between the settlers and the Indians. It is presumed that it
became dangerous for those to whom lands had been allotted to attempt to
gain possession of them. On the 4th day of December, 1865, Agent Snow
returned twenty-seven of the certificates of allotment which had not
been delivered, and wrote as follows to the Indian Bureau:

  A few of these Indians were at one time put in possession of their
  lands. They were driven off by the whites; one Indian was killed, others
  wounded, and their houses burned. White men at this time have possession
  of these lands, and have valuable improvements on them. The Indians are
  deterred even asking for possession. I would earnestly ask, as agent for
  these wronged and destitute people, that some measure be adopted by the
  Government to give these Indians their rights.


An official report made to the Secretary of the Interior dated February
16, 1871, gives the history of these lands, and concludes as follows:

  These lands are now all or nearly all occupied by white persons who have
  driven the Indians from their homes--in some instances with violence.
  There is great necessity that some relief should be afforded to them by
  legislation of Congress, authorizing the issue of patents to the
  allottees or giving them power to sell and convey.

  In this way they will be enabled to realize something from the land, and
  the occupants can secure titles for their homes.


Apparently in the line of this recommendation, and in an attempt to
remedy the condition of affairs then existing, an act was passed on the
19th day of February, 1873, permitting heads of families and single
persons over 21 years of age who had made settlements and improvements
upon and were _bona fide_ claimants and occupants of the lands for
which the thirty-two certificates of allotments were issued to enter and
purchase at the proper land office such lands so occupied by them, not
exceeding 160 acres, upon paying therefor the appraised value of said
tracts respectively, to be ascertained by three disinterested and
competent appraisers, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior,
who should report the value of such lands, exclusive of improvements,
but that no sale should be made under said act for less than $3.75 per
acre.

It was further provided that the entries allowed should be made within
twelve months after the promulgation by the Secretary of the Interior of
regulations to carry said act into effect, and that the money arising
upon such sales should be paid into the Treasury of the United States
in trust for and to be paid to the Indians respectively to whom such
certificates of allotment had been issued, or to their heirs, upon
satisfactory proof of their identity, at any time within five years from
the passage of the act, and that in default of such proof the money
should become a part of the public moneys of the United States.

It was also further provided that any Indian to whom any certificate of
allotment had been issued, and who was then occupying the land allotted
thereby, should be entitled to receive a patent therefor.

Pursuant to this statute these lands were appraised. The lowest value
per acre fixed by the appraisers was $3.75, and the highest was $10,
making the average for the whole $4.90 per acre.

It is reported that only eight pieces, containing 879.76 acres of land
taken from six of these Indian allotments, were sold under this statute
to the settlers thereon, producing the sum of $4,058.06, and that the
price paid in no case was less than $4.50 per acre.

It is proposed by the bill under consideration to sell the remainder of
this allotted land to those who failed to avail themselves of the law of
1873 for the sum of $2.50 per acre.

Whatever may be said of the effect of the action of the Indian Bureau in
issuing certificates of allotment to individual Indians as it relates to
the title of the lands described therein, it was the only way that the
Government could perform its treaty obligation to furnish homes for any
number of Indians less than a tribe or band; and if these allotments did
not vest a title in these individual Indians they secured to them such
rights to the lands as the Government was bound to protect and which it
could not refuse to confirm if it became necessary by the issuance of
patents therefor.

These rights are fully recognized by the statute of 1873, as well as by
the bill under consideration.

The right and power of the Government to divest these allottees of their
interests under their certificates is so questionable that perhaps it
could only be done under the plan proposed, through an estoppel arising
from the acceptance of the price for which their allotted lands were
sold.

But whatever the effect of a compliance with the provisions of this bill
would be upon the title of the settlers to these lands, I can see no
fairness or justice in permitting them to enter and purchase such lands
at a sum much less than their appraised value in 1873 and for hardly
one-half the price paid by their neighbors under the law passed in that
year.

The occupancy upon these lands of the settlers seeking relief, and of
their grantors, is based upon wrong, violence, and oppression. A
continuation of the wrongful exclusion of these Indians from their lands
should not inure to the benefit of the wrongdoers. The opportunities
afforded by the law of 1873 were neglected, perhaps, in the hope and
belief that death would remove the Indians who by their appeals for
justice annoyed those who had driven them from their homes, and perhaps
in the expectation that the heedlessness of the Government concerning
its obligations to the Indians would supply easier terms. The idea is
too prevalent that, as against those who by emigration and settlement
upon our frontier extend our civilization and prosperity, the rights of
the Indians are of but little consequence. But it must be absolutely
true that no development is genuine or valuable based upon the violence
and cruelty of individuals or the faithlessness of a government.

While it might not result in exact justice or precisely rectify the
wrong committed, it may well be that in existing circumstances the
interests of the allottees or their heirs demand an adjustment of the
kind now proposed. But their lands certainly are worth much more than
they were in 1873, and the settlers, if they are not subjected to a
reappraisement, should at least pay the price at which the lands were
appraised in that year.

If the holders of the interests of the allottees have such a title as
will give them a standing in the courts of Kansas, I do not think they
need fear defeat by being charged with improvements under the occupying
claimants' act, for it has been decided in a case to be found in the
twentieth volume of Kansas Reports, at page 374, that--

  Neither the title nor possession of the Indian owner, secured by
  treaty with the United States Government, can be disturbed by State
  legislation; and the occupying claimants' act has no application in
  this case.


And yet the delay, uncertainty, and expense of legal contests should be
considered.

I suggest that any bill which is passed to adjust the rights of these
Indians by such a general plan as is embodied in the bill herewith
returned should provide for the payment by the settlers within a
reasonable time of an appraised value, and that in case the same is not
paid by the respective occupants that the lands be sold at public
auction for a price not less than the appraisement.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 9, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4357, entitled "An act to erect
a public building at Allentown, Pa."

The accommodation of the postal business is the only public purpose for
which the Government can be called on to provide, which is suggested as
a pretext for the erection of this building. It is proposed to expend
$100,000 for a structure to be used as a post-office. It is said that a
deputy collector of internal revenue and a board of pension examiners
are located at Allentown, but I do not understand that the Government is
obliged to provide quarters for these officers.

The usual statement is made in support of this bill setting forth the
growth of the city where it is proposed to locate the building and the
amount and variety of the business which is there transacted; and the
postmaster in stereotyped phrase represents the desirability of
increased accommodation for the transaction of the business under his
charge.

But I am thoroughly convinced that there is no present necessity for the
expenditure of $100,000 for any purpose connected with the public
business at this place.

The annual rent now paid for the post-office is $1,300.

The interest, at 3 per cent, upon the amount now asked for this
new building is $3,000. As soon as it is undertaken the pay of a
superintendent of its construction will begin, and after its completion
the compensation of janitors and other expenses of its maintenance will
follow.

The plan now pursued for the erection of public buildings is, in my
opinion, very objectionable. They are often built where they are not
needed, of dimensions and at a cost entirely disproportionate to any
public use to which they can be applied, and as a consequence they
frequently serve more to demonstrate the activity and pertinacity of
those who represent localities desiring this kind of decoration at
public expense than to meet any necessity of the Government.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7715, entitled "An act for the
relief of Georgia A. Stricklett."

By the terms of this bill a pension is allowed to the beneficiary above
named, whose husband died on the 21st day of July, 1873. It appears from
the records that he was mustered into the service to date from October
10, 1863, to serve for one year. It is alleged in the report of the
committee of the House who reported this bill that he was wounded with
buckshot in the face and head by bushwhackers, when on recruiting
service, on the 23d day of July, 1863. If these dates are correct, he
was wounded before he entered the service; but this fact is not made the
basis of the disapproval of the widow's application for relief. There
seems, however, to be no mention of any such injury during his term of
service, though he is reported sick much of the time when present with
his regiment, and is reported as once in hospital for a disease which,
to say the least of it, can not be recognized as related to the service.

The soldier himself made no application for pension.

A physician testifies that he was present on the 21st day of July, 1873,
when the soldier died; that he examined the body after death, and to the
best of his knowledge such death was caused partially by epilepsy, and
that the epilepsy was the result of "wounds about the face and head
received during his service during the war."

Another physician testifies that the soldier applied to him for
treatment in 1868, and that his disability was the development of
confirmed epilepsy, and he expresses the opinion that this was due to a
wound from a buckshot. This physician, while not giving epilepsy as the
cause of death, says that "had he lived to die a natural death he
certainly would have died an insane epileptic."

The report speaks of his death by "an accidental shot."

The truth appears to be that he was killed by a pistol shot in an
altercation with another man.

Unless it shall be assumed that the epilepsy was caused by the buckshot
wound spoken of, and unless a pension should be allowed because, if the
soldier had not been killed in an altercation, he might have soon died
from such epilepsy, this bill is entirely devoid of merit.

Surely no one will seriously propose that a claim for pension should
rest upon a conjecture as to what would have caused death if it had not
occurred in an entirely different way.

The testimony of the physician who testified in this case that death was
caused partially by epilepsy suggests the extreme recklessness which may
characterize medical testimony in applications for pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 18, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 2282, entitled "An act to
pension Mrs. Theodora M. Piatt."

The deceased husband of the beneficiary named in this bill served
faithfully and well in the volunteer service, and after his discharge as
major entered the Regular Army and was on the retired list at the time
of his death, which occurred on the 17th day of April, 1885. At that
time he seems to have been engaged in the practice of the law at
Covington, Ky.

He does not appear to have contracted any distinct and definite
disability in his army service, though his health and strength were
doubtless somewhat impaired by hardship and exposure.

It is conceded that he committed suicide by shooting himself with a
pistol.

A coroner's inquest was held and the following verdict was returned:

  Benjamin M. Piatt came to his death from a pistol bullet through the
  brain, fired from a pistol in his own hand, with suicidal intent,
  while laboring under a fit of temporary insanity, caused by morbid
  sensitiveness of wasted opportunities and constantly brooding over
  imaginary troubles and financial difficulties.


It is said in support of his widow's claim for pension that, being lame
as a result, in part at least, of his military service, he, by reason of
such lameness, fell from a staircase a few months before his death, the
injury from which affected his mind, causing insanity, which in its turn
resulted in his suicide.

Much interest is manifested in this case, based upon former friendship
and intimacy with the deceased and kind feeling and sympathy for his
widow. I should be glad to respond to these sentiments to the extent of
approving this bill, but it is one of the misfortunes of public life and
official responsibility that a sense of duty frequently stands between a
conception of right and a sympathetic inclination.

The verdict returned upon the coroner's inquest, founded upon a friendly
examination of all the facts surrounding the melancholy death of this
soldier, made at the time of death and in the midst of his neighbors and
friends, both by what it contains and by what is omitted, together with
the other facts developed, leads me to the conclusion that if a pension
is granted in this case no soldier's widow's application based upon
suicide can be consistently rejected.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 18, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5545, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Nancy F. Jennings."

William Jennings, the husband of the beneficiary named in this bill,
enlisted in October, 1861, and was discharged June 24, 1862, upon a
surgeon's certificate of disability, the cause of disability being
therein stated as "hemorrhoids."

He never applied for a pension, and died in 1877 of apoplexy.

In the report of the committee which reported this bill the allegation
is made that the deceased came home from the Army with chronic diarrhea
and suffered from the same to the date of his death.

The widow filed a claim for pension in 1878, which was rejected on the
ground that the fatal disease (apoplexy) was not due to military service
nor the result of either of the complaints mentioned.

If we are to adhere to the rule that in order to entitle the widow of a
soldier to a pension the death of her husband must be in some way
related to his military service, there can be no doubt that upon its
merits this case was properly disposed of by the Pension Bureau.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 18, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval a joint resolution, which originated in the
House of Representatives, "authorizing the use and improvement of Castle
Island, in Boston Harbor."

This island is separated from the mainland of the city of Boston by a
channel over one-half mile wide. Fort Independence is located on the
island, and it is regarded by our military authorities as quite
important to the defense of the city.

The proposition contained in the joint resolution is to permit the city
of Boston, through its park commissioners, to improve and beautify this
island in connection with a public park to be laid out in the city, with
the intention of joining the mainland and the island by the construction
of a viaduct or causeway across the water now separating the same.

It is quite plain that the occupancy of this island as a place of
pleasure and recreation, as contemplated under this resolution, would be
entirely inconsistent with military or defensive uses. I do not regard
the control reserved in the resolution to the Secretary of War over such
excavations, fillings, and structures upon the island as may be proposed
as of much importance. When a park is established there, the island is
no longer a defense in time of need.

This scheme, or one of the same character, was broached more than four
years ago, and met the disapproval of the Secretary of War and the
Engineer Department.

I am now advised by the Secretary of War, the Chief of Engineers, and
the Lieutenant-General of the Army, in quite positive terms, that the
resolution under consideration should not, for reasons fully stated by
them, become operative.

I deem the opinions of these officers abundant justification for my
disapproval of the resolution without further statement of objections.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 18, 1888_.

_To the Senate_.

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1064, entitled "An act for the
relief of L.J. Worden."

This bill directs the Postmaster-General to allow to L.J. Worden,
recently the postmaster at Lawrence, Kans., the sum of $625 paid out by
him as such postmaster for clerk hire during the period from July 1,
1882, to June 30, 1883.

The allowances to these officers for clerk hire and other like expenses
are fixed in each case by the Post-Office Department and are paid out of
an appropriation made in gross to cover them all. The excess of receipts
for box rents and commissions over and above the salary of the
postmaster is adopted by law as the maximum amount of such allowances in
each case, and within that limit the amount appropriated is apportioned
by the Post-Office Department to the different offices according to
their needs.

The allowances to the Lawrence post-office for the year ending June 30,
1883, was $3,100. This was fully its proportion of the appropriation
made by Congress for that year, and as much as was in most cases given
to other offices of the same grade. In September, 1882, during the
first quarter of the year in question, the postmaster made application
for an increase of his allowances, which was declined, and a similar
application in December of the same year was also declined. The reason
given for noncompliance with this request in both cases was a lack of
funds. It is the rule to make only such allowances in any year as can
be paid from the appropriation made for that period.

No further application for increase of allowances was made by Mr. Worden
until March, 1884, when the same were increased $300 for the year, to
date from the 1st day of January preceding.

It was found at that time, after a full and fair investigation by the
Department, which had in hand abundant funds for an increase of these
allowances, that notwithstanding the increase of business at this
post-office, $300 added to the allowances for the year from July 1,
1882, to June 30, 1883, was sufficient; and yet more than twice that sum
is added by the bill under consideration to the allowances for the year
last named.

Forty-four postmasters have submitted vouchers, amounting to nearly
$9,000, for clerk hire during that year in excess of allowances; but
they were all rejected, and I understand have not been insisted upon.

I assume that the Post-Office Department in 1884 dealt justly and fairly
by the postmaster at Lawrence, and upon this theory, if he should be
reimbursed any expenditure for a previous year, the demand he now makes
is excessive.

But the cases should be exceedingly rare in which postmasters are
awarded any more than the allowances made by the Department officers.
They have the very best means of ascertaining the amount necessary to
meet the demands of the service in any particular case, and it certainly
may be assumed that they desire to properly accommodate the public in
the matter of postal facilities. When the appropriation is sufficient,
the decision of the Department should be final; and when the money in
hand does not admit of adequate allowances, postmasters should only be
reimbursed money voluntarily expended by them when recommended by the
Postmaster-General.

Any other course leads to the expenditure of money by postmasters for
work which they should do themselves and to the employment of clerks
which are unnecessary. The least encouragement that they may be repaid
such expenditure by a special appropriation would dangerously tend to
the substitution of their judgment for that of the Department and to the
relaxation of wholesome discipline.

I think, when the application of Mr. Worden for an increase in his
allowances was twice declined for any cause during the year covering his
present demand, that if he made personal expenditures for clerk hire,
and especially if he did so without the encouragement of the Department,
they were made at his own risk. It appears, too, that the amount of his
claim is larger than can be justified in any event.

GROVER CLEVELAND.


The time allowed the Executive by the Constitution for the examination
of bills presented to him by Congress for his action expired in the case
of the bill herewith returned on Saturday, May 19. The Senate adjourned
or took a recess on Thursday afternoon, May 17, until to-day, the 21st
of May.

On the day of said recess or adjournment the above message, disapproving
said bill and accompanying its return to the Senate, where it
originated, was drawn, and on May 18 was engrossed and signed. On
Saturday, the 19th of May, the Senate not being in session, the message
and the bill were tendered to the Secretary of the Senate, who declined
to receive them, and thereupon they were on the same day tendered to the
President of the Senate, who also declined to receive the same, both of
these officials claiming that the return of said bill and the delivery
of said message could only properly be made to the Senate when in actual
session.

They are therefore transmitted as soon as the Senate reconvenes after
its recess, with this explanation.

GROVER CLEVELAND.


[May 22 the Senate proceeded, as the Constitution prescribes, to
reconsider the said bill returned by the President of the United States
with his objections, pending which it was ordered that the said bill and
message be referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections. No
action was taken.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 88, entitled "An act granting a
pension to Sally A. Randall."

Antipas Taber enlisted in the War of 1812 and was discharged in the year
1814. There is no claim made that he received any injury in the Army or
that his death, which happened long after his discharge, was in the
slightest degree related to his military service. It does not appear
that he ever made any application for a pension or was ever upon the
pension rolls. He died at Trinidad, in the island of Cuba, April 11,
1831, leaving as his widow the beneficiary mentioned in this bill. About
twenty-two years after his death, and in February, 1853, she married
Albert Randall, and twenty years thereafter, in October, 1873, Randall
died, leaving her again a widow.

It is alleged in the report of the committee in the House to which this
bill was referred that Mrs. Randall is a worthy woman, 75 years of age,
in needy circumstances, with health much impaired, and that the petition
for her relief was signed by prominent citizens of Norwich, Conn., where
she now resides.

All this certainly commends her case to the kindness and benevolence of
the citizens mentioned, and the State of Connecticut ought not to allow
her to be in needy circumstances.

It seems to me, however, that it would establish a bad precedent to
provide for her from the Federal Treasury. From the statement of her
present age she must have been born during the time of her first
husband's enlistment. She knew nothing of his military service except as
the same may have been detailed to her. Her first widowhood had no
connection with any incident or condition of health traceable to such
service, and her second husband, with whom she lived for twenty years,
never entered the military service of the Government.

I do not see how the relief proposed can be granted in this case without
an unjustifiable departure from the rules under which applications for
pension should be determined.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 879, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Royal J. Hiar."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted November 11, 1861, in the
First Regiment of Michigan Engineers and Mechanics. He is reported as
absent without proper authority from May 24, 1862, to January 15, 1863,
when he was discharged by reason of varicose veins of the left leg and
thigh, claimed to have existed before enlistment.

He filed a claim for pension August 30, 1876, alleging disease of the
right side and hip, due to typhoid pneumonia, contracted while repairing
a hospital tent in March, 1862.

There is no record of this disease. The proof he furnishes of the same
is extremely slight, though he was furnished ample opportunity. The
disability of which he complains has no natural relation to the sickness
he claims to have had during his service, but is quite a natural result
of "an injury while logging," to which some of the witnesses examined in
a special examination of the case attribute it.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5234, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Cyrenius G. Stryker."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted for nine months in
September, 1862, and was discharged June 27, 1863.

His enlistment was in Company A, Thirtieth New Jersey Regiment. The bill
proposes to pension him as "a private in Company A, Thirtieth Regiment
New York Volunteers."

He alleges that he was pushed or fell from the platform of a car in
which he was transported to Washington after enlistment and injured his
spine. On the claim which he presented to the Pension Bureau in June,
1879, repeated medical examinations failed to reveal any disability from
the cause alleged, and after a special examination his claim was
rejected because, with the assistance of such special examination, the
claimant did not prove the origin of alleged injury in service and the
line of duty or a pensionable degree of disability therefrom since
discharge.

The evidence now offered in support of this claim appears to have
reference to a time long anterior to its rejection by the Pension Bureau
in 1886, and does not impeach the finding of the Bureau that at the
latter date there existed no pensionable disability.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 3579, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Ellen Shea."

This beneficiary is an old lady and a widow. Her son, Michael Shea,
enlisted in January, 1862. The records show that he was sick on one or
two occasions during his service. He is also reported as a deserter and
absent without leave and in arrest and confinement fully as often as he
was sick. He was discharged January 20, 1865.

No application for a pension has been made on his behalf. The mother
filed a claim for pension in July, 1884, alleging that her son
contracted a fever in the service which resulted in insanity, which was
the cause of his death on the 10th day of March, 1884.

He was killed by a snow slide in the State of Colorado. The only hint
that his death was in any way connected with the service is the
suggestion that not having the proper use of his mind he wandered away
and was killed.

His mother now lives in Chicago and, I suppose, lived there at the
time of her son's death. There is very little evidence offered of any
unsoundness of mind, and his death occurring at Woodstock, Colo., it is
hardly to be supposed that he wandered that far. And as tending to show
that unsoundness of mind had nothing to do with his death it may be
mentioned that an attorney having the mother's application for pension
in charge withdrew from the case in October, 1884, for the reason that,
having made inquiries at the place where the soldier was killed, he
found that his death was caused by a snow slide, and that he was
informed that a number of other persons lost their lives at the same
time.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8164, entitled "An act granting
a pension to William H. Hester."

It is claimed that the beneficiary named in this bill was injured by
sand blowing in his eyes during a sand storm while in the service in the
year 1869, resulting in nearly if not quite total blindness.

It is conceded in the report of the committee to which this bill was
referred in the House that the claim for pension made by this man to the
Pension Bureau was largely supported by perjury and forgery; but the
criminality of these methods is made to rest upon three rogues and
scoundrels who undertook to obtain a pension for the soldier, and it is
stated by the committee as their opinion that the claimant himself was
innocent of any complicity in the crimes committed and attempted.

I have quite a full report of the papers filed and proceedings taken in
relation to the claim presented to the Pension Bureau, and I am sorry
that I can not agree with the committee of the House as to the merits of
the application now made or the good faith and honesty of the
beneficiary named in the bill herewith returned.

Among the facts presented I shall refer to but one or two touching the
conduct of the claimant himself.

Upon his examination, under oath, by a special examiner, he stated that
he was brought to Washington to further his claim by a man named Miller,
one of the rascally attorneys spoken of in the committee's report; that
Miller was to pay his expenses while in Washington, and was to receive
one-third of the money paid upon the claim.

This is not the conduct of a man claiming in good faith a pension from
the Government.

He further stated under oath that his eyes became affected about January
15, 1869, by reason of a sand storm; that the sand blew into them and
cut them all to pieces; that he was thereafter hardly able to see or get
around and wait on himself, and that Edward N. Baldwin took care of him
in his tent.

This Mr. Baldwin was found by the special examiner and testified that he
knew the claimant and served in same regiment and bunked with him; that
he never knew of the sand storm spoken of by Hester; that he never knew
that he had sore eyes in the service; that he (Baldwin) did not take
care of him when he was suffering with sore eyes, and that he never knew
of Hester being sick but once, and that was when he had eaten too much.
He was shown an affidavit purporting to be made by him and declared the
entire thing to be false and a forgery.

I believe this claim for pension to be a fraud from beginning to end,
and the effrontery with which it has been pushed shows the necessity of
a careful examination of these cases.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 6609, entitled "An act for the
relief of Sarah E. McCaleb."

The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill was wounded in the
head at the battle of Fort Donelson on the 15th day of February, 1862.
He served thereafter and was promoted, and was discharged June 30, 1865.

He died by suicide in 1878.

He never applied for a pension.

The suggestion is made that the wound in his head predisposed him to
mental unsoundness, but it does not appear to be claimed that he was
insane.

I can not believe that his suicide had any connection with his army
service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4580, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Farnaren Ball."

In the report of the committee to which this bill was referred the name
of this beneficiary is given as "Farnaren Ball," and in a report from
the Pension Bureau it is insisted that the correct name is "Tamezen
Ball."

Her son, Augustus F. Coldecott, was pensioned for disease of the lungs
up to the time of his death, which occurred June 2, 1872.

The cause of his death was an overdose of laudanum, and whether it was
taken by mistake or design is uncertain.

The mother is not entirely destitute, deriving an income, though small,
from the interest upon a mortgage given to her upon a sale of some real
estate.

The proofs with which I have been furnished fail to satisfy me that the
Government should grant a pension on account of death produced by a
self-administered narcotic in the circumstances which surround this
case.

As a general proposition I see nothing unjust or unfair in holding that
if a pensioner is sick and through ignorance or design takes laudanum
without the direction or regulation of a physician the Government should
not be held responsible for the consequences.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 26, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 339, entitled "An act for the
relief of J.E. Pilcher."

This bill authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to pay to the party
named therein the sum of $905, being the amount of one bond of $100 and
$805 in paper money of the Republic of Texas.

It is directed, however, that this money be paid out of the Texas
indemnity fund.

This fund was created under a law passed on the 28th day of February,
1855, appropriating the sum of $7,750,000 to pay certain claims against
the Republic of Texas. By the terms of said law a certain time was fixed
within which such claims were to be presented to the Treasury
Department.

Between the passage of said act and the year 1870 the sum of
$7,648,786.73 was paid upon said claims, leaving of the money
appropriated an unexpended balance of $101,213.27.

This balance was on the 30th day of June, 1877, carried to the surplus
fund and covered into the Treasury, pursuant to section 5 of chapter 328
of the laws of 1874.

Thus since that date it seems there has been no Texas indemnity fund,
nor is there any such fund now from which the money mentioned in the
bill herewith returned can be paid.

In this condition of affairs the proposed law could not be executed and
would be of no possible use.

If the claims mentioned are such as should be paid by the United States,
there appears to be no difficulty in making an appropriation for their
payment from the general funds of the Government. I notice an item to
meet a similar claim was inserted in a deficiency bill passed on the 7th
day of July, 1884.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 347, entitled "An act to
provide for the erection of a public building in the city of Youngstown,
Ohio."

By the census of 1880 the population of Youngstown appears to be 15,435.
It is claimed by those urging the erection of a public building there
that its population has nearly doubled since that date. The amount
appropriated in the bill herewith returned is $75,000. There does not
seem to be any governmental purpose to which such a building could be
properly devoted except the accommodation of the post-office.

I have listened to an unusual amount of personal representation in favor
of this bill from parties whose desires I should be glad to meet on this
or any other question; but none of them have insisted that there is any
present governmental need of the proposed new building even for postal
purposes. On the contrary, I am informed that the post-office is at
present well accommodated in quarters held under a lease which does not
expire, I believe, until 1892. A letter addressed to the postmaster at
Youngstown containing certain questions bearing upon the necessity of a
new building failed to elicit a reply. This fact is very unusual and
extraordinary, for the postmaster can almost always be relied upon to
make an exhibit of the great necessity of larger quarters when a new
public building is in prospect.

The fact was communicated to me early in the present session of the
Congress that the aggregate sum of the appropriations contained in bills
for the erection and extension of public buildings which had up to that
time been referred to the House Committee on Public Buildings and
Grounds was about $37,000,000.

Of course this fact would have no particular relevancy if all the
buildings asked for were necessary for the transaction of public
business, as long as we have the money to pay for them; but inasmuch as
a large number of the buildings proposed are unnecessary and their
erection would be wasteful and extravagant, besides furnishing
precedents for further and more extended reckless expenditures of a like
character, it seems to me that applications for new and expensive public
buildings should be carefully scrutinized.

I am satisfied that the appropriation of $75,000 for a building at
Youngstown is at present not justified.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1237, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Anna Mertz."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of Charles A. Mertz, who
served in the Army as captain from April, 1862, to June, 1863, when he
resigned on account of impaired health. It is stated in the committee's
report that after his return from the Army he worked occasionally at his
trade, though subject to attacks of very severe diarrhea, accompanied
with acute catarrhal pains in the head and face, which he constantly
attributed to his army service.

It is alleged that he had several times taken morphine, under medical
advice, to allay pain caused by these attacks.

He did not apply for a pension.

On the 1st day of December, 1884, more than twenty-one years after
his discharge from the Army, he died from an overdose of morphine
self-administered, for the purpose, it is claimed, of alleviating his
suffering.

I do not think that in this case the death of the soldier was so related
to his military service as to entitle his widow to a pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 820, entitled "An act granting
a pension to David A. Servis."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted August 14, 1862, and was
discharged June 8, 1865.

It is alleged that about the month of January, 1863, a comrade, by way
of a joke, put powder into a pipe which the beneficiary was accustomed
to smoke and covered it with tobacco, so that when he lighted it the
powder exploded and injured his eyes. The report of the Senate committee
states that it does not appear that "any notice was taken of this wanton
act of his tent mate."

There is no mention of any disability or injury in the record of the
soldier's service. He seems to have served nearly two years and a half
after the injury. He filed an application for a pension in May, 1885,
more than twenty-two years thereafter.

Whatever may be the extent of the injury sustained, in regard to which
the evidence is apparently quite meager, I can not see that it was such
a result of military service as to entitle the applicant to a pension.

The utmost liberality to those who were in our Army hardly justifies a
compensation by way of pension for injuries incurred in sport or pastime
or as the result of a practical joke.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 835, entitled "An act for the
relief of Elisha Griswold."

The beneficiary named in this bill, which awards him a pension, enlisted
in January, 1864, and was discharged February 12, 1866.

His claim for pension, as developed in the report of the Senate
Committee on Pensions, is based upon the allegation that in January,
1866, he fell from a swing which had been put up in the building
occupied as a barrack and struck on his head and shoulder.

The committee report in favor of the bill upon the grounds that the
soldier was injured "while engaged in recreation" and that "such
recreation is a necessary part of a soldier's life."

The beneficiary filed an application in January, 1880, and in support of
such application he filed on the 16th day of July, 1886, an affidavit in
which he testifies that at the time of the injury he was in prison at
San Antonio, Tex., upon charges the character of which he could not
ascertain, and that the swing from which he fell was erected by himself
and others for pastime and exercise.

It will be seen that the injury complained of is alleged to have been
sustained less than a month before his discharge. There is, however, no
record of any disability.

His claim based upon this injury was, in my opinion, properly rejected
as having no connection with his military service, and I think the facts
in his case as herein detailed do not justify the award of a pension to
him by special enactment.

On the 23d day of March, 1888, after the introduction of the bill
herewith returned, the beneficiary, apparently having abandoned the
claim upon which the bill is predicated, filed another application for a
pension in the Pension Bureau, alleging that he contracted diarrhea and
malarial poisoning in the service. This application is still pending.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 29, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 1275, entitled "An act for the
erection of a public building at Columbus, Ga., and appropriating money
therefor."

The city of Columbus, Ga., is undoubtedly a thriving, growing city.
The only present necessity for a public building there is for the
accommodation of its post-office. It is stated in the report of the
House committee that the gross revenues of the office for the year
ending June 30, 1887, were $16,700. The postmaster, in a letter upon the
subject, makes the following statement:

  I estimate the gross receipts at $17,500 for the fiscal year ending
  March 31, which will be an increase of nearly 7 per cent over last
  year's receipts.


There are nine persons employed in the post-office at present, including
the postmaster. The present quarters are leased by the Government at an
annual rent of $900. The postmaster represents that his accommodations
are not adequate or convenient, and that instead of a space of 1,900
square feet, which he now has, he should be provided with 2,500 square
feet.

The population of the city in 1880 was 10,123. It is claimed that it is
now about 20,000.

In my opinion the facts presented do not exhibit the necessity of the
expenditure of $100,000 to afford the increased room for the post-office
which may be desirable. I believe a private person would erect a
building abundantly sufficient for all our postal needs in that city for
many years to come for one-third of that sum.

Business prudence and good judgment seem to dictate that the erection
of the proposed building should be delayed until its necessity is more
manifest, and so that it can be better determined what expenditure for
such a purpose will be justified by the continued growth of the city and
the needs of the Government.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 5, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 4467, entitled "An act
for the erection of a public building at Bar Harbor, in Maine."

The entire town within which Bar Harbor is situated contained in 1880
1,639 inhabitants, as appears by the census of that year.

There is no pretense that there is any need of a public building there
except to accommodate the post-office.

This is a third-class office, and the Government does not pay the rent
for offices of that class. The gross receipts of the office for the year
ended June 30, 1887, are reported by the Postmaster-General at $5,337.
The postmaster reports that he employs five clerks in the summer and
three in the winter. The fact that Bar Harbor is a place of very
extensive summer resort makes its population exceedingly variable, and
during a part of the year it is quite likely that the influx of pleasure
seekers may make a more commodious post-office desirable, though there
does not seem to be much complaint of present inconvenience.

The postmaster pays a rent of $500 per annum for his present quarters.

The amount appropriated by the bill is quite moderate, being only
$25,000, but the postmaster expresses the opinion that a proper site
alone would cost from twenty to thirty thousand dollars.

I am decidedly of the opinion that if a public building is to be erected
at this place, of which at present there appears to be no necessity, it
should be done under a system which will not give the post-office and
the postmaster there an advantage over others of their class.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 5, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 1394, entitled "An act
authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase additional ground
for the accommodation of Government offices in Council Bluffs, Iowa."

A new public building at Council Bluffs will be completed in a short
time. The ground upon which it is located has a frontage of 192 feet
and a depth of 106 feet and 10 inches. The proposition is to add 30
feet to its depth. The act under which this building has been thus far
constructed provides that the ground purchased therefor shall be of such
dimensions as to leave the building unexposed to fire by an open space
of at least 40 feet, including streets and alleys. The building is
located on land now belonging to the Government sufficient in size to
comply with this provision, and in point of fact more than the open
space required is left on all sides of the same. There is no pretense
that any enlargement of the building is necessary or contemplated.

The report of the committee to which this bill was referred in the House
simply states that "the grounds on which said building is situated are
inadequate for its proper accommodation and safety."

If this is so, I can see no reason why additional ground should not
be purchased for "the proper accommodation and safety" of a large
proportion of the public buildings completed and in process of erection,
since the provision that there shall exist 40 feet of open space on
all sides is, I think, contained in all the bills authorizing their
construction. In this view the proposed legislation would establish a
very bad precedent.

It is provided in the bill that the additional 30 feet mentioned shall
be purchased for a sum not to exceed $10,000. The adjoining 106 feet and
10 inches, located on the corner of two streets, were purchased in the
year 1882 by the Government for $15,000. The permission to purchase this
addition at a price per foot greatly in excess of that already owned by
the Government seems so unnecessary, except to benefit the owner, that I
am of the opinion it should not be granted.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 739, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Johanna Loewinger."

The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill enlisted June 28,
1861, and was discharged May 8, 1862, upon a surgeon's certificate of
disability. He was pensioned for chronic diarrhea. He died July 17,
1876. A coroner's inquest was held, who found by their verdict that the
deceased came to his death "from suicide by cutting his throat with a
razor, caused by long-continued illness."

This inquest was held immediately after the soldier's death, and it
appears that the case was fully investigated, with full opportunities to
discover the truth. Upon the verdict found, in the absence of insanity
caused by any disability, it can hardly be claimed that his death was
caused by his military service. The attempts afterwards to impeach this
verdict and introduce another cause of death do not seem to be
successful.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1772, entitled "An act for the
relief of John H. Marion."

It is proposed by this bill to relieve the party named therein from an
indebtedness to the Government amounting to $1,042.45, arising from the
nonfulfillment of a contract made by him in 1884 with the Government, by
which he agreed to furnish for the use of the Quartermaster's Department
a quantity of grama hay.

The contractor wholly failed to furnish the hay as agreed, and thereupon
the Government, pursuant to the terms of the contract, obtained the hay
in other quarters, paying therefor a larger sum by $1,042.45 than it
would have been obliged to pay the contractor if he had fulfilled his
agreement. This amount was charged against the contractor.

It is alleged that the crop of the particular kind of hay which was to
be furnished under the contract failed the season in which it was to be
supplied on account of drought, and that thus performance became
impossible on the part of the contractor.

Between individuals no injustice could be claimed if the contractor in
such circumstances should be held to have taken the chances of the crop;
and if an equitable adjustment should be suggested in such a case as is
here presented it would hardly be asked that the party suffering from
the default or failure of the other should sustain all the loss.

It seems that the contractor was the proprietor of a newspaper in
Arizona, and that he did some printing for the Government besides
agreeing to furnish hay to the Quartermaster's Department. After the
ascertainment of the loss to the Government arising out of the hay
transactions, certain accounts for printing presented by the contractor
were credited against the amount of such loss charged against him. In
this way his debt to the Government has been reduced more than $700. The
proposed legislation would cause to be paid to the contractor the sums
so retained for printing and to relieve him from the remainder of the
Government's claims.

Inquiry at the Quartermaster-General's Office fails to substantiate the
allegation that there is any understanding when such contracts are made
that their performance is to be at all relaxed by the failure of the
crop.

There really seems to be no good reason why the contractor should not
make good the entire loss consequent upon his default. If, however,
strict rights are to be relinquished and the liberality of the
Government invoked, it should not be taxed beyond the limit of sharing
the loss with the delinquent. This result would be accomplished by
discharging the remainder of the contractor's debt after crediting the
bills for printing above referred to.

The Government is obliged in the transaction of its business to make
numerous contracts with private parties, and if these contracts are to
be of any use or protection they should not be lightly set aside on
behalf of citizens who are disappointed as to their profitable nature or
their ability to perform them.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1017, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Stephen Schiedel."

The beneficiary named in this bill served in the First Regiment Missouri
Light Artillery from October 24, 1861, to October, 1864. There is no
record of any injury or disability while in the service.

In March, 1880, sixteen years after his discharge, he filed an
application for a pension, alleging that about June, 1862, while
carrying logs to aid in building quarters, a log slipped and fell upon a
lever, which flew up and struck him, injuring his back and shoulder.

He furnished the testimony of two witnesses tending to support his
statement of the manner in which he was injured, but upon investigation
this evidence was found to be unreliable.

Medical examinations failed to disclose any disability from the cause
alleged, but do tend to show that he was disabled since his discharge by
an injury to his right hand and arm and some rheumatic trouble.

It is not claimed that he incurred any disability from rheumatism while
in the Army. It appears distinctly that he was wounded in the right
wrist and arm while firing a cannon at the village of Hamburg, Erie
County, N.Y., on the 4th day of July, 1866. The doctor who testifies to
this injury and who dressed the wound negatives any other illness before
the accident.

Even if he has, since his discharge, suffered from rheumatism, he does
not claim that this was incurred in the Army. He bases his right to a
pension entirely upon an injury which he particularly describes, and
which the medical examination does not sustain. It will be observed,
too, that he continued his military service for two years and four
months after the date of his alleged injury. It seems hardly possible
that he could have done this if he had been injured in the manner he
alleges.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 18, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 3959, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Dolly Blazer."

The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill was apparently a good
soldier and was confined for a time in a Confederate prison. He was
mustered out of the service in June, 1865, and never applied for a
pension.

He died in 1878, leaving as survivors his widow and several children,
two of whom are alleged to be still under 16 years of age.

The cause of the soldier's death was yellow fever. There is in my mind
no doubt of this fact, and the attempt to establish any other cause of
death, if successful, would go far toward fixing a precedent for the
rejection of all evidence which stood in the way of a claim for pension.

The bill herewith returned is disapproved for the reason that the death
of the soldier had no relation to his military service, and I do not
think there should be a discrimination in favor of this applicant and
against many thousands of widows fully as well entitled.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 18, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5522, entitled "An act for the
relief of Elijah Martin."

By this bill it is proposed to increase the pension now paid to the
beneficiary therein named, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, from $8
to $20 per month.

Prior to May 22, 1888, an application was made for reimbursement of the
expenses attending the last sickness and burial of this pensioner, and
on the day mentioned such application was transmitted to the proper
auditing officer for adjustment.

I have no other information of the death of this soldier, but as his age
is stated in the report of the House committee to be 87 years, and as
there can hardly be a mistake as to the identity of the person named in
the application mentioned, I am satisfied that the beneficiary has died
since the introduction of the bill for his relief.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 488, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Elizabeth Burr."

It is proposed by this bill to grant a pension to the beneficiary
therein named as the widow of William Burr, who enlisted for one hundred
days in 1864 and was discharged on the 3d day of September in that year.

He is reported as present on all roll calls during his service. He died
April 7, 1867, of dropsy, never having made any application for a
pension.

His widow filed an application for pension in 1880, thirteen years after
the soldier's death, alleging that the disease of which he died, claimed
to be dropsy, was contracted in the service.

The claim was rejected by the Pension Bureau on the ground that the
dropsy causing his death was not due to his military service, but that
he was subject to the same before his enlistment.

I am perfectly satisfied that the rejection upon the ground claimed was
correct.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1957, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Virtue Smith."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of David M. Smith
(incorrectly named David W. Smith in the bill), who served as a bugler
in a Minnesota regiment from August 22, 1862, to September 28, 1862, in
a campaign against the Sioux Indians.

He received a gunshot wound in the right elbow, for which in 1867 he was
granted a pension of $6 a month, which was very soon thereafter
increased to $8, and in August, 1875, said pension was further increased
to $10 a month, which he received to the date of his death.

He died in the city of Washington on the 22d day of January, 1880.

He obtained a position in the Second Auditor's Office of the Treasury
Department in 1864, and worked steadily there until about six months
before his death.

Medical examinations had from time to time up to 1877 seem to have found
him in excellent physical condition except the wound in his right elbow,
which caused stiffness, and an injury to his left forearm not received
in the Army.

In 1879 he was examined by a physician of this city who stands among the
best in the profession, and found in the last stages of consumption, and
this physician declares he died from that cause. A female physician
certified that the cause of death was "wounds in the Army."

The pensioner was 64 years old at the time of his death.

I am perfectly satisfied from the medical testimony and from other facts
connected with this case that the death of the husband of the
beneficiary was in no manner related to his military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 3016, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mary F. Harkins."

The husband of this beneficiary was discharged from the military service
in 1865, and was pensioned for a gunshot wound in the right foot at the
rate of $6 per month.

He died in 1882, seventeen years after his discharge, "from rupture of
the heart, caused by the bursting and parting of the fibers of the right
ventricle."

The claim is now made that the death was the result of the wound in the
foot.

An application to the Pension Bureau was rejected on the ground that the
death cause was not the result of the wound.

I am satisfied that this was a just conclusion.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 600, entitled "An act
increasing the pension of Mary Minor Hoxey."

The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill was, while on military
duty, wounded in the left hand and afterwards in the thigh. He was
pensioned in 1871 on account of these wounds, and in 1879 was allowed
arrearages from time of his discharge. He died in December, 1881, of
consumption, being at that time in the receipt of a pension at the rate
of $17 per month.

In 1884 his widow was allowed a pension at the same rate, with $2 a
month each for two minor children. The children have now attained the
age of 16 years, but the widow still receives the pension awarded to
her, which is the same as that allowed to all widows of her class.

I discover no reason of any substance why this pension should be
increased, and if it should be done it would only be a manifestation of
unjust favoritism.

I can not forget the thousands of poor widows with claims superior to
this beneficiary, but with no interested friends to push their claims
for increase of pension, who would be discriminated against if this
proposed bill becomes a law.

It seems to me that there is a chance to do injustice by unfair caprice
in fixing the rates of pension, as well as by refusing them altogether
when they should be granted.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8281, entitled "An act for the
relief of Lieutenant James G.W. Hardy."

It is proposed by this bill to award a pension to the beneficiary above
named.

In the month of January, 1864, he was on recruiting service in the State
of Indiana. On the 15th day of that month he was traveling between
Indianapolis and Lafayette in a railroad car, and he alleges that he
raised a window of the car to obtain air, and placed his arm on the
window sill, when it was struck by something from the outside and one of
the bones of his arm broken.

In February, 1865, he resigned on account of disability caused by the
accident above mentioned, the medical certificate then stating that he
had a fracture of the right humerus of ten months' standing which had
not been properly adjusted.

He made an application for a pension to the Pension Bureau, which was
rejected.

Although it is stated in a general way that he was traveling on business
connected with his recruiting service at the time of his injury, he has
given no information as to the precise purpose of his journey; and it is
conceded that he was guilty of such negligence that he had no right of
action against the railroad company.

It also appears by the medical certificate upon which his resignation
was permitted that the fracture, not necessarily serious, was never
properly treated. It seems, too, that he remained in the service ten
months after the injury.

I am unable to discover why a pension should be granted in this case,
unless the Government is to be held as an insurer of the safety of every
person in the military service in all circumstances and at all times and
places.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8174, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Ellen Sexton."

The husband of the beneficiary served in the Union Volunteer Army from
October, 1862, to June, 1864, having been during the last seven months
of his service in the Veteran Reserve Corps. He was discharged for a
disability which, to say the least of it, certainly had no relation to
his military service, unless the Government is to be held responsible
for injury arising from vicious indulgence.

He died in the city of Cork, Ireland, May 29, 1875, of consumption,
certified by the health authorities there to have been of seven years'
duration.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 22, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 2215, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Charles Glamann."

This beneficiary served in an Illinois regiment from September, 1864, to
July, 1865, and his record shows no injury or sickness except an attack
of remittent fever.

He filed a claim for pension in 1880, alleging that he was struck
accidentally with a half brick by a comrade and injured in his left arm.

There is no doubt that whatever disability he thus incurred was the
result of a personal altercation between himself and the man who threw
the brick.

The extent to which the power to grant pensions by special act has been
made to cover all sorts of claims is illustrated by the fact that, in
the light of many pensions that have been allowed, this case, though
presenting an absurd claim, does not appear to be much out of the way.
The effect of precedent as an inducement to increase and expand claims
and causes for pensions is also shown by the allegation in the report of
the House committee, as follows:

  Your committee and Congress have, however, frequently relaxed the rule,
  and granted pension for injuries and disabilities incurred in such
  circumstances.


I believe that if the veterans of the war knew all that was going on
in the way of granting pensions by private bills they would be more
disgusted than any class of our citizens.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 26, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 845, entitled "An act granting
a pension to the widow of John A. Turley."

The husband of this beneficiary belonged to a Kentucky regiment of
volunteers, and in 1863, having been in camp and on leave of absence,
he and others of the regiment embarked on a steamboat, in charge of a
lieutenant, to be taken to Louisville, whither they had been ordered.

While on the steamboat an altercation arose between two of the soldiers,
and the deceased interfered to prevent, as is alleged, an affray. By so
doing he was pushed or struck by one of the parties quarreling and fell
upon the deck of the boat, striking his head against a plank, thus
receiving a fatal injury.

It is quite clear to me that the death of this soldier was not the
result of his military service. His presence on the boat was in the line
of duty, but he had no charge of the rest of the men and was in no
degree responsible for them, and whether he should be in any way
implicated in the dispute which occurred was a matter entirely within
his own control and determined by his own volition. If he had refrained
from interference, he would have saved himself and performed to the
utmost his military duty.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 432, entitled "An act for the
relief of Joel B. Morton."

Calvin Morton, the son of the beneficiary named in this bill, enlisted
in the volunteer infantry in 1861, and after his discharge again
enlisted in the United States cavalry, from which he was discharged in
1867.

It is alleged by his father that he was killed in the battle with the
Indians at Little Big Horn, called the "Custer massacre," June 25, 1876.

His name does not appear in any record of the soldiers engaged in that
battle. The casualty records of the affair are reported as very
complete, but they contain no mention of any soldier of that name.

His father claims in his application before the Pension Bureau to have
had a letter from his son in the fall of 1875, dated at some place in
the Black Hills, stating that he was a lieutenant in the army under
General Custer, but that the letter was lost. He also alleges that he
read an account of the massacre in a newspaper, the name of which he has
forgotten, and that his son was there mentioned as among the slain.

The report of the House committee states that the only evidence of the
death of this soldier is found in a letter of Anderson G. Shaw, who
writes that he was present on the field of the battle mentioned when the
killed were buried, and that one of the burial party called a corpse
found there Morton's. It is further claimed that the description of this
body agreed with that given by the father of his son.

Considering the complete list of the casualties attending this battle
now in the War Department, it must be conceded that the death of the son
of the beneficiary is far from being satisfactorily established.

The claim of the father is still pending in the Pension Bureau, and
perhaps with further effort more information on the subject can be
obtained.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 43, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Polly H. Smith."

John H. Smith, the husband of the beneficiary named in this bill,
enlisted in the Regular Army in 1854 and served until the year 1870.

In 1868 a fistula developed, which was probably the result of quite
continuous riding in the saddle. In 1870 he was placed upon the retired
list as first lieutenant on account of the incapacity arising from such
fistula.

In September, 1885, fifteen years after his retirement, he died suddenly
at Portland, Oreg., of heart disease, while attempting to raise a trunk
to his shoulder.

I can not see how the cause of death can be connected with his service
or with the incapacity for which he was placed upon the retired list.

The application made by the widow for a pension is still pending before
the Pension Bureau, and I understand that she or her friends prefer
taking the chance of favorable consideration there to the approval of
this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1547, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary Ann Dougherty."

A large share of the report of the Senate committee to which this bill
was referred, and which report is adopted by the committee of the House,
as is usual in such cases, consists of a petition signed by Mary Ann
Dougherty, addressed to the Congress, in which she states that she
resides in Washington, having removed here with her husband in 1863
from New Jersey; that shortly after their arrival in this city her
husband, Daniel Dougherty, returned to New Jersey and enlisted in
the Thirty-fourth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers; that she obtained
employment in the United States arsenal making cartridges, and that
while so engaged she was injured by an explosion.

She also states that she had a young son killed by machinery in the
navy-yard, and that at the grand review of the Army after the close of
the war another son, 6 years old, was stolen by an officer of the Army
and has not been heard of since. She further says that her husband left
his home in 1865 and has not been heard of since, and that she believes
he deserted her on account of her infirmities.

It is alleged in the report that she received a pension as the widow of
Daniel Dougherty until it was discovered that he was alive, when her
name was dropped from the rolls.

The petition of this woman is indorsed by the Admiral and several other
officers of the Navy and a distinguished clergyman of Washington,
certifying that they know Mrs. Dougherty and believe the facts stated to
be true.

There is no pretense made now that this beneficiary is a widow, though
she at one time claimed to be, and was allowed a pension on that
allegation. Her present claim rests entirely upon injuries received by
her when she was concededly not employed in the military service. If the
pension now proposed is allowed her, it will be a mere act of charity.

Her husband, Daniel Dougherty, is now living in Philadelphia, and is a
pensioner in his own right for disability alleged to have been incurred
while serving in the Thirty-fourth New Jersey Volunteers. Of this fact
this beneficiary has been repeatedly informed; and yet she states in her
petition that her husband deserted her in 1865 and has not been heard of
since.

It is alleged in the Pension Bureau that in 1878 she succeeded in
securing a pension as the widow of Daniel Dougherty through fraudulent
testimony and much false swearing on her part.

The police records of the precinct in which she has lived for years show
that she is a woman of very bad character, and that she has been under
arrest nine times for drunkenness, larceny, creating disturbance, and
misdemeanors of that sort.

It happens that this claimant, by reason of her residence here, has been
easily traced and her character and untruthfulness discovered. But there
is much reason to fear that this case will find its parallel, in many
that have reached a successful conclusion.

I can not spell out any principle upon which the bounty of the
Government is bestowed through the instrumentality of the flood of
private pension bills that reach me. The theory seems to have been
adopted that no man who served in the Army can be the subject of death
or impaired health except they are chargeable to his service. Medical
theories are set at naught and the most startling relation is claimed
between alleged incidents of military service and disability or death.
Fatal apoplexy is admitted as the result of quite insignificant wounds,
heart disease is attributed to chronic diarrhea, consumption to hernia,
and suicide is traced to army service in a wonderfully devious and
curious way.

Adjudications of the Pension Bureau are overruled in the most peremptory
fashion by these special acts of Congress, since nearly all the
beneficiaries named in these bills have unsuccessfully applied to that
Bureau for relief.

This course of special legislation operates very unfairly.

Those with certain influence or friends to push their claims procure
pensions, and those who have neither friends nor influence must be
content with their fate under general laws. It operates unfairly by
increasing in numerous instances the pensions of those already on the
rolls, while many other more deserving cases, from the lack of fortunate
advocacy, are obliged to be content with the sum provided by general
laws.

The apprehension may well be entertained that the freedom with which
these private pension bills are passed furnishes an inducement to fraud
and imposition, while it certainly teaches the vicious lesson to our
people that the Treasury of the National Government invites the approach
of private need.

None of us should be in the least wanting in regard for the veteran
soldier, and I will yield to no man in a desire to see those who
defended the Government when it needed defenders liberally treated.
Unfriendliness to our veterans is a charge easily and sometimes
dishonestly made.

I insist that the true soldier is a good citizen, and that he will be
satisfied with generous, fair, and equal consideration for those who are
worthily entitled to help.

I have considered the pension list of the Republic a roll of honor,
bearing names inscribed by national gratitude, and not by improvident
and indiscriminate almsgiving.

I have conceived the prevention of the complete discredit which must
ensue from the unreasonable, unfair, and reckless granting of pensions
by special acts to be the best service I can render our veterans.

In the discharge of what has seemed to me my duty as related to
legislation, and in the interest of all the veterans of the Union Army,
I have attempted to stem the tide of improvident pension enactments,
though I confess to a full share of responsibility for some of these
laws that should not have been passed.

I am far from denying that there are cases of merit which can not be
reached except by special enactment, but I do not believe there is a
member of either House of Congress who will not admit that this kind of
legislation has been carried too far.

I have now before me more than 100 special pension bills, which can
hardly be examined within the time allowed for that purpose.

My aim has been at all times, in dealing with bills of this character,
to give the applicant for a pension the benefit of any doubt that might
arise, and which balanced the propriety of granting a pension if there
seemed any just foundation for the application; but when it seemed
entirely outside of every rule in its nature or the proof supporting it,
I have supposed I only did my duty in interposing an objection.

It seems to me that it would be well if our general pension laws should
be revised with a view of meeting every meritorious case that can arise.
Our experience and knowledge of any existing deficiencies ought to make
the enactment of a complete pension code possible.

In the absence of such a revision, and if pensions are to be granted
upon equitable grounds and without regard to general laws, the present
methods would be greatly improved by the establishment of some tribunal
to examine the facts in every case and determine upon the merits of the
application.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8291, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Julia Welch."

The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill served in the Army
from December, 1863, to May, 1866.

He never filed an application for pension, and died February 24, 1880,
of inflammation of the lungs.

The claim filed by his widow for pension alleged that her husband
suffered from chronic diarrhea and disease of the heart and lungs as
results of his army service.

The claim was rejected by the Pension Bureau on the ground that they
soldier died from an acute disease which bore no relation to any
complaint contracted in the Army.

I think the action of the Bureau was correct.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7907, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mary Ann Lang."

The husband of this beneficiary was wounded in the nose on the 1st day
of June, 1864, and was mustered out of the service July 8, 1865. He was
pensioned on account of this wound and died February 21, 1881. Prior to
his death he had executed a declaration claiming pension also for
rheumatism, but the application was not filed before he died.

The cause of his death was dropsy. The widow filed her claim for pension
in 1884, which was rejected on the ground that the soldier's fatal
disease was not the result of his military service.

A physician of good repute, who appears to have attended him more than
any other physician for a number of years prior to his death, gives an
account of rheumatic ailments and other troubles, and states that about
a year and a half before he died he had a liver trouble which resulted
in dropsy, which caused his death. He adds that the soldier was a man
who drank beer, and at times to excess, and that he drank harder toward
the last of his life. He further states that he is unable to connect the
liver trouble with his rheumatism, and could not give any other reason
for it except his long use of beer and liquor, and if that was not the
cause it greatly aggravated it; that he had cautioned him about
drinking, and at times he heeded the advice.

An appeal was taken from the action rejecting the claim and the case was
submitted to the medical referee of the Pension Bureau, who decided upon
all the testimony that the soldier's fatal disease (dropsy) was due to
disease of the liver, which was not a sequence of rheumatism and was the
result of excessive use of alcoholic stimulants.

It will be observed that no claim is made that death in any way resulted
from the wound for which a pension had been allowed, and that even if
rheumatism was connected with the death its incurrence in the Army had
never been established.

I am satisfied that this case was properly disposed of by the Pension
Bureau.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9184, entitled "An act granting
a pension to William M. Campbell, jr."

This beneficiary was not enrolled in the service of the United States
until August 5, 1862. Previous to that time he had been a member of the
same regiment in which he was so enrolled, and was in the service of the
State of Kentucky.

He alleges that in the month of February, 1862, he was vaccinated with
impure virus and in the same month contracted mumps. He claims that as
a result of these troubles he has been afflicted with ulcers and other
serious consequences.

It is perfectly clear that at the time these disabilities were incurred,
if they were incurred, the claimant was not in the military service of
the United States.

The records show that he deserted September 16, 1862, a little more than
a month after he was mustered into the United States service; that he
was arrested April 25, 1864, one year and seven months after his
desertion; that he was restored to duty by general court-martial with
loss of pay and allowances during absence (the time lost by desertion to
be made good), and that he was mustered out July 16, 1865.

This enactment seems neither to have law nor meritorious equity to
support it.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8807, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Harriet E. Cooper."

The husband of this beneficiary served as a major in an Illinois
regiment from September 3, 1862, to April 1, 1863, when his resignation
was accepted, it having been tendered on account of business affairs.

He was pensioned for rheumatism from April, 1863, and died October 3,
1883.

It is admitted on all hands that Major Cooper drank a good deal, but the
committee allege that they can not arrive at the conclusion that death
was attributable to that cause.

There is some medical testimony tending to show that death was caused
from rheumatism, but one physician gives it as his opinion that death
resulted from rheumatism and chronic alcoholism.

The physician who last attended the soldier testifies that the cause
of death was chronic alcoholism. This should be the most reliable of
all the medical testimony, and taken in connection with the conceded
intemperate habits of the deceased and the fact, that the brain was
involved, it satisfies me that the rejection of the widow's claim by
the Pension Bureau on the ground that the cause of death was mainly
intemperance was correct.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_;

I return without approval House bill No. 6431, entitled "An act for the
relief of Van Buren Brown."

The beneficiary named in this bill was discharged from the Army
September 11, 1865.

He filed an application for pension in the Pension Bureau May 19, 1883,
alleging chronic diarrhea, rheumatism, spinal disease the result of an
injury, and deafness.

His claim was very thoroughly examined and reopened and examined again
after rejection, and rejected a second time.

The case is full of uncertainty and contradiction. Without discussing
these features, I am entirely satisfied that a pension should not be
allowed, for the reason, among others, that three careful medical
examinations made in 1883, 1884, and 1886 failed to disclose any
pensionable disability.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 367, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Nathaniel D. Chase."

This beneficiary enlisted September 3, 1863. The records show that
he was admitted to a hospital March 3, 1864, with a disease of a
discreditable nature and by no means connected with the military
service, and that he was discharged from the Army May 20, 1864, upon a
certificate of paralysis of left arm, which came on suddenly February
20, 1864, and that the cause was unknown, but believed not to be
incident to the service.

He filed an application for a pension in June, 1864, alleging paralysis
of the left arm from causes unknown to him.

This claim was not prosecuted at that time, and the claimant reenlisted
in January, 1865, and served until September 5, 1865, without any
evidence of disability appearing upon the records.

He renewed his claim in 1870, stating that he was first taken with a
pain in his left arm about March 1, 1864, and that it became partially
paralyzed.

It will be observed that thus far in his application he gives no
explanation of the incurrence of his disability which leads to the
belief that it was related to his service.

In a letter dated May 31, 1864, his captain states that he can but think
that the disability of the claimant was the result of his folly and
indiscretion, and that he feels it his duty to decline giving him a
certificate.

In 1880 the claimant stated the cause of his disability was an injury to
his arm while expelling a soldier from a railroad train at Augusta, Me.,
he acting as provost guard at the time. Upon this allegation the case
was reopened at the Pension Bureau.

In reply to a letter from the Bureau the captain of claimant's company
stated that he had no knowledge of such an injury. The same officer,
in a letter dated February 25, 1887, expresses the belief that the
disability of the applicant, if any existed, was caused by the
injudicious use of mercurial medicine self-administered for venereal
disease contracted at Augusta, Me., in January, 1864, and that such was
the rumor among his comrades when he was sent to the hospital.

I can not believe that an injury was sustained such as was specified
by the applicant in 1880 and that nothing was said of it either in the
claim made in 1864 or in 1870. In the absence of this or some other
definite cause consistent with an honest claim we are left in the face
of some contrary evidence to guess that his arm was injured in the
service.

The application of this beneficiary is still pending in the Pension
Bureau awaiting further information.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 16, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9520, entitled "An act for the
relief of Mary Fitzmorris."

It is proposed by this bill to pension the beneficiary named therein, as
the widow of Edmund Fitzmorris, under the provisions and limitations of
the general pension laws. The name of the beneficiary is already upon
the pension roll, and she is now entitled to receive precisely the sum
as a pensioner which is allowed her under this bill.

As her application to the Pension Bureau was quite lately favorably
acted upon, it is supposed this special bill for her relief was passed
by the Congress in ignorance of that fact.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 16, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 121, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Tobias Baney."

This soldier was enrolled on the 28th day of February, 1865, and was
discharged on the 31st day of January, 1866.

He filed an application for a pension in 1878, which was supplemented
by statements from time to time, not always in exact agreement, but
alleging uniformly that during his service, fixing the date at one time
as in January, 1866, and at another time as in November, 1865, he was
attacked in the city of Washington by palpitation of the heart, which
increased after his discharge and resulted in disability. After a
careful special examination by the Pension Bureau the claim was rejected
upon the ground that origin of disability in the service and line of
duty had not been shown, nor that the same existed for some time after
discharge.

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted shortly before the surrender
of the Confederate forces, and it appears did little, if anything, more
than garrison duty. He does not seem to have suffered any of the
exposures usually incident to a soldier's service, and, as I understand
his claim, does not himself give any instance of exposure or exertion
from which his difficulty arose.

There is no record of any sickness or disability during the time he was
in the Army nor any satisfactory proof that he was suffering with any
ailment at the time of his discharge. His own statement, which some of
the proof taken tends to show is not entirely reliable, goes no further
than to claim that during his term of service his difficulty began.

On appeal from the rejection of the beneficiary's claim the case was
thoroughly examined at the Interior Department and the rejection
affirmed.

I am entirely satisfied that the case was properly determined.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 16, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 470, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Amanda F. Deck."

The husband of this beneficiary was pensioned for a gunshot wound in his
right shoulder which he received in 1864 in a battle with Indians.

The report of the committee to which the bill was referred states
nothing concerning the death of the soldier and gives no information as
to the date or cause of the same, and the recommendation that a pension
should be given the widow is based upon the service and injury of the
soldier and the circumstances of the beneficiary.

No claim was filed in the Pension Bureau on behalf of the widow. This
perhaps is accounted for by the fact that information is lodged in that
Bureau to the effect that the deceased soldier died on the 21st day of
September, 1883, "from a pistol ball fired by Luther Cultor."

If he was killed in a personal encounter, as the report of his death
would seem to indicate, I am unable to see how his death can be in any
way attributed to his military service or his widow be justly pensioned
therefor.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 17, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1613, entitled "An act
granting an increase of pension to John F. Ballier."

This pensioner is now receiving the full amount of pension allowed for
total disability to ex-soldiers of his rank.

Inasmuch as the bill herewith returned limits any increase to the rate
fixed by law for cases of total disability, it appears to accomplish
nothing of benefit to the beneficiary therein named.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5913, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Thomas Shannon."

This beneficiary enlisted on the 31st day of May, 1870, in the Tenth
Regiment of United States Infantry.

On the 4th day of July, 1872, he was upon leave at the city of Rio
Grande, in the State of Texas. Some of the citizens were celebrating the
day, and one of them had a can of powder in his hand which, according
to the report of the accident, "was about to explode." The soldier
endeavored to knock the can from the hand of the person who held it,
when the powder exploded, severely injuring the soldier and
necessitating the amputation of his right forearm.

Though this was a most unfortunate accident, it is quite plain that it
had no connection with the military service.

To grant a pension in such a case would establish a precedent in the
appropriation of money from the public Treasury which I can hardly think
we should be justified in following.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9174, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Woodford M. Houchin."

The beneficiary named in this bill was enrolled September 18, 1861 and
discharged December 17, 1864.

He filed a claim for pension in the Pension Bureau December 22, 1876,
alleging that he had a sore or ulcer on his left leg "which existed in a
small way prior to enlistment," but was aggravated and enlarged by the
exposures of the service.

This claim was rejected in 1877 on the ground that the disability
existed prior to enlistment.

In September, 1879, he filed another application for pension, alleging a
disability arising from an affection of his right eye caused by an
attack of measles in September, 1861, and also again alleging ulcerated
varicose veins of his left leg.

In October, 1886, the rejection of the claim for ulcerated varicose
veins was adhered to and the added claim for disease of the eyes was
rejected on the ground that it was not incurred in the service and line
of duty.

On appeal from the action of the Pension Bureau to the Secretary of the
Interior the rejection of the claim was sustained.

The claimant stated in support of his application that about three
months before he enlisted a little yellow blister appeared on his left
leg, which made a small sore, which existed when he enlisted; that while
he was in Central America with General Walker he received a wound in the
temple from a musket ball, and that he had also before enlistment been
sick with the dropsy.

The case was very thoroughly examined by officers of the Pension
Bureau, and a great mass of testimony was taken from numerous witnesses.
Three brothers of the claimant testified to the existence of all the
disabilities before his enlistment, and two of them stated facts
which go far toward accounting for such disabilities in a way very
discreditable to the claimant. Many other witnesses, with good
opportunities of knowledge on the subject, testified to the same effect.

While testimony of a different character was also given, tending to
establish the theory that the disabilities alleged were at least to some
extent attributable to military service, the overwhelming weight of
proof seems to establish that whatever disabilities exist are the result
of disease contracted by vicious habits, and that such disabilities had
their origin prior to enlistment.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8078, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Theresa Herbst, widow of John Herbst, late private Company
G, One hundred and fortieth Regiment of New York Volunteers."

John Herbst, the husband of the beneficiary named in this bill, enlisted
August 26, 1862. He was wounded in the head at the battle of Gettysburg,
July 2, 1863. He recovered from this wound, and on the 19th day of
August, 1864, was captured by the enemy.

After his capture he joined the Confederate forces, and in 1865 was
captured by General Stoneman while in arms against the United States
Government. He was imprisoned and voluntarily made known the fact that
he formerly belonged to the Union Army. Upon taking the oath of
allegiance and explaining that he deserted to the enemy to escape the
hardship and starvation of prison life, he was released and mustered out
of the service on the 11th day of October, 1865.

He was regularly borne on the Confederate muster rolls for probably nine
or ten months. No record is furnished of the number of battles in which
he fought against the soldiers of the Union, and we shall never know the
death and the wounds which he inflicted upon his former comrades in
arms.

He never applied for a pension, though it is claimed now that at the
time of his discharge he was suffering from rheumatism and dropsy,
and that he died in 1868 of heart disease. If such disabilities were
incurred in military service, they were quite likely the result of
exposure in the Confederate army; but it is not improbable that this
soldier never asked a pension because he considered that the generosity
of his Government had been sufficiently taxed when the full forfeit of
his desertion was not exacted.

The greatest possible sympathy and consideration are due to those who
bravely fought, and being captured as bravely languished in rebel
prisons.

But I will take no part in putting a name upon our pension roll which
represents a Union soldier found fighting against the cause he swore he
would uphold, nor should it be for a moment admitted that such desertion
and treachery are excused when it avoids the rigors of honorable capture
and confinement.

It would have been a sad condition of affairs if every captured Union
soldier had deemed himself justified in fighting against his Government
rather than to undergo the privations of capture.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 26, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1447, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Bridget Foley."

Joseph F. Foley, the husband of the beneficiary named in this bill,
enlisted on the 22d day of August, 1862, and was discharged February 13,
1863, for disability which was certified to arise from chronic
rheumatism contracted prior to enlistment.

He appears to have been sick with rheumatism a large part of the time
he was in the service, and because of that fact never reached a point
nearer the front than the city of Washington.

He died May 13, 1873, of consumption.

His widow filed in 1884 a declaration executed by the deceased shortly
before his death, in which he alleged that he was first attacked with
rheumatism at Capitol Hill, in the District of Columbia, in October,
1862. The soldier never applied for a pension.

It is strenuously disputed that he had this complaint before enlistment.
However this may be, it is certain that he died of consumption, and I
can find no proof that this disease was contracted in the service or had
any relation thereto.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 26, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2644, entitled "An act
granting the right of way to the Fort Smith, Paris and Dardanelle
Railway Company to construct and operate a railroad, telegraph, and
telephone line from Fort Smith, Ark., through the Indian Territory, to
or near Baxter Springs, in the State of Kansas."

This bill grants a right of way 100 feet in width, with the use of
adjoining lands for stations and other purposes, through the eastern
part of that portion of the Indian Territory occupied by the Cherokee
Indians under a treaty with the United States.

By the terms of the treaty concluded between the Government and the
Cherokee Nation in 1866 these Indians expressly granted a right of way
through their lands "to any company or corporation which shall be duly
authorized by Congress to construct a railroad from any point north to
any point south, and from any point east to any point west of, and which
may pass through, the Cherokee Nation."

There are excellent reasons why this clause in the treaty should be
construed as limiting the railroads which should run through these
lands, at least without further permission of the Indians, to only one
from north to south and one other from east to west.

It is evident, however, that the Congress has either not so interpreted
this provision of the treaty or has determined that it should be
disregarded, for there have been six or seven railroads constructed or
authorized through these lands by the permission of the Government.

It has become very much the custom to grant these rights of way through
Indian lands and reservations merely for the asking. They have been
duplicated to such an extent that rival roads are found struggling for
the advantage of a prior Congressional grant or for the possession of a
contested route through these reservations.

I believe these indiscriminate grants to railroads permitting them to
cross the lands occupied by the Indians, if not in absolute violation of
their treaty rights, are dangerous to the success of our Indian
management.

While maintaining their tribal condition they should not be easily
subjected to the disturbance and the irritation of such encroachments.
When they have advanced sufficiently for the allotment of their lands in
severalty, they should be permitted, as a general rule, to enjoy and
cultivate all the land set apart to them, and not discouraged by the
forced surrender of a part of it for railroad purposes. In the solution
of the problem of their civilization by allotments of land they need the
land itself, and not compensation for its appropriation by others. They
can not be expected to understand this process in any other way than an
indication that their tenure is uncertain and the assurance that they
shall hold their allotted land for cultivation a delusion.

It is not necessary in the treatment of this subject to insist that in
no case should a railroad be permitted to cross Indian reservations.
There may be valid public reasons why in some cases this should be
allowed. Important lines of through travel should not be always
obstructed or defeated by a refusal of such permission. But I think
there should be shown in every case a justification in the public
interest or in furtherance of general growth and progress, or at least
in a plain local necessity or convenience, before such grants are made.

It seems to me also that the consent of the Indians for the passage of
railroads through their land should, as a general rule, be required;
that the means of determining the compensation to be made for land taken
should be just and definite and easy of application; that the route of
the proposed road should be as particularly described as is possible;
that a reasonable time should be fixed for the construction of the road,
and in default of such construction that the grant should be declared
null and void without legislation or judicial action, and that in all
cases the rights and interests of the Indians should be carefully
considered.

The bill under consideration grants to the railroad company therein
named the right to construct its road over substantially the same route
described in a law already passed permitting the Kansas City, Fort Scott
and Gulf Railway Company to build its road through this reservation. No
necessity or good reason is apparent why these two roads should be built
upon the same line.

The bill makes no provision for gaining the consent of the Indians
occupying these lands. The Cherokee Nation of Indians have their local
laws and legislation, and are quite competent to pass upon this
question. They have heretofore shown their interest in such subjects, I
am informed, by protesting against some of the grants which have been
made for the construction of railroads through their lands.

The bill provides for the taking of lands held by individual occupants
and the manner of fixing the compensation therefor; but it is declared
that when any portion of the land taken by the company shall cease to be
used for the purposes for which it is taken the same shall revert to the
nation or tribe from which the same shall have been taken. There is no
provision that in any case land taken from individual occupants shall
revert to them.

In the fifth section of the bill it is provided that the railroad
company shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior, for the benefit of
the particular nation or tribe through whose lands its line may be
located, in addition to other compensation, the sum of $50.

It was, of course, intended to declare that this sum should be paid
for every mile of road built through Indian lands, but it is not so
expressed. I am by no means certain that the context will aid this
omission, which is quite palpable, when that part of the bill is
compared with others of the same character. In any event, this is a
provision which should be free from all doubt.

There is no time limited in the bill within which the proposed road
through the reservation shall be completed, and consequently no
forfeiture fixed for noncompletion. The nearest approach to it is found
in a clause providing that the company shall build at least 50 miles of
its road in the Indian Territory within three years from the passage of
the act, or the rights granted shall be forfeited as to that portion
not built. The length of the proposed route through the Cherokee lands
appears to be considerably over 100 miles, and it is plain that there is
no sufficient guaranty in the bill that the entire road will be built
within any particular time. There is no forfeiture and no limitation for
the completion of the road if 50 miles is built within three years, and
there may be some doubt how far the forfeiture would extend in case of
a failure to finish the 50 miles within the time specified.

I believe these grants to railroads should be sparingly made; that
when made they should present better reasons for their necessity and
usefulness than are apparent in this case, and that they should be
guarded and limited by provisions which are not found in the bill
herewith returned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 3, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 3008, entitled "An act for the
relief of P.A. Leatherbury."

This bill provides that the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay to the
person above named the sum of $601.27, being the amount paid by him to
Lucy Roberts on two pension checks which were afterwards recalled and
canceled.

The committee of the House to whom this bill was referred report that--

  The Department discovered, after the issuing of the checks, that the
  claim for pension was fraudulent, but not until after the purchase,
  in the ordinary course of business, by Mr. Leatherbury paying $601.27
  therefor and giving his due bill for the balance, which balance he
  refused to pay after ascertaining that the check was repudiated by
  the Government.


Lucy Roberts, a colored woman, filed a claim for pension in 1868,
alleging that she was the widow of Nelson Roberts, who died in the
military service in 1865.

Her claim was allowed in 1876, and two checks, numbered 6863 and 6864,
aggregating $1,301.27, were issued on account of said pension. Before
payment of the checks information was received which caused an
investigation by the Pension Bureau as to the honesty of the claim
for pension. This investigation established its utterly fraudulent
character, and thereupon the checks were canceled and the woman's name
was dropped from the pension rolls.

Certain important facts are reported to me from the Pension Bureau as
having been developed upon the investigation.

It appears that one Thomas had undertaken to act for the claimant in
procuring her pension under an agreement that he should have $300 if
successful. Mr. Leatherbury was a notary, postmaster, and claim agent,
and acted as notary and general assistant to Thomas and the claimant,
who was employed at Leatherbury's house. In the month of July, 1876, the
same month the claim for pension was allowed, the woman Roberts was
indicted for larceny, the complaining witness being Mr. Leatherbury.
Shortly after the issue of the checks the woman disappeared, and it is
reported that certain indications suggested that both Leatherbury and
Thomas were not entirely ignorant of her whereabouts nor completely
disconnected with her disappearance. The checks were obtained from
Thomas by Leatherbury, he paying, as he alleges, to Thomas the fee of
$300 which had been agreed upon. The checks remained in Leatherbury's
possession until they were delivered by him to the special agent of the
Pension Bureau upon the investigation. He claimed in his deposition that
he considered that what money he had let the woman have and the goods
she had obtained at his store while she worked for him, and the $300
which he had advanced to Thomas, her agent, justified him in holding her
indebted to him in the sum of $600, and that he held the checks as
security for the same, admitting that there was still $700 in her favor,
written acknowledgment of which he had placed in the hands of his wife.
He further stated that rather than gain notoriety in the matter he would
return the checks to the special agent, but he trusted that the
Government would pay him the $600 which he had sunk in the transaction.

The woman testified that she did take some goods from Leatherbury at his
store at his suggestion, after the arrival of the checks and before she
left, about August 16, 1876, which purchases amounted to no more than
$100, and that he also advanced her $100; that he made no further
payment and wrote to her that he had to give up the checks, and that she
never indorsed the checks nor authorized anyone to do so.

Both Leatherbury and Thomas disclaimed any knowledge of the fraudulent
character of the claim; but the fraudulent claimant lived in the house
of one of them and he was assisting in procuring her claim to be
allowed, while the other made an unlawful agreement for a liberal
compensation for his services if the claim succeeded. The woman was
indicted at the instance of Leatherbury at about the time of the
issuance of the checks and fled, but if she is to be believed
Leatherbury wrote to her during her absence. After her disappearance
he ventures to pay to Thomas his illegal fee and takes possession of
the checks. He considers that she owes him $600, and the bill under
consideration gives him $601.27, the exact amount of the checks less
$700.

Someone with more intelligence than this ignorant colored woman
concocted the scheme to gain this fraudulent pension; and the
circumstances point so suspiciously toward Thomas and Leatherbury, the
claim of the latter upon the Government is infected with so much
illegality, and the amount of his advances is arrived at so loosely that
in my opinion he should not at this late day be relieved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 7, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1870, entitled "An act
granting the use of certain lands in Pierce County, Washington
Territory, to the city of Tacoma, for the purpose of a public park."

It is proposed by this bill to permit the appropriation for a public
park of a certain military reservation containing 635 acres, which was
set apart for military and defensive purposes the 22d day of September,
1866.

The establishment of this reservation was strongly recommended by high
military authority, and its preservation and maintenance have since that
time been also urged by the same authority.

At this time, when the subject of national defense is much discussed, I
can not account for the apparent willingness to grant, or permit to be
used for other purposes, Government lands reserved for military uses.

I judge from an expression in the letter of the Chief of Engineers, made
a part of the report of the committee of the House to which this bill
was referred, that its original purpose was to absolutely transfer this
reservation to the city of Tacoma. The Chief of Engineers suggested an
amendment to the bill providing that the mere permission to use this
land for a park should be granted, "and that this permission be given
with the full understanding that the United States intends to occupy the
lands or any part of them for military or other purposes whenever its
proper officials see fit to order the same, and without any claim for
compensation or damage on the part of said city of Tacoma."

Instead of adopting the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers the
provision of the bill limiting the extent of the use of this land
declares--

  That the United States reserves to itself the fee and the right forever
  to resume possession and occupy any portion of said lands for naval or
  military purposes whenever in the judgment of the President the exigency
  arises that should require the use and appropriation of the same for the
  public defense or for such other disposition as Congress may determine,
  without any claim for compensation to said city for improvements thereon
  or damages on account thereof.


The expediency of granting any right to the occupancy of this land is,
in my opinion, very doubtful. If it is done, it should be in the form of
a mere license, revocable at any time, for the purposes used by the
officers to which its use and disposition are now subject.

It seems to me that if any use of this land is given to the city
of Tacoma it should be with the proviso suggested by the Chief of
Engineers, instead of the indefinite and restricted one incorporated
in the bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 9, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8761, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mrs. Anna Butterfield."

It is proposed by this bill to pension the beneficiary therein named as
the "dependent mother of James A.B. Butterfield, late a sergeant in the
Second Illinois Cavalry,"

The records show that the son of this beneficiary enlisted in the
regiment mentioned in August, 1861, and was mustered out August 13,
1864. No claim is made in any quarter that he incurred the least
disability during this service, and there is no dispute in regard to the
date of enlistment or discharge, nor does there seem to be any definite
claim that he again entered the military service.

The report of the committee states that his mother is advised that after
his discharge her son still remained in the service of the Government
and was killed by an explosion on board of the steamer _Sultana_,
in April, 1865.

Her claim for pension is now pending in the Pension Bureau awaiting
testimony, which seems to be entirely wanting, to support the allegation
that at the time of his death the deceased was in the service of the
Government in any capacity.

This evidence ought not to be difficult to obtain. Though the mother
seems to have saved something, from which she draws a small income,
her advanced age and the honorable service of her son would make the
allowance of a pension in her case, upon any fair and plausible
justification, very gratifying.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 9, 1888_.:

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 2140, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Eliza Smith."

The husband of this beneficiary was a second lieutenant in an Indiana
regiment, and was discharged from the service in April, 1864. It is
proposed in the bill herewith returned to pension the beneficiary as the
widow of a first lieutenant.

The deceased was pensioned for a gunshot wound in his left arm under the
general law, and his pension was increased by a special act in 1883.

He died away from home at a hotel in Union City, Ind., on the 18th day
of December, 1884, and it was determined at the time, and is still
claimed, that his death was the result of an overdose of morphine
self-administered.

It is represented that at times the wound of the deceased soldier was
very painful and that he was in the habit of taking large doses of
morphine to alleviate his suffering.

Two days before his death he was at the house of one Moore, in Union
City; he complained of pain, and asked for a dose of morphine, but it
does not appear that he obtained it.

On the same day he went to a hotel in the same town and remained there
until his death. On the second evening after his arrival there he
complained of asthma and pain in his arm, and retired about 9 o'clock
p.m. In the afternoon of the next day the door of his room was forced
open, and he was found prostrate and helpless, though able to talk.
Medicine was administered, but he soon died.

His family physician testified that the deceased did not suffer from
asthma; that when his wound was suppurating he had difficulty in
breathing, and that at such times he was in the habit of taking morphine
in large doses, and that at times he was intemperate, especially when
suffering from his wound.

It seems to me it would establish a very bad precedent to allow a
pension upon the facts developed in this case.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 9, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7510, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Stephen A. Seavey."

This beneficiary served in a Maine regiment from November 11, 1861, to
August 17, 1862, when he was discharged upon a surgeon's certificate of
epilepsia and melancholia. The surgeon further stated in his certificate
that the soldier had been unfit for duty for sixty days in consequence
of epileptic fits, occurring daily, and requiring the constant
attendance of two persons during the past thirty days.

In 1879 he applied for a pension, alleging that he incurred a sunstroke
on July 20, 1862. This was within the sixty days during which he was
unfit for duty and also within the thirty days during which he required
the constant attendance of two persons.

He succeeded in securing a pension, and drew the same until December,
1885, when information was received at the Pension Bureau which caused
an examination of the merits of the case.

This examination developed such facts as led the Pension Bureau to the
conclusion that the condition of the soldier was then identical with
that before enlistment and that his disability existed before he entered
the service. His name was accordingly dropped from the rolls.

The object of the bill herewith returned is to restore the pensioner to
the rolls.

An examination of the facts satisfies me that the act of the Pension
Bureau in dropping this name from the pension rolls was entirely correct
and should not be reversed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 9, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 6307, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Sarah A. Corson."

Joshua Corson, the husband of the beneficiary named in this bill,
enlisted in August, 1862, for nine months, was wounded by a ball which
passed through the lower part of each buttock, and was discharged June
29, 1863. He was pensioned for his wound, and died December 12, 1885.

The cause of death is stated to have been femoral hernia by a physician
who attended him shortly before his death. The official record of his
death attributes it to a malignant tumor.

The widow filed a claim for pension in 1886, but furnished no evidence
showing when or how the hernia originated. No disability of this
description is shown by any service record, nor was it ever claimed by
the soldier. It is stated in the report of the committee of the House of
Representatives to whom this bill was referred that the hernia first
made its appearance about four years prior to the soldier's death.

The claim of this beneficiary for pension was rejected by the Pension
Bureau upon the ground that there was no possible connection between the
soldier's wounds and the hernia from which he died.

I am forced to the conclusion that the case was properly disposed of,
and base my disapproval of the bill herewith returned upon the same
ground.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 9, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 3521, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Manuel Garcia."

From the records it appears that the beneficiary named in this bill
enlisted as a substitute August 6, 1864, and was transferred to the
Eighth New Jersey Volunteers; that he is reported absent sick, and never
joined his regiment, and was discharged from a hospital July 2, 1865.

He filed a claim for pension March 4, 1880, alleging that in October,
1864, at Alexandria, Va., he became lame in both legs, and that
subsequently his eyes became inflamed. His hospital record shows that he
was treated for pneumonia.

The board of examining surgeons in 1883 found no such evidence of
varicose veins, which seems to be the disability claimed, as would
justify a rating, and there appears to be no proof of the existence of
any disability between the date of discharge and the year 1867.

The application of this beneficiary is still pending in the Pension
Bureau awaiting any further proof which may be submitted in its support.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 149, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Rachael Barnes."

The husband of this beneficiary served in the Regular Army of the United
States from February 24, 1838, to February 24, 1841.

In 1880 he applied for a pension, alleging that he contracted disease of
the eyes during the year 1840 while serving in Florida.

Pending the examination of his application, and on the 24th day of
March, 1882, he committed suicide by hanging. His widow filed a claim
for pension, alleging that he died of insanity, the result of disease
of the head and eyes. Her claim was rejected on the ground that his
insanity, forty-one years after discharge from the service, had no
connection with his military service.

In July, 1886, a special act was passed granting a pension to the widow,
which met with Executive disapproval.

At the time the soldier committed suicide he was 68 years old. Upon the
facts I hardly think insanity is claimed. At least there does not appear
to be the least evidence of it, unless it be the suicide itself. It is
claimed, however, and with good reason, that he had become despondent on
account of the delay in determining his application for a pension and
because he supposed that important evidence to establish his claim which
he expected would not be forthcoming. It is very likely that this
despondency existed and that it so affected the mind of this old soldier
that it led to his suicide. But the fact remains that he took his own
life in a deliberate manner, and that the affection of his eyes, which
was the disability claimed, was not in a proper sense even the remote
cause of his death.

I confess that I have endeavored to relieve myself from again
interposing objections to the granting of a pension to this poor and
aged widow. But I can not forget that age and poverty do not themselves
justify gifts of public money, and it seems to me that the according of
pensions is a serious business which ought to be regulated by principle
and reason, though these may well be tempered with much liberality.

I can find no principle or plausible pretext in this case which would
not lead to granting a pension in any case of alleged disability arising
from military service followed by suicide. It would be an unfair
discrimination against many who, though in sad plight, have been refused
relief in similar circumstances, and would establish an exceedingly
troublesome and dangerous precedent.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8574, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Sallie T. Ward, widow of the late W.T. Ward."

The husband of this beneficiary served about nine months in the Mexican
War. He entered the service as a brigadier-general in 1861, and served
through the War of the Rebellion with credit, and was wounded in the
left arm on the 15th day of May, 1864.

For this wound he was pensioned according to his rank, and received such
pension until his death, at the age of 70 years, which occurred October
12, 1878.

The cause of his death was brain disease, and it seems not to be
seriously claimed that it had any relation to his wound.

His widow is now in receipt of the pension provided for those of her
class by the Mexican pension law.

If this bill becomes a law, I am unable to see why, in fairness and
justice, the widow of any officer of the grade of General Ward should
not be allowed $50 a month, the amount proposed by this bill to be paid
his widow, regardless of any other consideration except widowhood and
the rank of the deceased husband.

The bill herewith returned, while fixing the monthly amount to be
absolutely paid to the beneficiary, does not make the granting of the
pension nor payment of the money subject to any of the provisions of the
pension laws nor make any reference to the Mexican service pension she
is now receiving. While it is the rule under general laws that two
pensions shall not be paid to the same person, inasmuch as the widow
is entitled to the pension she is now receiving upon grounds different
from those upon which the special bill was passed, and no intention
is apparent in the special bill that the other pension should be
superseded, it may result that under the peculiar wording of this bill
she would be entitled to both pensions.

The beneficiary filed a claim for pension in the Pension Bureau in 1884,
which is still pending, awaiting evidence connecting the death of the
soldier with his wound.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 490, entitled "An act
granting a pension to George W. Pitner."

It appears from the records that the beneficiary named in this bill
entered the military service in June, 1863, and was discharged in March,
1866. He was treated while in the Army in the months of December, 1864,
and January, 1865, for conjunctivitis.

He filed a claim for pension in 1886, alleging that he had a sunstroke
in 1865, and that while at work in a basement in the year 1881 he fell
into a well which was open near him and received serious injuries,
resulting in the amputation of his right foot and also disability of his
left foot. He attributes his fall to vertigo, consequent upon or related
to the sunstroke he suffered in the Army.

The claim was rejected on the ground that the evidence taken failed to
connect the disabilities for which a pension was claimed with army
service.

Whatever may be said of the incurrence of sunstroke in the Army, though
he fixes it as after the date of his only medical treatment during
his service, and whatever may be said of the continuance of vertigo
consequent upon the sunstroke for sixteen years, I find no proof that
at the time he fell he was afflicted with vertigo, unless it be his own
statement; and whatever disability naturally arose from sunstroke does
not appear by him to have been deemed sufficient to induce him to apply
for a pension previous to his fall.

In any event there seems to be no satisfactory evidence that anything
which occurred in his army service was the cause of his fall and
consequent injury.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9034, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Lydia A. Heiny."

The husband of this beneficiary served in an Indiana regiment from
August, 1861, to March, 1864, when he reenlisted as a veteran volunteer
and served as a private and teamster to July 20, 1865, when he was
discharged.

There is no record of any disability, and he never applied for a
pension.

On the 12th day of December, 1880, in leaving a barber shop at the place
where he resided, he fell downstairs and died the next day from the
injuries thus received.

His widow filed an application for a pension in the year 1885, alleging
that her husband contracted indigestion, bronchitis, nervous debility,
and throat disease in the Army, which were the cause of his death.

The claim was rejected upon the ground that the death of the soldier was
not due to an injury connected with his military service.

While there has been considerable evidence presented tending to show
that the deceased had a throat difficulty which might have resulted from
army exposure, the allegation or the presumption that it caused his
fatal fall, it seems to me, is entirely unwarranted.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9344, entitled "An act granting
a pension to James C. White."

The records of the War Department show that this beneficiary enlisted in
a Kentucky regiment September 29, 1861. On the muster roll of April 30,
1862, he is reported as absent. On the roll of August 31, 1863, he is
mentioned as having deserted July 19, 1862. His name is not borne on
subsequent muster rolls until it appears upon those of January and
February, 1864, with the remark that he returned February, 1864, and
that all pay and allowances were to be stopped from July 19, 1862, to
February 5, 1864. It appears that he deserted again on the 18th of
December, 1864, and that his name was not borne upon any subsequent
rolls.

Naturally enough, there does not appear to be any record of this
soldier's honorable discharge.

It seems that this man during the time that he professed to be in the
service earned two records of desertion, the first extending over a
period of nearly a year and a half and the other terminating his
military service.

He filed a claim for pension on the 4th day of August, 1883, alleging
that he contracted piles in December, 1861, and a hernia in April, 1862.

A medical examination in 1883 revealed the nonexistence of piles and the
presence of hernia.

The fact of the incurrence of any disability at all in the service is
not satisfactorily established, and the entire case in all its phases
appears to be devoid of merit.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9183, entitled "An act granting
a pension to William P. Riddle."

The records of the War Department show that the beneficiary named in
this bill was enrolled October 4, 1861, in the Fifth Kentucky Regiment
of Cavalry, and was mustered into the service on the 31st day of March,
1862.

From that time to April 30, 1862, he is reported absent sick. On the
rolls for four months thereafter, ending August 31, 1862, he is reported
as absent and deserted. His name is not borne on any subsequent rolls.

He did not file an application for pension until April, 1879, when the
act granting arrears was in force. He then claimed that he contracted
pneumonia February 15, 1862; that about a month after he was sent home,
and was under medical treatment for two years; that he returned about
May 1, 1864, and was discharged about May 15, 1864, but that his
discharge papers were lost.

Though he has furnished some evidence in support of the claim that he
was sick at about the time alleged and that he returned to the Army
after an absence of two years, no record proof of any kind is furnished
of an honorable discharge at any time.

He has been informed that the record of his desertion in the War
Department will be investigated with a view to its correction if he
will furnish direct proof that it is erroneous. No such proof has been
supplied, and the case has not been finally acted upon in the Pension
Bureau.

It does not seem to me that this case in its present condition should
receive favorable consideration.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9126, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mrs. Caroline G. Seyfforth."

The husband of this beneficiary served as contract surgeon in the United
States Army from September 12, 1862, to August 17, 1865, and was
stationed at Portsmouth Grove Hospital, in Rhode Island.

He never filed a claim for pension, and died July 21, 1874, of
congestion of the liver. His widow filed an application for pension in
1882, alleging that her husband's death was caused by blood poisoning
contracted while dressing the wound of a patient in January, 1863. There
is proof that he suffered from blood poisoning.

The record of death states its cause as congestion of the liver, but the
certificate was not signed. A young doctor named Adams, a friend and
pupil of the deceased, seems to have been more than any other the
attendant physician, but he appeared to think that one of three other
doctors had actual charge of the case. These physicians, named,
respectively, Sullivan, Dana, and Sargent, agreed that Adams had charge
of the case and that they were consulting surgeons in the last illness.

Dr. Adams testified before a special examiner that from intimate
association he knew that the deceased was subject to kidney disease and
other symptoms of bad health from discharge to his death; that as he had
lost a part of one hand from blood poisoning in the Army, he always
supposed his subsequent troubles were referable to that cause; that he
believed the cause of death was albuminuria, and that his liver was also
affected. He further expresses the opinion that the death was the
culmination of the disorders which affected him from the time of his
discharge from the service.

Dr. Sullivan deposed that he knew the deceased well from about 1869, and
never had any reason to think him the subject of blood poisoning or its
results. He further says that he was called in consultation at the last
illness of the deceased and diagnosed his trouble as liver disease, due
to the patient's habits of intemperance.

Dr. Dana testified that he knew the deceased well from the time of his
discharge; that he was called to consult in his case with young Dr.
Adams a few days before the death occurred; that he took a general view
of the case and considered that the trouble was due to habits of
intemperance.

Dr. Sargent deposed that he knew the deceased well and knew that he had
lost a part of his hand, as alleged, from septic poisoning in the Army,
though he was not aware that the poisoning had left any other effect;
that the deceased had several spells of alcoholism after the war; that
he had heard him complain of his kidneys, but attributed his troubles to
his excesses.

Other evidence suggested the same cause for sickness and death spoken of
by these physicians, but there seems to be an almost entire absence of
evidence connecting the death with service in the Army.

I am of the opinion that a case is not presented in any of its aspects
justifying a pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 6193, entitled "An act for the
relief of Edson Saxberry."

The beneficiary named in this bill filed a declaration for a pension in
1879, alleging that in 1863 he bruised his leg, which became very sore,
and when it began to heal his eyes became sore.

The evidence taken upon a careful examination of this application seems
to establish, by the admission of the applicant and by other evidence,
the correctness of the position taken by the Pension Bureau in rejecting
the claim, that whatever disability was incurred existed before
enlistment and was in no manner attributable to military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 2233, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Bernard Carlin."

By this bill it is proposed to pension the beneficiary therein named as
of Company A, Fourteenth Regiment of Missouri Volunteer Infantry.

It seems that he served in the company and regiment named, but that he
also served in Company A, Sixty-sixth Illinois Regiment, and it is
claimed that while in the latter service exclusively he received the
injuries for which a pension is claimed.

His application is still pending in the Pension Bureau, and the papers
pertaining to the same are now in the hands of an examiner for special
examination.

I think this should be completed before a special act is passed, and
I understand this to be in accordance with a general rule adopted by
Congress and its pension committees. This is certainly the correct
course to be pursued in this case, in view of the failure to state in
the special bill the regiment and company to which the soldier belonged
at the time of the incurrence of disability. This can be corrected by
the Pension Bureau if the claim is found meritorious.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith a joint resolution which originated in the Senate, and
is numbered 17, providing for the printing of additional copies of the
United States map of the edition of 1886, prepared by the Commissioner
of Public Lands.

This resolution directs that 7,500 of these maps shall be printed at a
rate not exceeding $1.35 each; that 2,000 of said maps shall be for the
use of the Senate, 4,000 for the use of the House of Representatives,
500 for the Commissioner of the Land Office, and that 1,000 be mounted
and sold at the price of $1.50 each. The sum of $10,125 is appropriated
to pay the expense of the publication of said maps.

The propriety and expediency of this appropriation, to be applied so
largely by the two branches of Congress, should be left to legislative
discretion.

I believe, however, that through inadvertence the duplication of the
edition of these maps issued in 1886 has been directed by this joint
resolution instead of the edition of 1887.

The map of 1886 was published at a cost of $1.25 per copy.

The map of 1887 will very soon be issued at a cost of $1 per copy, and
the publishers have offered to print an enlarged edition at the rate
of 95 cents for each map. This map will be later, more correct, more
valuable in every way, and cheaper than that issued the previous year.

Upon these facts I return the joint resolution without approval, in the
belief that the Congress will prefer to correct the same by directing
the publication of the latest, best, and cheapest map, and reducing the
amount appropriated therefor.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 14, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2653, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary Curtin."

The husband of this beneficiary was mustered into the military service
October 8, 1862, was wounded in the right arm, and was discharged
September 3, 1863.

He was pensioned for his wound to the time of his death, September 17,
1880.

The physician attending him in his last illness testified that the
deceased was in the last stages of consumption when pneumonia intervened
and caused his death.

I do not understand that this physician gives the least support to the
theory that the wound for which this soldier was pensioned was in the
slightest degree connected with his death, and there seems to be nothing
in the case to justify the conclusion that such was the fact.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 14, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1076, entitled "An act
granting a pension to the widow of John Leary, deceased."

This bill does not give the name of the intended beneficiary, but merely
directs that the name of the widow of John Leary, late first sergeant in
Battery F, Third Artillery, United States Army, be placed upon the
pension roll, and that she be paid the sum of $20 per month.

John Leary first enlisted in the Regular Army July 26, 1854, and
reenlisted in August, 1859. He was slightly wounded July 1, 1862, and
appears to have been discharged March 25, 1863, on account of syphilitic
iritis. In April, 1863, he entered the general service and acted as a
clerk in the Adjutant-General's Office until April 1, 1864, when he was
discharged.

Neither he nor his widow ever filed a claim in the Pension Bureau, but
an application on behalf of his minor children was filed in 1882.

The soldier died on the 8th day of December, 1872, of pneumonia, and his
widow remarried in 1876.

The application on behalf of the children was denied on the ground that
the death of the soldier was not due to any cause arising from his
military service. The youngest child will reach the age of 16 in
September, 1888.

It is stated in the report of the Senate committee to whom this bill
was referred that the second husband, to whom this widow was married
in 1876, is now dead, and it is proposed to pension her as the widow
of John Leary, her first husband, at the rate of $20 per month.

In the unusual cases when a widow has been pensioned on account of
the death of her first husband, notwithstanding her remarriage, which
forfeited her claim under the general law, it has been well established
that she was again a widow by the death of her second husband, that
beyond all controversy the death of the first husband was due to his
military service, and such advanced age or disability has been shown
on the part of the widow as prevented self-support.

In this case the name of the widow is not in the bill; there is hardly
room for the pretense that her first husband's death was due to his
military service, her age is given as over 40 years, and $20 a month is
allowed her; being considerably more than is generally allowed in cases
where a widow's right is clear, with no complications of second
marriage, and her necessities great.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 14, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:.

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1762, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Benjamin A. Burtram."

The beneficiary named in this bill was mustered into the military
service November 26, 1861; he was reported present until February 28,
1862, and was discharged for disability July 26, 1862.

The medical certificate of the disability of this soldier was made by
the senior surgeon of a hospital in Louisville, Ky., and stated that the
soldier had been disabled for sixty days; that his lungs were affected
with tubercular deposits in both, and that there was some irregularity
in the action of the heart; that he was of consumptive family, his
mother, brother, and two sisters having died of that disease according
to his and his father's account.

It is of course supposed that this certificate was based upon an
examination of the patient, though both he and his father seem to have
supplemented such an examination with statements establishing a
condition and history which operated to bring about a discharge.

I do not find, however, either as the result of examinations or
statements, any other trouble or disability alleged than those mentioned
above.

But in 1879, seventeen years after the soldier's discharge, and
during the period when arrearages of pensions were allowed on such
applications, he filed a claim for pension, in which he alleged that
about December 1, 1861, while unloading gun boxes, he incurred a
rupture, and that in January, 1862, he was taken with violent pains in
left arm and side, causing permanent disability.

It will be observed that the time of the incurrence of these
disabilities is fixed as quite early in the very short military service
of this soldier; and it certainly seems that, though short, his term of
service was sufficiently long to develop such disabilities as he claims
to have incurred to such an extent that they neither would have escaped
in the succeeding July the examination of the surgeon nor the mention of
the soldier.

A medical examination which followed the application for pension in 1879
disclosed a large scrotal hernia, but no discoverable trouble of left
arm and side.

A special examination of the case was made and a large amount of
testimony taken. Without giving it in any detail as it is reported
to me, I fail to find in it reasonably satisfactory proof that the
disabilities upon which he now bases his claim for a pension were
incurred in the military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 22, 1888_.

_To the Senate_.

I return without approval Senate bill No. 3038, entitled "An act for the
relief of P.E. Parker."

Mr. Parker was a surety with six other persons upon an official bond
given by one Franklin Travis, a collector of internal revenue, which
bond was dated on the 9th day of May, 1867. A few years after that
the collector became a defaulter to the Government for something over
$27,000. Suit was commenced against the sureties upon the bond, and the
defense was presented in their behalf that by reason of the imposition
of new duties and responsibilities upon the collector after the
execution of the bond his sureties were released. Judgment, however,
passed against them, and the property of the beneficiary named in this
bill was sold upon said judgment for the sum of $2,366.95. But only
$1,793.16 of such amount was paid into the United States Treasury, the
remainder having been applied to the payment of fees and expenses.

After the application of this sum to the payment of the judgment a bill
was passed by the Congress relieving all these sureties from liability
upon the bond. It appears that the amount above stated was all the money
collected thereupon. The grant of the relief of these sureties by the
Congress apparently was the same interposed by them to the suit in which
the judgment was recovered.

The present bill directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pay to the
surety Parker the sum of $2,336.95, the entire amount for which his
property was sold, though the Senate committee to which the bill was
referred reported in favor of reducing this sum to $1,793.16, the amount
actually received by the United States upon its indebtedness.

It seems to me that the action of Congress in relieving these sureties
was generous in the extreme, and if money was to be refunded which was
apparently legally recovered and collected it should not exceed the
amount the Government actually received. The Government is in no default
and should be put to no expense in refunding the small sum recovered on
account of the defalcation of its officer whose good conduct this
beneficiary guaranteed. I think it would better subserve public
interests if no further relief should be granted than that already
afforded.

There is another fact reported to me which deprives this surety of any
equitable claim for further relief. It appears from an examination of
this matter that the man who is now attempting to be reimbursed this
money from the Government Treasury commenced a suit against his
cosureties for this identical money on the ground of their liability
with him, and that he actually collected from two of them in such suit
the sum of $1,747.16.

If this is true, it is speaking mildly of the claim he now makes against
the Government to say that it should not have been presented.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 22, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2616, entitled "An act
granting a pension to James E. Kabler."

This beneficiary enlisted August 10, 1862. He is reported as absent sick
for November and December, 1862; present for January and February, 1863;
on the rolls for March and April he is reported as deserted, and for May
and June as under arrest. On the 17th of September, 1863, after having
been in the service a little over a year, he was mustered out with his
company with the remark "absent without leave and returned to duty with
loss of fifty-two days' pay by order of General Boyle." The charge of
desertion does not appear to have been removed.

He filed a claim for pension in 1870 on account of quinsy alleged to
have been contracted about December 7, 1862, with some evidence to
support the claim. Three medical examinations fail to establish the
existence of this disease in a pensionable degree, and it is reported to
me from the Pension Bureau that in March, 1882, the family physician of
the beneficiary stated that though he had practiced in his family for
eight or nine years he had no recollection of treating him for quinsy or
any other disease.

It seems to me that neither the service nor the alleged disability of
this beneficiary are of a meritorious character.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 22, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2370, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Sarah C. Anderson and children under 16 years
of age."

William H. Anderson, the husband and the father of the beneficiaries
named in this bill, enlisted on the 27th day of August, 1862, and is
reported as sick or absent a large part of his short term of service. He
was discharged April 23, 1863, to date November 5, 1862, on a surgeon's
certificate of disability for "tertiary syphilis, with ulcerated throat
and extensive nodes on the tibia of both legs."

He never filed an application for pension. He was admitted to an insane
asylum in September, 1883, suffering with epilepsy, chronic diarrhea,
and dementia, and died of pneumonia on the 26th day of February, 1884.

His symptoms and troubles after his discharge, so far as they are
stated, are entirely consistent with the surgeon's certificate of
disability given at the time of his discharge, and there seems to be an
entire lack of testimony connecting in any reasonable way his death with
any incident of his military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 22, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2206, entitled "An act
granting a pension to David H. Lutman."

The beneficiary named in this bill was pensioned in 1885 on account of
spinal irritation, the result of measles.

In 1886 he filed a claim for increase of pension, alleging rheumatism,
and the board of examining surgeons at Cumberland, Md., upon an
examination, found no evidence of spinal irritation or rheumatism, and
he was dropped from the pension rolls on the ground that the disability
for which he was pensioned had ceased to exist.

He afterwards filed medical and lay testimony tending to show that he
suffered from disease of the back, legs, and arms, and he was thereupon,
and on the 8th day of October, 1886, again examined by the board of
examining surgeons at Hagerstown, Md., who reported as follows:

  We have stripped him, and find a splendid specimen, square built from
  the ground up, muscles well developed, his appearance indicative of
  perfect health. No curvature of spine, disease or irritation of spinal
  cord; no atrophy of any muscles or evidence of weakness. No impairment
  of motion anywhere.


If there is any value to be placed upon the reports of these examining
boards, the refusal of the Pension Bureau to restore this beneficiary
to the rolls was fully justified; and this is not a proper case, in my
opinion, for interference with that determination.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 22, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 645, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mrs. Margaret B. Todd."

This bill does not describe the beneficiary as related to any soldier of
the war, but from other data it is found that she is the widow of Frank
G. Todd, who served as a private in the One hundred and eighteenth
Volunteer Infantry from July, 1863, to May, 1864, when he was
transferred to the Navy. It appears that he served in the Navy from
May 13, 1864, until April 10, 1866. He died in January, 1878, from
exhaustion, as stated by the physicians who attended him.

There is scarcely a particle of satisfactory evidence showing his
condition from the time of his discharge to 1871, and there is almost
an entire lack of proof showing a connection between his death and any
incident of his service. The widow in her application to the Pension
Bureau for a pension states that she has children who were born in 1870,
1871, and 1878.

There seems to be no record of any disability during the husband's
service in the Army, and the only mention of disability while in the
Navy is an entry on the 30th day of May, 1864, showing that he was
admitted to treatment for "syphilis secondary."

The widow's claim is still pending in the Pension Bureau.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 22, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1542, entitled "An act
granting a pension to John W. Reynolds."

The bill describes this beneficiary as being "late of the One hundred
and fifty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry."

He filed a claim in 1872 that he was a deputy United States
provost-marshal for the Twelfth Ohio district from October, 1864, to
March, 1865, and that in December, 1864, while ascending a stairway to
arrest two deserters who had been drafted, a barrel of cider was rolled
down upon him, by which he was severely injured.

The claim having been rejected on the ground that the claimant was
not entitled to a pension as a civil employee of the Government, he
afterwards, and in January, 1888, informed the Bureau that he was
drafted in November, 1864, while serving as assistant deputy
provost-marshal, and was sworn in and reserved for home duty, and was
discharged from the One hundred and fifty-first Ohio Volunteers. The
records of the War Department show that John W. Reynolds served in the
One hundred and fifty-first Ohio Regiment from May 2, 1864, to August
27, 1864.

It is perfectly apparent that this beneficiary was injured while acting
as a deputy assistant provost-marshal, arresting deserters for the pay
and rewards allowed him, and that his injuries were not at all connected
with actual military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 22, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 2088, entitled "An act for the
relief of W.S. Carpenter."

This bill appropriates the sum of $126.26 to be paid to the beneficiary
named therein for his salary as an employee in the Railway Mail Service
from the 3d day of October until the 20th day of November, 1882.

Mr. Carpenter was employed as a railway postal clerk at a salary of $800
per annum. He abandoned his route about the 2d day of October, 1882,
without any leave of absence or explanation at the time, leaving his
work in charge of one Jones, another railway postal clerk. He appears to
have been paid for all the work he did, unless it be for two or three
days in October, for which he apparently makes no claim.

There is nothing in the Post-Office Department showing that the absence
of Carpenter was claimed to be on account of sickness, though there are
a number of communications relating to the case.

The regulations of the Department permit the performance of the duties
of a postal clerk by an associate in case of sickness, but never without
the written permission of the division superintendent after an
arrangement between the parties in writing, signed by them and filed
with the superintendent.

Among a number of communications from Railway Mail Service officials
relating to the conduct of Carpenter, all tending in the same direction,
there is a letter from the chief clerk of the Railway Mail Service at
Peoria, Ill., under whose immediate supervision Mr. Carpenter performed
service, written to the superintendent of the sixth division of said
service at Chicago, and dated November 16, 1882, containing the
following statement:

  I desire to call your attention to the case of W.S. Carpenter, Gilman
  and Springfield R.P.O., as follows: October 10 he was requested to
  appear at the post-office at Springfield, Ill., for examination on
  Illinois scheme. I went to Springfield for the purpose of examining him,
  but he failed to put in an appearance. Upon my return home I found a
  letter from him stating that he did not expect to remain in the service,
  hence his failure to report for examination; and, furthermore, that he
  would send in his resignation to your office by the first of the
  following week. This he had not done the 12th instant. He has not been
  on duty but two days since October 1. He left the run in charge of Mr.
  Jones, of the same line, telling him he did not know when he would
  return, and for Jones to keep up the run. He has no leave of absence,
  either verbally or otherwise. What his motives are for conducting
  himself in this manner I can not imagine. I have written him on the
  subject, but can not hear from him. When in Springfield the 3d instant,
  I requested the postmaster there to not pay Carpenter for October until
  he received notice to do so. I then notified you of the facts in the
  matter. I would respectfully recommend that Carpenter be relieved from
  further duty and a successor be appointed. He is of no account at the
  best; he has no interest in the work, and should be removed. I would
  also recommend that he be paid for but the two days' run in the month
  of October.


Four days after the date of this letter Mr. Carpenter was notified that
an order had been issued discontinuing his pay and services.

These facts stated present the case of an employee of the Government
abandoning his duties without leave or notice, in direct violation of
rules, and claiming compensation for work done in his absence by another
employee whose entire services were due the Government.

To allow a claim so lacking in merit would endanger discipline and
invite irregularity and loose methods in a very important branch of the
public service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 27, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 2524, entitled "An act for the
relief of Clement A. Lounsberry."

This bill appropriates the sum of $1,214.51 to reimburse him for clerk
hire and fuel and lights in excess of allowances made to him by the
Post-Office Department while he was postmaster at Bismarck, in the
Territory of Dakota.

Seven hundred and fifty dollars of this sum is appropriated on account
of clerk hire paid out from April 1, 1881, to June 30, 1882, and $464.51
for lights and fuel from July 1, 1883, to September 30, 1885.

As a general rule the allowances made by the Post-Office Department
in these cases ought not to be interfered with. But sometimes a sudden
rush of settlement in a locality, or some other cause, will so increase
unexpectedly the need of clerks to distribute and handle the mails that
the employment of more than have been provided for is absolutely
necessary.

I am inclined to think the item for clerk hire in this bill should be so
regarded. This was the only appropriation included in the bill presented
in the Forty-eighth Congress in behalf of this postmaster upon which a
favorable committee report was made and which was not unfavorably spoken
of by the Department.

But it does not follow that the other item for fuel and lights should be
allowed. I think it should not, on the grounds that the amount was fixed
by the Department upon full examination, that there is no special reason
shown why the postmaster should have exceeded the expenditures allowed,
and that to give the least encouragement to postmasters that these
allowances would be upon their application revised and increased by
Congress would lead to demoralization in the service.

It appears that the allowance made to this officer for fuel and lights
was increased October 1, 1883, and although the claim now made on this
account embraces the period from July 1, 1883, to September, 1885,
nothing was asked for fuel or lights in the bill presented to Congress
for this beneficiary's relief in 1884.

It should not have been tacked upon the bill now presented.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 27, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 288, entitled "An act for the
erection of a public building at Sioux City, Iowa."

On the 19th day of June, 1886, I was constrained to disapprove a bill
embracing the same subject covered by the bill herewith returned.
Further investigation on the second presentation of the matter fails to
convince me that $150,000 should be expended at present for the erection
of a public building at Sioux City.

From all the representations that are made in an effort to show the
necessity for this building I gather that the only two purposes for
which the Government should furnish quarters at this place are a term
of the United States court not specially crowded with business and the
post-office, which, though perhaps crowded, I am sure can get on very
well for a time without a larger public building.

As far as the court is concerned, it was agreed when a term was located
there in 1882 that it might be held in the county building, which from
the description furnished me seems to be entirely adequate for the
purpose and very well arranged. The term held in October, 1887, was in
session for nine days.

I am decidedly of the opinion that if a public building is to be located
at Sioux City it had better be delayed until a better judgment can be
formed of its future necessity and proper size.

I see some of the parties interested have such confidence in the growth
and coming needs of the place that in their opinion the work ought not
to be entered upon with a less appropriation than $500,000.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 1, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9363, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Edwin J. Godfrey."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted on the 27th day of May,
1861, in a New Hampshire regiment, and less than three months thereafter
was discharged on a surgeon's certificate of his disability occasioned
by "disease of heart existing prior to enlistment."

In 1881, twenty years after discharge, the beneficiary applied to the
Pension Bureau for a pension, and alleged that his disease of the heart
was the result of fatigue and overheating at Bull Run, Virginia, July
21, 1861.

If the heart disease of which the discharged soldier complained in 1861,
and which the claimant of a pension in 1881 alleged still continued,
could have been caused by fatigue and overheating in the only battle of
his brief service, it seems to me that its manifestations and symptoms a
month afterwards could not have been mistaken for such as belonged to a
much longer continuance of the disease.

I am fully satisfied that the surgeon was not mistaken who made the
certificate upon which the beneficiary was discharged, and that his
military service is not properly chargeable with any disability he may
have incurred.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 1, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5155, entitled "An act granting
a pension to John S. Bryant."

The man for whom this pension is proposed never, so far as I can learn,
did a single day's actual military service at the front, nor ever left
in such service the State in which he was enlisted.

He enlisted December 7, 1863, in a Maine regiment; on the 16th day of
the same month he is marked as a deserter, having failed to report after
leave of absence; December 31, 1863, he is reported sick in hospital at
Augusta, Me.; January 26, 1864, he is marked as having deserted from
Camp Keyes, at Augusta, Me.

He was discharged January 14, 1865, for disability occasioned, as the
surgeon's certificate declares, "by a fall from a wagon while at home on
a furlough, December 22, 1863." The certificate continues as follows:

  Never has done a day's duty. Is utterly worthless and unfit for the
  Veteran Reserve Corps.


After his discharge the second charge of desertion was removed, and the
first charge does not seem to be serious. But he was injured while home
on a furlough, his regiment still being in camp within the State of his
residence; and although there are cases in which it seems not improper
that pensions should be granted for injuries sustained during furlough
and before actual return to duty, this does not appear to me to be one
of them.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 6, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 2507, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Russel L. Doane, of Peck, Sanilac County, Mich."

It is proposed by this bill to pension the beneficiary therein named as
the dependent father of the late Demster Doane, late Company D,
Thirty-fifth New York Volunteers.

The only information I have concerning this case is furnished by the
report of the committee of the House to whom the bill was referred.
There is nothing alleged in the report except that Demster Doane, who
was a second lieutenant in the company and regiment named, died at Peck,
Mich., on the 22d day of September, 1881, and that the deceased up to
the time of his death supported his father, the claimant, who is now
over 81 years of age, incapable of manual labor, and destitute of the
means of support.

There is no intimation that the death of the son sixteen years after
the close of the war was caused or in any way related to his military
service. I do not understand that it has ever been claimed that a parent
should be pensioned for the death of a son who had been in the Army
unless his death could be traced in some way to his army service.

While this case is probably one where the exercise of generosity would
be pleasant and most timely to the recipient, I can not think that such
a precedent should be established.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 7, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9372, entitled "An act granting
a pension to John Dean."

The beneficiary named in this bill was mustered into the service of the
United States February 25, 1863. He never went to the front, but while
in camp at Staten Island, on the 21st day of April, 1863, was granted a
pass for forty-eight hours, and on account of sickness did not again
rejoin his company or regiment. The charge of desertion made against him
has been removed. The Surgeon-General's report shows that he was treated
at quarters on Staten Island in April, 1863, for syphilis, rheumatism,
and debility.

He was admitted to Charity Hospital, Blackwells Island, New York Harbor,
August 5, 1863, and discharged November 18, 1863. He was admitted to the
Ladies' General Hospital in New York December 1, 1863, and was
discharged from the service for disability April 7, 1864.

The discharge was granted, as stated by the surgeon of volunteers in
charge of the hospital, "because of sloughing of both corneas from
inflammation contracted while absent without leave, having received a
forty-eight-hour pass from his regiment April 15, 1863, then stationed
on Staten Island. He lost his sight in August, 1863, while absent
without leave. Unfit for Invalid Corps. Admitted to this hospital
December 1, 1863. Not a case for pension."

A claim for pension was filed by the beneficiary at the Pension Bureau
in March, 1877, alleging that on or about April 1, 1863, he suffered
from chronic rheumatism and sore eyes, occasioned by exposure and
illness contracted in camp.

It will be observed that no affection of the eyes is mentioned in the
record of his treatment in quarters.

The claimant was examined by the New York City board of surgeons in
June, 1878, and no rheumatism was found to exist. He is now blind, and
while his case is certainly a pitiable one I am forced to the belief
that the conclusions reached in 1879 upon his application, that his
disease was contracted while absent without leave and that his
disability was due to syphilis, were correct.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 7, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 217, entitled "An act granting
a pension to C.T. Maphet."

This beneficiary enlisted August 1, 1863, and was discharged January 27,
1865, for disability.

The commander of the post certifies:

  This soldier says that he was first affected with the present disease,
  conjunctivitis, in the spring of 1862, since which time his eyes have
  never been well, and for a great portion of the time since enlistment
  he has been unfit for duty.


The certificate of the surgeon is as follows:

  Incapacitated by reason of long-standing conjunctivitis of both eyes,
  attended with partial opacity of the cornea. Disability existed prior
  to enlistment, consequently soldier is ineligible to the Veteran
  Reserve Corps.


The beneficiary filed no application for pension until April, 1883.

Notwithstanding some evidence of soundness prior to enlistment, it seems
to be quite well established that the trouble with his eyes was not the
result of his military service, but existed before enlistment.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 7, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5503, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Charles Walster."

This case has been very exhaustively examined by the Pension Bureau upon
the application for a pension filed there by the beneficiary named in
this bill. Upon a review of the evidence taken it appears to be well
established that any disability of the beneficiary heretofore existing
was no attributable to his military service.

In addition to this a board of pension surgeons, as late as July, 1886,
determined, after a thorough medical investigation, that no pensionable
disability existed.

It thus appears that even if this bill were approved there could be no
rating, and the legislation would be of no advantage to the beneficiary
named.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 7, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 333, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Catharine Bussey."

It does not appear that the husband of this beneficiary ever applied for
a pension. He was discharged from the Volunteer Army on the 9th day of
December, 1864, after a service of more than three years.

He was found dead on a railroad track on the 11th day of June, 1870,
apparently having been struck by a passing train.

It is claimed that the deceased suffered a sunstroke while in the Army,
which so affected his mind that he wandered upon the railroad track and
was killed in a fit of temporary insanity.

Though it would be gratifying to aid his widow, I do not think these
facts are proven or can be assumed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 7, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5525, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mrs. Jane Potts."

The husband of this beneficiary enlisted in 1861 and was mustered out of
the service in April, 1865.

He was taken prisoner by the enemy and endured for a long time the
hardship of prison life.

He never applied for a pension, though undoubtedly his health suffered
to some extent as the result of his imprisonment.

The beneficiary married the soldier in 1871.

He conducted his business affairs, managed his farm, and accumulated
property up to the year 1880, when by a decree of court he was adjudged
insane, caused by sickness as far as was known, and that his disease was
hereditary.

It also appears that his mother and sister had periods of insanity.

He committed suicide in 1882 by drowning.

The beneficiary, his widow, filed a claim for pension in 1885, claiming
that the insanity which caused him to commit suicide resulted from the
hardships of prison life.

Upon this application the facts of the case have been thoroughly
examined. Two witnesses indicate that domestic trouble was the cause
of the soldier's suicide. Another says that his wife (the beneficiary)
was a pretty rough woman--a hard talker--and that the soldier often
consulted him about the matter, and said it was hard to live with her.
This witness adds that he does not believe that the soldier would have
committed suicide if she had not abused him till he could not longer
endure it.

The special examiner, in summing up the proof, says in his report:

  The general opinion in the community is to the effect that his wife
  drove him to commit suicide rather than to live with or to obtain a
  divorce from her. Her reputation is that of a virago.


This kind of evidence, while not perhaps determining the case,
reconciles me to the conclusion, which seems inevitable from other
facts developed, that the military service and prison experience of the
deceased were in no manner connected with his death.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 7, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7717, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mrs. Catharine Reed."

The husband of this beneficiary served in the Army from July 25, 1862,
to October 16, 1862, when he was discharged for disease of the lungs.
He was pensioned for hernia and disease of the lungs.

On the 23d day of November, 1880, while working in a sawmill, a piece of
board was thrown from a buzz saw and struck him in the groin, causing a
wound from which he died two days afterwards.

It is impossible to connect this injury and the resulting death with the
disability for which he was pensioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 7, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4855, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Jacob Newhard."

The records show that this beneficiary was mustered into the service
August 20, 1862, as a lieutenant; that on the return for November, 1862,
he is reported as "absent without leave--left hospital at Louisville."
He was treated for hemorrhoids in the hospital at Nashville from
December 12 to December 23, 1862, when, having served a few days more
than four months, he tendered his resignation upon the ground of
disability and procured the following surgeon's certificate, upon which
his resignation was based:

  Lieutenant Jacob Newhard having applied for a certificate upon which to
  ground a resignation, I do hereby certify that I have carefully examined
  this officer and find him suffering from hemorrhoids, * * * and in
  consequence thereof is, in my opinion, unfit for duty. I further declare
  my belief that he will not be fit for the duties of a soldier in any
  future time, having already been afflicted twelve years, as he asserts.


On the 14th day of February, 1880, nearly eighteen years after his
resignation, the beneficiary filed his claim for pension based upon
hemorrhoids, the result of diarrhea and fever.

He denied upon this application that he was unsound prior to enlistment,
and filed evidence to support his denial. One of the witnesses, a
surgeon, who testified to incurrence of disability in the service,
on a special examination stated that he so testified, having satisfied
himself of the fact by personal interviews with the beneficiary.

I do not think in the circumstances surrounding this case that the
beneficiary should at this late day be permitted to impeach and set
aside the medical certificate procured by himself and containing his
own statements, upon which he secured exemption from further military
service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 13, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 6371, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Jesse M. Stilwell."

On the 6th day of May, 1885, twenty years after this beneficiary was
discharged from the Army, he filed an application in the Pension Bureau
for a pension, alleging that in December, 1863, one year and eight
months before his discharge, a comrade assaulted him with a stick while
he was sitting in front of his tent preparing for bed and injured his
back. He alleged that the assault was unprovoked and unexpected.

The claim was rejected upon the facts stated, upon the ground that any
injury incurred was not the result of military duty.

Unless the Government is to be held as an insurer against injuries
suffered by anyone in the military service, no matter how incurred, and
also as guarantor of the good and peaceable behavior toward each other
of the soldiers at all times and under all circumstances, this is not a
proper case for the allowance of a pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 24, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8310, entitled "An act provide
for the disposal of the Fort Wallace Military Reservation, in Kansas."

This bill provides that a portion of this reservation, which is situated
in the State of Kansas, shall be set apart for town-site purposes, and
may be entered by the corporate authorities of the adjoining city of
Wallace.

The second section of the bill permits the Union Pacific Railroad
Company to purchase within a limited time a certain part of the military
reservation, which is particularly described, at the rate of $30 per
acre.

I am informed that this privilege might, by reason of a faulty
description of the lands, enable the railroad company to purchase at the
price named property in which private parties have interests acquired
under our laws.

It is evident that the description of the land which the railroad
company is allowed the option of purchasing should be exact and certain
for the interest of all concerned.

Section 4 of the bill grants a certain portion of the military
reservation heretofore set apart by the military authorities as a
cemetery to the city of Wallace for cemetery purposes.

There should, in my opinion, be a provision that no bodies heretofore
interred in this ground should be disturbed, and that when the same is
no longer used as a cemetery it should revert to the Government.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 24, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I am unable to give my assent to a joint House resolution No. 14 and
entitled "Joint resolution to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to
certify lands to the State of Kansas for the benefit of agriculture and
the mechanic arts," and I therefore return the same with a statement of
my objections thereto.

By an act of Congress passed July 2, 1862, certain public lands were
granted to such of the several States as should provide colleges for the
benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts.

Under the terms of this act the State of Kansas was entitled to 90,000
acres of land, subject, however, to the provisions of said statute,
which declared that when lands which had been raised to double the
minimum price, in consequence of railroad grants, should be selected by
a State such lands should be computed at the maximum price and the
number of acres proportionately diminished.

Of the lands selected by the State of Kansas, and which have been
certified, 7,682.92 acres were within certain limits of a railroad
grant, and had therefore been raised to the double minimum in price, so
that the number of acres mentioned and thus situated really stood for
double that number of acres in filling the grant to which the State of
Kansas was entitled.

It is now claimed that after the selection of these lands the route
of said railroad was abandoned and another one selected, and that in
consequence thereof such lands included within its first location were
reduced to the minimum price and restored to public market at that rate.
It is supposed upon these allegations that justice and equity require
that an additional grant should now be made to the State of Kansas from
the public lands equal to the number of acres selected within the limits
of the first railroad location.

But an examination discloses that the joint resolution is predicated
upon an entire misunderstanding of the facts.

The lands heretofore mentioned as amounting to more than 7,000 acres,
selected by the State of Kansas, and charged at double that amount
because their price had been raised to the double minimum in consequence
of their being within a railroad location, have all except 320 acres
remained either in the new or old railroad location up to the present
time, and if now vacant would be held by the Government at the double
minimum price.

It seems clear to me that the State of Kansas has been granted all the
public land to which it can lay any legal or equitable claim under the
law of 1862.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 10, 1888_.

_To the Senate_.

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 2201, entitled "An
act for the relief of Laura E. Maddox, widow and executrix, and Robert
Morrison, executor, of Joseph H. Maddox, deceased."

An act of Congress approved July 2, 1864, provided among other things
that the Secretary of the Treasury, with the approval of the President,
might authorize agents "to purchase for the United States any products
of States declared in insurrection, at such price as should be agreed on
with the seller, not exceeding the market price thereof at the place of
delivery."

Under the authority of said act the Secretary of the Treasury, with the
approval of the President, prescribed rules and regulations to govern
the transactions thus permitted, and appointed one H.A. Risley an agent
to act for the United States in making such purchases.

On or about the 13th day of November, 1864, said Risley entered into a
written contract with Joseph H. Maddox and two other parties, whereby
the latter agreed to sell and deliver to Risley as such agent, at
Norfolk or New York, 6,000 boxes of tobacco, 350 barrels of turpentine,
and 700 barrels of rosin. It was also agreed that all products
transported under the contract should be consigned to said Risley as
agent and shipped on a Government transport, or, if not so shipped,
should be in the immediate charge of an agent of Risley's, whose
compensation and expenses should be paid by the sellers. Said products
were to be sold in New York or Baltimore under Risley's direction, and
one-fourth of the proceeds, after deducting certain expenses, costs, and
charges, were to be retained for the United States and three-fourths
paid to Maddox and his associates. It was expressly provided in said
contract as follows:

  Nothing in this contract contained shall be construed as incurring
  any liability on behalf of the United States.


It appears that Maddox, very soon after the contract was made, acquired
all the interest of his associates therein.

The President of the United States signed an order or permit for the
transportation of the goods, in fulfillment of the contract, and for the
passage of the parties selling such goods through the Federal military
lines, the permit declaring, however, that such transportation and
passage should be "with strict compliance with the regulations of the
Secretary of the Treasury, and for the fulfillment of said contract with
the agent of the Government."

Maddox and his associates were not at the time the contract was entered
into the owners of any of the property they agreed to sell and deliver;
but it is alleged that Maddox, as one of the parties to the contract and
as assignee of his co-contractors, purchased 4,042 boxes of tobacco,
worth at that time more than $735,000, for the purpose of fulfilling
this contract.

The tobacco was purchased by him within the rebel lines in the State of
Virginia. A part of it, he charges, was forcibly taken by the military
forces of the Government and converted to its use or destroyed while
being transported to its destination, and the remainder of it, having
been detained in storage at Richmond, Va., was afterwards appropriated
to the use of the United States or was destroyed in the fires at
Richmond upon the capture of the city by the United States forces in
1865.

An action predicated upon the contract with Risley was brought by Maddox
in the Court of Claims to recover the value of this property, but it was
held by the court that the contract was void.

On appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States the decision of the
Court of Claims was affirmed, upon the ground, as had been previously
decided by said court, that under the law, the Treasury regulations,
and the Executive orders concerning the purchase of products of
insurrectionary States a purchasing agent of the Government had no
authority to negotiate with anyone in relation to the purchase of such
products unless at the time of the negotiation the party either owned
or controlled them; that neither the law nor the regulations for its
execution protected a speculation wherein the products to be sold were
to be procured by the contractor within the rebel lines after the
contract was made; that private citizens were prohibited from trading at
all in the insurrectionary districts, and that the object of the law and
the regulations to carry it into effect was to encourage the insurgents
themselves to bring their products to agents of the Government.

With this adverse decision all chance of recovery upon legal grounds
of before the courts was dissipated. But recourse to Congress still
remained. As appears from a memorandum furnished in support of this
bill, the alleged equities of the case were presented to the
Forty-second, the Forty-third, the Forty-fourth, the Forty-fifth, the
Forty-sixth, the Forty-eighth, and the Forty-ninth Congresses. Two
adverse and more than two favorable committee reports have been made
upon the claim. No bill for the relief of the claimant has, however,
passed Congress until the present session, when a favorable condition
seems to have presented itself.

The bill herewith returned empowers and directs the accounting officers
of the Treasury to settle and pay to the representatives of Maddox the
amount found due him on account of the loss and damage he sustained by
the seizure by our military forces of the tobacco purchased by him under
the agreement referred to, excluding, however, the tobacco destroyed
by fire in the city of Richmond, and provides that said claim shall be
determined upon the evidence taken and now on file in the office of the
clerk of the United States Court of Claims and the War Department and
any other competent evidence.

I fail to appreciate the equities which entitle this claimant to further
hearing.

Every intelligent man should be charged with the knowledge that
as a general rule commercial intercourse with the enemy is entirely
inconsistent with a state of war, and that the law of 1864 had for its
object the encouragement of the insurgents themselves to bring their
products to us, and not the authorization of persons to roam through the
insurrectionary districts and purchase their products on speculation.

Even if the claimant did not understand these conditions, he certainly
knew that his contract was based upon a statute; that the agent with
whom he was contracting was a creature of statute, and that such statute
and certain regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury made thereunder
regulated the right and limited the action of all the parties to said
contract. These things sufficiently appear from the very terms of the
contract and the permit signed by the President. The privileges and
liberties contained in this permit are expressly granted "with strict
compliance with regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury."

If before or after entering into this contract the claimant had
examined these regulations, he would have found that they provided that
"commercial intercourse with localities beyond the lines of actual
military occupation by the United States forces is absolutely
prohibited."

He would have also found that such regulations expressly provided that
the power of the agent of the Government to make contracts should be
founded upon the statement that the contractor then owned or controlled
the products for which he contracted. And yet the permit of the
President, which so completely put the claimant upon inquiry as to what
he might or might not do, seems now to be relied upon as the source of
equities in his favor, and is pressed into his service under the guise
of a sanction of his unlawful proceedings.

Besides the general knowledge the claimant should have possessed of
the commercial disabilities consequent upon a state of war, and the
information afforded him by his contract and permit, a proclamation of
the President publicly issued September 24, 1864,[17] furnished abundant
notice of the kind of trading which would be permitted.

The property for which compensation is asked constitutes a part only of
that agreed to be furnished. None of it ever reached the possession of
the agent of the Government, but, as I understand the case, was at the
time of its seizure or destruction still in the territory of the enemy
and in rebellious possession. If in the circumstances detailed it was
treated by our military forces in like manner as other property in the
same situation, there would seem to be no hardship in holding that the
contractor assumed this risk as one arising from his unauthorized and,
if successful, his profitable venture.

Not being satisfied that there are any especial equities which entitle
this claim to more consideration than many others where equities might
be claimed in behalf of those who long ago violated our nonintercourse
laws, I am unwilling to sanction a precedent which if followed might
substantially work a repeal of these laws, regarded necessary and
expedient by those charged with legislation during the War of the
Rebellion, and who had in full view all the necessities of that period.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 17: See Executive order of September 24, 1864, Vol. VI, pp.
240-241.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 3276, entitled "An act
granting restoration of pension to Sarah A. Woodbridge."

The first husband of this beneficiary, Anson L. Brewer, was an
additional paymaster in the Army, and died February 2, 1866, from
injuries received in an explosion of a steamer.

His widow, the beneficiary, was pensioned at the rate of $25 a month
from the date of heir husband's death until October 21, 1870, when she
remarried, becoming the wife of Timothy Woodbridge.

Two children, who were minors at the time she was pensioned, became 16
years of age in April, 1870, and July, 1874, respectively.

Upon the remarriage of the beneficiary her pension stopped under the law.

It is now proposed to restore her to the pension roll, notwithstanding
the fact that her second husband is still alive.

Many cases have occurred in which pensions have been awarded by special
acts to the widows of soldiers who, having remarried, were a second time
made widows and rendered destitute by the death of their second
husbands. I have not objected to such charitable legislation.

But I think this is the first time that it has been proposed to grant a
pension after such remarriage when the second husband still survives.

It seems to me that such a precedent ought not to be established.
If in pension legislation we attempt to determine the cases of this
description in which the second husband can not or does not properly
maintain the soldier's widow whom he has married, we shall open the door
to much confusion and uncertainty, as well as unjust discrimination.

I am glad to learn from a statement contained in the committee's report
that this beneficiary, though in a condition making the aid of a pension
very desirable, has a small income derived from property inherited from
her mother.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 1044, entitled "An
act authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to state and settle the
account of James M. Willbur with the United States and to pay said
Willbur such sum of money as may be found due him thereon."

The claim mentioned in this bill grows out of alleged extra work done by
the claimant in the construction of the post-office and court-house
building in the city of New York.

The United States, in September, 1874, entered into a contract with
Messrs. Bartlett, Robbins & Co. by which they agreed to furnish
and put in place certain wrought and cast iron work and glass for the
illuminated tiling required for the said building according to certain
specifications and schedules which formed a part of said contract. The
work was to be of a specified thickness and the contractors were to be
paid for the same at certain rates per superficial foot. The approximate
estimate for the entire work was specified at $35,577.56. Samples of the
tiling to be put in were submitted to the Supervising Architect and
accepted by him.

In August, 1874, the claimant entered into an agreement in writing with
Bartlett, Robbins & Co. to do this work as subcontractor for them at
certain prices for each superficial foot of said tiling put in place.

In neither contract was the weight of the tiling mentioned.

The work was, under the contract with Messrs. Bartlett, Robbins & Co.,
completed, and after such completion and the measurement of the work the
said firm of Bartlett, Robbins & Co. were paid by the Government the sum
of $35,217.57, in full satisfaction of their contract with the United
States.

It appears that after the completion of the work the claimant gave
notice to the Government that he had a claim against Bartlett, Robbins &
Co., growing out of said work, for the sum of $8,744.44, and requested
that payment be withheld from said firm until his claim against them was
adjusted.

The fact that said claim had been made having been communicated by the
Supervising Architect to Bartlett, Robbins & Co., on the 22d day of
August, 1876, they responded to the Supervising Architect as follows:

  SIR: We inclose copy of our account against Willbur and the Illuminated
  Tiling Company and a copy of Willbur's assignment to the Tile Company,
  which includes a copy of his agreement with us; and when the Department
  settles the measurement of the work the items in the contract will show
  just what the amount is, and, as we have repeatedly assured him, he will
  have all the measurements the Government gives us.

  If anyone has cause of complaint in this case it is us. Four times the
  work came to a stand, or nearly so, and our Mr. B. was compelled to go
  to New York and stay until it was moving again, charging his expenses,
  by Willbur 's request, and finally it had to be finished by others, etc.
  We know this does not interest you particularly, as you do not know him
  in the matter, but there has been so much willful misrepresentation we
  thought silence might be misconstrued.

  It is charitable to think Willbur must be crazy.

  Very respectfully, yours,

  BARTLETT, ROBBINS & CO.


In an opinion of the Solicitor of the Treasury concerning this claim,
dated November 30, 1883, I find a statement that on the 20th day of
October, 1876, a paper was filed by the attorneys of the claimant in
which his claim for extra work and material in performing his contract
was alleged to be $21,857.94. It is further stated that this claim was
hastily drawn by one of Willbur 's attorneys and without consultation
with him.

On or about the 20th day of March, 1877, Mr. Willbur himself filed a
statement of such extra work and material, in which he claimed for the
same the sum of $42,685.20.

Another statement made by Willbur, in February, 1878, presents a claim
on account of the same matters amounting to $47,159.62.

This claim, so variously stated, is based upon the allegation that
tiling and frames of greater thickness than were required by the
contract were put in the building. Although it is insisted by the
claimant that these thicker tiles and frames were directed to be put in,
or at least accepted by the person having charge of the construction of
the building for the Government, I hardly think it will be seriously
contended that the claimant has any legal claim against the United
States.

But, with a view of discovering whether, upon equitable grounds, the
claimant should be paid anything by the Government for glass and iron
of greater thickness than its contract with Bartlett, Robbins & Co.
required, and which had been put in its building by their subcontractor,
the Secretary of the Treasury in 1884 appointed a committee of three
persons to examine and report upon this claim of Willbur's, "with a view
of determining what portion, if any, it is proper for the Government
to pay."

On the 24th day of January, 1885, this committee made a report by which
they determined that there should be paid to the claimant on account of
the matters alleged the sum of $1,214.90.

This report was based upon the measurements, examinations, and estimates
of two experts, one selected by the claimant and the other by the
committee. The report was transmitted to the House of Representatives by
the Secretary of the Treasury and an appropriation asked to pay the
amount awarded.

But Mr. Willbur was not satisfied, and on the 6th day of January, 1885,
addressed a communication to the Secretary of the Treasury in which this
passage occurs:

  I shall insist on a remeasurement of the entire work, as this is vital
  to my claim. The excess which I furnished can only be ascertained by
  weight instead of by measuring the thickness of the plates and frames.


At the second session of the Forty-ninth Congress, and early in 1886,
this claim was before the Senate Committee on Claims, and at the
instance of the committee this work was again examined by experts, who
came to the conclusion that the claimant was entitled to the sum of
$45,615.67 for the extra work which he had performed and materials
furnished.

It is only alleged that the glass tiling and frames actually put in the
building were slightly thicker than those required by the contract, and
this alleged increased thickness seems to be fairly represented in a
general way by the claim that some of the glass and frames which were
required to be 1 inch thick were actually put in 1 inch and a quarter
thick.

Upon this statement it must be admitted that the sum above stated as the
value of this extra thickness is somewhat startling. In the language of
the report upon this bill by the Supervising Architect, "a claim of
$47,159.02 for such slight excess on work the price of which was
$35,217.57 is hardly entitled to consideration."

The claim, as well as the award of the experts last named, reach their
astonishing proportions by the application of weights to the question
in the following manner: A certain area is measured. A square foot of
the tiling actually put in is weighed, and a square foot of the tiling
required by the contract is also weighed. Both these weights are
multiplied by the area. The lesser aggregate weight is deducted from the
greater, and the difference is divided by the weight of a square foot of
the lightest tiling, thus reducing it to square feet of such lightest
tile. These square feet are multiplied by the price agreed to be paid
by the contract for each superficial foot, and an item of extra work is
determined. Thus additional weight in constructed and finished tiling is
converted, as far as price and measurement are concerned, into finished
tile, which more than doubles the quantity actually laid down.

This can not be right. And yet the bill herewith returned directs the
Secretary of the Treasury to settle this claim for extra work upon
the basis of the report of the experts who have adopted this mode of
adjustment; or, if not satisfied with their report, he shall within
thirty days from the passage of the act cause a reweighing of said
material to be made by two sworn experts, one to be appointed by him and
one by the claimant, and a third to be appointed by these two in case
they can not agree. The bill further provides that he shall then pay
to said Willbur the difference of excess in weight and superficial
measurement as found by said experts between the illuminated tiling and
frames furnished and that contracted for at the contract prices for such
work and material.

There are features of this claim which suggest suspicion as to its
merit. In any view of the matter, I regard the claimant as seeking
equitable relief. He is not entitled to dictate the rule by which his
claim is to be adjusted, and he should be quite satisfied if the
officers of the Government charged with the settlement of such matters
are permitted by the Congress to afford equitable relief according to
such rules and methods as are best calculated to reach fair results.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 15, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 3306, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary K. Richards."

The beneficiary named in this bill applied for a pension on the 14th day
of November, 1878, and the same was rejected in April, 1879. Her claim
has lately been reexamined, and since the passage of the bill herewith
returned she has been allowed a pension by the Pension Bureau, it having
been there determined that the former rejection was a manifest error.

With this action of the Pension Bureau I entirely concur.

I therefore venture, notwithstanding the persistent misrepresentations
of my action in similar cases, to disapprove this bill, upon the ground
that this deserving beneficiary will receive under the action of the
Pension Bureau a much larger sum than she would if such action was
superseded by the enactment of the proposed special statute in her
behalf.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 15, 1888_.

_To the Senate_

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 3208, entitled "An
act granting a pension to William S. Bradshaw."

The beneficiary mentioned in this bill was mustered into the military
service as first lieutenant on the 28th day of October, 1861.

About eight months afterwards, and in June, 1862, he resigned from the
service, his resignation being based upon a surgeon's certificate which
he procured, and which is as follows:

  William S. Bradshaw having applied for a certificate to accompany his
  resignation, I do hereby certify that I have carefully examined this
  officer and find that his disease is of a chronic pleuritic character,
  contracted (previous to his entering the service) four years since from
  an injury received in shoeing a fractious horse, in consequence of which
  he was laid up for a number of weeks with a severe attack of pleuritis;
  that he has never been able to endure severe labor since; that since
  entering the service active drilling or marching has invariably
  developed severe pleuritic pains about his chest and underneath his
  sternum, rendering him totally unfit for duty.


It is entirely evident that the statements contained in this certificate
are of such a nature that they must have almost entirely been
communicated to the surgeon by the officer himself. It will be observed
that there is an absolute lack of any intimation that his disabilities
were attributable in their origin to army service, and he surely can not
ask us to believe that a man with the intelligence fitting him to be a
commissioned officer in the Army, and having this certificate in his
possession, did not know what it contained.

It furnished the reason for his honorable discharge in the dark days of
his country's need and operated as an exemption from further military
service.

And yet in September, 1883, more than twenty-one years after his dis;
charge, he applied to the Pension Bureau for a pension, alleging
lameness of breast and back, contracted in the service.

After an examination of all the facts I can not believe that this is a
case in which a pension should be granted.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 16, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7657, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mary Woodworth, widow of Ebenezer F. Woodworth."

The husband of this beneficiary enlisted October 1, 1861. On the rolls
of his company for May and June, 1862, he is reported as a deserter, and
the report is the same on the muster-out roll of his regiment, dated
October 24, 1864.

An effort was made on the application by the beneficiary for pension
to the Pension Bureau to attribute the charge of desertion to the
unfriendliness and injustice of the soldier's captain, and an
unsuccessful effort was made to have the charge removed from the record
by the Adjutant-General.

The soldier, therefore, is still recorded as a deserter from camp near
Farmington, Miss., since March 12, 1862.

The application of the widow to the Pension Bureau in 1867 states that
her husband was missing at Hamburg, Tenn., May 7, 1862, and not having
since been heard from is supposed to be dead.

The captain of the company testifies that the soldier was employed with
the ambulance corps, and that for misconduct he (the captain) ordered
him to his company and censured him; that very soon after that the
soldier was absent at roll call and was marked as absent without leave;
that in a day or two after that a member of a detail returned to camp
from Hamburg Landing and reported that he had seen the soldier there
and had been told by him that "he was off and would never go back."
Thereupon he was dropped from the roll as a deserter.

Various theories are presented to account for the soldier's absence in
other ways than by desertion, some of his comrades going so far as to
express the opinion that he was murdered at the instigation of his
captain. None of these theories, however, seem to be more than
conjectures with various degrees of plausibility.

If the question of desertion could be solved favorably to the
beneficiary, another difficulty immediately arises from the fact that
there is absolutely no proof of death except the soldier's long absence
without knowledge of his whereabouts; and if his death could be presumed
the cause of it and whether connected at all with military service are
matters regarding which we have no information whatever.

I am unable to see how a case in such a situation can be considered a
proper subject for favorable pension legislation.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 16, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 10661, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mrs. Sophia Vogelsang."

The husband of this beneficiary was severely wounded in the military
service of the United States, and in consequence of said wound his
left leg was amputated. This was in 1862. In January, 1863, another
amputation was performed higher up above the knee. He appears at that
time to have been living, or at least was treated, at Detroit, Mich.
He was pensioned at the rate of $30 per month at the time of his death,
which occurred at Louisville, Ky., where he appears to have then
resided, on the 21st day of July, 1885.

The beneficiary filed a claim for pension in November, 1885, alleging
that her husband died of gangrene.

There does not, however, seem to be a particle of evidence establishing
that cause of death. On the contrary, the report received at the Pension
Bureau of his death attributes it to sunstroke, and this does not seem
to be directly questioned.

The report of the House committee to whom this bill was referred
proceeds upon the theory that death was caused from the use of opium to
allay the pain of the wound. This theory is presented upon the alleged
opinion of the surgeon living in Detroit, who made the second amputation
in 1863. He says that the pain of the wound obliged the soldier to
take morphine. But it does not appear that he observed the case for a
long time preceding death. Instead of his giving an opinion that the
disability and morphine produced death, he says, as it is reported to
me, after describing the condition of the limb previous to its
amputation in 1863 and immediately thereafter:

  According to my opinion, said disability and the constant use of
  morphia in consequence of it may have been the cause of his death.


This and the statement of a druggist in Louisville that he sold him
morphine to alleviate pain, and of two different persons with whom he
boarded at that city in 1885 to the same effect, is all the evidence
that I can discover tending in the least to hint that the death of the
pensioner resulted from any cause but sunstroke, which really stands as
the undisputed cause of death.

The allegation in the committee's report that the beneficiary's claim
was rejected by the Pension Bureau on the ground that her husband's
death proceeded from the use of morphine is erroneous. The cause of
rejection is stated to be "that the death cause (sunstroke) was not the
result of the soldier's military service."

We are not, therefore, left to the consideration of the question whether
death from the use of morphine to allay pain can be charged to the
disability incurred, for if death resulted from sunstroke it will hardly
be claimed that it was in any way related to such disability.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 16, 1888_

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 6201, entitled "An act granting
a pension to John Robeson."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted August 8, 1862, and was
discharged for disability on the 21st day of November, 1862, after a
service of a little more than three months.

In the certificate of disability upon which his discharge was granted
the captain of the beneficiary's company states that "he has been unfit
for duty for sixty days; that the soldier represents that he has not
done efficient service since enlistment by reason of phthisic, from
which he has suffered since childhood, but has grown worse since
entering the service."

The surgeon of the regiment states in said certificate that "the soldier
has asthma, with which he has been afflicted from his infancy."

Upon this certificate, based necessarily so far as his previous
condition is concerned, this man procured his discharge after doing but
very slight service.

He filed an application for pension in the Pension Bureau in October,
1879, basing his claim upon the allegation that he contracted asthma in
September, 1862, about a month after he entered the service.

Two special examinations were had in his case, and his statement was
taken in each.

On the first examination he said he could not account for the statements
of his captain and surgeon, unless they arose from a remark he made that
he had phthisic when he was small.

On the second he accounted for the statements of the captain and surgeon
by saying that he felt very sick and feared that he could not live if he
remained in the service; that he was suffering with jaundice as well as
asthma; and having been told that he could not be discharged on account
of jaundice, but could on account of asthma, he asked the captain to
tell the surgeon that he had known him to have asthma before enlistment.
He also says that he procured others to tell the same story.

On these examinations there was the usual negative testimony produced of
certain parties who knew the claimant before enlistment and did not know
that he was afflicted. This is balanced by the evidence of others, who
testify that the claimant had asthma before enlistment.

Upon consideration of the character of the ailment, the testimony upon
the two examinations, and the conduct of the beneficiary and his own
admissions, I can not escape the conviction that whatever disability he
had at the date of discharge he had when he enlisted, and that his claim
was properly rejected by the Pension Bureau.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 16, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9106, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Peter Liner."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted as a sergeant in the Regular
Army in 1871, and he alleges that he served a previous term of
enlistment, commencing in 1866.

While on a march from one post to another on the frontier, in September,
1874, the beneficiary was severely wounded by the bursting of a gun,
necessitating the amputation of three of his fingers.

The reports of this occurrence develop the fact that the gun which burst
in his hands was a shotgun, and that the accident happened while the
beneficiary was hunting "for his own pleasure or benefit."

His wound was a severe one, and the injured man was probably a good
and faithful soldier, but it seems quite clear to me that it would be
extending the pension theory to an unwarrantable limit to hold the
Government responsible for such an accident.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 16, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 10563, entitled "An
act granting a pension to William S. Latham."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted in August, 1862. The rolls
for March and April, 1863, report him a deserter, but it having been
ascertained that sickness was the cause of his failure to return to his
regiment at the end of a furlough granted to him, upon which failure the
charge of desertion was based, he was restored to his company and the
charge of desertion removed.

All this is stated in the report of the committee to which this bill was
referred.

But it is not mentioned in said report that he was again furloughed on
the 17th day of August, 1863, and, failing to return at the end of his
furlough, one month thereafter, again became a deserter, but was not so
reported until October 8, 1863.

He was arrested January 1, 1864, but there appears to be no record of
his trial or his restoration.

He filed a claim for pension in the Pension Bureau in January, 1870, and
he was informed twice during the year 1888 that no favorable action
could be taken until the charge of desertion had been removed.

On application to the Adjutant-General that officer, on the 21st day of
February, 1888, declined to remove said charge of desertion.

The claim is still pending before the Pension Bureau.

I do not suppose that the Congress is prepared to go so far in special
pension legislation as to grant pensions to those against whom charges
of desertion appear of record.

In the belief that the fact of the second desertion above mentioned was
overlooked by the Congress, and because the application for pension in
this case is still pending in the Pension Bureau, where complete justice
can still be done, I am constrained to withhold my approval of this
bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 16, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 2472, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Lydia A. Eaton."

The husband of this beneficiary was pensioned for chronic rheumatism, at
the rate of $4 a month, up to the date of his death, August 4, 1884.

The beneficiary filed a claim for pension on the 2d day of September,
1884.

The cause of her husband's death was cystitis, which, being interpreted,
is inflammation of the bladder.

The claim of the beneficiary was rejected on the ground that the fatal
disease was not due to army service, and I fail to discover how any
other conclusion can be reached.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 10342, entitled "An act
granting a pension to John Dauper."

This beneficiary enlisted April 24, 1861, and was discharged August 28,
1861, four months after enlistment.

He filed a claim for pension in September, 1879, alleging as cause of
disability diarrhea and disease of the stomach, liver, kidneys, and
bladder.

None of these ailments were established satisfactorily as originating
in the soldier's brief service, and as constituting disabilities after
discharge.

The claim was therefore rejected by the Pension Bureau, and this action
appears to be entirely justified upon the facts presented.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 11005, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Ester Gaven."

This act provides that the beneficiary shall be placed upon the pension
roll as the widow of Bernard Gaven, and the report of the committee to
whom this bill was referred throughout speaks of her as bearing that
relation to the soldier.

She filed a claim in the Pension Bureau for a pension on the 31st day of
January, 1881, as the mother of Bernard Gaven.

This claim is still pending, and though evidence that the death of the
soldier had any relation to his military service is entirely lacking and
some other difficulties are apparent, the case may still be made out
in the Pension Bureau. If it is, the beneficiary can be put upon the
pension roll in her true character as mother of the soldier, instead of
widow, as erroneously stated in the bill herewith returned.

Upon the merits as the case now stands, and because of the mistake in
describing the relationship of the beneficiary, this bill, I think,
should not become a law.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 10504, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary Hooper."

The husband of this beneficiary was first lieutenant in the volunteer
service from December 7, 1861, to February 28, 1862, a little over two
months, when he resigned. His resignation was based upon a medical
certificate in which it is stated that "this officer is unfit for duty
on account of chronic pleuritis and pulmonary consumption, from which he
has suffered for the past four months."

This certificate is dated February 14, 1862.

The soldier filed a claim in 1871 alleging typhoid fever resulting in
paralysis, and that the fever was contracted in the latter part of
February, 1862.

The soldier died January 17, 1884, of paralysis.

The beneficiary filed a claim for pension November 17, 1887, claiming
that her husband died of disease contracted in the service.

The claims have been specially and thoroughly examined. The testimony
does not establish any disease or disability in the service other than
those stated in the certificate procured by him when he resigned, but it
does tend to establish that about April 17, 1862, after his resignation,
the soldier was sick with typhoid fever, and that afterwards he suffered
from partial paralysis, which increased and finally caused his death.

I make no reference to the fact stated in the committee's report
suggesting the idea that the courage of the deceased soldier had been
questioned further than to correct the allegation of the report that
either his or his widow's claim for pension has been rejected for
cowardice. It appears from the record furnished to me that they were
rejected on the ground that the evidence is insufficient to connect the
death cause or disability with the soldier's military service.

I am unable to see what other conclusion could be reached in the face of
the soldier's own statements, as contained in the medical certificate
furnished him and elsewhere made, and upon consideration of the other
facts in the case.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4820, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Ellen Kelley."

The husband of this beneficiary was granted a furlough to go home and
vote on the 31st day of October, 1864. On his way there he was severely
injured by a railroad collision, and there does not seem to be a
particle of doubt that the injuries thus sustained caused his death.

Upon these facts this does not seem to be a proper case for the granting
of a pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 11222, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Elizabeth Heckler."

The husband of this beneficiary was pensioned for asthma, and there is
no doubt of the propriety of such pension, nor is there doubt upon the
evidence that this affection continued up to the time of his death.

But he died of acute inflammation of the bladder and chronic enlargement
of prostate gland. There is no proof that these causes of death were in
the least complicated with the difficulty for which the deceased was
pensioned, or any other trouble which was the result of military
service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4102, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mary A. Carr."

The husband of this beneficiary served in the Army from November 5,
1863, to June 15, 1865. He made a claim for pension for injury to his
left ankle, caused by being thrown from a horse while in the service,
and some time after his death a pension was allowed upon his claim, at
the rate of $4 per month, commencing at the date of his discharge and
ending at the date of his death.

He died on the 16th day of March, 1877, of apoplexy, and his widow filed
a claim for pension on her own behalf in March, 1885, based upon the
allegation that the injury for which her husband was pensioned was the
cause of his death.

I can not upon the facts of this case arrive at a conclusion different
from the Pension Bureau, where it was determined that the death of the
soldier could not be accepted as having been caused by the injury to his
ankle.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 17, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 11332, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Eliza S. Glass."

The husband of this beneficiary was in the military service from
December 28, 1863, to April 27, 1864, a period of four months. He was
discharged at the last-mentioned date for disability, the surgeon
stating in the certificate his trouble to be "chronic hemorrhoids and
rheumatism, both together producing lameness of back; unfit for Invalid
Corps." The captain of the soldier's company in the same certificate
states:

  During the last two months said soldier has been unfit for duty
  fifty-four days in consequence of chronic rheumatism, owing to spinal
  affections and sprains received before entering the service, and made
  worse by drilling in double quick.


He filed a claim for pension December 24, 1879, more than fifteen years
after discharge, in which he claimed that on the 15th day of January,
1864, he received an injury to his back by slipping and falling upon the
ground.

After a thorough examination this claim was rejected on the ground that
his disability existed prior to enlistment.

The beneficiary filed a claim for pension December 3, 1885, alleging the
death of the soldier April 26, 1885. This claim was also rejected, on
the ground that the death causes, "nervous prostration and spinal
trouble," were not due to the service.

Both of these cases were appealed to the Secretary of the Interior, and
in the decision of said appeals it is stated that upon an application
for a discharge from the service the soldier first set up an injury to
his back from a fall while on drill; that the regimental surgeon refused
to entertain this proposition; that the next day the soldier returned,
and upon the representations of himself and his captain that his trouble
dated back of the alleged accident upon drill and was chronic the
certificate for discharge was made out, and pursuant thereto his
discharge was granted.

I am of the opinion that, considering the cause of death and all the
facts and circumstances surrounding this case, the certificate of
discharge which the soldier himself procured to be made out should stand
as stating the true origin of his disability; and if the certificate was
set aside and all the facts tending to support it were disregarded, the
cause of death would still, in my opinion, appear to be disconnected
with military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the title to all that territory lying between the north and
south forks of the Red River and the hundredth degree of longitude and
jurisdiction over the same are vested in the United States, it being a
part of the Indian Territory, as shown by surveys and investigation made
on behalf of the United States, which territory the State of Texas also
claims title to and jurisdiction over; and

Whereas said conflicting claim grows out of a controversy existing
between the United States and the State of Texas as to the point where
the hundredth degree of longitude crosses the Red River, as described in
the treaty of February 22, 1819, between the United States and Spain,
fixing the boundary line between the two countries; and

Whereas the commissioners appointed on the part of the United States
under the act of January 31, 1885, authorizing the appointment of a
commission by the President to run and mark the boundary lines between
a portion of the Indian Territory and the State of Texas, in connection
with a similar commission to be appointed by the State of Texas, have
by their report determined that the South Fork is the true Red River
designated in the treaty, the commissioners appointed on the part of
said State refusing to concur in said report:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States,
do hereby admonish and warn all persons, whether claiming to act as
officers of the county of Greer, in the State of Texas, or otherwise,
against selling or disposing of, or attempting to sell or dispose of,
any of said lands or from exercising or attempting to exercise any
authority over said lands.

And I also warn and admonish all persons against purchasing any part of
said territory from any person or persons whomsoever.

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 30th day of December, A.D. 1887,
and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and
twelfth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas satisfactory proof has been given to me by the Government of the
Empire of Germany that no tonnage of light-house dues, or any equivalent
tax or taxes whatever, are imposed upon American vessels entering the
ports of the Empire of Germany, either by the Imperial Government
or by the governments of the German maritime States, and that vessels
belonging to the United States of America and their cargoes are not
required in German ports to pay any fee or due of any kind or nature,
or any import due higher or other than is payable by German vessels or
their cargoes:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 11 of the
act of Congress entitled "An act to abolish certain fees for official
services to American vessels, and to amend the laws relating to shipping
commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other purposes,"
approved June 19, 1886, do hereby declare and proclaim that from and
after the date of this my proclamation shall be suspended the collection
of the whole of the duty of 6 cents per ton, not to exceed 30 cents per
ton per annum (which is imposed by said section of said act), upon
vessels entered in the ports of the United States from any of the ports
of the Empire of Germany.

_Provided_, That there shall be excluded from the benefits of the
suspension hereby declared and proclaimed the vessels of any foreign
country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or nature imposed on
vessels of the United States, or the import or export duties on their
cargoes, are in excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the
vessels of such foreign country or their cargoes, or of the fees, dues,
or duties imposed on the vessels of Germany or the cargoes of such
vessels.

And the suspension hereby declared and proclaimed shall continue so long
as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the
United States and their cargoes shall be continued in the said ports of
the Empire of Germany, and no longer.

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 26th day of January, A.D. 1888, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twelfth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas satisfactory proof has been given to me that no light-house and
light dues, tonnage dues, beacon and buoy dues, or other equivalent
taxes of any kind are imposed upon vessels of the United States in the
ports of the island of Guadeloupe, one of the French West India Islands:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 11 of the
act of Congress entitled "An act to abolish certain fees for official
services to American vessels, and to amend the laws relating to shipping
commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other purposes,"
approved June 19, 1886, do hereby declare and proclaim that from and
after the date of this my proclamation shall be suspended the collection
of the whole of the tonnage duty which is imposed by said section of
said act upon vessels entered in the ports of the United States from any
of the ports of the island of Guadeloupe.

_Provided_, That there shall be excluded from the benefits of the
suspension hereby declared and proclaimed the vessels of any foreign
country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or nature imposed on
vessels of the United States, or the import or export duties on their
cargoes, are in excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the
vessels of such foreign country or their cargoes, or of the fees, dues,
or duties imposed on the vessels of the country in which are the ports
mentioned in this proclamation or the cargoes of such vessels.

And the suspension hereby declared and proclaimed shall continue so long
as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the
United States and their cargoes shall be continued in the said ports of
the island of Guadeloupe, and no longer.

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 16th day of April, A.D. 1888, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twelfth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



A PROCLAMATION

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Constant thanksgiving and gratitude are due from the American people to
Almighty God for His goodness and mercy, which have followed them since
the day He made them a nation and vouchsafed to them a free government.
With loving kindness He has constantly led us in the way of prosperity
and greatness. He has not visited with swift punishment our
shortcomings, but with gracious care He has warned us of our dependence
upon His forbearance and has taught us that obedience to His holy law is
the price of a continuance of His precious gifts.

In acknowledgment of all that God has done for us as a nation, and to
the end that on an appointed day the united prayers and praise of a
grateful country may reach the throne of grace, I, Grover Cleveland,
President of the United States, do hereby designate and set apart
Thursday, the 29th day of November instant, as a day of thanksgiving and
prayer, to be kept and observed throughout the land.

On that day let all our people suspend their ordinary work and
occupations, and in their accustomed places of worship, with prayer
and songs of praise, render thanks to God for all His mercies, for the
abundant harvests which have rewarded the toil of the husbandman during
the year that has passed, and for the rich rewards that have followed
the labors of our people in their shops and their marts of trade
and traffic. Let us give thanks for peace and for social order and
contentment within our borders, and for our advancement in all that
adds to national greatness.

And mindful of the afflictive dispensation with which a portion of our
land has been visited, let us, while we humble ourselves before the
power of God, acknowledge His mercy in setting bounds to the deadly
march of pestilence, and let our hearts be chastened by sympathy with
our fellow-countrymen who have suffered and who mourn.

And as we return thanks for all the blessings which we have received
from the hands of our Heavenly Father, let us not forget that He has
enjoined upon us charity; and on this day of thanksgiving let us
generously remember the poor and needy, so that our tribute of praise
and gratitude may be acceptable in the sight of the Lord.

Done at the city of Washington on the 1st day of November, 1888, and in
the year of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and
thirteenth.

[SEAL.]

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.


REVISED CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 2, 1888_.

In the exercise of power vested in him by the Constitution and of
authority given to him by the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section
of the Revised Statutes and by an act to regulate and improve the civil
service of the United States, approved January 16, 1883, the President
hereby makes and promulgates the following rules and revokes the rules
known as "Amended Civil-Service Rules" and "Special Rule No. 1,"
heretofore promulgated under the power and authority referred to herein:
_Provided_, That this revocation shall not be construed as an
exclusion from the classified civil service of any now classified
customs district or classified post-office.


  GENERAL RULES.

  GENERAL RULE 1.

  Any officer in the executive civil service who shall use his official
  authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election
  or controlling the result thereof; or who shall dismiss, or cause to
  be dismissed, or use influence of any kind to procure the dismissal
  of any person from any place in the said service because such person
  has refused to be coerced in his political action, or has refused to
  contribute money for political purposes, or has refused to render
  political service; and any officer, clerk, or other employee in the
  executive civil service who shall willfully violate any of these rules,
  or any of the provisions of sections 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the act
  entitled "An act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United
  States," approved January 16, 1883, shall be dismissed from office.


  GENERAL RULE II.

  There shall be three branches of the classified civil service, as
  follows:

  1. The classified departmental service.

  2. The classified customs service.

  3. The classified postal service.


  GENERAL RULE III.

  1. No person shall be appointed or employed to enter the civil service,
  classified in accordance with section 163 of the Revised Statutes and
  under the "Act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United
  States," approved January 16, 1883, until he shall have passed an
  examination or shall have been shown to be specially exempted therefrom
  by said act or by an exception to this rule set forth in connection with
  the rules regulating admission to the branch of the service he seeks to
  enter.

  2. No noncompetitive examination shall be held except under the
  following conditions:

  (_a_) The failure of competent persons to be, after due notice,
  competitively examined, thus making it impracticable to supply to the
  appointing officer in due time the names of persons who have passed a
  competitive examination.

  (_b_) That a person has been during one year or longer in a place
  excepted from examination, and the appointing or nominating officer
  desires the appointment of such person to a place not excepted.

  (_c_) That a person has served two years continuously since July
  16, 1883, in a place in the departmental service below or outside
  the classified service, and the appointing officer desires, with the
  approval of the President, upon the recommendation of the Commission,
  to promote such person into the classified service because of his
  faithfulness and efficiency in the position occupied by him, and because
  of his qualifications for the place to which the appointing officer
  desires his promotion.

  (_d_) That an appointing or nominating officer desires the
  examination of a person to test his fitness for a classified place which
  might be filled under exceptions to examination declared in connection
  with the rules regulating admission to the classified service.

  (_e_) That the Commission, with the approval of the President, has
  decided that such an examination should be held to test fitness for any
  particular place requiring technical, professional, or scientific
  knowledge, special skill, or peculiar ability, to test fitness for which
  place a competitive examination can not, in the opinion of the
  Commission, be properly provided.

  (_f_) That a person who has been appointed from the copyist
  register wishes to take the clerk examination for promotion to a place
  the salary of which is not less than $1,000 per annum.

  (_g_) To test the fitness of a person for a place to which his
  transfer has been requested.

  (_h_) When the exigencies of the service require such examination
  for promotion as provided by clause 6 of this rule.

  3. All applications for examination must be made in form and manner
  prescribed by the Commission.

  4. No person serving in the Army or Navy shall be examined for admission
  to the classified service until the written consent of the head of the
  Department under which he is enlisted shall have been communicated to
  the Commission.

  No person who is an applicant for examination or who is an eligible
  in one branch of the classified service shall at the same time be an
  applicant for examination in any other branch of said service.

  5. The Commission may refuse to examine an applicant who would be
  physically unable to perform the duties of the place to which he desires
  appointment. The reason for any such action must be entered on the
  minutes of the Commission.

  6. For the purpose of establishing in the classified civil service the
  principle of compulsory competitive examination for promotion, there
  shall be, so far as practicable and useful, compulsory competitive
  examinations of a suitable character to test fitness for promotion; but
  persons in the classified service who were honorably discharged from the
  military or naval service of the United States, and the widows and
  orphans of deceased soldiers and sailors, shall be exempt from such
  examinations.

  The Commission may make regulations, applying them to any part of the
  classified service, under which regulations all examinations for
  promotion therein shall be conducted and all promotions be made; but
  until regulations in accordance herewith have been applied to any part
  of the classified service promotions therein shall be made in the manner
  provided by the rules applicable thereto. And in any part of the
  classified service in which promotions are made under examination as
  herein provided the Commission may in special cases, if the exigencies
  of the service require such action, provide noncompetitive examinations
  for promotion.

  Persons who were in the classified civil service on July 16, 1883, and
  persons who have been since that date or may be hereafter put into that
  service by the inclusion of subordinate places, clerks, and officers,
  under the provisions of section 6 of the act to regulate and improve the
  civil service of the United States, approved January 16, 1883, shall be
  entitled to all rights of promotion possessed by persons of the same
  class or grade appointed after examination under the act referred to
  above.

  7. No question in any examination shall be so framed as to elicit
  information concerning the political or religious opinions or
  affiliations of competitors, and no discrimination in examination,
  certification, or appointment shall be made by the Commission, the
  examiners, or the appointing or nominating officer in favor of or
  against any applicant, competitor, or eligible because of his political
  or religious opinions or affiliations. The Commission, the examiners,
  and the appointing or nominating officer shall discountenance all
  disclosures of such opinions or affiliations by or concerning any
  applicant, competitor, or eligible; and any appointing or nominating
  officer who shall make inquiries concerning or in any other way attempt
  to ascertain the political or religious opinions or affiliations of any
  eligible, or who shall discriminate in favor of or against any eligible
  because of the eligible's political or religious opinions or
  affiliations, shall be dismissed from office.

  8. Every applicant must state under oath--

  (_a_) His full name.

  (_b_) That he is a citizen of the United States.

  (_c_) Year and place of his birth.

  (_d_) The State, Territory, or District of which he is a _bona
  fide_ resident, and the length of time he has been a resident thereof.

  (_e_) His post-office address.

  (_f_) His business or employment during the three years immediately
  preceding the date of his application, and where he has resided each of
  those years.

  (_g_) Condition of his health, and his physical capacity for the
  public service.

  (_h_) His previous employment in the public service.

  (_i_) Any right of preference in civil appointments he may claim
  under section 1754 of the Revised Statutes.

  (_j_) The kind of school in which he received his education.

  (_k_) That he does not habitually use intoxicating beverages to excess.

  (_l_) That he has not within the one year next preceding the date
  of his application been dismissed from the public service for
  delinquency or misconduct.

  (_m_) Such other facts as the Commission may require.

  9. Every applicant for examination for the classified departmental
  service must support the statements of his application paper by
  certificates of persons acquainted with him, residents of the State,
  Territory, or District in which he claims _bona fide_ residence;
  and the Commission shall prescribe the form and number of such
  certificates.

  10. A false statement made by an applicant, or connivance by him with
  any person to make on his behalf a false statement in any certificate
  required by the Commission, and deception or fraud practiced by an
  applicant, or by any person on his behalf with his consent, to influence
  an examination, shall be good cause for refusal to examine such
  applicant or for refusing to mark his papers after examination.

  11. All examinations shall be prepared and conducted under the
  supervision of the Commission; and examination papers shall be marked
  under rules made by the Commission, which shall take care that the
  marking examiners do not know the name of any competitor in an
  examination for admission whose papers are intrusted to them.

  12. For the purpose of marking examination papers boards of examiners
  shall be appointed by the Commission, one to be known as the central
  board, which shall be composed of persons in the classified service, who
  shall be detailed for constant duty at the office of the Commission.
  Under supervision of the Commission the central board shall mark the
  papers of the copyist and of the clerk examinations, and such of the
  papers of the supplementary, special, and promotion examinations for the
  departmental service and of examinations for admission to or promotion
  in the other branches of the classified services as shall be submitted
  to it by the Commission.

  13. No person shall be appointed to membership on any board of examiners
  until after the Commission shall have consulted with the head of the
  Department or of the office under whom such person is serving.

  14. An examiner shall be allowed time during office hours to perform his
  duties as examiner, which duties shall be considered part of his
  official duties.

  15. The Commission may change the membership of boards of examiners
  and--

  (_a_) Prescribe the manner of organizing such boards.

  (_b_) More particularly define their powers.

  (_c_) Specifically determine their duties and the duties of the
  members thereof.

  16. Each board shall keep such records and make such reports as the
  Commission may require, and such records shall be open to the inspection
  of any member of this Commission or other person acting under authority
  of the Commission, which may, for the purposes of investigation, take
  possession of such records.


  GENERAL RULE IV.

  1. The names of all competitors who shall successfully pass an
  examination shall be entered upon a register, and the competitors whose
  names have been thus registered shall be eligible to any office or place
  to test fitness for which the examination was held.

  2. The Commission may refuse to certify--

  (_a_) An eligible who is so defective in sight, speech, or hearing,
  or who is otherwise so defective physically as to be apparently unfit to
  perform the duties of the position to which he is seeking appointment.

  (_b_) An eligible who has made a false statement in his
  application, or been guilty of fraud or deceit in any matter connected
  with his application or examination, or who has been guilty of a crime
  or of infamous or notoriously disgraceful conduct.

  3. If an appointing or nominating officer to whom certification has been
  made shall object in writing to any eligible named in the certificate,
  stating that because of physical incapacity or for other good cause
  particularly specified such eligible is not capable of properly
  performing the duties of the vacant place, the Commission may, upon
  investigation and ascertainment of the fact that the objection made is
  good and well founded, direct the certification of another eligible in
  place of the one to whom objection has been made.


  GENERAL RULE V.

  Executive officers shall in all proper ways facilitate civil-service
  examinations; and customs officers, postmasters, and custodians of
  public buildings at places where such examinations are to be held shall
  for the purposes of such examinations permit and arrange for the use of
  suitable rooms under their charge, and for heating, lighting, and
  furnishing the same.


  GENERAL RULE VI.

  No person dismissed for misconduct, and no probationer who has failed
  to receive absolute appointment or employment, shall be admitted to any
  examination within one year after having been thus discharged from the
  service.


  GENERAL RULE VII.

  1. Persons who have a _prima facie_ claim of preference for
  appointments to civil offices under section 1754, Revised Statutes,
  shall be preferred in certifications made under the authority of the
  Commission to any appointing or nominating officer.

  2. In making any reduction of force in any branch of the classified
  civil service those persons shall be retained who, being equally
  qualified, have been honorably discharged from the military or naval
  service of the United States, and also the widows and orphans of
  deceased soldiers and sailors.


  GENERAL RULE VIII.

  The Commission shall have authority to prescribe regulations under and
  in accordance with these general rules and the rules relating specially
  to each of the several branches of the classified service.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULES.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE I.

  1. The classified departmental service shall include the several
  officers, clerks, and other persons in any Department, commission,
  or bureau at Washington classified under section 163 of the Revised
  Statutes, or by direction of the President for the purposes of the
  examinations prescribed by the civil-service act of 1883, or for
  facilitating the inquiries as to fitness of candidates for admission
  to the departmental service in respect to age, health, character,
  knowledge, and ability, as provided for in section 1753 of the Revised
  Statutes.

  2. The word "department," when used in the general or departmental
  rules, shall be construed to mean any such Department, commission, or
  bureau classified as above prescribed.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE II.

  1. To test the fitness of applicants for admission to the classified
  departmental service there shall be examinations as follows:

  _Copyist examination_.--For places of $900 per annum and under.
  This examination shall not include more than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules, fractions, and percentage.

  _Clerk examination_.--For places of $1,000 per annum and upward.
  This examination shall not include more than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules, fractions, percentage,
  interest, and discount.

  (_e_) Elements of bookkeeping and of accounts.

  (_f_) Elements of the English language.

  (_g_) Letter writing.

  (_h_) Elements of the geography, history, and government of the
  United States.

  _Supplementary examinations_.--For places which, in the opinion of
  the Commission, require, in addition to the knowledge required to pass
  the copyist or the clerk examination, certain technical, professional,
  or scientific knowledge, or knowledge of a language other than the
  English language, or peculiar or special skill.

  _Special examinations_.--For places which, in the opinion of the
  Commission, require certain technical, professional, or scientific
  knowledge or skill. Each special examination shall embrace, in addition
  to the special subject upon which the applicant is to be tested, as many
  of the subjects of the clerk examination as the Commission may decide to
  be necessary to test fitness for the place to be filled.

  _Noncompetitive examinations_.--For any place in the departmental
  service for which the Commission may from time to time (subject to the
  conditions prescribed by General Rule III, clause 2) determine that such
  examinations ought to be held.

  2. An applicant may take the copyist or the clerk examination and any or
  all of the supplementary and special examinations provided for the
  departmental service, subject to such limitations as the Commission may
  by regulation prescribe; but no person whose name is on a departmental
  register of eligibles shall during the period of his eligibility be
  allowed reexamination unless he shall satisfy the Commission that at the
  time of his examination he was unable, because of illness or other good
  cause, to do himself justice in said examination; and the rating upon
  such reexamination shall cancel and be a substitute for the rating of
  such person upon the previous examination.

  3. Exceptions from examination in the classified departmental service
  are hereby made as follows:

  (_a_) One private secretary or one confidential clerk of the head
  of each classified Department and of each assistant secretary thereof,
  and also of each head of bureau appointed by the President by and with
  the advice and consent of the Senate.

  (_b_) Direct custodians of money for whose fidelity another officer
  is under official bond; but this exception shall not include any officer
  below the grade of assistant cashier or assistant teller.

  (_c_) Disbursing officers who give bonds.

  (_d_) Persons employed exclusively in the secret service of the
  Government.

  (_e_) Chief clerks.

  (_f_) Chiefs of divisions.

  4. No person appointed to a place under the exceptions to examination
  hereby made shall within one year after appointment be transferred from
  such place to a place not also excepted from examination, but after
  service of not less than one year in an examination-excepted place he
  may be transferred in the bureau in which he is serving to a place not
  excepted from examination: _Provided_, That before any such
  transfer may be made the Commission must certify that the person whom it
  is proposed to so transfer has passed an examination to test fitness for
  the place proposed to be filled by such transfer.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE III.

  In compliance with the provisions of section 3 of the civil-service
  act the Commission shall provide examinations for the classified
  departmental service at least twice in each year in every State or
  Territory in which there are a sufficient number of applicants for such
  examinations; and the places and times of examinations shall, when
  practicable, be so fixed that each applicant may know at the time of
  making his application when and where he may be examined; but applicants
  may be notified to appear at any place at which the Commission may order
  an examination.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE IV.

  1. Any person not under 20 years of age may make application for
  admission to the classified departmental service, blank forms for which
  purpose shall be furnished by the Commission.

  2. Every application for admission to the classified departmental
  service should be addressed as follows: "United States Civil Service
  Commission, Washington, D.C."

  3. The date of reception and also of approval by the Commission of each
  application shall be noted on the application paper.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE V.

  1. The papers of all examinations for admission to or promotion in the
  classified departmental service shall be marked as directed by the
  Commission.

  2. The Commission shall have authority to appoint the following-named
  boards of examiners, which shall conduct examinations and mark
  examination papers as follows:

  _Central board_.--As provided for by General Rule III, clause 12.

  _Special boards_.--These boards shall mark such papers of special
  examinations for the classified departmental service as the Commission
  may direct, and shall be composed of persons in the public service.

  _Supplementary boards_.--These boards shall mark the papers of such
  supplementary examinations for the classified departmental service as
  the Commission may direct, and shall be composed of persons in the
  public service.

  _Promotion boards_.--One for each Department, of three members, and
  one auxiliary member for each bureau of the Department for which the
  board is to act. Unless the Commission shall otherwise direct, these
  boards shall mark the papers of promotion examinations.

  _Local boards_.--These boards shall be organized at one or more
  places in each State and Territory where examinations for the classified
  departmental service are to be held, and shall conduct such
  examinations; and each shall be composed of persons in the public
  service residing in the State or Territory in which the board is to act.

  _Customs and postal boards_.--These boards shall conduct such
  examinations for the classified departmental service as the Commission
  shall direct.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE VI.

  1. The papers of the copyist and of the clerk examinations shall be
  marked by the central board; the papers of special and supplementary
  examinations shall be marked as directed by the Commission. Each
  competitor in any of the examinations mentioned or referred to above
  shall be graded on a scale of 100, according to the general average
  determined by the marks made by the examiners on his papers.

  2. The papers of an examination having been marked, the Commission shall
  ascertain--

  (_a_) The name of every competitor who has, under section 1754 of
  the Revised Statutes, claim of preference in civil appointments, and who
  has attained a general average of not less than 65 per cent; and all
  such competitors are hereby declared eligible to the class or place to
  test fitness for which the examination was held.

  (_b_) The name of every other competitor who has attained a general
  average of not less than 70 per cent; and all such competitors are
  hereby declared eligible to the class or place to test fitness for which
  the examination was held.

  3. The names of all preference-claiming competitors whose general
  average is not less than 65 per cent, together with the names of all
  other competitors whose general average is not less than 70 per cent,
  shall be entered upon the register of persons eligible to the class or
  place to test fitness for which the examination was held.

  4. To facilitate the maintenance of the apportionment of appointments
  among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia,
  required by section 2 of the act to regulate and improve the civil
  service of the United States, approved January 16, 1883, there shall be
  lists of eligibles for each State and Territory and for the District of
  Columbia, upon which shall be entered the names of the competitors from
  that State or Territory or the District of Columbia who have passed the
  copyist and the clerk examinations, the names of those who have passed
  the copyist examination and of those who have passed the clerk
  examination being listed separately; the names of male and of female
  eligibles in such examinations being also listed separately.

  5. But the names of all competitors who have passed a supplementary or a
  special examination shall be entered, without regard to State residence,
  upon the register of persons eligible to the class or place to test
  fitness for which supplementary or special examination was held.

  6. The grade of each competitor shall be expressed by the whole number
  nearest the general average attained by him, and the grade of each
  eligible shall be noted upon the register of eligibles in connection
  with his name. When two or more eligibles are of the same grade,
  preference in certification shall be determined by the order in which
  their application papers were filed.

  7. Immediately after the general averages in an examination shall have
  been ascertained each competitor shall be notified that he has passed or
  has failed to pass.

  8. If a competitor fail to pass, he may, with the consent of the
  Commission, be allowed reexamination at any time within six months from
  the date of failure without filing a new application; but a competitor
  failing to pass, desiring to take again the same examination, must, if
  not allowed reexamination within six months from the date of failure,
  make in due form a new application therefor.

  9. No person who has passed an examination shall, while eligible on the
  register supplied by such examination, be reexamined, unless he shall
  furnish evidence satisfactory to the Commission that at the time of his
  examination he was, because of illness or other good cause, incapable of
  doing himself justice in said examination.

  10. The term of eligibility to appointment under the copyist and the
  clerk examinations shall be one year from the day on which the name of
  the eligible is entered on the register. The term of eligibility under a
  supplementary or a special examination shall be determined by the
  Commission, but shall not be less than one year.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE VII.

  1. Vacancies in the classified departmental service, unless among the
  places excepted from examination, if not filled by either promotion or
  transfer, shall be filled in the following manner:

  (_a_) The appointing officer shall, in form and manner to be
  prescribed by the Commission, request the certification to him of the
  names of either males or females eligible to a certain place then
  vacant.

  (_b_) If fitness for the place to be filled is tested by
  competitive examination, the Commission shall certify the names of three
  males or three females, these names to be those of the eligibles who,
  standing higher in grade than any other three eligibles of the same sex
  on the list of eligibles from which certification is to be made, have
  not been certified three times to the officer making the requisition:
  _Provided_, That if upon any register from which certification is
  to be made there are the names of eligibles who have, under section 1754
  of the Revised Statutes, claim of preference in civil appointments, the
  names of such eligibles shall be certified before the names of other
  eligibles higher in grade. The Commission shall make regulations that
  will secure to each of such preference-claiming eligibles, in the order
  of his grade among other preference claimants, an opportunity to have
  his claim of preference considered and determined by the appointing
  officer.

  2. Certifications hereunder shall be made in such manner as to maintain
  as nearly as possible the apportionment of appointments among the
  several States and the Territories and the District of Columbia, as
  required by law.

  3. If the three names certified are those of persons eligible on the
  copyist or the clerk register, the appointing officer shall select one,
  and one only, and shall notify the person whose name has been selected
  that he has been designated for appointment: _Provided_ That, for
  the purpose of maintaining the apportionment of appointments referred to
  in clause 2 of this rule, the Commission may authorize the appointing
  officer to select more than one of the three names certified.

  When certification is made from a supplementary or a special register,
  and there are more vacancies than one to be filled, the appointing
  officer may select from the three names certified more than one.

  4. The Commission may certify from the clerk register for appointment to
  a place the salary of which is less than $1,000 per annum any eligible
  on said register who has given written notice that he will accept such a
  place.

  5. When a person designated for appointment shall have reported in
  person to the appointing officer, he shall be appointed for a
  probational period of six months, at the end of which period, if his
  conduct and capacity be satisfactory to the appointing officer, he shall
  receive absolute appointment; but if his conduct and capacity be not
  satisfactory to said officer he shall be notified that he will not
  receive absolute appointment, and this notification shall discharge him
  from the service. The appointing officer shall require the heads of
  bureaus or divisions under whom probationers are serving to keep a
  record and to make report of the punctuality, industry, habits, ability,
  and aptitude of each probationer.

  6. All persons appointed to or promoted in the classified departmental
  service shall be assigned to the duties of the class or place to which
  they have been appointed or promoted, unless the interests of the
  service require their assignment to other duties; and when such
  assignment is made the fact shall be reported to the head of the
  Department.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE VIII.

  1. Transfers will be made as follows:

  (_a_) From one Department to another, upon requisition by the head
  of the Department to which the transfer is to be made.

  (_b_) From a bureau of the Treasury Department in which business
  relating to the customs is transacted to a classified customs district,
  and from such a district to such a bureau of the Treasury Department,
  upon requisition by the Secretary of the Treasury.

  (_c_) From the Post-Office Department to a classified post-office,
  and from such an office to the Post-Office Department, upon requisition
  by the Postmaster-General.

  2. No person may be transferred as herein authorized until the
  Commission shall have certified to the officer making the transfer
  requisition that the person whom it is proposed to transfer has passed
  an examination to test fitness for the place to which he is to be
  transferred, and that such person has during at least six months
  preceding the date of the certificate been in the classified service of
  the Department, customs district, or post-office from which the transfer
  is to be made: _Provided_, That no person who has been appointed
  from the copyist register shall be transferred to a place the salary of
  which is more than $900 per annum until one year after appointment.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE IX.

  1. A person appointed from the copyist register may, upon any test of
  fitness determined upon by the promoting officer, be promoted as
  follows:

  (_a_) At any time after probational appointment, to any place the
  salary of which is not more than $900 per annum.

  (_b_) At any time after one year from the date of probational
  appointment, upon certification by the Commission that he has passed the
  clerk examination or its equivalent, to any place the salary of which is
  $1,000 per annum or more.

  (_c_) At any time after two years from the date of probational
  appointment, to any place the salary of which is $1,000 per annum or
  more.

  2. A person appointed from the clerk register or from any supplementary
  or special register to a place the salary of which is $1,000 per annum
  or more may, upon any test of fitness determined upon by the promoting
  officer, be promoted at any time after absolute appointment.

  3. A person appointed from the clerk register or from any supplementary
  or special register to a place the salary of which is $900 or less may,
  upon any test of fitness determined upon by the promoting officer, be
  promoted at any time after probational appointment to any place the
  salary of which is $1,000 per annum.

  4. Other promotions may be made upon any tests of fitness determined
  upon by the promoting officer.

  5. The provisions of clauses 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this rule shall become
  null and void in any part of the classified departmental service as soon
  as promotion regulations shall have been applied thereto under General
  Rule III, clause 6.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE X.

  Upon requisition of the head of a Department the Commission shall
  certify for reinstatement in said Department, in a grade requiring no
  higher examination than the one in which he was formerly employed, any
  person who within one year next preceding the date of the requisition
  has, through no delinquency or misconduct, been separated from the
  classified service of that Department.


  DEPARTMENTAL RULE XI.

  Bach appointing officer in the classified departmental service shall
  report to the Commission--

  (_a_) Every probational and every absolute appointment made by him,
  and every appointment made by him under any exception to examination
  authorized by Departmental Rule II, clause 3.

  (_b_) Every refusal by him to make an absolute appointment and
  every refusal or neglect to accept an appointment in the classified
  service under him.

  (_c_) Every transfer within and into the classified service under
  him.

  (_d_) Every assignment of a person to the performance of the duties
  of a class or place to which such person was not appointed.

  (_e_) Every separation from the classified service under him, and
  whether the separation was caused by dismissal, resignation, or death.
  Places excepted from examination are within the classified service.

  (_f_) Every restoration to the classified service under him of any
  person who may have been separated therefrom by dismissal or
  resignation.


  CUSTOMS RULES.


  CUSTOMS RULE I.

  1. The classified customs service shall include the officers, clerks,
  and other persons in the several customs districts classified under the
  provisions of section 6 of the act to regulate and improve the civil
  service of the United States, approved January 16, 1883.

  2. Whenever the officers, clerks, and other persons in any customs
  district number as many as fifty, any existing classification of the
  customs service made by the Secretary of the Treasury under section 6 of
  the act of January 16, 1883, shall apply thereto, and thereafter the
  Commission shall provide examinations to test the fitness of persons to
  fill vacancies in said customs district and these rules shall be in
  force therein. Every revision of the classification of any customs
  office under section 6 of the act above mentioned, and every inclusion
  within the classified customs service of a customs district, shall be
  reported to the President.


  CUSTOMS RULE II.

  1. To test fitness for admission to the classified customs service,
  examinations shall be provided as follows:

  _Clerk examination_[18]--This examination shall not include more
  than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules, fractions, percentage,
  interest, and discount.

  (_e_) Elements of bookkeeping and of accounts.

  (_f_) Elements of the English language.

  (_g_) Letter writing.

  (_h_) Elements of the geography, history, and government of the
  United States.

  _Law-clerk examination_.--This examination shall not include more
  than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules, fractions, percentage,
  interest, and discount.

  (_e_) Elements of the English language.

  (_f_) Letter writing.

  (_g_) Law questions.

  _Day-inspector examination_.--This examination shall not include
  more than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules, fractions, and percentage.

  (_e_) Elements of the English language.

  (_f_) Geography of America and Europe.

  _Inspectress examination_.--This examination shall not include more
  than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules.

  (_e_) Geography of America and Europe.

  _Night-inspector, messenger, assistant weigher, and opener and packer
  examination_.--This examination shall not include more than the
  following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules.

  _Gauger examination_.--This examination shall not include more than
  the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--practical questions.

  (_e_) Theoretical questions.

  (_f_) Practical tests.

  _Examiner examination_.--This examination shall not include more
  than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules, fractions, percentage, and
  discount.

  (_e_) Elements of the English language.

  (_f_) Practical questions.

  (_g_) Practical tests.

  _Sampler examination_.--This examination shall not include more
  than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules.

  (_e_) Practical questions.

  (_f_) Practical tests.

  _Other competitive examinations_.--Such other competitive
  examinations as the Commission may from time to time determine to be
  necessary in testing fitness for other places in the classified customs
  service.

  _Noncompetitive examinations_.--Such examinations may, with the
  approval of the Commission, be held under conditions stated in General
  Rule III, clause 2.

  2. Any person not under 21 years of age may be examined for anyplace in
  the customs service to test fitness for which an examination is
  prescribed, and any person not under 20 years of age may be examined for
  clerk or messenger.

  3. A person desiring examination for admission to the classified customs
  service must make request, in his own handwriting, for a blank form of
  application, which request and also his application shall be addressed
  as directed by the Commission.

  4. The date of reception and also of approval by the board of each of
  such applications shall be noted on the application paper.

  5. Exceptions from examination in the classified customs service are
  hereby made as follows:

  (_a_) Deputy collectors, who do not also act as inspectors,
  examiners, or clerks.

  (_b_) Cashier of the collector.

  (_c_) Assistant cashier of the collector.

  (_d_) Auditor of the collector.

  (_e_) Chief acting disbursing officer.

  (_g_) Deputy naval officers.

  (_g_) Deputy surveyors.

  (_h_) One private secretary or one confidential clerk of each
  nominating officer.

  6. No person appointed to a place under any exception to examination
  hereby made shall within one year after appointment be transferred from
  such place to another place not also excepted from examination, but a
  person who has served not less than one year in an examination-excepted
  place may be transferred in the customs office in which he is serving to
  a place not excepted from examination: _Provided_, That before any
  such transfer may be made the Commission must certify that the person
  whom it is proposed to so transfer has passed an examination to test
  fitness for the place proposed to be filled by such transfer.


  CUSTOMS RULE III.

  1. The papers of every examination shall be marked under direction of
  the Commission, and each competitor shall be graded on a scale of 100,
  according to the general average determined by the marks made by the
  examiners on his papers.

  2. The Commission shall appoint in each classified customs district a
  board of examiners, which shall--

  (_a_) Conduct all examinations held to test fitness for admission
  to or promotion in the classified service of the customs district in
  which the board is located.

  (_b_) Mark the papers of such examinations, unless otherwise
  directed, as provided for by General Rule III, clause 12.

  (_c_) Conduct such examinations for the classified departmental
  service as the Commission may direct.

  3. The papers of an examination having been marked, the board of
  examiners shall ascertain

  (_a_) The name of every competitor who has, under section 1754 of
  the Revised Statutes, claim of preference in civil appointments, and who
  has attained a general average of not less than 65 per cent; and all
  such competitors are hereby declared eligible to the class or place to
  test fitness for which the examination was held.

  (_b_) The name of every other competitor who has attained a general
  average of not less than 70 per cent; and all such applicants are hereby
  declared eligible to the class or place to test fitness for which the
  examination was held.

  4. The names of all preference-claiming competitors whose general
  average is not less than 65 per cent, together with the names of all
  other competitors whose general average is not less than 70 per cent,
  shall be entered upon the register of persons eligible to the class or
  place to test fitness for which the examination was held. The names of
  male and of female eligibles shall be listed separately.

  5. The grade of each competitor shall be expressed by the whole number
  nearest the general average attained by him, and the grade of each
  eligible shall be noted upon the register of eligibles in connection
  with his name. When two or more eligibles are of the same grade,
  preference in certification shall be determined by the order in which
  their application papers were filed.

  6. Immediately after the general averages in an examination shall have
  been ascertained each competitor shall be notified that he has passed or
  has failed to pass.

  7. If a competitor fail to pass, he may, with the consent of the board,
  approved by the Commission, be allowed reexamination at any time within
  six months from the date of failure without filing a new application;
  but a competitor failing to pass, desiring to take again the same
  examination, must, if not allowed reexamination within six months from
  the date of failure, make in due form a new application therefor.

  8. No person who has passed an examination shall while eligible on the
  register Supplied by such examination be reexamined, unless he shall
  furnish evidence satisfactory to the Commission that at the time of his
  examination he was, because of illness or for other good cause,
  incapable of doing himself justice in said examination.

  9. The term of eligibility to appointment in the classified customs
  service shall be one year from the day on which the name of the eligible
  is entered on the register.


  CUSTOMS RULE IV.

  1. Vacancies in the lowest class or grade of the classified service of a
  customs district shall be filled in the following manner:

  (_a_) The nominating officer in any office in which a vacancy may
  exist shall, in form and manner to be prescribed by the Commission,
  request the board of examiners to certify to him the names of either
  males or females eligible to the vacant place.

  (_b_) If fitness for the place to be filled is tested by
  competitive examination, the board of examiners shall certify the names
  of three males or three females, these names to be those of the
  eligibles who, standing higher in grade than any other three eligibles
  of the same sex on the register from which certification is to be made,
  have not been certified three times from said register: _Provided_,
  That if upon said register there are the names of eligibles who, under
  section 1754 of the Revised Statutes, have claim of preference in civil
  appointments, the names of such eligibles shall be certified before the
  names of other eligibles higher in grade. The Commission shall make
  regulations that will secure to each of such preference-claiming
  eligibles, in the order of his grade among other preference claimants,
  an opportunity to have his claim of preference considered and determined
  by the appointing officer.

  (_c_) Each name on a register of eligibles may be certified only
  three times: _Provided_, That when a name has been three times
  certified, if there are not three names on the register of higher grade,
  it may, upon the written request of a nominating officer to whom it has
  not been certified, be included in any certification made to said
  officer.

  2. Of the three names certified the nominating officer must select one;
  and if at the time of making this selection there are more vacancies
  than one, he may select more than one name. Each person thus designated
  for appointment shall be notified, and upon reporting in person to the
  proper officer shall be appointed for a probational period of six
  months, at the end of which period, if his conduct and capacity be
  satisfactory to the nominating officer, he shall receive absolute
  appointment; but if his conduct and capacity be not satisfactory to said
  officer, he shall be notified that he will not receive absolute
  appointment, and this notification shall discharge him from the service.

  3. Every nominating officer in the classified customs service shall
  require the officer under whom a probationer may be serving to carefully
  observe and report in writing the services rendered by and the character
  and qualifications of such probationer. These reports shall be preserved
  on file, and the Commission may prescribe the form and manner in which
  they shall be made.

  4. All other vacancies, unless among the places excepted from
  examination, shall be filled by transfer or promotion.


  CUSTOMS RULE V.

  1. Until promotion regulations have been applied to a classified customs
  district, the following promotions may be made therein at any time after
  absolute appointment:

  (_a_) A clerk, upon any test of fitness determined upon by the
  nominating officer, to any vacant place in the class next above the one
  in which he may be serving.

  (_b_) A day inspector, upon any test of fitness determined upon by
  the nominating officer, to class 2 in the grade of clerk.

  (_c_) A clerk, day inspector, opener and packer, or sampler, after
  passing the examiner examination, to the grade of examiner.

  (_d_) A messenger, after passing the clerk examination, to the
  lowest class in the grade of clerk.

  (_e_) A night inspector, after passing the day-inspector
  examination, to the grade of day inspector.

  2. Other promotions may be made, in the discretion of the promoting
  officer, upon any test of fitness determined upon by him.


  CUSTOMS RULE VI.

  1. Transfers may be made as follows:

  (_a_) From one office of a classified district to another office in
  the same district, subject to the provisions of Customs Rule V.

  (_b_) From one classified district to another, upon requisition by
  the Secretary of the Treasury.

  (_c_) From any bureau of the Treasury Department in which business
  relating to customs is transacted to any classified customs district,
  and from any such district to any such bureau, upon requisition by the
  Secretary of the Treasury.

  2. No person may be transferred as herein authorized until the board of
  examiners, acting under (_a_) of clause I, or until the Commission,
  acting under (_b_) or (_c_) of clause i of this rule, shall
  have certified to the officer making the transfer requisition that the
  person whom it is proposed to transfer has passed an examination to test
  fitness for the place to which he is to be transferred, and that such
  person has been at least six months preceding the date of the
  certificate in the classified service of the Department or customs
  district from which the transfer is to be made.

  CUSTOMS RULE VII.

  Upon requisition of a nominating officer in any customs district the
  board of examiners thereof shall certify for reinstatement in any office
  under his jurisdiction, in a grade requiring no higher examination than
  the one in which he was formerly employed, any person who within one
  year next preceding the date of the requisition has, through no
  delinquency or misconduct, been separated from the classified service of
  said office.

  CUSTOMS RULE VIII.

  Each nominating officer of a classified customs district shall report to
  the board of examiners--

  (_a_) Every probational and absolute appointment, and every
  appointment under any exception to examination authorized by Customs
  Rule II, clause 5, made within his jurisdiction.

  (_b_) Every refusal by him to nominate a probationer for absolute
  appointment and every refusal or neglect to accept an appointment in the
  classified service under him.

  (_c_) Every transfer into the classified service under him.

  (_d_) Every separation from the classified service under him, and
  whether the separation was caused by dismissal, resignation, or death.
  Places excepted from examination are within the classified service.

  (_e_) Every restoration to the classified service under him of any
  person who may have been separated therefrom by dismissal or
  resignation.


  POSTAL RULES.


  POSTAL RULE I.

  1. The classified postal service shall include the officers, clerks,
  and other persons in the several post-offices classified under the
  provisions of section 6 of the act to regulate and improve the civil
  service of the United States, approved January 16, 1883.

  2. Whenever the officers, clerks, and other persons in any post-office
  number as many as fifty, any existing classification of the postal
  service made by the Postmaster-General under section 6 of the act of
  January 16, 1883, shall apply thereto, and thereafter the Commission
  shall provide examinations to test the fitness of persons to fill
  vacancies in said post-office and these rules shall be in force therein.
  Every revision of the classification of any post-office under section 6
  of the act above mentioned, and every inclusion of a post-office within
  the classified postal service, shall be reported to the President.


  POSTAL RULE II.

  1. To test fitness for admission to the classified postal service
  examinations shall be provided as follows:

  _Clerk examination_.--This examination shall not include more than
  the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules, fractions, and percentage.

  (_e_) Elements of the English language.

  (_f_) Letter writing.

  (_g_) Elements of the geography, history, and government of the
  United States.

  _Carrier examination_.--This examination shall not include more
  than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules.

  (_e_) Elements of the geography of the United States.

  (_f_) Knowledge of the locality of the post-office delivery.

  (_g_) Physical tests.

  _Messenger examination_.--This examination shall not include more
  than the following subjects:

  (_a_) Orthography.

  (_b_) Copying.

  (_c_) Penmanship.

  (_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules.

  (_e_) Physical tests.

  This examination shall also be used to test fitness for the position of
  piler, stamper, junior clerk, or other places the duties of which are
  chiefly manual.

  _Special examinations_.--These examinations shall test fitness for
  positions requiring knowledge of a language other than the English
  language, or special or technical knowledge or skill. Each special
  examination shall include, in addition to the special subject upon which
  the applicant is to be tested, so many of the subjects of the clerk
  examination as the Commission may determine.

  _Noncompetitive examinations_.--Such examinations may, with the
  approval of the Commission, be held under conditions stated in General
  Rule III, clause 2.

  2. No person shall be examined for the position of clerk if under 18
  years of age; and no person shall be examined for the position of
  messenger, stamper, or junior clerk if under 16 or over 45 years of age;
  and no person shall be examined for the position of carrier if under 21
  or over 40 years of age. No person shall be examined for any other
  position in the classified postal service if under 18 or over 45 years
  of age.

  3. Any person desiring examination for admission to the classified
  postal service must make request, in his own handwriting, for a blank
  form of application, which request, and also his application, shall be
  addressed as directed by the Commission.

  4. The date of reception and also of approval by the board of each of
  such applications shall be noted on the application paper.

  5. Exceptions from examinations in the classified postal service are
  hereby made as follows:

  (_a_) Assistant postmaster.

  (_b_) One private secretary or one confidential clerk of the
  postmaster.

  (_c_) Cashier.

  (_d_) Assistant cashier.

  (_e_) Superintendents designated by the Post-Office Department and
  reported as such to the Commission.

  (_f_) Custodians of money, stamps, stamped envelopes, or postal
  cards, designated as such by the Post-Office Department and so reported
  to the Commission, for whose fidelity the postmaster is under official
  bond.

  6. No person appointed to a place under any exception to examination
  hereby made shall within one year after appointment be transferred to
  another place not also excepted from examination; but a person who has
  served not less than one year in an examination-excepted place may be
  transferred in the post-office in which he is serving to a place not
  excepted from examination: _Provided_, That before any such
  transfer may be made the Commission must certify that the person whom
  it is proposed to so transfer has passed an examination to test fitness
  for the place proposed to be filled by such transfer.


  POSTAL RULE III.

  1. The papers of every examination shall be marked under the direction
  of the Commission, and each competitor shall be graded on a scale of
  100, according to the general average determined by the marks made by
  the examiners on his papers.

  2. The Commission shall appoint in each classified post-office a board
  of examiners, which shall (_a_) Conduct all examinations held to
  test fitness for entrance to or promotion in the classified service of
  the post-office in which the board is located.

  (_d_) Mark the papers of such examinations, unless otherwise
  directed, as provided for by General Rule III, clause 12.

  (_c_) Conduct such examinations for the classified departmental
  service as the Commission may direct.

  3. The papers of an examination having been marked, the board of
  examiners shall ascertain--

  (_a_) The name of every competitor who has, under section 1754 of
  the Revised Statutes, claim of preference in civil appointments, and who
  has attained a general average of not less than 65 per cent; and all
  such competitors are hereby declared eligible to the class or place to
  test fitness for which the examination was held.

  (_b_) The name of every other competitor who has attained a general
  average of not less than 70 per cent; and all such applicants are hereby
  declared eligible to the class or place to test fitness for which the
  examination was held.

  4. The names of all preference-claiming competitors whose general
  average is not less than 65 per cent, together with the names of all
  other competitors whose general average is not less than 70 per cent,
  shall be entered upon the register of persons eligible to the class or
  place to test fitness for which the examination was held. The names of
  male and of female eligibles shall be listed separately.

  5. The grade of each competitor shall be expressed by the whole number
  nearest the general average attained by him, and the grade of each
  eligible shall be noted upon the register of eligibles in connection
  with his name. When two or more eligibles are of the same grade,
  preference in certification shall be determined by the order in which
  their application papers were filed.

  6. Immediately after the general averages shall have been ascertained
  each competitor shall be notified that he has passed or has failed to
  pass.

  7. If a competitor fail to pass, he may, with the consent of the board,
  approved by the Commission, be allowed reexamination at any time within
  six months from the date of failure without filing a new application;
  but a competitor failing to pass, desiring to take again the same
  examination, must, if not allowed reexamination within six months from
  the date of failure, make in due form a new application therefor.

  8. No person who has passed an examination shall while eligible on the
  register supplied by such examination be reexamined, unless he shall
  furnish evidence satisfactory to the Commission that at the time of his
  examination he was, because of illness or for other good cause,
  incapable of doing himself justice in said examination.

  9. The term of eligibility to appointment in the classified postal
  service shall be one year from the day on which the name of the eligible
  is entered on the register.


  POSTAL RULE IV.

  1. Vacancies in the classified service of a post-office, unless among
  the places excepted from examination, if not filled by either transfer
  or promotion, shall be rilled in the following manner:

  (_a_) The postmaster at a post-office in which a vacancy may exist
  shall, in form and manner to be prescribed by the Commission, request
  the board of examiners to certify to him the names of either males or
  females eligible to the vacant place.

  (_b_) If fitness for the place to be filled is tested by
  competitive examination, the board of examiners shall certify the names
  of three males or three females, these names to be those of the
  eligibles who, standing higher in grade than any other three eligibles
  of the same sex on the register from which certification is to be made,
  have not been certified three times from said register: _Provided_,
  That if upon said register there are the names of eligibles who, under
  section 1754 of the Revised Statutes, have claim of preference in civil
  appointments, the names of such eligibles shall be certified before the
  names of other eligibles higher in grade. The Commission shall make
  regulations that will secure to each of such preference-claiming
  eligibles, in the order of his grade among other preference claimants,
  opportunity to have his claim of preference considered and determined by
  the appointing officer.

  (_c_) Each name on any register of eligibles may be certified only
  three times.

  2. Of the three names certified to him the postmaster must select one;
  and if at the time of making this selection there are more vacancies
  than one, he may select more than one name. Each person thus designated
  for appointment shall be notified, and upon reporting in person to the
  postmaster shall be appointed for a probational period of six months, at
  the end of which period, if his conduct and capacity be satisfactory to
  the postmaster, he shall receive absolute appointment; but if his
  conduct and capacity be not satisfactory to said officer, he shall be
  notified that he will not receive absolute appointment, and this
  notification shall discharge him from the service.

  3. The postmaster of each classified post-office shall require the
  superintendent of each division of his office to carefully observe and
  report in writing the services rendered by and the character and
  qualifications of each probationer serving under him. These reports
  shall be preserved on file, and the Commission may prescribe the form
  and manner in which they shall be made.


  POSTAL RULE V.

  Until promotion regulations shall have been applied to a classified
  post-office promotions therein may be made upon any test of fitness
  determined upon by the postmaster, if not disapproved by the Commission:
  _Provided_, That no employee shall be promoted to any grade he
  could not enter by appointment under the minimum age limitation applied
  thereto by Postal Rule II, clause 2.


  POSTAL RULE VI.

  1. Transfers may be made as follows:

  (_a_) From one classified post-office to another, upon requisition
  of the Postmaster-General.

  (_b_) From any classified post-office to the Post-Office
  Department, and from the Post-Office Department to any classified
  post-office, upon requisition of the Postmaster-General.

  2. No person may be transferred as herein authorized until the
  Commission shall have certified to the officer making the transfer
  requisition that the person whom it is proposed to transfer has passed
  an examination to test fitness for the place to which he is to be
  transferred, and that such person has been at least six months next
  preceding the date of the certificate in the classified service of the
  Department or post-office from which the transfer is to be made.


  POSTAL RULE VII.

  Upon the requisition of a postmaster the board of examiners for his
  office shall certify for reinstatement, in a grade requiring no higher
  examination than the one in which he was formerly employed, any person
  who within one year next preceding the date of the requisition has
  through no delinquency or misconduct been separated from the classified
  service in said office.


  POSTAL RULE VIII.

  Each postmaster in the classified postal service shall report to the
  board of examiners--

  (_a_) Every probational and every absolute appointment, and every
  appointment under any exception to examination authorized by Postal Rule
  II, clause 5, made in his office.

  (_b_) Every refusal to make an absolute appointment in his office
  and every refusal or neglect to accept an appointment in the classified
  service under him.

  (_c_) Every transfer into the classified service under him.

  (_d_) Every separation from the classified service under him, and
  whether the separation was caused by dismissal, resignation, or death.
  Places excepted from examination are within the classified service.

  (_e_) Every restoration to the classified service under him of any
  person who may have been separated therefrom by dismissal or
  resignation.


These rules shall take effect March 1, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 18: Storekeepers shall be classed as clerks, and vacancies in
that class shall be filled by assignment.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., March 1, 1888_.

In the exercise of authority vested in the President by the seventeen
hundred and fifty-third section of the Revised Statutes to prescribe
such regulations for the admission of persons into the civil service
of the United States as may best promote the efficiency thereof and
ascertain the fitness of each applicant in respect to age, health,
character, knowledge, and ability for the branch of the service into
which he seeks to enter, I hereby direct that the officers, clerks, and
other employees of the United States Civil Service Commission, now
authorized or that may hereafter be authorized by law, shall be arranged
in the following classes, viz:

Class A, including all persons receiving compensation at the rate of
less than $1,000 per annum.

Class B, including all persons receiving compensation at the rate of
$1,000 or more, but less than $1,200 per annum.

Class 1, including all persons receiving compensation at the rate of
$1,200 or more, but less than $1,400 per annum.

Class 2, including all persons receiving compensation at the rate of
$1,400 or more, but less than $1,600 per annum.

Class 3, including all persons receiving compensation at the rate of
$1,600 or more, but less than $1,800 per annum.

Class 4, including all persons receiving compensation at the rate of
$1,800 or more, but less than $2,000 per annum.

Class 5, including all persons receiving compensation at the rate of
$2,000 or more per annum.

No person who is appointed to an office by the President by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, or by the President alone, and no
person who is to be employed merely as a laborer or workman or as a
watchman, shall be considered as within this classification.

_And it is ordered_, That the United States Civil Service Commission
thus classified, as provided by clause 2 of Departmental Rule I of the
civil-service rules approved February 2, 1888, and in force on and
after the date hereof, shall be considered a part of the classified
departmental service, and the rules applicable thereto shall be in force
therein.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, March 21, 1888_.

_To the United States Civil Service Commission_.

Gentlemen: I desire to make a suggestion regarding subdivision
(_c_), General Rule III, of the amended civil-service rules
promulgated February 2, 1888. It provides for the promotion of an
employee in a Department who is below or outside of the classified
service to a place within said classified service in the same Department
upon the request of the appointing officer, upon the recommendation of
the Commission and the approval of the President, after a noncompetitive
examination, in case such person has served continuously for two years
in the place from which it is proposed to promote him, and "because of
his faithfulness and efficiency in the position occupied by him," and
"because of his qualifications for the place to which the appointing
officer desires his promotion."

It has occurred to me that this provision must be executed with caution
to avoid the application of it to cases not intended and the undue
relaxation of the general purposes and restrictions of the civil-service
law.

Noncompetitive examinations are the exceptions to the plan of the act,
and the rules permitting the same should be strictly construed. The
cases arising under the exception above recited should be very few, and
when presented they should precisely meet all the requirements
specified, and should be supported by facts which will develop the basis
and reason of the application of the appointing officer and which will
commend them to the judgment of the Commission and the President. The
sole purpose of the provision is to benefit the public service, and it
should never be permitted to operate as an evasion of the main feature
of the law, which is competitive examinations.

As these cases will first be presented to the Commission for
recommendation, I have to request that you will formulate a plan by
which their merits can be tested. This will naturally involve a
statement of all the facts deemed necessary for the determination of
such applications, including the kind of work which has been done by the
person proposed for promotion and the considerations upon which the
allegations of the faithfulness, efficiency, and qualifications
mentioned in the rule are predicated.

What has already been written naturally suggests another very important
subject, to which I will invite your attention.

The desirability of the rule which I have commented upon would be
nearly, if not entirely, removed, and other difficulties which now
embarrass the execution of the civil-service law would be obviated, if
there was a better and uniform classification of the employees in the
different Departments. The importance of this is entirely obvious. The
present imperfect classifications, hastily made, apparently with but
little care for uniformity, and promulgated after the last Presidential
election and prior to the installation of the present Administration,
should not have been permitted to continue to this time.

It appears that in the War Department the employees were divided on the
19th day of November, 1884, into eight classes and subclasses, embracing
those earning annual salaries from $900 to $2,000.

The Navy Department was classified November 22, 1884, and its employees
were divided into seven classes and subclasses, embracing those who
received annual salaries from $720 to $1,800.

In the Interior Department the classification was made on the 6th day of
December, 1884. It consists of eight classes and subclasses, and
embraces employees receiving annual salaries from $720 to $2,000.

On the 2d day of January, 1885, a classification of the employees in the
Treasury Department was made, consisting of six classes and subclasses,
including those earning annual salaries from $900 to $1,800.

In the Post-Office Department the employees were classified on February
6, 1885, into nine classes and subclasses, embracing persons earning
annual salaries from $720 to $2,000.

On the 12th of December, 1884, the Bureau of Agriculture was classified
in a manner different from all the other Departments, and presenting
features peculiar to itself.

It seems that the only classification in the Department of State and the
Department of Justice is that provided for by section 163 of the Revised
Statutes, which directs that the employees in the several Departments
shall be divided into four classes. It appears that no more definite
classification has been made in these Departments.

I wish the Commission would revise these classifications and submit to
me a plan which will as far as possible make them uniform, and which
will especially remedy the present condition which permits persons to
enter a grade in the service in the one Department without any
examination which in another Department can only be entered after
passing such examination. This, I think, should be done by extending the
limits of the classified service rather than by contracting them.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 23, 1888_.

_To the People of the United States_:

The painful duty devolves upon the President to announce the death, at
an early hour this morning, at his residence in this city, of Morrison
R. Waite, Chief Justice of the United States, which exalted office he
had filled since March 4, 1874, with honor to himself and high
usefulness to his country.

In testimony of respect to the memory of the honored dead it is ordered
that the executive offices in Washington be closed on the day of the
funeral and be draped in mourning for thirty days, and that the national
flag be displayed at half-mast on the public buildings and on all
national vessels on the day of the funeral.

By the President:

T.F. BAYARD, _Secretary_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 26, 1888_.

Under the provisions of section 4 of the act approved March 3, 1883, it
is hereby ordered that the several Executive Departments, the Department
of Agriculture, and the Government Printing Office be closed on
Wednesday, the 30th instant, to enable the employees to participate in
the decoration of the graves of the soldiers who fell during the
rebellion.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., June 2, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

  SIR: In the force employed in the office of the collector of customs at
  the port of New York there are eight tellers who receive and count the
  money paid in at that office, amounting to $500,000 a day or upward, and
  who should be persons qualified to handle money with skill and to detect
  counterfeit coin and bills. One of these places is now vacant, and it is
  important that it should be filled at the earliest practicable date. The
  position is not one excepted from examination by Customs Rule II, clause
  5; but the collector thinks that it would be imprudent and impracticable
  for him to be restricted in filling the vacancy to the three names that
  might be certified to him from the eligible register, and in this
  opinion the Commission concurs. But whether this class of positions and
  certain others in the customs service should be filled by noncompetitive
  examination or by special exception is a matter which the Commission has
  under consideration, but can not determine until after a visit to New
  York and perhaps other ports. In view, however, of the necessity for
  immediately filling the present vacancy--but without establishing a
  precedent--the Commission has the honor to recommend that a
  noncompetitive examination for the purpose be authorized under
  subdivision (_e_), clause 2 of General Rule III, Civil-Service
  Rules. Your obedient servants,

    JNO. H. OBERLY,
    CHAS. LYMAN,
    _United States Civil Service Commissioners_.


Approved, June 5, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



CLASSIFIED POSTAL SERVICE, SPECIAL RULE NO. 1.

JUNE 16, 1888.

In addition to the exceptions from examination in the classified postal
service made by Postal Rule II, clause 5, the following exception to
examination in that service is hereby made:

  Printers, employed as such.

  _Provided_, That before any person may be employed under this
  exception to examination the Post-Office Department shall inform the
  Commission of the authority given to employ printers at any post-office
  and of the number authorized to be employed at such office.


GROVER CLEVELAND.



_Ordered_, That noncompetitive examinations to test fitness for the
following designated places in the classified departmental service be,
and are hereby, authorized:

  1. In all the Departments: Engineers, assistant engineers, pressmen, and
  compositors.

  2. In the Department of the Treasury:

  In the office of the Secretary: Storekeeper, inspector of electric
  lights, foreman of laborers, captain of watch, lieutenants of watch, and
  locksmith and electrician.

  In the office of the Treasurer: Seventeen clerks employed as expert
  money tellers.

  In the office of the Supervising Surgeon-General of Marine-Hospital
  Service: Hospital steward, employed as chemist.

  3. In the Department of the Interior:

  In the office of the Secretary: Stenographer (to be confidential clerk
  to Secretary), members of the boards of pension appeals, returns-office
  clerk, and six clerks to act as assistant disbursing clerks.

  In the Bureau of Pensions: Superintendent of buildings and two qualified
  surgeons.

  In the Patent Office: Librarian, principal examiners, machinists, and
  model attendants.

  In the office of the Commissioner of Railroads: One bookkeeper.

  In the Bureau of Education: Clerk of class 4, as librarian.

  In the Geological Survey: In permanent force--Librarian. In temporary
  force--Assistant paleontologists, assistant geologists, topographers,
  and assistant photographers.

  4. In the Department of Agriculture:

  In the disbursing office: Four clerks.

  5. In the Post-Office Department:

  In the office of the Assistant Attorney-General: Stenographer (to be
  confidential clerk to the Assistant Attorney-General).

  Approved, July 2, 1888.

  GROVER CLEVELAND.



  SPECIAL DEPARTMENTAL RULE NO. I.

  In addition to the exceptions from examination made by Departmental
  Rule III, clause 2, the following exceptions to examinations for the
  classified departmental service are hereby made, viz:

  1. In the Department of State: Lithographer.

  2. In the Department of the Treasury:

  In the office of the Secretary: Government actuary.

  In the office of the Comptroller of the Currency: Bond clerk.

  In the office of the Supervising Architect: Supervising Architect,
  assistant supervising architect, confidential clerk to Supervising
  Architect, and photographer.

  In the Bureau of the Mint: Assayer, examiner, computer of bullion, and
  adjuster of accounts.

  In the Bureau of Navigation: Clerk of class 4, acting as deputy
  commissioner.

  In the office of Construction of Standard Weights and Measures: Adjuster
  and mechanician.

  In the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Chief of the Bureau, assistant
  chief of Bureau, engravers, and plate printers.

  In the Coast and Geodetic Survey: Superintendent, confidential clerk to
  Superintendent, the normal or field force, general office assistant,
  confidential clerk to general office assistant, engravers and contract
  engravers, electrotypist and photographer, electrotypist's helper,
  apprentice to electrotypist and photographer, copperplate printers,
  plate-printers' helpers, and mechanicians.

  In the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue: Superintendent of
  stamp vault.

  3. In the Department of the Interior:

  In the office of the Secretary: Superintendent of documents, clerk of
  class 3 as custodian, clerk to sign land patents, and telephone
  operator.

  In the office of the Assistant Attorney-General: Law clerks--One at
  $2,750 per annum, one at $2,500 per annum, one at $2,250 per annum, and
  thirteen at $2,000 per annum.

  In the Patent Office: Financial clerk, examiner of interferences, and
  law clerk.

  In the General Land Office: Two law clerks, two law examiners, clerk of
  class 4 acting as receiving clerk, and ten principal examiners of land
  claims and contests.

  In the Bureau of Pensions: Assistant chief clerk, medical referee,
  assistant medical referee, and law clerk.

  In the Bureau of Indian Affairs: Principal bookkeeper.

  In the office of Commissioner of Railroads: Railroad engineer.

  In the Bureau of Education: Collector and compiler of statistics and
  statistician.

  In the Geological Survey: In permanent force--General assistant,
  executive officer, photographer, twelve geologists, two paleontologists,
  two chemists, chief geographer, three topographers, and three
  geographers. In temporary force--Six paleontologists, eight geologists,
  geographer, mechanician, and editor.

  4. In the Department of War: Clerk for the General of the Army and clerk
  for the retired General of the Army.

  In the office of the Chief Signal Officer: Lithographer.

  5. In the Department of the Navy:

  In the Hydrographic Office: Engravers, copperplate printers, printers'
  apprentices.

  6. In the Department of Justice: Pardon clerk and two law clerks.

  7. In the Department of Agriculture:

  In the office of the Commissioner: Private secretary to the chief clerk,
  superintendent of grounds, and assistant chief of each of the following
  divisions: Of botany, of chemistry, of entomology, of forestry, and of
  statistics.

  In the Bureau of Animal Industry: Chief of the Bureau, assistant chief,
  private secretary to chief, and chief clerk.

  8. In the Post-Office Department: Assistant Attorney-General, law clerk,
  and agents and employees at postal-note, postage-stamp, postal-card, and
  envelope agencies.

  9. In the Department of Labor: Statistical experts and temporary
  experts.


Approved, July 2, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



SPECIAL DEPARTMENTAL RULE NO. 2.

No substitute shall hereafter be employed in any Department; and the
head of any Department in which substitutes are now employed may appoint
any of such substitutes to take the place of his principal, or to any
place of lower grade: _Provided_, That no substitute shall be
appointed as herein authorized until he shall have passed an appropriate
examination by the Civil Service Commission and his eligibility shall
have been certified by said Commission to the head of the Department in
which he is employed.

Approved, August 3, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 9, 1888_.

_The Heads of Departments_:

As a mark of respect to the memory of General Sheridan, the President
directs that the several Executive Departments in the city of Washington
be closed and all public business at the national capital suspended on
Saturday, August 11 instant, the day of the funeral.

By direction of the President:

DANIEL S. LAMONT,
  _Private Secretary._



SPECIAL CUSTOMS RULE NO. 1.

In addition to exceptions from examination in the classified customs
service made under Customs Rule II, clause 5, the following special
exceptions are made:

  In the Boston customs district, office of the naval officer: Assistant
  deputy naval officer.


Approved, August 10, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



WAR DEPARTMENT,
  _Washington City, August 14, 1888_.

By direction of the President, Major-General John M. Schofield is
assigned to the command of the Army of the United States.

WM.C. ENDICOTT,
  _Secretary of War._




UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., August 25, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

  SIR: The Commission respectfully submits for your consideration the
  following extract from the minutes of its proceedings of August 23,
  1888:

  "Navy Department, August 23. Harmony, Acting Secretary of the Navy,
  refers, with a request that the examination asked for therein be held at
  the earliest possible moment, a communication of the same date of G.S.
  Dyer, lieutenant, United States Navy, in charge of the Hydrographic
  Office, Navy Department, requesting that Francis A. Lewis, at New York
  City, and Joseph T. McMillan, of San Francisco, may be noncompetitively
  examined for the positions of assistants at the branch hydrographic
  offices at those places, respectively, under General Rule III, paragraph
  2 (_e_), stating that the positions of assistants at those offices
  require men specially fitted by a technical nautical education, and
  therefore such as is only obtained in the Navy, and that the young men
  referred to are recent graduates of the Naval Academy and have been
  honorably discharged from the service.

  "The positions named in this communication, and similar positions at
  other branch hydrographic offices, being regarded as in the classified
  departmental service in the Department of the Navy, and subject to
  examination, and in view of the qualifications required in such
  positions and of the fact that the service is to be rendered at points
  remote from the city of Washington, it is deemed impracticable to fill
  these places by competitive examination. It is therefore ordered that
  they be included among the places to be filled by noncompetitive
  examination under the provision of General Rule III, clause 2
  (_e_), and that the President be asked to approve this order."

  The Commission respectfully requests that you indorse this communication
  with your approval of the action above quoted and return it as the
  authority of the Commission for including the places mentioned among the
  noncompetitive examination places under General Rule III, clause 2
  (_e_).

  Very respectfully,

  A.P. EDGERTON,
  JOHN H. OBERLY,
  CHAS. LYMAN,
  _United States Civil Service Commissioners._


Approved:

GROVER CLEVELAND.



UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., October 17, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

  SIR: This Commission has been informed by the Treasury Department
  that an additional teller has been authorized to be appointed at the
  custom-house in the city of New York, and that his immediate employment
  is desired.

  This position is not one excepted from examination by Customs Rule II,
  clause 5, but the collector thinks, in view of its fiduciary character,
  that it ought to be filled by noncompetitive instead of by competitive
  examination, and in this view the Commission concurs. It is therefore
  respectfully recommended that a noncompetitive examination for the
  purpose be authorized under subdivision (_e_) of clause 2 of
  General Rule III, Revised Civil-Service Rules.

  I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

  CHAS. LYMAN,
  _Commissioner, in Charge._


Approved, October 17, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., October 31, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

  SIR: Approval of the following order for noncompetitive examinations
  under the provisions of General Rule III, section 2, clause (_e_),
  of Revised Civil-Service Rules, is respectfully recommended:

  _Ordered_, That noncompetitive examinations to test fitness for the
  following-designated places in the classified customs service are hereby
  authorized:

  1. In the customs district of New York, collector's office: The tellers
  employed in the cashier's office; three stenographers employed under the
  immediate supervision of the collector.

  2. In the customs district of San Francisco: Chinese interpreter.

  I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

  CHAS. LYMAN,
  _Commissioner, in Charge._


Approved, November 1, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., October, 3 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: Approval of the following order for noncompetitive examinations
under the provisions of General Rule III, section 2, clause (_e_),
of Revised Civil-Service Rules, is respectfully recommended:

_Ordered_, That noncompetitive examinations to test fitness for the
following-designated places in the classified departmental service are
hereby authorized:

1. In the Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, permanent
force: Assistant photographers.

2. In the Department of Labor: Special agents.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

CHAS. LYMAN,
  _Commissioner, in Charge._

Approved, November 1, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



Clause (_e_) of section 2 of General Rule III is amended by adding
thereto the following, and as thus amended is hereby promulgated:

  But no person appointed to such a place upon noncompetitive examination
  shall within one year after appointment be transferred or appointed to
  any place not excepted from examination; but after having served in such
  noncompetitive place not less than one year he may be transferred or
  appointed in the bureau or office in which he is serving to a place not
  excepted from examination upon the certificate of the Commission or the
  proper board of examiners that he has passed an examination to test
  fitness for the place to which his transfer or appointment is proposed.


Approved, November 1, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



SPECIAL DEPARTMENTAL RULE NO. I.

So much of Special Departmental Rule No. 1, approved July 2, 1888, as
applies to-the Department of Agriculture is hereby amended and
promulgated as follows:

  7. In the Department of Agriculture:

  In the office of the Commissioner: Private secretary to the chief clerk,
  superintendent of grounds, and assistant chief of each of the following
  divisions: Of botany, of chemistry, of entomology, of forestry, and of
  statistics, and the director of experiment stations and the assistant
  director.

  In the Bureau of Animal Industry: Chief of the Bureau, assistant chief,
  private secretary to the chief, and chief clerk.


Approved, November 1, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



SPECIAL CUSTOMS RULE NO. I.

Special Customs Rule No. 1, specially excepting from examination certain
places in the customs service, is hereby amended by including among
those places the following:

  At the port of New York, office of the collector: Bookbinder.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 1, 1888_.

The foregoing amendment is hereby approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



Departmental Rule VII is hereby amended by inserting at the end of the
first sentence of section 1 the following:

  _Provided_, That no certification shall be made from the clerk or any
  supplementary register to any Department to which promotion regulations
  have been applied under General Rule III, section 6, to fill a vacancy
  above the grade of class 1.


So that as amended the first paragraph of section 1 will read:

  1. Vacancies in the classified departmental service, unless among the
  places excepted from examination, if not filled by either promotion or
  transfer, shall be filled in the following manner: _Provided_, That
  no certification shall be made from the clerk or any supplementary
  register to any Department to which promotion regulations have been
  applied under General Rule III, section 6, to fill a vacancy above the
  grade of class 1.


Approved and promulgated.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _November 1, 1888_.

The foregoing amendment is hereby approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



The following amendments to departmental rules are hereby made and
promulgated:

To Departmental Rule IV: After the word "service," in section 1 of said
rule, insert the following:

  _Provided_, That any person may apply for the position of printer's
  assistant in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing who is not under 18
  nor over 35 years of age.


And after the word "for," in the same section, strike out the words
"which purpose" and insert in lieu thereof the words "such application,"
so that as amended section 1 will read:

  1. Any person not under 20 years of age may make application for
  admission to the classified departmental service: _Provided_, That
  any person may apply for the position of printer's assistant in the
  Bureau of Engraving and Printing who is not under 18 nor over 35 years
  of age; and blank forms for such application shall be furnished by the
  Commission.


To Departmental Rule VI: After the word "examination," where it first
occurs in section 5 of said rule, insert the words "or an examination
for printer's assistant in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing." After
the word "which" strike out the words "supplementary or special," where
they last occur in said section, and insert in lieu thereof "the," so
that as amended section 5 will read:

  5. But the names of all competitors who have passed a supplementary or a
  special examination, or an examination for printer's assistant in the
  Bureau of Engraving and Printing, shall be entered, without regard to
  State residence, upon the register of persons eligible to the class or
  place to test fitness for which the examination was held.


To Departmental Rule VII: After the word "or," in the second paragraph
of section 3 of said rule, strike out the article "a," and after the
word "register" in said paragraph insert the words "or the
printer's-assistant register," so that as amended said second paragraph
of section 3 will read:

  When certification is made from a supplementary or special register, or
  the printer's-assistant register, and there are more vacancies than one
  to be filled, the appointing officer may select from the three names
  certified more than one.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 5, 1888_.

The foregoing amendments are hereby approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., October 31, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: The order heretofore approved by you authorizing noncompetitive
examinations under General Rule III, section 2, clause (_e_), to
test fitness for certain designated places in the classified
departmental service, included among such places the following:

In the office of the Treasurer of the United States, seventeen clerks
employed as expert money tellers.

The attempts thus far made to make appointments to these places under
this order have fully satisfied the Commission and the Treasury
Department of the impracticability of this method of procedure, not
because of any difficulty of applying suitable tests to determine the
expertness required, but because there are really no experts to be
tested. The duties of these positions can not be learned elsewhere than
in the positions themselves, and therefore the only experts are those
now occupying them and the very few who have left them for one cause or
another, but who are not seeking to return. Therefore, since experts are
not available, and persons will have to be appointed who must learn the
duties of the positions in the actual performance of those duties, there
would seem to be no good reason why such persons should not be selected
from the eligible registers of this Commission, which are at all times
abundantly supplied with the names of persons who are both competent and
worthy. And besides, so long as these tempting places are in the
noncompetitive list, the Department will be subjected to solicitation
and pressure concerning them which it would rather avoid.

In view of these considerations it is respectfully recommended that you
approve the revocation of so much of the order above referred to as
provides for the appointment upon noncompetitive examination of
seventeen clerks in the office of the Treasurer of the United States
employed as expert money tellers.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

CHAS. LYMAN,
  _Commissioner in Charge_.

Approved, November 13, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.


WASHINGTON, _December 3, 1888_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

As you assemble for the discharge of the duties you have assumed as the
representatives of a free and generous people, your meeting is marked
by an interesting and impressive incident. With the expiration of the
present session of the Congress the first century of our constitutional
existence as a nation will be completed.

Our survival for one hundred years is not sufficient to assure us that
we no longer have dangers to fear in the maintenance, with all its
promised blessings, of a government founded upon the freedom of the
people. The time rather admonishes us to soberly inquire whether in the
past we have always closely kept in the course of safety, and whether we
have before us a way plain and clear which leads to happiness and
perpetuity.

When the experiment of our Government was undertaken, the chart adopted
for our guidance was the Constitution. Departure from the lines there
laid down is failure. It is only by a strict adherence to the direction
they indicate and by restraint within the limitations they fix that we
can furnish proof to the world of the fitness of the American people for
self-government.

The equal and exact justice of which we boast as the underlying
principle of our institutions should not be confined to the relations of
our citizens to each other. The Government itself is under bond to the
American people that in the exercise of its functions and powers it will
deal with the body of our citizens in a manner scrupulously honest and
fair and absolutely just. It has agreed that American citizenship shall
be the only credential necessary to justify the claim of equality before
the law, and that no condition in life shall give rise to discrimination
in the treatment of the people by their Government.

The citizen of our Republic in its early days rigidly insisted upon full
compliance with the letter of this bond, and saw stretching out before
him a clear field for individual endeavor. His tribute to the support of
his Government was measured by the cost of its economical maintenance,
and he was secure in the enjoyment of the remaining recompense of his
steady and contented toil. In those days the frugality of the people was
stamped upon their Government, and was enforced by the free, thoughtful,
and intelligent suffrage of the citizen. Combinations, monopolies, and
aggregations of capital were either avoided or sternly regulated and
restrained. The pomp and glitter of governments less free offered no
temptation and presented no delusion to the plain people who, side by
side, in friendly competition, wrought for the ennoblement and dignity
of man, for the solution of the problem of free government, and for the
achievement of the grand destiny awaiting the land which God had given
them.

A century has passed. Our cities are the abiding places of wealth and
luxury; our manufactories yield fortunes never dreamed of by the fathers
of the Republic; our business men are madly striving in the race for
riches, and immense aggregations of capital outrun the imagination in
the magnitude of their undertakings.

We view with pride and satisfaction this bright picture of our country's
growth and prosperity, while only a closer scrutiny develops a somber
shading. Upon more careful inspection we find the wealth and luxury of
our cities mingled with poverty and wretchedness and unremunerative
toil. A crowded and constantly increasing urban population suggests the
impoverishment of rural sections and discontent with agricultural
pursuits. The farmer's son, not satisfied with his father's simple and
laborious life, joins the eager chase for easily acquired wealth.

We discover that the fortunes realized by our manufacturers are no
longer solely the reward of sturdy industry and enlightened foresight,
but that they result from the discriminating favor of the Government and
are largely built upon undue exactions from the masses of our people.
The gulf between employers and the employed is constantly widening, and
classes are rapidly forming, one comprising the very rich and powerful,
while in another are found the toiling poor.

As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the
existence of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is
struggling far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel.
Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the
law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's
masters.

Still congratulating ourselves upon the wealth and prosperity of our
country and complacently contemplating every incident of change
inseparable from these conditions, it is our duty as patriotic citizens
to inquire at the present stage of our progress how the bond of the
Government made with the people has been kept and performed.

Instead of limiting the tribute drawn from our citizens to the
necessities of its economical administration, the Government persists in
exacting from the substance of the people millions which, unapplied and
useless, lie dormant in its Treasury. This flagrant injustice and this
breach of faith and obligation add to extortion the danger attending the
diversion of the currency of the country from the legitimate channels of
business.

Under the same laws by which these results are produced the Government
permits many millions more to be added to the cost of the living of our
people and to be taken from our consumers, which unreasonably swell the
profits of a small but powerful minority.

The people must still be taxed for the support of the Government under
the operation of tariff laws. But to the extent that the mass of out
citizens are inordinately burdened beyond any useful public purpose and
for the benefit of a favored few, the Government, under pretext of an
exercise of its taxing power, enters gratuitously into partnership with
these favorites, to their advantage and to the injury of a vast majority
of our people.

This is not equality before the law.

The existing situation is injurious to the health of our entire body
politic. It stifles in those for whose benefit it is permitted all
patriotic love of country, and substitutes in its place selfish greed
and grasping avarice. Devotion to American citizenship for its own sake
and for what it should accomplish as a motive to our nation's
advancement and the happiness of all our people is displaced by the
assumption that the Government, instead of being the embodiment of
equality, is but an instrumentality through which especial and
individual advantages are to be gained.

The arrogance of this assumption is unconcealed. It appears in the
sordid disregard of all but personal interests, in the refusal to abate
for the benefit of others one iota of selfish advantage, and in
combinations to perpetuate such advantages through efforts to control
legislation and improperly influence the suffrages of the people.

The grievances of those not included within the circle of these
beneficiaries, when fully realized, will surely arouse irritation and
discontent. Our farmers, long suffering and patient, struggling in the
race of life with the hardest and most unremitting toil, will not fail
to see, in spite of misrepresentations and misleading fallacies, that
they are obliged to accept such prices for their products as are fixed
in foreign markets where they compete with the farmers of the world;
that their lands are declining in value while their debts increase, and
that without compensating favor they are forced by the action of the
Government to pay for the benefit of others such enhanced prices for the
things they need that the scanty returns of their labor fail to furnish
their support or leave no margin for accumulation.

Our workingmen, enfranchised from all delusions and no longer frightened
by the cry that their wages are endangered by a just revision of our
tariff laws, will reasonably demand through such revision steadier
employment, cheaper means of living in their homes, freedom for
themselves and their children from the doom of perpetual servitude, and
an open door to their advancement beyond the limits of a laboring class.
Others of our citizens, whose comforts and expenditures are measured by
moderate salaries and fixed incomes, will insist upon the fairness and
justice of cheapening the cost of necessaries for themselves and their
families.

When to the selfishness of the beneficiaries of unjust discrimination
under our laws there shall be added the discontent of those who suffer
from such discrimination, we will realize the fact that the beneficent
purposes of our Government, dependent upon the patriotism and
contentment of our people, are endangered.

Communism is a hateful thing and a menace to peace and organized
government; but the communism of combined wealth and capital, the
outgrowth of overweening cupidity and selfishness, which insidiously
undermines the justice and integrity of free institutions, is not less
dangerous than the communism of oppressed poverty and toil, which,
exasperated by injustice and discontent, attacks with wild disorder the
citadel of rule.

He mocks the people who proposes that the Government shall protect the
rich and that they in turn will care for the laboring poor. Any
intermediary between the people and their Government or the least
delegation of the care and protection the Government owes to the
humblest citizen in the land makes the boast of free institutions a
glittering delusion and the pretended boon of American citizenship a
shameless imposition.

A just and sensible revision of our tariff laws should be made for the
relief of those of our countrymen who suffer under present conditions.
Such a revision should receive the support of all who love that justice
and equality due to American citizenship; of all who realize that in
this justice and equality our Government finds its strength and its
power to protect the citizen and his property; of all who believe that
the contented competence and comfort of many accord better with the
spirit of our institutions than colossal fortunes unfairly gathered in
the hands of a few; of all who appreciate that the forbearance and
fraternity among our people, which recognize the value of every American
interest, are the surest guaranty of our national progress, and of all
who desire to see the products of American skill and ingenuity in every
market of the world, with a resulting restoration of American commerce.

The necessity of the reduction of our revenues is so apparent as
to be generally conceded, but the means by which this end shall be
accomplished and the sum of direct benefit which shall result to our
citizens present a controversy of the utmost importance. There should be
no scheme accepted as satisfactory by which the burdens of the people
are only apparently removed. Extravagant appropriations of public money,
with all their demoralizing consequences, should not be tolerated,
either as a means of relieving the Treasury of its present surplus or as
furnishing pretext for resisting a proper reduction in tariff rates.
Existing evils and injustice should be honestly recognized, boldly met,
and effectively remedied. There should be no cessation of the struggle
until a plan is perfected, fair and conservative toward existing
industries, but which will reduce the cost to consumers of the
necessaries of life, while it provides for our manufacturers the
advantage of freer raw materials and permits no injury to the interests
of American labor.

The cause for which the battle is waged is comprised within lines
clearly and distinctly defined. It should never be compromised. It is
the people's cause.

It can not be denied-that the selfish and private interests which
are so persistently heard when efforts are made to deal in a just and
comprehensive manner with our tariff laws are related to, if they are
not responsible for, the sentiment largely prevailing among the people
that the General Government is the fountain of individual and private
aid; that it may be expected to relieve with paternal care the distress
of citizens and communities, and that from the fullness of its Treasury
it should, upon the slightest possible pretext of promoting the general
good, apply public funds to the benefit of localities and individuals.
Nor can it be denied that there is a growing assumption that, as against
the Government and in favor of private claims and interests, the usual
rules and limitations of business principles and just dealing should be
waived.

These ideas have been unhappily much encouraged by legislative
acquiescence. Relief from contracts made with the Government is too
easily accorded in favor of the citizen; the failure to support claims
against the Government by proof is often supplied by no better
consideration than the wealth of the Government and the poverty of the
claimant; gratuities in the form of pensions are granted upon no other
real ground than the needy condition of the applicant, or for reasons
less valid; and large sums are expended for public buildings and other
improvements upon representations scarcely claimed to be related to
public needs and necessities.

The extent to which the consideration of such matters subordinate and
postpone action upon subjects of great public importance, but involving
no special private or partisan interest, should arrest attention and
lead to reformation.

A few of the numerous illustrations of this condition may be stated.

The crowded condition of the calendar of the Supreme Court, and the
delay to suitors and denial of justice resulting therefrom, has been
strongly urged upon the attention of the Congress, with a plan for the
relief of the situation approved by those well able to judge of its
merits. While this subject remains without effective consideration, many
laws have been passed providing for the holding of terms of inferior
courts at places to suit the convenience of localities, or to lay the
foundation of an application for the erection of a new public building.

Repeated recommendations have been submitted for the amendment and
change of the laws relating to our public lands so that their spoliation
and diversion to other uses than as homes for honest settlers might be
prevented. While a measure to meet this conceded necessity of reform
remains awaiting the action of the Congress, many claims to the public
lands and applications for their donation, in favor of States and
individuals, have been allowed.

A plan in aid of Indian management, recommended by those well informed
as containing valuable features in furtherance of the solution of the
Indian problem, has thus far failed of legislative sanction, while
grants of doubtful expediency to railroad corporations, permitting them
to pass through Indian reservations, have greatly multiplied.

The propriety and necessity of the erection of one or more prisons for
the confinement of United States convicts, and a post-office building in
the national capital, are not disputed. But these needs yet remain
unanswered, while scores of public buildings have been erected where
their necessity for public purposes is not apparent.

A revision of our pension laws could easily be made which would rest
upon just principles and provide for every worthy applicant. But while
our general pension laws remain confused and imperfect, hundreds of
private pension laws are annually passed, which are the sources of
unjust discrimination and popular demoralization.

Appropriation bills for the support of the Government are defaced by
items and provisions to meet private ends, and it is freely asserted by
responsible and experienced parties that a bill appropriating money for
public internal improvement would fail to meet with favor unless it
contained items more for local and private advantage than for public
benefit.

These statements can be much emphasized by an ascertainment of the
proportion of Federal legislation which either bears upon its face its
private character or which upon examination develops such a motive
power.

And yet the people wait and expect from their chosen representatives
such patriotic action as will advance the welfare of the entire country;
and this expectation can only be answered by the performance of public
duty with unselfish purpose. Our mission among the nations of the earth
and our success in accomplishing the work God has given the American
people to do require of those intrusted with the making and execution of
our laws perfect devotion, above all other things, to the public good.

This devotion will lead us to strongly resist all impatience of
constitutional limitations of Federal power and to persistently check
the increasing tendency to extend the scope of Federal legislation into
the domain of State and local jurisdiction upon the plea of subserving
the public welfare. The preservation of the partitions between proper
subjects of Federal and local care and regulation is of such importance
under the Constitution, which is the law of our very existence, that no
consideration of expediency or sentiment should tempt us to enter upon
doubtful ground. We have undertaken to discover and proclaim the richest
blessings of a free government, with the Constitution as our guide. Let
us follow the way it points out; it will not mislead us. And surely no
one who has taken upon himself the solemn obligation to support and
preserve the Constitution can find justification or solace for
disloyalty in the excuse that he wandered and disobeyed in search of a
better way to reach the public welfare than the Constitution offers.

What has been said is deemed not inappropriate at a time when, from a
century's height, we view the way already trod by the American people
and attempt to discover their future path.

The seventh President of the United States--the soldier and statesman
and at all times the firm and brave friend of the people--in vindication
of his course as the protector of popular rights and the champion of
true American citizenship, declared:

  The ambition which leads me on is an anxious desire and a fixed
  determination to restore to the people unimpaired the sacred trust they
  have confided to my charge; to heal the wounds of the Constitution and
  to preserve it from further violation; to persuade my countrymen, so far
  as I may, that it is not in a splendid government supported by powerful
  monopolies and aristocratical establishments that they will find
  happiness or their liberties protection, but in a plain system, void of
  pomp, protecting all and granting favors to none, dispensing its
  blessings like the dews of heaven, unseen and unfelt save in the
  freshness and beauty they contribute to produce. It is such a government
  that the genius of our people requires--such an one only under which our
  States may remain for ages to come united, prosperous, and free.


In pursuance of a constitutional provision requiring the President from
time to time to give to the Congress information of the state of the
Union, I have the satisfaction to announce that the close of the year
finds the United States in the enjoyment of domestic tranquillity and at
peace with all the nations.

Since my last annual message our foreign relations have been
strengthened and improved by performance of international good offices
and by new and renewed treaties of amity, commerce, and reciprocal
extradition of criminals.

Those international questions which still await settlement are all
reasonably within the domain of amicable negotiation, and there is no
existing subject of dispute between the United States and any foreign
power that is not susceptible of satisfactory adjustment by frank
diplomatic treatment.

The questions between Great Britain and the United States relating to
the rights of American fishermen, under treaty and international comity,
in the territorial waters of Canada and Newfoundland, I regret to say,
are not yet satisfactorily adjusted.

These matters were fully treated in my message to the Senate of February
20, 1888,[19] together with which a convention, concluded under my
authority with Her Majesty's Government on the 15th of February last,
for the removal of all causes of misunderstanding, was submitted by me
for the approval of the Senate.

This treaty having been rejected by the Senate, I transmitted a message
to the Congress on the 23d of August last[20] reviewing the transactions
and submitting for consideration certain recommendations for legislation
concerning the important questions involved.

Afterwards, on the 12th of September,[21] in response to a resolution
of the Senate, I again communicated fully all the information in my
possession as to the action of the government of Canada affecting the
commercial relations between the Dominion and the United States,
including the treatment of American fishing vessels in the ports and
waters of British North America.

These communications have all been published, and therefore opened to
the knowledge of both Houses of Congress, although two were addressed to
the Senate alone.

Comment upon or repetition of their contents would be superfluous, and I
am not aware that anything has since occurred which should be added to
the facts therein stated. Therefore I merely repeat, as applicable to
the present time, the statement which will be found in my message to the
Senate of September 12 last, that--

  Since March 3, 1887, no case has been reported to the Department of
  State wherein complaint was made of unfriendly or unlawful treatment of
  American fishing vessels on the part of the Canadian authorities in
  which reparation was not promptly and satisfactorily obtained by the
  United States consul-general at Halifax.


Having essayed in the discharge of my duty to procure by negotiation the
settlement of a long-standing cause of dispute and to remove a constant
menace to the good relations of the two countries, and continuing to be
of opinion that the treaty of February last, which failed to receive the
approval of the Senate, did supply "a satisfactory, practical, and final
adjustment, upon a basis honorable and just to both parties, of the
difficult and vexed question to which it related," and having
subsequently and unavailingly recommended other legislation to Congress
which I hoped would suffice to meet the exigency created by the
rejection of the treaty, I now again invoke the earnest and immediate
attention of the Congress to the condition of this important question as
it now stands before them and the country, and for the settlement of
which I am deeply solicitous.

Near the close of the month of October last occurrences of a deeply
regrettable nature were brought to my knowledge, which made it my
painful but imperative duty to obtain with as little delay as possible a
new personal channel of diplomatic intercourse in this country with the
Government of Great Britain.

The correspondence in relation to this incident will in due course be
laid before you, and will disclose the unpardonable conduct of the
official referred to in his interference by advice and counsel with the
suffrages of American citizens in the very crisis of the Presidential
election then near at hand, and also in his subsequent public
declarations to justify his action, superadding impugnment of the
Executive and Senate of the United States in connection with important
questions now pending in controversy between the two Governments.

The offense thus committed was most grave, involving disastrous
possibilities to the good relations of the United States and Great
Britain, constituting a gross breach of diplomatic privilege and an
invasion of the purely domestic affairs and essential sovereignty of the
Government to which the envoy was accredited.

Having first fulfilled the just demands of international comity by
affording full opportunity for Her Majesty's Government to act in relief
of the situation, I considered prolongation of discussion to be
unwarranted, and thereupon declined to further recognize the diplomatic
character of the person whose continuance in such function would destroy
that mutual confidence which is essential to the good understanding of
the two Governments and was inconsistent with the welfare and
self-respect of the Government of the United States.

The usual interchange of communication has since continued through Her
Majesty's legation in this city.

My endeavors to establish by international cooperation measures for the
prevention of the extermination of fur seals in Bering Sea have not
been relaxed, and I have hopes of being enabled shortly to submit an
effective and satisfactory conventional project with the maritime powers
for the approval of the Senate.

The coastal boundary between our Alaskan possessions and British
Columbia, I regret to say, has not received the attention demanded by
its importance, and which on several occasions heretofore I have had the
honor to recommend to the Congress.

The admitted impracticability, if not impossibility, of making an
accurate and precise survey and demarcation of the boundary line as it
is recited in the treaty with Russia under which Alaska was ceded to the
United States renders it absolutely requisite for the prevention of
international jurisdictional complications that adequate appropriation
for a reconnoissance and survey to obtain proper knowledge of the
locality and the geographical features of the boundary should be
authorized by Congress with as little delay as possible.

Knowledge to be only thus obtained is an essential prerequisite for
negotiation for ascertaining a common boundary, or as preliminary to any
other mode of settlement.

It is much to be desired that some agreement should be reached with Her
Majesty's Government by which the damages to life and property on the
Great Lakes may be alleviated by removing or humanely regulating the
obstacles to reciprocal assistance to wrecked or stranded vessels.

The act of June 19, 1878, which offers to Canadian vessels free access
to our inland waters in aid of wrecked or disabled vessels, has not yet
become effective through concurrent action by Canada.

The due protection of our citizens of French origin or descent from
claim of military service in the event of their returning to or visiting
France has called forth correspondence which was laid before you at the
last session.

In the absence of conventional agreement as to naturalization, which is
greatly to be desired, this Government sees no occasion to recede from
the sound position it has maintained not only with regard to France, but
as to all countries with which the United States have not concluded
special treaties.

Twice within the last year has the imperial household of Germany been
visited by death; and I have hastened to express the sorrow of this
people, and their appreciation of the lofty character of the late aged
Emperor William, and their sympathy with the heroism under suffering of
his son the late Emperor Frederick.

I renew my recommendation of two years ago for the passage of a bill for
the refunding to certain German steamship lines of the interest upon
tonnage dues illegally exacted.

On the 12th [2d] of April last[22] I laid before the House of
Representatives full information respecting our interests in Samoa; and
in the subsequent correspondence on the same subject, which will be laid
before you in due course, the history of events in those islands will be
found.

In a message accompanying my approval, on the 1st day of October last,
of a bill for the exclusion of Chinese laborers, I laid before Congress
full information and all correspondence touching the negotiation of the
treaty with China concluded at this capital on the 12th day of March,
1888, and which, having been confirmed by the Senate with certain
amendments, was rejected by the Chinese Government. This message
contained a recommendation that a sum of money be appropriated as
compensation to Chinese subjects who had suffered injuries at the hands
of lawless men within our jurisdiction. Such appropriation having been
duly made, the fund awaits reception by the Chinese Government.

It is sincerely hoped that by the cessation of the influx of this class
of Chinese subjects, in accordance with the expressed wish of both
Governments, a cause of unkind feeling has been permanently removed.

On the 9th of August, 1887, notification was given by the Japanese
minister at this capital of the adjournment of the conference for the
revision of the treaties of Japan with foreign powers, owing to the
objection of his Government to the provision in the draft jurisdictional
convention which required the submission of the criminal code of the
Empire to the powers in advance of its becoming operative. This
notification was, however, accompanied with an assurance of Japan's
intention to continue the work of revision.

Notwithstanding this temporary interruption of negotiations, it is hoped
that improvements may soon be secured in the jurisdictional system as
respects foreigners in Japan, and relief afforded to that country from
the present undue and oppressive foreign control in matters of commerce.

I earnestly recommend that relief be provided for the injuries
accidentally caused to Japanese subjects in the island Ikisima by the
target practice of one of our vessels.

A diplomatic mission from Korea has been received, and the formal
intercourse between the two countries contemplated by the treaty of 1882
is now established.

Legislative provision is hereby recommended to organize and equip
consular courts in Korea.

Persia has established diplomatic representation at this capital, and
has evinced very great interest in the enterprise and achievements of
our citizens. I am therefore hopeful that beneficial commercial
relations between the two countries may be brought about.

I announce with sincere regret that Hayti has again become the theater
of insurrection, disorder, and bloodshed. The titular government of
President Saloman has been forcibly overthrown and he driven out of the
country to France, where he has since died.

The tenure of power has been so unstable amid the war of factions that
has ensued since the expulsion of President Saloman that no government
constituted by the will of the Haytian people has been recognized as
administering responsibly the affairs of that country. Our
representative has been instructed to abstain from interference between
the warring factions, and a vessel of our Navy has been sent to Haytian
waters to sustain our minister and for the protection of the persons and
property of American citizens.

Due precautions have been taken to enforce our neutrality laws and
prevent our territory from becoming the base of military supplies for
either of the warring factions.

Under color of a blockade, of which no reasonable notice had been given,
and which does not appear to have been efficiently maintained, a seizure
of vessels under the American flag has been reported, and in consequence
measures to prevent and redress any molestation of our innocent
merchantmen have been adopted.

Proclamation was duly made on the 9th day of November, 1887, of the
conventional extensions of the treaty of June 3, 1875, with Hawaii,
under which relations of such special and beneficent intercourse have
been created.

In the vast field of Oriental commerce now unfolded from our Pacific
borders no feature presents stronger recommendations for Congressional
action than the establishment of communication by submarine telegraph
with Honolulu.

The geographical position of the Hawaiian group in relation to our
Pacific States creates a natural interdependency and mutuality of
interest which our present treaties were intended to foster, and which
make close communication a logical and commercial necessity.

The wisdom of concluding a treaty of commercial reciprocity with Mexico
has been heretofore stated in my messages to Congress, and the lapse of
time and growth of commerce with that close neighbor and sister Republic
confirm the judgment so expressed.

The precise relocation of our boundary line is needful, and adequate
appropriation is now recommended.

It is with sincere satisfaction that I am enabled to advert to the
spirit of good neighborhood and friendly cooperation and conciliation
that has marked the correspondence and action of the Mexican authorities
in their share of the task of maintaining law and order about the line
of our common boundary.

The long-pending boundary dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua was
referred to my arbitration, and by an award made on the 22d of March
last the question has been finally settled to the expressed satisfaction
of both of the parties in interest.

The Empire of Brazil, in abolishing the last vestige of slavery among
Christian nations, called forth the earnest congratulations of this
Government in expression of the cordial sympathies of our people.

The claims of nearly all other countries against Chile growing out of
her late war with Bolivia and Peru have been disposed of, either by
arbitration or by a lump settlement. Similar claims of our citizens will
continue to be urged upon the Chilean Government, and it is hoped will
not be subject to further delays.

A comprehensive treaty of amity and commerce with Peru was proclaimed on
November 7 last, and it is expected that under its operation mutual
prosperity and good understanding will be promoted.

In pursuance of the policy of arbitration, a treaty to settle the claim
of Santos, an American citizen, against Ecuador has been concluded under
my authority, and will be duly submitted for the approval of the Senate.

Like disposition of the claim of Carlos Butterfield against Denmark and
of Van Bokkelen against Hayti will probably be made, and I trust the
principle of such settlements may be extended in practice under the
approval of the Senate.

Through unforeseen causes, foreign to the will of both Governments, the
ratification of the convention of December 5, 1885, with Venezuela, for
the rehearing of claims of citizens of the United States under the
treaty of 1866, failed of exchange within the term provided, and a
supplementary convention, further extending the time for exchange of
ratifications and explanatory of an ambiguous provision of the prior
convention, now awaits the advice and consent of the Senate.

Although this matter, in the stage referred to, concerns only the
concurrent treaty-making power of one branch of Congress, I advert to it
in view of the interest repeatedly and conspicuously shown by you in
your legislative capacity in favor of a speedy and equitable adjustment
of the questions growing out of the discredited judgments of the
previous mixed commission of Caracas. With every desire to do justice to
the representations of Venezuela in this regard, the time seems to have
come to end this matter, and I trust the prompt confirmation by both
parties of the supplementary action referred to will avert the need of
legislative or other action to prevent the longer withholding of such
rights of actual claimants as may be shown to exist.

As authorized by the Congress, preliminary steps have been taken for the
assemblage at this capital during the coming year of the representatives
of South and Central American States, together with those of Mexico,
Hayti, and San Domingo, to discuss sundry important monetary and
commercial topics.

Excepting in those cases where, from reasons of contiguity of territory
and the existence of a common border line incapable of being guarded,
reciprocal commercial treaties may be found expedient, it is believed
that commercial policies inducing freer mutual exchange of products can
be most advantageously arranged by independent but cooperative
legislation.

In the mode last mentioned the control of our taxation for revenue will
be always retained in our own hands unrestricted by conventional
agreements with other governments.

In conformity also with Congressional authority, the maritime powers
have been invited to confer in Washington in April next upon the
practicability of devising uniform rules and measures for the greater
security of life and property at sea. A disposition to accept on the
part of a number of the powers has already been manifested, and if the
cooperation of the nations chiefly interested shall be secured important
results may be confidently anticipated.

The act of June 26, 1884, and the acts amendatory thereof, in relation
to tonnage duties, have given rise to extended correspondence with
foreign nations with whom we have existing treaties of navigation and
commerce, and have caused wide and regrettable divergence of opinion in
relation to the imposition of the duties referred to. These questions
are important, and I shall make them the subject of a special and more
detailed communication at the present session.

With the rapid increase of immigration to our shores and the facilities
of modern travel, abuses of the generous privileges afforded by our
naturalization laws call for their careful revision.

The easy and unguarded manner in which certificates of American
citizenship can now be obtained has induced a class, unfortunately
large, to avail themselves of the opportunity to become absolved from
allegiance to their native land, and yet by a foreign residence to
escape any just duty and contribution of service to the country of their
proposed adoption. Thus, while evading the duties of citizenship to the
United States, they may make prompt claim for its national protection
and demand its intervention in their behalf. International complications
of a serious nature arise, and the correspondence of the State
Department discloses the great number and complexity of the questions
which have been raised.

Our laws regulating the issue of passports should be carefully revised,
and the institution of a central bureau of registration at the capital
is again strongly recommended. By this means full particulars of each
case of naturalization in the United States would be secured and
properly indexed and recorded, and thus many cases of spurious
citizenship would be detected and unjust responsibilities would be
avoided.

The reorganization of the consular service is a matter of serious
importance to our national interests. The number of existing principal
consular offices is believed to be greater than is at all necessary
for the conduct of the public business. It need not be our policy
to maintain more than a moderate number of principal offices, each
supported by a salary sufficient to enable the incumbent to live in
comfort, and so distributed as to secure the convenient supervision,
through subordinate agencies, of affairs over a considerable district.

I repeat the recommendations heretofore made by me that the
appropriations for the maintenance of our diplomatic and consular
service should be recast; that the so-called notarial or unofficial
fees, which our representatives abroad are now permitted to treat as
personal perquisites, should be forbidden; that a system of consular
inspection should be instituted, and that a limited number of
secretaries of legation at large should be authorized.

Preparations for the centennial celebration, on April 30, 1889, of the
inauguration of George Washington as President of the United States, at
the city of New York, have been made by a voluntary organization of the
citizens of that locality, and believing that an opportunity should be
afforded for the expression of the interest felt throughout the country
in this event, I respectfully recommend fitting and cooperative action
by Congress on behalf of the people of the United States.

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury exhibits in detail the
condition of our national finances and the operations of the several
branches of the Government related to his Department.

The total ordinary revenues of the Government for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1888, amounted to $379,266,074.76, of which $219,091,173.63 was
received from customs duties and $124,296,871.98 from internal-revenue
taxes.

The total receipts from all sources exceeded those for the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1887, by $7,862,797.10.

The ordinary expenditures of the Government for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1888, were $259,653,958.67, leaving a surplus of
$119,612,116.09.

The decrease in these expenditures as compared with the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1887, was $8,278,221.30, notwithstanding the payment of
more than $5,000,000 for pensions in excess of what was paid for that
purpose in the latter-mentioned year.

The revenues of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1889,
ascertained for the quarter ended September 30, 1888, and estimated for
the remainder of the time, amount to $377,000,000, and the actual and
estimated ordinary expenditures for the same year are $273,000,000,
leaving an estimated surplus of $104,000,000.

The estimated receipts for the year ending June 30, 1890, are
$377,000,000, and the estimated ordinary expenditures for the same time
are $275,767,488.34, showing a surplus of $101,232,511.66.

The foregoing statements of surplus do not take into account the sum
necessary to be expended to meet the requirements of the sinking-fund
act, amounting to more than $47,000,000 annually.

The cost of collecting the customs revenues for the last fiscal year was
2.44 per cent; for the year 1885 it was 3.77 per cent.

The excess of internal-revenue taxes collected during the last fiscal
year over those collected for the year ended June 30, 1887, was
$5,489,174.26, and the cost of collecting this revenue decreased from
3.4 per cent in 1887 to less than 3.2 per cent for the last year. The
tax collected on oleomargarine was $723,948.04 for the year ending June
30, 1887, and $864,139.88 for the following year.

The requirements of the sinking-fund act have been met for the year
ended June 30, 1888, and for the current year also, by the purchase of
bonds. After complying with this law as positively required, and bonds
sufficient for that purpose had been bought at a premium, it was not
deemed prudent to further expend the surplus in such purchases until
the authority to do so should be more explicit. A resolution, however,
having been passed by both Houses of Congress removing all doubt as to
Executive authority, daily purchases of bonds were commenced on the 23d
day of April, 1888, and have continued until the present time. By this
plan bonds of the Government not yet due have been purchased up to and
including the 30th day of November, 1888, amounting to $94,700,400, the
premium paid thereon amounting to $17,508,613.08.

The premium added to the principal of these bonds represents an
investment yielding about 2 per cent interest for the time they still
had to run, and the saving to the Government represented by the
difference between the amount of interest at 2 per cent upon the sum
paid for principal and premium and what it would have paid for interest
at the rate specified in the bonds if they had run to their maturity is
about $27,165,000.

At first sight this would seem to be a profitable and sensible
transaction on the part of the Government, but, as suggested by the
Secretary of the Treasury, the surplus thus expended for the purchase of
bonds was money drawn from the people in excess of any actual need of
the Government and was so expended rather than allow it to remain idle
in the Treasury. If this surplus, under the operation of just and
equitable laws, had been left in the hands of the people, it would have
been worth in their business at least 6 per cent per annum. Deducting
from the amount of interest upon the principal and premium of these
bonds for the time they had to run at the rate of 6 per cent the saving
of 2 per cent made for the people by the purchase of such bonds, the
loss will appear to be $55,760,000.

This calculation would seem to demonstrate that if excessive and
unnecessary taxation is continued and the Government is forced to pursue
this policy of purchasing its own bonds at the premiums which it will be
necessary to pay, the loss to the people will be hundreds of millions of
dollars.

Since the purchase of bonds was undertaken as mentioned nearly all that
have been offered were at last accepted. It has been made quite apparent
that the Government was in danger of being subjected to combinations to
raise their price, as appears by the instance cited by the Secretary of
the offering of bonds of the par value of only $326,000 so often that
the aggregate of the sums demanded for their purchase amounted to more
than $19,700,000.

Notwithstanding the large sums paid out in the purchase of bonds,
the surplus in the Treasury on the 30th day of November, 1888, was
$52,234,610.01, after deducting about $20,000,000 just drawn out for
the payment of pensions.

At the close of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1887, there had been
coined under the compulsory silver-coinage act $266,988,280 in silver
dollars, $55,504,310 of which were in the hands of the people.

On the 30th day of June, 1888, there had been coined $299,708,790; and
of this $55,829,303 was in circulation in coin, and $200,387,376 in
silver certificates, for the redemption of which silver dollars to that
amount were held by the Government.

On the 30th day of November, 1888, $312,570,990 had been coined,
$60,970,990 of the silver dollars were actually in circulation, and
$237,418,346 in certificates.

The Secretary recommends the suspension of the further coinage of
silver, and in such recommendation I earnestly concur.

For further valuable information and timely recommendations I ask the
careful attention of the Congress to the Secretary's report.

The Secretary of War reports that the Army at the date of the last
consolidated returns consisted of 2,189 officers and 24,549 enlisted
men.

The actual expenditures of the War Department for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1888, amounted to $41,165,107.07, of which sum $9,158,516.63
was expended for public works, including river and harbor improvements.

"The Board of Ordnance and Fortifications" provided for under the act
approved September 22 last was convened October 30, 1888, and plans and
specifications for procuring forgings for 8, 10, and 12 inch guns, under
provisions of section 4, and also for procuring 12-inch breech-loading
mortars, cast iron, hooped with steel, under the provisions of section 5
of the said act, were submitted to the Secretary of War for reference to
the board, by the Ordnance Department, on the same date.

These plans and specifications having been promptly approved by the
board and the Secretary of War, the necessary authority to publish
advertisements inviting proposals in the newspapers throughout the
country was granted by the Secretary on November 12, and on November 13
the advertisements were sent out to the different newspapers designated,
The bids for the steel forgings are to be opened on December 20, 1888,
and for the mortars on December 15, 1888.

A board of ordnance officers was convened at the Watervliet Arsenal on
October 4, 1888, to prepare the necessary plans and specifications for
the establishment of an army gun factory at that point. The preliminary
report of this board, with estimates for shop buildings and officers'
quarters, was approved by the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications
November 6 and 8. The specifications and form of advertisement and
instructions to bidders have been prepared, and advertisements inviting
proposals for the excavations for the shop building and for erecting
the two sets of officers' quarters have been published. The detailed
drawings and specifications for the gun-factory building are well in
hand, and will be finished within three or four months, when bids will
be invited for the erection of the building. The list of machines, etc.,
is made out, and it is expected that the plans for the large lathes,
etc., will be completed within about four months, and after approval by
the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications bids for furnishing the same
will be invited. The machines and other fixtures will be completed as
soon as the shop is in readiness to receive them, probably about July,
1890.

Under the provisions of the Army bill for the procurement of pneumatic
dynamite guns, the necessary specifications are now being prepared, and
advertisements for proposals will issue early in December. The guns will
probably be of 15 inches caliber and fire a projectile that will carry a
charge each of about 500 pounds of explosive gelatine with full-caliber
projectiles. The guns will probably be delivered in from six to ten
months from the date of the contract, so that all the guns of this class
that can be procured under the provisions of the law will be purchased
during the year 1889.

I earnestly request that the recommendations contained in the
Secretary's report, all of which are, in my opinion, calculated to
increase the usefulness and discipline of the Army, may receive the
consideration of the Congress. Among these the proposal that there
should be provided a plan for the examination of officers to test their
fitness for promotion is of the utmost importance. This reform has been
before recommended in the reports of the Secretary, and its expediency
is so fully demonstrated by the argument he presents in its favor that
its adoption should no longer be neglected.

The death of General Sheridan in August last was a national affliction.
The Army then lost the grandest of its chiefs. The country lost a brave
and experienced soldier, a wise and discreet counselor, and a modest and
sensible man. Those who in any manner came within the range of his
personal association will never fail to pay deserved and willing homage
to his greatness and the glory of his career, but they will cherish with
more tender sensibility the loving memory of his simple, generous, and
considerate nature.

The Apache Indians, whose removal from their reservation in Arizona
followed the capture of those of their number who engaged in a bloody
and murderous raid during a part of the years 1885 and 1886, are now
held as prisoners of war at Mount Vernon Barracks, in the State of
Alabama. They numbered on the 31st day of October, the date of the last
report, 83 men, 170 women, 70 boys, and 59 girls; in all, 382 persons.
The commanding officer states that they are in good health and
contented, and that they are kept employed as fully as is possible in
the circumstances. The children, as they arrive at a suitable age, are
sent to the Indian schools at Carlisle and Hampton.

Last summer some charitable and kind people asked permission to send two
teachers to these Indians for the purpose of instructing the adults as
well as such children as should be found there. Such permission was
readily granted, accommodations were provided for the teachers, and some
portions of the buildings at the barracks were made available for school
purposes. The good work contemplated has been commenced, and the
teachers engaged are paid by the ladies with whom the plan originated.

I am not at all in sympathy with those benevolent but injudicious people
who are constantly insisting that these Indians should be returned to
their reservation. Their removal was an absolute necessity if the lives
and property of citizens upon the frontier are to be at all regarded by
the Government. Their continued restraint at a distance from the scene
of their repeated and cruel murders and outrages is still necessary.
It is a mistaken philanthropy, every way injurious, which prompts the
desire to see these savages returned to their old haunts. They are in
their present location as the result of the best judgment of those
having official responsibility in the matter, and who are by no means
lacking in kind consideration for the Indians. A number of these
prisoners have forfeited their lives to outraged law and humanity.
Experience has proved that they are dangerous and can not be trusted.
This is true not only of those who on the warpath have heretofore
actually been guilty of atrocious murder, but of their kindred and
friends, who, while they remained upon their reservation, furnished aid
and comfort to those absent with bloody intent.

These prisoners should be treated kindly and kept in restraint far from
the locality of their former reservation; they should be subjected to
efforts calculated to lead to their improvement and the softening of
their savage and cruel instincts, but their return to their old home
should be persistently resisted.

The Secretary in his report gives a graphic history of these Indians,
and recites with painful vividness their bloody deeds and the unhappy
failure of the Government to manage them by peaceful means. It will be
amazing if a perusal of this history will allow the survival of a desire
for the return of these prisoners to their reservation upon sentimental
or any other grounds.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy demonstrates very intelligent
management in that important Department, and discloses the most
satisfactory progress in the work of reconstructing the Navy made during
the past year. Of the ships in course of construction five, viz. the
_Charleston_, _Baltimore_, _Yorktown_, _Vesuvius_, and the _Petrel_,
have in that time been launched and are rapidly approaching completion;
and in addition to the above, the _Philadelphia_, the _San Francisco_, the
_Newark_, the _Bennington_, the _Concord_, and the Herreshoff torpedo
boat are all under contract for delivery to the Department during the
next year. The progress already made and being made gives good ground
for the expectation that these eleven vessels will be incorporated as
part of the American Navy within the next twelve months.

The report shows that notwithstanding the large expenditures for new
construction and the additional labor they involve the total ordinary or
current expenditures of the Department for the three years ending June
30, 1888, are less by more than 20 per cent than such expenditures for
the three years ending June 30, 1884.

The various steps which have been taken to improve the business methods
of the Department are reviewed by the Secretary. The purchasing of
supplies has been consolidated and placed under a responsible bureau
head. This has resulted in the curtailment of open purchases, which in
the years 1884 and 1885 amounted to over 50 per cent of all the
purchases of the Department, to less than 11 per cent; so that at the
present time about 90 per cent of the total departmental purchases are
made by contract and after competition. As the expenditures on this
account exceed an average of $2,000,000 annually, it is evident that an
important improvement in the system has been inaugurated and substantial
economies introduced.

The report of the Postmaster-General shows a marked increase of business
in every branch of the postal service.

The number of post-offices on July 1, 1888, was 57,376, an increase of
6,124 in three years and of 2,219 for the last fiscal year. The
latter-mentioned increase is classified as follows:


  New England States
  Middle States                                               181
  Southern States and Indian Territory (41)                 1,406
  The States and Territories of the Pacific Coast             190
  The ten States and Territories of the West and Northwest    435
  District of Columbia                                          2
                                                            -----
  Total                                                     2,219


Free-delivery offices have increased from 189 in the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1887, to 358 in the year ended June 30, 1888.

In the Railway Mail Service there has been an increase in one year of
168 routes, and in the number of miles traveled per annum an increase of
15,795,917.48. The estimated increase of railroad service for the year
was 6,000 miles, but the amount of new railroad service actually put on
was 12,764.50 miles.

The volume of business in the Money-Order Division, including
transactions in postal notes, reached the sum of upward of $143,000,000
for the year.

During the past year parcel-post conventions have been concluded with
Barbados, the Bahamas, British Honduras, and Mexico, and are now under
negotiation with all the Central and South American States. The increase
of correspondence with foreign countries during the past three years is
gratifying, and is especially notable and exceptional with the Central
and South American States and with Mexico. As the greater part of mail
matter exchanged with these countries is commercial in its character,
this increase is evidence of the improved business relations with them.
The practical operation of the parcel-post conventions, so far as
negotiated, has served to fulfill the most favorable predictions as to
their benefits. In January last a general postal convention was
negotiated with the Dominion of Canada, which went into operation on
March 1, and which practically makes one postal territory of the United
States and Canada. Under it merchandise parcels may now be transmitted
through the mails at fourth-class rates of postage.

It is not possible here to touch even the leading heads of the great
postal establishment to illustrate the enormous and rapid growth of its
business and the needs for legislative readjustment of much of its
machinery that it has outgrown. For these and valuable recommendations
of the Postmaster-General attention is earnestly invited to his report.

A Department whose revenues have increased from $19,772,000 in 1870 to
$52,700,000 in 1888, despite reductions of postage which have enormously
reduced rates of revenue while greatly increasing its business, demands
the careful consideration of the Congress as to all matters suggested by
those familiar with its operations, and which are calculated to increase
its efficiency and usefulness.

A bill proposed by the Postmaster-General was introduced at the last
session of the Congress by which a uniform standard in the amount of
gross receipts would fix the right of a community to a public building
to be erected by the Government for post-office purposes. It was
demonstrated that, aside from the public convenience and the promotion
of harmony among citizens, invariably disturbed by change of leasings
and of site, it was a measure of the highest economy and of sound
business judgment. It was found that the Government was paying in rents
at the rate of from 7 to 10 per cent per annum on what the cost of such
public buildings would be. A very great advantage resulting from such a
law would be the prevention of a large number of bills constantly
introduced for the erection of public buildings at places, and involving
expenditures not justified by public necessity. I trust that this
measure will become a law at the present session of Congress.

Of the total number of postmasters 54,874 are of the fourth class.
These, of course, receive no allowances whatever for expenses in the
service, and their compensation is fixed by percentages on receipts at
their respective offices. This rate of compensation may have been, and
probably was, at some time just, but the standard has remained unchanged
through the several reductions in the rates of postage. Such reductions
have necessarily cut down the compensation of these officials, while it
undoubtedly increased the business performed by them. Simple justice
requires attention to this subject, to the end that fourth-class
postmasters may receive at least an equivalent to that which the law
itself, fixing the rate, intended for them.

Another class of postal employees whose condition seems to demand
legislation is that of clerks in post-offices, and I call especial
attention to the repeated recommendations of the Postmaster-General for
their classification. Proper legislation of this character for the
relief of carriers in the free-delivery service has been frequent.
Provision is made for their promotion; for substitutes for them on
vacation; for substitutes for holidays, and limiting their hours of
labor. Seven million dollars has been appropriated for the current year
to provide for them, though the total number of offices where they are
employed is but 358 for the past fiscal year, with an estimated increase
for the current year of but 40, while the total appropriation for all
clerks in offices throughout the United States is $5,950,000.

The legislation affecting the relations of the Government with railroads
is in need of revision. While for the most part the railroad companies
throughout the country have cordially cooperated with the Post-Office
Department in rendering excellent service, yet under the law as it
stands, while the compensation to them for carrying the mail is limited
and regulated, and although railroads are made post-roads by law, there
is no authority reposed anywhere to compel the owner of a railroad to
take and carry the United States mails. The only alternative provided by
act of Congress in case of refusal is for the Postmaster-General to send
mail forward by pony express. This is but an illustration of ill-fitting
legislation, reasonable and proper at the time of its enactment, but
long since outgrown and requiring readjustment.

It is gratifying to note from the carefully prepared statistics
accompanying the Postmaster-General's report that notwithstanding the
great expansion of the service the rate of expenditure has been lessened
and efficiency has been improved in every branch; that fraud and crime
have decreased; that losses from the mails have been reduced, and that
the number of complaints of the service made to postmasters and to the
Department are far less than ever before.

The transactions of the Department of Justice for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1888, are contained in the report of the Attorney-General, as
well as a number of valuable recommendations, the most part of which are
repetitions of those previously made, and ought to receive
consideration.

It is stated in this report that though judgments in civil suits
amounting to $552,021.08 were recovered in favor of the Government
during the year, only the sum of $132,934 was collected thereon; and
that though fines, penalties, and forfeitures were imposed amounting to
$541,808.43, only $109,648.42 of that sum was paid on account thereof.
These facts may furnish an illustration of the sentiment which
extensively prevails that a debt due the Government should cause no
inconvenience to the citizen.

It also appears from this report that though prior to March, 1885, there
had been but 6 convictions in the Territories of Utah and Idaho under
the laws of 1862 and 1882, punishing polygamy and unlawful cohabitation
as crimes, there have been since that date nearly 600 convictions under
these laws and the statutes of 1887; and the opinion is expressed that
under such a firm and vigilant execution of these laws and the advance
of ideas opposed to the forbidden practices polygamy within the United
States is virtually at an end.

Suits instituted by the Government under the provisions of the act of
March 3, 1887, for the termination of the corporations known as the
Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company and the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints have resulted in a decree favorable to the Government,
declaring the charters of these corporations forfeited and escheating
their property. Such property, amounting in value to more than $800,000,
is in the hands of a receiver pending further proceedings, an appeal
having been taken to the Supreme Court of the United States.

In the report of the Secretary of the Interior, which will be laid
before you, the condition of the various branches of our domestic
affairs connected with that Department and its operations during the
past year are fully exhibited. But a brief reference to some of the
subjects discussed in this able and interesting report can here be made;
but I commend the entire report to the attention of the Congress, and
trust that the sensible and valuable recommendations it contains will
secure careful consideration.

I can not too strenuously insist upon the importance of proper measures
to insure a right disposition of our public lands, not only as a matter
of present justice, but in forecast of the consequences to future
generations. The broad, rich acres of our agricultural plains have been
long-preserved by nature to become her untrammeled gift to a people
civilized and free, upon which should rest in well-distributed ownership
the numerous homes of enlightened, equal, and fraternal citizens. They
came to national possession with the warning example in our eyes of the
entail of iniquities in landed proprietorship which other countries have
permitted and still suffer. We have no excuse for the violation of
principles cogently taught by reason and example, nor for the allowance
of pretexts which have sometimes exposed our lands to colossal greed.
Laws which open a door to fraudulent acquisition, or administration
which permits favor to rapacious seizure by a favored few of expanded
areas that many should enjoy, are accessory to offenses against our
national welfare and humanity not to be too severely condemned or
punished.

It is gratifying to know that something has been done at last to
redress the injuries to our people and check the perilous tendency of
the reckless waste of the national domain. That over 80,000,000 acres
have been arrested from illegal usurpation, improvident grants, and
fraudulent entries and claims, to be taken for the homesteads of honest
industry--although less than the greater areas thus unjustly lost--must
afford a profound gratification to right-feeling citizens, as it is
a recompense for the labors and struggles of the recovery. Our dear
experience ought sufficiently to urge the speedy enactment of measures
of legislation which will confine the future disposition of our
remaining agricultural lands to the uses of actual husbandry and genuine
homes.

Nor should our vast tracts of so-called desert lands be yielded up to
the monopoly of corporations or grasping individuals, as appears to be
much the tendency under the existing statute. These lands require but
the supply of water to become fertile and productive. It is a problem of
great moment how most wisely for the public good that factor shall be
furnished. I can not but think it perilous to suffer either these lands
or the sources of their irrigation to fall into the hands of monopolies,
which by such means may exercise lordship over the areas dependent on
their treatment for productiveness. Already steps have been taken to
secure accurate and scientific information of the conditions, which is
the prime basis of intelligent action. Until this shall be gained the
course of wisdom appears clearly to lie in a suspension of further
disposal, which only promises to create rights antagonistic to the
common interest. No harm can follow this cautionary conduct. The land
will remain, and the public good presents no demand for hasty
dispossession of national ownership and control.

I commend also the recommendations that appropriate measures be taken to
complete the adjustment of the various grants made to the States for
internal improvements and of swamp and overflowed lands, as well as to
adjudicate and finally determine the validity and extent of the numerous
private land claims. All these are elements of great injustice and peril
to the settlers upon the localities affected; and now that their
existence can not be avoided, no duty is more pressing than to fix as
soon as possible their bounds and terminate the threats of trouble which
arise from uncertainty.

The condition of our Indian population continues to improve and the
proofs multiply that the transforming change, so much to be desired,
which shall substitute for barbarism enlightenment and civilizing
education, is in favorable progress. Our relations with these people
during the year have been disturbed by no serious disorders, but rather
marked by a better realization of their true interests and increasing
confidence and good will. These conditions testify to the value of the
higher tone of consideration and humanity which has governed the later
methods of dealing with them, and commend its continued observance.

Allotments in severalty have been made on some reservations until all
those entitled to land thereon have had their shares assigned, and the
work is still continued. In directing the execution of this duty I have
not aimed so much at rapid dispatch as to secure just and fair
arrangements which shall best conduce to the objects of the law by
producing satisfaction with the results of the allotments made. No
measure of general effect has ever been entered on from which more may
be fairly hoped if it shall be discreetly administered. It proffers
opportunity and inducement to that independence of spirit and life which
the Indian peculiarly needs, while at the same time the inalienability
of title affords security against the risks his inexperience of affairs
or weakness of character may expose him to in dealing with others.
Whenever begun upon any reservation it should be made complete, so that
all are brought to the same condition, and as soon as possible community
in lands should cease by opening such as remain unallotted to
settlement. Contact with the ways of industrious and successful farmers
will perhaps add a healthy emulation which will both instruct and
stimulate.

But no agency for the amelioration of this people appears to me so
promising as the extension, urged by the Secretary, of such complete
facilities of education as shall at the earliest possible day embrace
all teachable Indian youth, of both sexes, and retain them with a kindly
and beneficent hold until their characters are formed and their
faculties and dispositions trained to the sure pursuit of some form of
useful industry. Capacity of the Indian no longer needs demonstration.
It is established. It remains to make the most of it, and when that
shall be done the curse will be lifted, the Indian race saved, and the
sin of their oppression redeemed. The time of its accomplishment depends
upon the spirit and justice with which it shall be prosecuted. It can
not be too soon for the Indian nor for the interests and good name of
the nation.

The average attendance of Indian pupils on the schools increased by over
900 during the year, and the total enrollment reached 15,212. The cost
of maintenance was not materially raised. The number of teachable Indian
youth is now estimated at 40,000, or nearly three times the enrollment
of the schools. It is believed the obstacles in the way of instructing
are all surmountable, and that the necessary expenditure would be a
measure of economy.

The Sioux tribes on the great reservation of Dakota refused to assent to
the act passed by the Congress at its last session for opening a portion
of their lands to settlement, notwithstanding modification of the terms
was suggested which met most of their objections. Their demand is for
immediate payment of the full price of $1.25 per acre for the entire
body of land the occupancy of which they are asked to relinquish.

The manner of submission insured their fair understanding of the law,
and their action was undoubtedly as thoroughly intelligent as their
capacity admitted. It is at least gratifying that no reproach of
over-reaching can in any manner lie against the Government, however
advisable the favorable completion of the negotiation may have been
esteemed.

I concur in the suggestions of the Secretary regarding the Turtle
Mountain Indians, the two reservations in California, and the Crees.
They should, in my opinion, receive immediate attention.

The number of pensioners added to the rolls during the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1888, is 60,252, and increase of pensions was granted in 45,716
cases. The names of 15,730 pensioners were dropped from the rolls during
the year from various causes, and at the close of the year the number of
persons of all classes receiving pensions was 452,557. Of these there
were 806 survivors of the War of 1812, 10,787 widows of those who served
in that war, 16,060 soldiers of the Mexican War, and 5,104 widows of
said soldiers.

One hundred and two different rates of pensions are paid to these
beneficiaries, ranging from $2 to $416.66 per month.

The amount paid for pensions during the fiscal year was $78,775,861.92,
being an increase over the preceding year of $5,308,280.22. The expenses
attending the maintenance and operation of the Pension Bureau during
that period was $3,262,524.67, making the entire expenditures of the
Bureau $82,038,386.57, being 21-1/2 per cent of the gross income and
nearly 31 per cent of the total expenditures of the Government during
the year.

I am thoroughly convinced that our general pension laws should be
revised and adjusted to meet as far as possible, in the light of our
experience, all meritorious cases. The fact that 102 different rates of
pensions are paid can not, in my opinion, be made consistent with
justice to the pensioners or to the Government; and the numerous private
pension bills that are passed, predicated upon the imperfection of
general laws, while they increase in many cases existing inequality and
injustice, lend additional force to the recommendation for a revision of
the general laws on this subject.

The laxity of ideas prevailing among a large number of our people
regarding pensions is becoming every day more marked. The principles
upon which they should be granted are in danger of being altogether
ignored, and already pensions are often claimed because the applicants
are as much entitled as other successful applicants, rather than upon
any disability reasonably attributable to military service. If the
establishment of vicious precedents be continued, if the granting of
pensions be not divorced from partisan and other unworthy and irrelevant
considerations, and if the honorable name of veteran unfairly becomes by
these means but another term for one who constantly clamors for the aid
of the Government, there is danger that injury will be done to the fame
and patriotism of many whom our citizens all delight to honor, and that
a prejudice will be aroused unjust to meritorious applicants for
pensions.

The Department of Agriculture has continued, with a good measure of
success, its efforts to develop the processes, enlarge the results,
and augment the profits of American husbandry. It has collected and
distributed practical information, introduced and tested new plants,
checked the spread of contagious diseases of farm animals, resisted the
advance of noxious insects and destructive fungous growths, and sought
to secure to agricultural labor the highest reward of effort and the
fullest immunity from loss. Its records of the year show that the season
of 1888 has been one of medium production. A generous supply of the
demands of consumption has been assured, and a surplus for exportation,
moderate in certain products and bountiful in others, will prove a
benefaction alike to buyer and grower.

Four years ago it was found that the great cattle industry of the
country was endangered, and those engaged in it were alarmed at the
rapid extension of the European lung plague of pleuro-pneumonia. Serious
outbreaks existed in Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, and in Tennessee
animals affected were held in quarantine. Five counties in New York and
from one to four counties in each of the States of New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland were almost equally affected.

With this great danger upon us and with the contagion already in the
channels of commerce, with the enormous direct and indirect losses
already being caused by it, and when only prompt and energetic action
could be successful, there were in none of these States any laws
authorizing this Department to eradicate the malady or giving the State
officials power to cooperate with it for this purpose. The Department
even lacked both the requisite appropriation and authority.

By securing State cooperation in connection with authority from Congress
the work of eradication has been pressed successfully, and this dreaded
disease has been extirpated from the Western States and also from the
Eastern States, with the exception of a few restricted areas, which are
still under supervision. The danger has thus been removed, and trade and
commerce have been freed from the vexatious State restrictions which
were deemed necessary for a time.

During the past four years the process of diffusion, as applied to the
manufacture of sugar from sorghum and sugar cane, has been introduced
into this country and fully perfected by the experiments carried on
by the Department of Agriculture. This process is now universally
considered to be the most economical one, and it is through it that the
sorghum-sugar industry has been established upon a firm basis and the
road to its future success opened. The adoption of this diffusion
process is also extending in Louisiana and other sugar-producing parts
of the country, and will doubtless soon be the only method employed for
the extraction of sugar from the cane.

An exhaustive study has also within the same period been undertaken of
the subject of food adulteration and the best analytical methods for
detecting it. A part of the results of this work has already been
published by the Department, which, with the matter in course of
preparation, will make the most complete treatise on that subject that
has ever been published in any country.

The Department seeks a progressive development. It would combine the
discoveries of science with the economics and amelioration of rural
practice. A supervision of the endowed experimental-station system
recently provided for is a proper function of the Department, and is now
in operation. This supervision is very important, and should be wisely
and vigilantly directed, to the end that the pecuniary aid of the
Government in favor of intelligent agriculture should be so applied as
to result in the general good and to the benefit of all our people, thus
justifying the appropriations made from the public Treasury.

The adjustment of the relations between the Government and the railroad
companies which have received land grants and the guaranty of the public
credit in aid of the construction of their roads should receive early
attention. The report of a majority of the commissioners appointed to
examine the affairs and indebtedness of these roads, in which they favor
an extension of the time for the payment of such indebtedness in at
least one case where the corporation appears to be able to comply with
well-guarded and exact terms of such extension, and the reenforcement
of their opinion by gentlemen of undoubted business judgment and
experience, appointed to protect the interests of the Government as
directors of said corporation, may well lead to the belief that such an
extension would be to the advantage of the Government.

The subject should be treated as a business proposition with a view to a
final realization of its indebtedness by the Government, rather than as
a question to be decided upon prejudice or by way of punishment for
previous wrongdoing.

The report of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, with its
accompanying documents, gives in detail the operations of the several
departments of the District government, and furnishes evidence that the
financial affairs of the District are at present in such satisfactory
condition as to justify the Commissioners in submitting to the Congress
estimates for desirable and needed improvements.

The Commissioners recommend certain legislation which in their opinion
is necessary to advance the interests of the District.

I invite your special attention to their request for such legislation
as will enable the Commissioners without delay to collect, digest, and
properly arrange the laws by which the District is governed, and which
are now embraced in several collections, making them available only with
great difficulty and labor. The suggestions they make touching desirable
amendments to the laws relating to licenses granted for carrying on the
retail traffic in spirituous liquors, to the observance of Sunday, to
the proper assessment and collection of taxes, to the speedy punishment
of minor offenders, and to the management and control of the reformatory
and charitable institutions supported by Congressional appropriations
are commended to careful consideration.

I again call attention to the present inconvenience and the danger to
life and property attending the operation of steam railroads through and
across the public streets and roads of the District. The propriety of
such legislation as will properly guard the use of these railroads and
better secure the convenience and safety of citizens is manifest.

The consciousness that I have presented but an imperfect statement
of the condition of our country and its wants occasions no fear that
anything omitted is not known and appreciated by the Congress, upon whom
rests the responsibility of intelligent legislation in behalf of a great
nation and a confiding people.

As public servants we shall do our duty well if we constantly guard the
rectitude of our intentions, maintain unsullied our love of country, and
with unselfish purpose strive for the public good.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 19: See pp. 603-607.]

[Footnote 20: See pp. 620-627.]

[Footnote 21: See pp. 628-530.]

[Footnote 22: See p. 612.]




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 21, 1888_.

_To the Congress_:

On the 2d of April last I transmitted to the House of Representatives,
in response to its resolution of the 8th of the preceding March, a
report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying correspondence,
relative to affairs in Samoa.[23] On the same day I answered a resolution
of the Senate of the 21st of the preceding December to the same effect,
but adopted in executive session, and, in order to avoid duplication of
the numerous documents involved, referred to the correspondence which
accompanied my public response to the resolution of the House of
Representatives, and which was duly printed and published by order of
that body (House Executive Document No. 238, Fiftieth Congress, first
session).

In my annual message of the 3d instant I announced my intention in due
course to lay before Congress further correspondence on Samoan affairs.
Accordingly, I now transmit a report of the Secretary of State, with
accompanying correspondence, on that subject.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 23: See p. 612.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 2, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

On or about the 25th day of September, 1888, I received a copy of a
resolution adopted on that day by the Senate in executive session,
requesting the transmission to that body by the President of all
communications and correspondence (not heretofore sent to the Senate)
under his control on the subject of the proposed convention with China,
transmitted by him to the Senate by message dated 16th March, 1888,[24]
and on the subject of the reported failure of the Government of China to
finally agree to the same.

A few days after the copy of said resolution was received by me, and on
the 1st day of October, 1888, I sent a communication to the
Congress,[25] accompanying my approval of a bill prohibiting the return
of Chinese laborers to the United States, in which I supposed all the
information sought under the terms of the Senate resolution above
recited was fully supplied.

I beg to refer in this connection to Senate Executive Document No. 273,
first session of the Fiftieth Congress, and especially to page 3
thereof.

Believing the information contained in said document answered the
purposes of said Senate resolution, no separate and explicit answer was
made thereto.

But in my message of October 1, 1888, the tenor and purport of a cipher
dispatch from our minister in China to the Secretary of State, dated
September 21, 1888, was given instead of attempting to transmit a copy
of the same.

For greater precision, however, and with the object of answering in more
exact terms the resolution of the Senate, I transmit with this, in
paraphrase of the cipher, a copy of the said dispatch. I also transmit
copies of two notes which accompanied my message of October 1, 1888, one
from Mr. Shu Cheon Pon, charge d'affaires of the Chinese legation in
this city, dated September 25, 1888, to the Secretary of State, and the
other being the reply thereto by the Secretary of State, dated September
26, 1888, both of which will be found in Senate Executive Document No.
273.

The dispatch and notes above referred to comprise, in the language of
the Senate resolution, "all communications and correspondence" the
transmission of which is therein requested.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 24: See p. 610.]

[Footnote 25: See pp. 630-635.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 3, 1889_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith for the consideration of the Congress a report of
the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers, recommending an
appropriation for the relief of Japanese subjects injured and of the
families of Japanese subjects killed on the island of Ikisima in
consequence of target practice directed against the shore by the United
States man-of-war _Omaha_ in March, 1887.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 3, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I desire to supplement the message yesterday sent to your honorable body
in response to a Senate executive resolution dated September 25, 1888,
asking the transmission of certain communications and correspondence on
the subject of the recent proposed convention with China and the
reported failure of the Government of China to finally agree to the
same, by adding to said response two telegrams I omitted therefrom,
which were sent in cipher by the Secretary of State to our minister at
Peking, and which may be considered by the Senate relevant to the
subject of its inquiry.

One of said dispatches is as follows:


  WASHINGTON, _September 4, 1888_.

  DENBY,
    _Minister, Peking_:

  Rejection of treaty is reported here. What information have you?

  BAYARD.


Two replies to this dispatch were made by our minister to China, dated,
respectively, September 5 and September 6, 1888. They were heretofore,
and on September 7, 1888,[26] sent to the Senate, and are printed in Senate
Executive Document No. 271.

The other of said dispatches is as follows:


  WASHINGTON, _September 18, 1888_.

  DENBY,
    _Minister, Peking_:

  The bill has passed both Houses of Congress for total exclusion of
  Chinese and awaits President's approval. Public feeling on the Pacific
  Coast excited in favor of it, and situation is critical. Impress upon
  Government of China necessity for instant decision in the interest of
  treaty relations and amity.

  BAYARD.


The answer of our minister at Peking to this dispatch, dated September
21, 1888, was yesterday sent to the Senate with the message to which
this is a supplement.

The matters herein contained are now transmitted, to the end that they
may, if deemed pertinent, be added to the response already made to the
Senate resolution of inquiry, and with the intent that in any view of
the subject the answer to said resolution may be full and complete.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 26: See p. 627.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 7, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit, with a view to its ratification, an agreement signed by the
plenipotentiaries of the United States and Denmark on the 6th ultimo,
submitting to arbitration the claim of Carlos Butterfield & Co. against
the Government of Denmark for indemnity for the seizure and detention of
the steamer _Ben Franklin_ and the bark _Catherine Augusta_ by
the authorities of the island of St. Thomas, of the Danish West India
Islands, in the years 1854 and 1855; for the refusal of the ordinary
right to land cargo for the purpose of making repairs; for the injuries
resulting from a shot fired into one of the vessels, and for other
wrongs. I also transmit a report from the Secretary of State inclosing
the recent correspondence between the two Governments in regard to the
claim.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 14, 1889_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Whereas, by virtue of the provisions of the act of Congress approved
June 22, 1860 (12 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 73), entitled "An act to
carry into effect provisions of the treaties between the United States,
China, Japan, Siam, Persia, and other countries giving certain judicial
powers to ministers and consuls or other functionaries of the United
States in those countries, and for other purposes," Charles Denby,
minister of the United States at Peking, has formally promulgated, under
date of August 18, 1888, additional regulations governing the rendition
of judgments by confession in the consular courts of the United States
in China, the same having been previously assented to by all the
consular officers of this Government in that Empire:

Now, therefore, in accordance with section 4119 of the Revised
Statutes of the United States, being the sixth section of the act
above mentioned, and which directs that all such regulations shall be
transmitted to the Secretary of State, "to be laid before Congress for
revision," I do herewith transmit to Congress a copy of Mr. Denby's
dispatch No. 754, of November 5, 1888, containing the regulations so
decreed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 14, 1889_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress and such
legislation in respect of the matters therein presented as may seem
necessary and proper, a report of the Secretary of State, with
accompanying explanatory correspondence, in reference to the
international questions arising from the imposition of differential
rates of tonnage dues upon vessels entering ports of the United States
from foreign countries under the provisions of the fourteenth Section of
the act of June 26, 1884, and the later amendatory provisions of the act
of June 19, 1886, as set forth in said report.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 15, 1889_.

_To the Congress_:

On the 2d day of April, 1888, I transmitted to the House of
Representatives, in response to a resolution passed by that body, a
report from the Secretary of State, relating to the condition of affairs
in the Samoan Islands, together with numerous letters, dispatches, and
documents connected with the subject, which gave a history of all
disorders in that locality up to that date.[27]

On the 21st day of December, 1888, this information was supplemented by
the transmission to the Congress of such further correspondence and
documents as extended this history to that time.[28]

I now submit a report from the Secretary of State, with later
correspondence and dispatches, exhibiting the progress of the
disturbances in Samoa up to the present date.

The information thus laid before the Congress is of much importance,
since it has relation to the preservation of American interests and the
protection of American citizens and their property in a distant locality
and under an unstable and unsatisfactory government.

In the midst of the disturbances which have arisen at Samoa such powers
have been exercised as seemed to be within Executive control under our
Constitution and laws, and which appear to accord with our national
policy and traditions, to restore tranquillity and secure the safety of
our citizens.

Through negotiation and agreement with Great Britain and Germany, which,
with our own Government, constitute the treaty powers interested in
Samoan peace and quiet, the attempt has been made to define more clearly
the part which these powers should assume in the Government of that
country, while at the same time its autonomy has been insisted upon.

These negotiations were at one time interrupted by such action on the
part of the German Government as appeared to be inconsistent with their
further continuance.

Germany, however, still asserts, as from the first she has done, that
she has no desire or intention to overturn the native Samoan Government
or to ignore our treaty rights, and she still invites our Government to
join her in restoring peace and quiet. But thus far her propositions on
this subject seem to lead to such a preponderance of German power in
Samoa as was never contemplated by us and is inconsistent with every
prior agreement or understanding, while her recent conduct as between
native warring factions gives rise to the suspicion that she is not
content with a neutral position.

Acting within the restraints which our Constitution and laws have placed
upon Executive power, I have insisted that the autonomy and independence
of Samoa should be scrupulously preserved according to the treaties made
with Samoa by the powers named and their agreements and understanding
with each other. I have protested against every act apparently tending
in an opposite direction, and during the existence of internal
disturbance one or more vessels of war have been kept in Samoan waters
to protect American citizens and property.

These things will abundantly appear from the correspondence and papers
which have been submitted to the Congress.

A recent collision between the forces from a German man-of-war stationed
in Samoan waters and a body of natives rendered the situation so
delicate and critical that the war ship _Trenton_, under the
immediate command of Admiral Kimberly, was ordered to join the
_Nipsic_, already at Samoa, for the better protection of the
persons and property of our citizens and in furtherance of efforts to
restore order and safety.

The attention of the Congress is especially called to the instructions
given to Admiral Kimberly dated on the 11th instant and the letter of
the Secretary of State to the German minister dated the 12th instant,
which will be found among the papers herewith submitted.

By means of the papers and documents heretofore submitted and those
which accompany this communication the precise situation of affairs in
Samoa is laid before the Congress, and such Executive action as has been
taken is fully exhibited.

The views of the Executive in respect of the just policy to be pursued
with regard to this group of islands, which lie in the direct highway of
a growing and important commerce between Australia and the United
States, have found expression in the correspondence and documents which
have thus been fully communicated to the Congress, and the subject in
its present stage is submitted to the wider discretion conferred by the
Constitution upon the legislative branch of the Government.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 27: See p. 612.]

[Footnote 28: See p. 800.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 15, 1889_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in response to the resolution of the Senate of the
4th instant, a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying
copies of correspondence, touching recent occurrences in the island of
Hayti, both as relates to the state of the Government there and to the
seizure and delivery up of the American vessel _Haytien Republic_.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 16, 1889_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to lay before you a report from the Secretary of State,
with accompanying correspondence, in relation to the possible
disturbances on the Isthmus of Panama in the event of the stoppage of
work on the proposed interoceanic canal.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 21, 1889_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the Senate of the
5th instant, a report of the Secretary of State, touching correspondence
with Venezuela in regard to the exchange of ratifications of the claims
convention of December 5, 1885, between the United States and Venezuela
and to the suspension by Venezuela of the monthly quotas of indebtedness
under the convention between the two countries of April 25, 1866,
together with copies of sundry correspondence between the Department of
State and owners of Venezuelan certificates of award or their attorneys
on the same subject, as requested in said resolution.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 30, 1889_.

_To the Senate and the House of Representatives_:

For the information of Congress I herewith transmit a report of the
Secretary of State, with accompanying correspondence, relating to the
execution of an agreement made between the representatives of certain
foreign powers and the Korean Government in 1884 in respect to a foreign
settlement at Chemulpo.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 30, 1880_.

_To the Congress_:

I had the honor on the 15th instant to communicate to your honorable
body certain correspondence and documents in relation to affairs in
the Samoan Islands[29]; and having since that date received further
dispatches from the vice-consul at Apia and the commander of the United
States naval vessel _Nipsic_ in those waters, I lose no time in
laying them before you.

I also transmit herewith the full text of an instruction from Prince von
Bismarck to the German minister at this capital, which was communicated
to the Secretary of State on the afternoon of the 28th instant.

This appears to be an amplification of a prior telegraphic instruction
on the same subject communicated through the same channel, and, being
set forth in the note of the Secretary of State to Count von
Arco-Valley, the German minister, of the 12th instant, was duly laid
before Congress with my last message in relation to Samoan affairs.

It is also proper to inform you that on Monday, the 28th instant, the
occasion of the communication of the note of the Prince Chancellor, the
Secretary of State was given to understand by the German minister that
a proposition from his Government to that of the United States for a
conference on the Samoan subject was on its way by mail, having left
Berlin on the 20th instant, so that its arrival here in due course of
mail could be looked for in a very short time.

In reply to an inquiry from the Secretary of State whether the
proposition referred to was for a renewal of the joint conference
between the United States, Germany, and Great Britain which was
suspended in July, 1887, or for a consideration of Samoan affairs _ab
novo_, the German minister stated his inability to answer until the
proposition which left Berlin on the 20th instant should have been
received.

I shall hereafter communicate to the Congress all information received
by me in relation to the Samoan status.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 29: See pp. 804-805.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 1, 1889_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

As supplementary to my previous messages on the subject, I have now the
honor to transmit a report from the Secretary of State relating to
affairs in Samoa.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 5, 1889_.

_To the Congress_:

I transmit herewith, for approval and ratification, a provisional
agreement lately entered into between the Government of the United
States and the Creek Nation of Indians, through their duly authorized
representatives, and which has been approved by the National Council of
said nation, by which agreement the title and interest of the said Creek
Nation of Indians in and to all lands in the Indian Territory or
elsewhere, except such as are held and occupied as the homes of said
nation, are ceded to the United States.

The eighth section of the Indian appropriation bill approved March 3,
1885, authorized the President "to open negotiations with the Creeks,
Seminoles, and Cherokees for the purpose of opening to settlement under
the homestead laws the unassigned lands in the Indian Territory ceded by
them respectively to the United States by the several treaties of August
11, 1866, March 21, 1866, and July 19, 1866." This section also contains
an appropriation in furtherance of its purpose, and requires that the
action of the President thereunder should be reported to Congress.

The "unassigned" lands thus referred to should be construed to be those
which have not been transferred by the United States in pursuance of the
treaties mentioned in the section quoted.

The treaty with the Creeks is dated June 14, 1866. It was confirmed by a
Senate resolution passed July 19, 1866, and was proclaimed August 11,
1866 (14 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 785).

The third article of the treaty makes a cession of lands in the
following words:

  In compliance with the desire of the United States to locate other
  Indians and freedmen thereon, the Creeks hereby cede and convey to the
  United States, to be sold to and used as homes for such other civilized
  Indians as the United States may choose to settle thereon, the west half
  of their entire domain, to be divided by a line running north and south;
  the eastern half of said Creek lands, being retained by them, shall,
  except as herein otherwise stipulated, be forever set apart as a home
  for said Creek Nation; and in consideration of said cession of the west
  half of their lands, estimated to contain 3,250,560 acres, the United
  States agree to pay the sum of 30 cents per acre, amounting to $975,168.


The provision that the lands conveyed were "_to be sold to_ and
used as homes for such other civilized Indians," etc., has been steadily
regarded as a limitation upon the grant made to the United States. Such
a construction is admitted to be the true one in many ways, especially
by the continual reservation of the ceded lands from settlement by the
whites, by the sale of a portion of the same to Indians, by the use of
other portions as the home of Indians, and also by various provisions
in proposed legislation in Congress. Thus the bill now pending for the
organization of Oklahoma provides for the payment to the Creeks and
Seminoles of the ordinary Government price of $1.25 per acre, less the
amount heretofore paid.

The section of the law of 1885 first above quoted appears also to have
been passed in contemplation not only of the existence of a claim on the
part of the Creeks, but of the substantial foundation of that claim in
equity, if not in law, and in acknowledgment of the duty of the
Government to satisfactorily discharge the claim of the Indian people
before putting the land to the free uses of settlement and territorial
occupation by whites.

But it seems to have been considered that so far as the lands had been
assigned they may fairly be taken to be such as under the treaty were
"to be sold." As to these, they having been assigned or "sold" in
accordance with said treaty, the claim of the Creeks thereto has been
entirely discharged, and the title from the United States passed
unburdened with any condition or limitation to the grantees. This seems
to be an entirely clear proposition.

The unassigned lands must be those which are unsold, because not
only is that the fair significance of the term, as used technically in
conveyancing, but because the limiting condition in the Creek treaty was
that the lands should be sold to, as well as used as homes for, other
Indians.


  The total quantity of lands in the western half of the           Acres.
    Creek Nation, and which were ceded in 1866, is            3,402,428.88

  The assigned lands as above
    defined are in three bodies:                 Acres.

  1. The Seminole country,
     by the treaty of 1866                     200,000.00

  2. The Sac and Fox Reservation, sold and
     conveyed by article 6 of the treaty of
     February 18, 1867 (15 U.S. Statutes at
     large, p. 495), amounting to              479,668.05

  3. The Pawnee Reservation, granted by
     section 4 of the act of Congress of
     April 10, 1876 (19 U.S. Statutes at
     large, p. 29), for which the Government
     received the price allowed the Creeks,
     30 cents per acre                          53,005.94

  Making a total of assigned or sold lands of                   732,673.99

  And leaving as the total unassigned lands                   2,669,754.89


Of this total quantity of unassigned land which is subject to the
negotiations provided for under the law of 1885 there should be a
further division made in considering the sum which ought fairly to be
paid in discharge of the Creek claim thereto.

I. In that part of these lands called the Oklahoma country no Indians
have been allowed to reside by any action of the Government, nor has any
execution been attempted of the limiting condition of the cession of
1866.

The quantity of these lands carefully computed from the surveys is
1,392,704.70 acres.

II. The remainder of these unassigned lands has been appropriated in
some degree to Indian uses, although still within the control of the
Government.

Thus by three Executive orders the following Indian reservations have
been created:

                                                                   Acres.
  1. By President Grant, August 10, 1869, the
     reservation of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes,
     which embraces of this land                                619,450.59
  2. By President Arthur, August 15, 1883,
     the reservation for the Iowas, containing                  228,417.67
  3. By President Arthur, August 15, 1883,
     the Kickapoo Reservation, embracing.                       206,465.61
  4. A tract set apart for the Pottawatomies by the
     treaty of February 27, 1867 (15 U.S. Statutes
     at large, p. 531), followed by the act of
     May 23, 1872 (17 U.S. Statutes at large, p. 159),
     by which individual allotments were authorized
     upon the tract, though but very few Indians have
     selected and paid for such allotments according
     to the provisions of that law. The entire quantity
     of the Pottawatomie Reservation is                         222,716.32

     This shows the quantity of lands unassigned, but
     to some extent appropriated to Indian uses by the
     Government, amounting to                                 1,277,050.19


For the lands which are not only unassigned, but are unoccupied, and
which have been in no way appropriated, it appears clearly just and
right that a price of at least $1.25 should be allowed to the Creeks.
They held more than the ordinary Indian title, for they had a patent in
fee from the Government. The Osages of Kansas were allowed $1.25 per
acre upon giving up their reservation, and this land of the Creeks
is reported by those familiar with it to be equal to any land in the
country. Without regard to the present enhanced value of this land, and
if reference be only had to the conditions when the cession was made, no
less price ought to be paid for it than the ordinary Government price.
Therefore in this, provisional agreement which has been made with the
Creeks the price of $1.25 has been settled upon for such land, with the
deduction of the 30 cents per acre which has already been paid by the
Government therefor.

As to the remainder of the unassigned lands, in view of the fact that
some use has been made of them of the general character indicated by the
treaty of 1866, and because some portion of them should be allotted to
Indians under the general allotment act, and to cover the expenses of
surveys and adjustments, a diminishment of 20 cents per acre has been
acceded to. There is no difference in the character of the lands.

Thus, computing the unassigned and entirely unappropriated land, being
the Oklahoma country, containing 1,392,704.70 acres, at 95 cents per
acre, and the remainder which has been appropriated to the extent above
stated, being 1,277,050.19 acres, at 75 cents per acre, the total price
stipulated in the agreement has been reached--$2,280,857.10.

But as it was desirable that the Indian title should be beyond all
question extinguished to all parts of the land ceded by the Creeks in
1866, with their full consent and understanding, the agreement of
cession has been made to embrace a complete surrender of all claim to
the western half of their domain, including the assigned as well as the
unassigned lands, for the price named. So the agreement takes the form
in the first article of such a cession, and in the second article is
stipulated the price in gross of all the lands and interests ceded, with
no detailed reference to the manner of its ascertainment.

The overtures which led to this agreement were made by representatives
of the Creek Nation, who came here for that purpose. They were
intelligent and evidently loyal to the interests of their people. The
terms of the agreement were fully discussed and concessions were made by
both parties. It was promptly confirmed by the National Council of the
Creek Indians, and its complete consummation only waits the approval of
the Congress of the United States.

I am convinced that such ratification will be of decided benefit to the
Government, and that the agreement is entirely free from any suspicion
of unfairness or injustice toward the Indians.

I desire to call especial attention to the fact that to become effective
the agreement must be ratified by the Congress prior to the its day of
July, 1889.

The draft of an act of ratification is herewith submitted.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 8, 1889_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a further report of the Secretary of State, with
accompanying correspondence, relating to Samoa, and the joint protocols
of the conferences held in this city in the summer of 1887, to the
publication of which the Governments of Germany and Great Britain have
consented.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 8, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 23d ultimo, directing
the Secretary of State to transmit to that body copies of all
correspondence on the files of his Department relative to the case of
the ship _Bridgewater_, I transmit herewith, being of the opinion
that it is not incompatible with the public interest to do so, a report
from the Secretary of State, accompanying which is the correspondence
referred to.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 12, 1889_.

_To the Congress_:

I herewith transmit, in reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 2d
ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, with the accompanying
documents, in relation to the seal fisheries in Bering Sea.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 19, 1889_.

_To the Congress_:

I herewith submit, for your consideration, a communication from the
Secretary of the Interior, transmitting a proposition made on behalf of
the Seminole Nation of Indians for the relinquishment to the Government
of the United States of their right to certain lands in the Indian
Territory.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 19, 1889_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 18th instant, I
return herewith the bill (S. 3640) entitled "An act to amend the laws
relating to the selection and service of jurors in the supreme court of
the District of Columbia."

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 20, 1889_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State of this day's
date, with accompanying correspondence, touching the case of Lord
Sackville.[30]

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 30: The British minister at Washington, who was given his
passports for writing an indiscreet letter on American politics.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 22, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, with a view to its ratification, a convention
signed on the 2d day of June, 1887, between the United States and the
Netherlands, for the extradition of criminals; also a report from the
Secretary of State, and accompanying papers, relating to the said
convention.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 27, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith transmit, for the consideration of the Senate with a view to
its ratification, a convention signed at Washington the 18th instant,
between the United States and Mexico, to revive the provisions of the
convention of July 29, 1882, to survey and relocate the existing
boundary line between the two countries west of the Rio Grande, and to
extend the time fixed in Article VIII of the said convention for the
completion of the work in question.

Although the present convention fully explains the reasons for its
negotiation, it may not be improper here to add that Article VII of the
convention of July 29, 1882, stipulated that the said convention should
continue in force until the completion of the work, "provided that such
time does not exceed four years and four months from the date of the
exchange of ratifications hereof."

The exchange of ratifications took place March 3, 1883, and the period
within which the convention was in force ended July 3, 1887.

In order, therefore, to continue the provisions of the said convention
of July 29, 1882, an additional article concluded at Washington December
5, 1885, further extended the time for the completion of the work for
"eighteen months from the expiration of the term fixed in Article VIII
of the said treaty of July 29, 1882," or until January 3, 1889.

As there was no further provision extending the said treaty of July 29,
1882, beyond that date, it expired by limitation. Hence the necessity
for the convention of the 18th instant in its present form.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 27, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, in confidence, for the information of the Senate, a
report from the Secretary of State, showing the progress of the
correspondence in relation to the conference to be held at Berlin
between the Governments of the United States, Germany, and Great Britain
to settle the affairs of the Samoan Islands.

The nature of this information and the stage of the negotiations thus
agreed upon and about to commence at Berlin make it proper that such
report should be communicated to the Senate in the confidence of
executive session.

As the conference has been proposed and accepted and the definitive
bases of its proceedings agreed upon by all three Governments and on the
lines with which the Senate has heretofore been made fully acquainted,
nothing remains to be done but to select and appoint the commissioners
to represent the United States, and the performance of this duty, in
view of the few days that now remain of my term of office, can be most
properly left to my successor.

In response to the inquiry of the German minister at this capital
whether the names of the proposed representatives of the United States
at the conference in Berlin could at once be given to him, he has been
informed that the appointments in question would be made by my successor
and not by me, and that in coming to this decision the expedition
desired by Germany in the work of the conference would in my judgment be
promoted.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 27, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit, with a view to its ratification, a convention for the
extradition of criminals, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the United
States and Russia on the 28th day of March, 1887; also a report from the
Secretary of State and accompanying papers relating to the negotiations
which terminated in the conclusion of the treaty in question.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 27, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of State and accompanying
documents, relative to a naturalization treaty between the United States
and Turkey signed the 11th day of August, 1874, as to the proclamation
of which the advice of the Senate is desired. The advice and consent of
the Senate were given to the ratification of the convention on the 22d
of January, 1875, but with certain amendments which were not fully
accepted by the Ottoman Porte. Because of such nonacceptance the treaty
has never been proclaimed. Finally the Turkish Government, after the
passage of fourteen years, has accepted the amendments as tendered. But
in view of the long period that has elapsed since the Senate formerly
considered the treaty I have deemed it wiser that before proclaiming it
the Senate should have an opportunity to act upon the matter again, my
own views being wholly favorable to the proclamation.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, February 27, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, in response to the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 21st of December last, a report of the Secretary
of State and accompanying documents, touching affairs in Madagascar.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 28, 1889_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of
State, concerning the expenses of the representation of the United
States at the Brussels Exhibition of 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 28, 1889_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of
State, respecting the representation of the United States at the
Barcelona Exposition of 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1889_.

_To the Congress_:

I herewith transmit the fifth report of the Civil Service Commission,
covering the year which ended June 30, 1888.

The cause of civil-service reform, which in a great degree is intrusted
to the Commission, I regard as so firmly established and its value so
fully demonstrated that I should deem it more gratifying than useful if
at this late day in the session of Congress I was permitted to enlarge
upon its importance and present condition.

A perusal of the report herewith submitted will furnish information of
the progress which has been made during the year to which it relates in
the extension of the operations of this reform and in the improvement of
its methods and rules.

It is cause for congratulation that watchfulness and care and fidelity
to its purposes are all that are necessary to insure to the Government
and our people all the benefits which its inauguration promised.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, March 2, 1889_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate with a
view of giving its advice and consent to the ratification thereof, a
convention signed in Washington on March 1, 1889, by duly authorized
representatives of the United States and Mexico, providing for the
institution of an international commission to determine questions
between the United States and Mexico arising under the convention of
November 12, 1884, by reason of changes in the river bed of the Rio
Grande and the Colorado River when forming the boundary between the
two countries.

A report of the Secretary of State, with the accompanying correspondence
therein described, is also communicated for the information of the
Senate.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1889_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of State and accompanying
documents, relative to the undetermined boundary line between Alaska and
British Columbia.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, in further
response to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d
[21st] of December last, touching affairs in Madagascar.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith transmit, for the information of Congress, a report from the
Secretary of State, with its accompanying correspondence, in regard to
the construction of certain dams or wing facings in the Rio Grande at
Paso del Norte (Ciudad Juarez), opposite the city of El Paso, Tex.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1889_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary
of State, covering the report of the commissioner of the United States
to the Brussels Exhibition of 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




VETO MESSAGES.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 19, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5080, entitled "An act for the
relief of C.B. Wilson."

This bill directs the Postmaster-General to credit to the beneficiary
therein named, who is the postmaster at Buena Vista, in the State of
Colorado, the sum of $225, being post-office funds forwarded by him to
the deposit office at Denver, but which were lost in transmission.

A general law was passed on the 9th day of May, 1888, authorizing the
Postmaster-General to make allowances and credits to postmasters in
precisely such cases.

On the 8th day of September, 1888, under the sanction of that law, the
credit directed by this bill was made.

It is plain, therefore, that the bill herewith returned ought not to
become a law unless it is proposed to duplicate the credit therein
mentioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 16, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8469, entitled "An act for the
relief of Michael Pigott."

This bill appropriates the sum of $48 to the beneficiary therein named,
formerly the postmaster at Quincy, Ill., which was paid by him for the
use of a telephone for the year ending June 30, 1873.

There is evidently a mistake made in the statement of the period covered
by the use of this telephone, for the official term of the beneficiary
extended from May 16, 1881, to June 18, 1885.

Assuming, however, that it was intended to describe the period ending
June 30, 1883, it appears that the use of a telephone during that time
was wholly unauthorized by the Post Office Department, and that the only
authority given for any expenditure for that purpose covered the period
of one year from the 1st day of January, 1884.

The following letter, dated July 16, 1884, was sent to the beneficiary
from the salary and allowance division of the Post Office Department:

  In reply to your letter relative to amounts disallowed for use of
  telephone for your office, you are informed that the said expenditures
  were made without the authority of this office, and it is therefore
  deemed advisable not to approve the same.

  Your authority for a telephone was for one year beginning January 1,
  1884. At the expiration of the time named, if you desire to continue the
  telephone service, you should make application to the First Assistant
  Postmaster-General for a renewal of the same.


The multitude of claims of the same kind which the legislation proposed
would breed and encourage, and the absolute necessity, in the interest
of good administration, of limiting all public officers to authorized
expenditures, constrain me to withhold my approval from this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 16, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7, entitled "An act granting a
pension to Thomas B. Walsh."

This beneficiary enlisted January 1, 1864, and was discharged August 1,
1865.

He is reported absent without leave in April, 1864, and further recorded
as having deserted November 24, 1864. He was restored to duty in May,
1865, by the President's proclamation.

He filed an application for pension in December, 1881, alleging that he
contracted rheumatism in May, 1865.

This statement of the claimant and nearly, if not all, the evidence in
the case which tends to show the incurrence of the disability complained
of appear to fix its appearance at a date very near the return of the
beneficiary after his desertion.

In these circumstances the proof of disability, such as it is, is as
consistent with its incurrence during desertion as it is with the theory
that the beneficiary suffered therefrom as the result of honorable
military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 16, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 2236, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Eli. J. Yamgheim."

The beneficiary named in this bill filed an application for pension in
the Pension Bureau April 15, 1875, basing his claim upon an alleged
wound of his left leg from a spent ball about October 15, 1861.

There is no record of his incurring any wound or injury during his
service, and it does not appear that the company to which he belonged
was in action nearer to the date he specifies than September 17, 1861,
and his captain testifies that the beneficiary was not injured in the
engagement of that day, which lasted only about fifteen minutes.

The proof taken in the case establishes that before enlistment the
beneficiary had a sore on his leg which was quite troublesome, which
suppurated, and after healing would break out again.

In the medical examinations made during the pendency of the claim the
diseased leg was always found, but no mention is made of any other
injury and no other injury seems to have been discoverable.

I can not avoid the conviction upon the facts presented that whatever
disability has existed since the discharge of the beneficiary arose from
causes which were present before enlistment, and that the same is not
chargeable to his military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 16, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 4887, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Charles E. Scott."

This beneficiary entered the volunteer service, nearly at the close of
the War of the Rebellion and served from the 8th day of March, 1865, to
July 24, in the same year, a period of four months and sixteen days.

He filed a claim for pension in 1884, alleging that he incurred camp
itch in July, 1865, which resulted in partial blindness.

Upon the proof presented, and after examination, the claim was rejected
upon the ground that it did not appear that the impairment of his vision
was the result of any incident of his army service.

I am entirely satisfied that this was a correct disposition of the case,
and that upon the same ground the bill herewith returned should not be
approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 17, 1889_.

_To The Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 3646, entitled "An act for the
relief of William R. Wheaton and Charles H. Chamberlain, of California."

These parties were, respectively, for a number of years prior to 1879,
the register and receiver of the land office at San Francisco, in the
State of California.

Prior to July, 1877, they had collected and retained, apparently without
question, certain fees allowed by law for reducing to writing the
testimony heard by them in establishing the rights of claimants to
public lands.

On the 9th day of July, 1877, these officials were notified by the
Acting Commissioner of the General Land Office that monthly thereafter,
and dating from July 1, 1877, such fees should be reported with other
fees to the General Land Office.

This notification furnished clear information that, whatever may have
been the justification for their retention of these fees in the past,
the parties notified must thereafter account to the Government for the
same.

On the 8th day of February, 1879, the beneficiaries were peremptorily
required by the Commissioner of the General Land Office to deposit in
the Treasury of the United States the sums which they had received for
the services mentioned since July 1, 1877, and which, though reported,
had not been paid over. Soon thereafter, and pursuant to this demand,
the sum of $5,330.76, being the aggregate of such fees for the nineteen
months between July 1, 1877, and February 1, 1879, was paid over to the
Government.

On the 19th day of February, 1879, these officers were authorized to
employ two clerks, each upon a salary of $100 per month.

The purpose of the bill now under consideration is to restore to the
beneficiaries from the money paid over to the Government, as above
stated, the sum of $3,800. This is proposed upon the theory that clerks
were employed by the register and receiver to do the work for which the
fees were received, and that these officials having paid them for their
services they should be reimbursed from the fund.

It will be observed that whatever services were performed by clerks in
the way of writing down testimony, and paid for by the beneficiaries,
were performed and paid for after July, 1877, and after they had in
effect received notice that such employment and payment would not be
approved by the Government.

Upon this statement the claim covered by the Dill can hardly be urged on
legal grounds, whatever the Government may have allowed prior to such
notice.

I am decidedly of the opinion that the relations, the duties, and the
obligations of subordinates in public employment should be clearly
defined and strictly limited. They should not be permitted to judge of
the propriety or necessity of incurring expenses on behalf of the
Government without authority, much less in disregard of orders. And yet
there are cases when in an emergency money is paid for the benefit of
the public service by an official which, though not strictly authorized,
ought in equity to be reimbursed.

If there is any equity existing in favor of the beneficiaries named in
the bill herewith returned, it is found in the fact that during the
nineteen months from the 1st day of July, 1877, to the 1st day of
February, 1879, they paid out certain moneys for which the Government,
in the receipt of the fees which they paid over, received the benefit.
Manifestly such equity in this case, if it can be claimed at all in view
of the facts recited, is measured by the sum actually paid by these
officials to the persons, if such there were, who did the work from
which the fees arose which were paid over to the Government.

In other words, if certain clerks were paid by the beneficiaries from
their private funds for doing this work, there should be a distinct
statement of the sum so paid, and their claim should rest upon indemnity
and reimbursement alone. But no such statement appears, so far as I can
see from an examination of papers presented to me by the Interior
Department and from the report of the Senate committee who reported this
bill, except as it may be gathered from the rather indirect allegations
contained in a paper prepared by counsel.

No vouchers have ever been received at the General Land Office for
money paid for clerical services rendered during the period for which
reimbursement is sought. The verified statement of the claimants annexed
to the committee's report contains only the allegation that they paid
for the necessary clerical services, and the affidavits of the clerks
themselves furnish no clew to the amount they received. Such an
omission, in my opinion, discredits the claim made, and the allowance of
the sum of $100 per month for two clerks during the period of nineteen
months covered by this claim, because that was the sum authorized to be
paid thereafter for clerks' services, is, it seems to me, adopting a
standard entirely inapplicable to the subject.

In any event these beneficiaries should be required to establish the sum
necessary for such indemnification, and the amount appropriated for
their relief should be limited to that sum.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9173, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mary J. Drake."

It is proposed by this bill to pension the beneficiary therein named as
the widow of Newton E. Drake, who served as a soldier from August 1,
1863, to January 18, 1865.

The records do not show that he suffered from any disability during his
term of service.

He filed an application for pension September 23, 1879, claiming that he
contracted rheumatism about October, 1864.

He died June 7, 1881, and there does not appear to have been any
evidence produced as to the cause of his death or establishing, except
by the allegations of his own application, that he contracted any
disease or disability in the service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9791, entitled "An act for the
relief of Charles W. Geddes."

This bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to include the name of
the beneficiary mentioned, late assistant engineer in the United States
Navy, among those who served in the Mexican War, and issue to him a land
warrant for his services as assistant engineer on the United States
steamer _General Taylor_ during said war.

On an application made by this beneficiary for bounty land under general
laws the Secretary of the Navy reported that the vessel to which he was
attached was not considered as having been engaged in the war with
Mexico, and thereupon his application was rejected. Upon appeal to the
Secretary of the Interior he states the settled doctrine of such cases
to be that "service must have been _in_, not simply _during_,
a war to give title to bounty land."

The only claim made by the beneficiary is that the vessel upon which he
was employed was engaged for a time in transporting seamen from New
Orleans, where they were enlisted, to Pensacola, and that he was
informed and believed that they were enlisted to serve on board vessels
composing the Gulf Squadron, then cooperating with the land forces in
the Mexican War.

It seems to me that it is establishing a bad precedent, tending to the
breaking down of all distinctions between civil and military employment
and service, to hold that a man engaged on a vessel transporting
recruits to a rendezvous from which they may be sent to the scene of
hostilities should be allowed the same advantages which are bestowed
upon those actually engaged in or more directly related to the dangers
and chances of military operations.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9252, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Mrs. Catherine Barberick, of Watertown."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the mother of William Barberick,
who enlisted February 19, 1862, and died of smallpox August 2, 1864, at
his home while on veteran furlough.

It is not claimed that the soldier contracted the fatal disease while in
the Army. On the contrary, the testimony taken upon his mother's
application for pension to the Pension Bureau shows that he was taken
sick after his arrival at his home on furlough, and that several of his
family had died of the contagious disease to which he fell a victim
before he was taken sick with it.

In these circumstances, unless there is to be a complete departure from
the principle that pensions are to be granted for death or disability in
some way related to the military service, this bill should not become a
law.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 7877, entitled "An act to place
Mary Karstetter on the pension roll."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of Jacob Karstetter, who
enlisted in June, 1864, and was discharged in June, 1865, on account of
a wound in his left hand received in action. He died in August, 1874, of
gastritis, or inflammation of the stomach, and congestion of the liver.
He was granted a pension for his gunshot wound and was in receipt of
such pension at the time of his death.

I was constrained to return without approval a bill identical with the
one herewith returned, and which was passed by the last Congress, and
stated my objections to the same in a communication addressed to the
House of Representatives, dated July 6, 1886.[31]

It seemed to me at that time that the soldier's death could not be held
to be the result of his wound or any other cause chargeable to his military
service.

Upon reexamination I am still of the same opinion, which leads me to
again return the bill under consideration without approval.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 31: See pp. 469-470.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9296, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Bridget Carroll."

This bill proposes to pension the beneficiary therein named as the
dependent mother of Patrick Carroll, who was enrolled as a sergeant in
the Regular Army in 1881, this being, as it is stated, his second term
of enlistment.

In September, 1886, being absent from his command at Fort Warren, Mass.,
he was drowned while sailing in a small boat with two companions.

The beneficiary is aged and in need of assistance, but there is no
pretense that the soldier's death was in the least degree related to his
military service.

I am sure no one could fail to be gratified by an opportunity to join in
according aid to this dependent old mother of a faithful soldier, but I
can not believe that such a departure as is proposed should be made from
the just principles upon which pension legislation ought to be
predicated.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1899_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9175, entitled "An act granting
a pension to George Wallen."

The beneficiary named in this bill filed an application for pension in
June, 1873, alleging as his disability a fracture of his right arm.

In a subsequent affidavit filed in 1883 he alleged deafness, which
appears to be the disability upon which the special act proposed for his
relief is based.

The records establish that he enlisted July 27, 1861, that he deserted
April 25, 1862, and returned February 20, 1863, after an absence of
about ten months, and that he deserted again April 30, 1864, and
returned prior to August 31, 1864. I am informed that his record shows
two enlistments and desertion during each. He was discharged December
31, 1864.

An application to remove the charge of desertion against him was denied.

Without especially discussing the question of disability chargeable to
military service, it seems to me that a soldier with such a record
should not be pensioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 31, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 3264, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mrs. Ellen Hand."

The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill enlisted August 22,
1862, and was mustered out with his company July 10, 1865.

He filed a claim for pension in 1881, sixteen years after his discharge,
alleging that he contracted rheumatism about December, 1862.

He died in February, 1883, the cause of death being, as then certified,
typhoid fever.

His claim for pension on account of rheumatism seems to have been
favorably determined after his death, for it was made payable to his
widow and was allowed from the time of filing his petition to February
25, 1883, the day of his death.

The facts of the case as now presented appear to me to lead in the most
satisfactory manner to the conclusion that the soldier's death was in no
way related to any incident of his military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 12, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 9163, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Eli Garrett."

This beneficiary enlisted in the Confederate Army December 1, 1862. He
was captured by the United States forces on the 26th of November, 1863,
and enlisted in the Union Navy January 22, 1864.

He was discharged from the Navy for disability September 8, 1864, upon
the certificate of a naval surgeon, which states that he had valvular
cardiac disease (disease of the heart), and that there was no evidence
that it originated in the line of duty.

His claim for pension was rejected in 1882 upon the ground that the act
which permits pensions to Confederate soldiers who joined the Union Army
did not extend to such soldiers who enlisted in the Navy.

I can see no reason why such a distinction should exist, and the
recommendation of the Commissioner of Pensions, made in 1887, that this
discrimination be removed should be adopted by the enactment of a law
for that purpose.

In this case, however, I am unable to discover any evidence that the
trouble with which this beneficiary appears to be afflicted is related
to his naval service which should overcome the plain statement of the
surgeon upon whose certificate he was discharged to the effect that
there was no evidence that his disability originated in the line of
naval duty.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 12, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 11052, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Clara M. Owen."

The husband of this beneficiary was pensioned for a gunshot wound in the
left chest and lung, received in action on the 30th day of September,
1864.

He was drowned August 31, 1884.

It appears that he was found in a stream where he frequently bathed, in
a depth of water variously given from 5 to 8 feet. He had undressed and
apparently gone into the water as usual.

Medical opinions are produced tending to show that drowning was not the
cause of death.

No _post mortem_ examination was had, and it seems to me it must be
conceded that a conclusion that death was in any degree the result of
wounds received in military service rests upon the most unsatisfactory
conjecture.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 12, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5752, entitled "An act for the
relief of Julia Triggs."

This beneficiary filed an application for pension in 1882, claiming that
her son, William Triggs, died in 1875 from the effects of poison taken
during his military service in water which had been poisoned by the
rebels and in food eaten in rebel houses, which had also been poisoned.

He was discharged from the Army with his company July 24, 1865, after a
service of more than four years.

The cause of his death is reported to have been an abscess of the lung.

The case was specially examined, and the evidence elicited to support
the claim of poisoning appears to have been anything but satisfactory.

The mother herself testified that her son was absent from Chicago, where
she lived, and in the South from 1868 to 1869, and that he was in
Indiana from 1869 to 1874.

The claim was rejected on the 12th day of February, 1887, on the ground
that evidence could not be obtained upon special examination showing
that the soldier's death was due to any disability contracted in the
military service.

While I am unable to see how any other conclusion could have been
reached upon the facts in this case, there is reason to believe that a
favorable determination upon its merits would be of no avail, since, on
the 17th day of April, 1888, a letter was filed in the Pension Office
from a citizen of Chicago in which it is stated that the beneficiary
named in this bill died on the 27th day of February, 1888, and an
application is therein made on behalf of her daughter for reimbursement
of money expended for her mother in her last illness and for her burial.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 13, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2514, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Michael Shong."

It appears that the beneficiary named in this bill, under the name of
John M. Johns, enlisted in Company I, Fourteenth New York Volunteers, on
the 17th day of May, 1861, and was discharged May 24, 1863.

In November, 1876, more than thirteen years after his discharge, under
the same name of John M. Johns, he filed an application for pension,
alleging a fever sore on his right leg contracted July 1, 1862, which
resulted in the loss of the leg.

His claim was rejected in November, 1882, after a thorough special
examination, on the ground that the disease of the leg resulting in
amputation was contracted after the soldier's discharge from the
service.

The leg was amputated in February, 1865.

While there is some evidence tending to show lameness in the service and
following discharge, and while one witness swears to lameness and fever
sores in the service, evidence was also produced showing that the
soldier returned home from the Army in good physical condition and that
the disease of his leg first manifested itself in the latter part of
1864.

It will be observed that he served in the Army nearly a year after it is
alleged he contracted his disability, and that though his leg was
amputated in February, 1865, he did not apply for a pension until 1876.

Moreover, the surgeon who amputated his leg testified that the soldier
and his parents stated that he came out of the Army without a scratch;
that on New Year's night in 1865 he became very warm at a dance; that he
went outdoors and was taken with a chill and pain in his side, which
subsequently settled in the leg and caused a gangrenous condition, and
that upon amputating the leg the artery below the knee was found plugged
by a blood clot, which caused the diseased condition of the leg and
foot.

This testimony and the other facts established and the presumptions
arising therefrom clearly indicate, in my opinion, that the claim made
for a pension by this beneficiary is without merit.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 13, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 3451, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Frank D. Worcester."

The beneficiary named in this bill served in the Volunteer Army from
February 4, 1863, to January 27, 1864, a period of less than one year,
when he was discharged upon the certificate of a surgeon, alleging as
his disability "manifest mental imbecility and incontinence of urine.
Disease originated previous to enlistment."

In 1880, sixteen years after his discharge, a claim for pension was
filed in his behalf by his father as his guardian, in which it was
alleged that his mind, naturally not strong, became diseased in the Army
by reason of excitement and exposure.

He was adjudged insane in 1872 and sent to an insane hospital, where
he remained about six years, when he was discharged as a harmless
incurable. His mental condition has remained about the same since that
time.

Upon the declared inability to furnish testimony to rebut the record of
mental disease prior to enlistment, the claim for pension was rejected
in 1883.

In 1887 the case was reopened and a thorough examination was made as to
soundness prior to enlistment and the origin and continuance of mental
unsoundness.

Upon this examination evidence was taken showing that he was deficient
intellectually when he joined the Army; that he was stationed where he
was not much exposed, and that his duties were comparatively light; that
he never was considered a boy of solid intelligence, and that he had
epileptiform seizures prior to enlistment.

On the other hand, no disinterested and unbiased evidence was secured
tending to rebut these conditions.

The claim was thereupon again rejected. This was a proper disposition of
the case unless the Government is held liable for every disability which
may afflict those who served in the Union Army.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 14, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 2665, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Charles J. Esty."

A bill in precisely the same words as the bill herewith returned was
approved on the 8th day of July, 1886, and under its provisions the
beneficiary is now upon the pension rolls.

It is supposed that the bill now under consideration was passed by the
Congress in ignorance of the previous statute. A duplication of the act
would manifestly be entirely useless.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 21, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 1368, entitled "An act
to quiet title of settlers on the Des Moines River lands, in the State
of Iowa, and for other purposes."

This bill is to all intents and purposes identical with Senate bill
No. 150, passed in the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress, which
failed to receive Executive approval. My objections to that bill are set
forth in a message transmitted to the Senate on the 11th day of March,
1886.[32] They are all applicable to the bill herewith returned, and
a careful reexamination of the matters embraced in this proposed
legislation has further satisfied me of their validity and strength.

The trouble proposed to be cured by this bill grew out of the
indefiniteness and consequent contradictory construction by the officers
of the Government of a grant of land made in 1846 by Congress to the
State of Iowa (then a Territory) for the purpose of aiding in the
improvement of the Des Moines River. This grant was accepted on the 9th
day of January, 1847, by the State of Iowa, as required by the act of
Congress, and soon thereafter the question arose whether the lands
granted were limited to those which adjoined the river in its course
northwesterly from the southerly line of the State to a point called the
Raccoon Fork, or whether such grant covered lands so adjoining the river
through its entire course through the Territory, and both below and
above the Raccoon Fork.

The Acting Commissioner of the General Land Office, on the 17th day of
October, 1846, instructed the officers of the land office in Iowa that
the grant extended only to the Raccoon Fork.

On the 23d day of February, 1848, the Commissioner of the General
Land Office held that the grant extended along the entire course of the
river.

Notwithstanding this opinion, the President, in June, 1848, proclaimed
the lands upon the river above the Raccoon Fork to be open for sale and
settlement under the land laws, and about 25,000 acres were sold to and
preempted by settlers under said proclamation.

In 1849, and before the organization of the Department of the Interior,
the Secretary of the Treasury decided, upon a protest against opening
said lands for sale and settlement, that the grant extended along the
entire course of the river.

Pursuant to this decision, and on the 1st day of June, 1849, the
Commissioner of the General Land Office directed the reservation or the
withholding from sale of all lands on the odd-numbered sections along
the Des Moines River above the Raccoon Fork.

This reservation from entry and sale under the general land laws seems
to have continued until a deed of the lands so reserved was made by the
State of Iowa and until the said deed was supplemented and confirmed by
the action of the Congress in 1861 and 1862.

In April, 1850, the Secretary of the Interior, that Department having
then been created, determined that the grant extended no farther than
the Raccoon Fork; but in view of the fact that Congress was in session
and might take steps in the matter, the Commissioner of the General Land
Office expressly continued the reservation.

In October, 1851, another Secretary of the Interior, while expressing
the opinion that the grant only extended to the Raccoon Fork, declared
that he would approve the selections made by the State of Iowa of lands
above that point, "leaving the question as to the construction of the
statute entirely open to the action of the judiciary."

In this condition of affairs selections were made by Iowa of a large
quantity of land lying above the Raccoon Fork, which selections were
approved and the land certified to the State. In the meantime the State
had entered upon the improvement of the river and it appears had
disposed of some of the land in furtherance of said improvement. But in
1854 the State of Iowa made a contract with the Des Moines Navigation
and Railroad Company for the continuance of said work at a cost of
$1,300,000, the State agreeing in payment thereof to convey to the
company all the land which had been or should thereafter be certified to
the State of Iowa under the grant of 1846.

In November, 1856, further certification of lands above the Raccoon Fork
under the grant to the State of Iowa was refused by the Interior
Department. This led to a dispute and settlement between the State of
Iowa and the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company, by which the
State conveyed by deed to said company--

  All lands granted by an act of Congress approved August 8, 1846, to the
  then Territory of Iowa to aid in the improvement of the Des Moines River
  which have been approved and certified to the State of Iowa by the
  General Government, saving and excepting all lands sold and conveyed,
  or agreed to be sold and conveyed, by the State, by its officers and
  agents, prior to the 23d day of December, 1853, under said grant.


This exception was declared in the deed to cover the lands above the
Raccoon Fork disposed of to settlers by the Government in 1848 under the
proclamation of the President opening said lands to sale and settlement,
which has been referred to; and it is conceded that neither these lands
nor the rights of any settlers thereto are affected by the terms of the
bill now under consideration.

The amount of land embraced in this deed located above the Raccoon Fork
appears to be more than 271,000 acres.

It is alleged that the company in winding up its affairs distributed
this land among the parties interested, and that said land, or a large
part of it, has been sold to numerous parties now claiming the same
under titles derived from said company.

In December, 1859, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that
the grant to the Territory of Iowa under the law of 1846 conveyed no
land above the Raccoon Fork, and that all selections and certifications
of lands above that point were unauthorized and void, and passed no
title or interest in said lands to the State of Iowa. In other words, it
was determined that these lands were, in the language of the bill under
consideration, "improperly certified to Iowa by the Department of the
Interior under the act of August 8, 1846."

This adjudication would seem to conclusively determine that the title to
these lands was, as the law then stood, and notwithstanding all that had
taken place, still in the United States. And for the purpose of granting
all claim or right of the Government to said lands for the benefit of
the grantees of the State of Iowa, Congress, on the 2d day of March,
1861, passed a joint resolution providing that all the title still
retained by the United States in the lands above the Raccoon Fork, in
the State of Iowa, "which have been certified to said State improperly
by the Department of the Interior as part of the grant by act of
Congress approved August 8, 1846, and which is now held by _bona
fide_ purchasers under the State of Iowa, be, and the same is hereby,
relinquished to the State of Iowa."

Afterwards, and on the 12th day of July, 1862, an act of Congress was
passed extending the grant of 1846 so as to include lands lying above
the Raccoon Fork.

The joint resolution and act of Congress here mentioned have been
repeatedly held by the Supreme Court of the United States to supply a
title to the lands mentioned in the deed from the State of Iowa to the
Navigation and Railroad Company, which inured to the benefit of said
company or its grantees.

No less than ten cases have been decided in that court more or less
directly establishing this proposition, as well as the further
proposition that no title to these lands could prior to said
Congressional action be gained by settlers, for the reason that it had
been withdrawn and reserved from entry and sale under the general land
laws. It seems to be perfectly well settled also, if an adjudication was
necessary upon that question, that all interest of the United States in
these lands was entirely and completely granted by the resolution of
1861 and the act of 1862.

The act of 1862 provides for the setting apart of other lands in lieu of
such as were covered by the act, but had been before its passage sold
and disposed of by the United States, excepting such as had been
released to the State of Iowa under the joint resolution of 1861.

It is claimed, I believe, that in a settlement of land grants thereafter
had between the United States and the State of Iowa lands were allowed
to the State in lieu or indemnity for some of the lands which it had
conveyed to the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company. But if the
title of the company is valid to lands along the river and above the
Raccoon Fork, under the deed from Iowa and the joint resolution and act
of Congress, it can not be in the least affected by the fact that the
State afterwards, justly or unjustly, received other lands as indemnity.

The bill under consideration provides that all the lands "improperly
certified to Iowa" under the grant of 1846, as referred to in the joint
resolution of 1861, and for which indemnity lands were selected and
received by the State, as provided in the act of 1862, "are, and are
hereby, declared to be public lands of the United States."

The claims of persons and their heirs who, with intent in good faith to
obtain title under the preemption and homestead laws of the United
States, have entered and remained upon any tract of said land prior to
1880 are confirmed and made valid to them and their heirs, not exceeding
160 acres; and upon due proof and payment of the usual price or fees it
is directed that such claims shall be carried to patent.

It is further provided that the claims of settlers and claimants which
do not come in conflict with the claims of the parties above mentioned
are confirmed and made valid. By the second section of the bill it is
made the duty of the Attorney-General, as soon as practicable, and
within three years after the passage of the act, to institute legal
proceedings to assert and protect the title of the United States to said
lands and to remove all clouds from its title thereto.

One result of this legislation, if consummated and if effectual, would
be to restore to the United States, as a part of the public domain,
lands which more than twenty-five years ago the Government expressly
granted and surrendered, and which repeated decisions of the Supreme
Court have adjudged to belong by virtue of this action of the Government
to other parties.

Another result would be not only to validate claims to this land which
our highest judicial tribunal have solemnly declared to be invalid, but
to actually direct the issue of patents in confirmation of said claims.

Still another result would be to oblige the Government of the United
States to enter the courts ostensibly to assert and protect its title to
said land, while in point of fact it would be used to enforce private
claims to the same and unsettle private ownership.

It is by no means certain that this proposed legislation, relating to a
subject peculiarly within the judicial function, and which attempts to
disturb rights and interests thoroughly intrenched in the solemn
adjudications of our courts, would be upheld. In any event, it seems to
me that it is an improper exercise of legislative power, an interference
with the determinations of a coordinate branch of the Government, an
arbitrary annulment of a public grant made more than twenty-five years
ago, an attempted destruction of vested rights, and a threatened
impairment of lawful contracts.

The advocates of this measure insist that a point in favor of the
settlers upon these lands and important in the consideration of this
bill is found in the following language of the constitution of the State
of Iowa, which was adopted in 1857:

  The general assembly shall not locate any of the public lands which have
  been or may be granted by Congress to this State, and the location of
  which may be given to the general assembly, upon lands actually settled,
  without the consent of the occupant.


The State under its constitution was perfectly competent to take the
grants of 1861 and 1862. The clause of the constitution above quoted
deals expressly with "lands which have been or may be granted by
Congress to the State," and thus of necessity recognizes its right to
take such grants. This competency in the State as a grantee was all that
was needed to create, under the joint resolution of 1861 and the act of
1862, a complete divestiture of the interests of the United States in
these lands. It must be borne in mind, too, that prior to this time
these lands had been conveyed by the State of Iowa in furtherance of the
purposes of the original Congressional grants, and that the joint
resolution of 1861 and the act of 1862 were really made for the benefit
of those who held under grants from the State. After these grants by the
Government it had no concern with these lands. If in any stage of the
proceedings the general assembly of Iowa was guilty of any neglect of
duty or failed to act in accordance with the constitution of the State
of Iowa, the remedy should be found in the courts of that State; and it
is difficult to see how the situation in this aspect can be changed or
improved by the bill under consideration.

I am not unmindful of the fact that there may be persons who have
suffered or who are threatened with loss through a reliance upon the
erroneous decisions of Government officials as to the extent of the
original grant from the United States to the Territory of Iowa. I
believe cases of this kind should be treated in accordance with the
broadest sentiments of equity, and that where loss is apparent arising
from a real or fairly supposed invitation of the Government to settle
upon the lands mentioned in the bill under consideration such loss
should be made good. But I do not believe that the condition of these
settlers will be aided by encouraging them in such further litigation as
the terms of this bill invite, nor do I believe that in attempting to
right the wrongs of which they complain legislation should be sanctioned
mischievous in principle, and in its practical operation doing injustice
to others as innocent as they and as much entitled to consideration.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 32: See pp. 411-413.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 220, entitled "An act
granting a pension to John J. Lockrey."

It is stated that this beneficiary enlisted April 11, 1865, but it
appears from the muster roll of his company for May and June, 1865, that
he was a recruit assigned, but who had not joined. There is nothing
appearing on the record which positively shows that he ever reached his
regiment.

It is conceded that his real and nominal connection with the Army
extended only from April 11, 1865, when he was mustered in, until
August, 1865, when he was discharged for disability, consisting of a
disease of the eye, called in the surgeon's certificate "iritis with
conjunctivitis."

It seems that this claimant enlisted just at the close of the war, and
was connected in a manner with the Army for four months. It is not
probable that he ever saw any actual service, for none is stated in the
papers before me; and it does appear that he spent a large part of his
short term of enlistment in hospitals and under treatment for a trouble
with his eye. As early as May 23, 1865, he was admitted to hospital with
gonorrheal ophthalmia. His claim was rejected by the Pension Bureau on
the ground that this was the cause of his disability, and the inferences
from the proof presented make this extremely probable.

One of the witnesses who testified that the beneficiary caught cold in
his eye in April, 1865, on the Mississippi River is shown to have been
at that time with his regiment and company at Danville, Va.

The circumstances surrounding this case and the facts proved satisfy me
that the determination of the Pension Bureau was correct, and there is
certainly no sentiment in favor of the claimant which justifies the
indulgence of violent presumptions for the purpose of overriding such
determination.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 5807, entitled "An act granting
a pension to John McCool."

This beneficiary served in an Iowa regiment of volunteers from May 27,
1861, to July 12, 1865.

He filed a petition for pension, alleging an accidental wound in the
right thumb while extracting a cartridge from a pistol in August, 1861.
There is no record of any such disability, though it appears that he was
on a furlough about the date of his alleged injury. It appears that he
served nearly four years after the time he fixed as the date of his
injury.

No evidence was filed in support of the claim he filed, and he refused
to appear for examination, though twice notified to do so.

His claim was rejected in May, 1888, no suggestion having been made of
any other disability than the wound in the thumb, upon which his claim
before the Bureau was based.

The report of the committee in the House of Representatives recommending
the passage of this bill contains no intimation that there exists any
disability contracted in the military service, but distinctly declares
the pension recommended a service pension, and states that the
beneficiary is blind.

As long as the policy of granting pensions for disability traceable to
the incidents of army service is adhered to, the allowance of pensions
by special acts based upon service only gives rise to unjust and unfair
discriminations among those equally entitled, and makes precedents which
will eventually result in an entire departure from the principle upon
which pensions are now awarded.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 11803, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Henry V. Bass."

This beneficiary enlisted September 9, 1862, and was mustered out August
15, 1865. The records show no disability during his service.

It is now alleged that the soldier was sitting on the ground near his
tent while two comrades were wrestling near him, and that in the course
of the scuffle one of the parties engaged in it was thrown or fell upon
the beneficiary, injuring his right knee and ankle.

Upon these facts the claim was rejected by the Pension Bureau on the
ground that the injury was not received in the line of duty.

I do not think that the Government should be held as an insurer against
injuries of this kind, which are in no manner related to the performance
of military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 11999, entitled "An
act granting a pension to William Barnes."

The beneficiary named in this bill served in a Kentucky regiment from
August 9, 1861, to December 6, 1864.

He made claim for pension in the Pension Bureau in September, 1882,
alleging that in October, 1862, he was accidentally injured by a pistol
shot in the thigh while in the line of duty.

It is conceded that he was wounded by the discharge of a pistol which he
was carrying while he was absent from his command with permission on a
visit to his home, and that the discharge of the pistol was accidental.

The circumstances of the injury are neither given in the report of the
committee to whom the claim was referred by the House of Representatives
nor in the report of the case furnished to me from the Pension Bureau,
but on the conceded facts the granting of a pension in this case can be
predicated upon no other theory except the liability of the Government
for any injury by accident to a person in the military service, whether
in the line of duty or not.

I think the adoption of the principle that the Government is an insurer
against accidents under any circumstances befalling those enlisted in
its military service when visiting at home is an unwarrantable stretch
of pension legislation.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 25, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 10448, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Squire Walter."

The son of the beneficiary named in this bill enlisted in a West
Virginia regiment on the 28th day of June, 1861.

On the 15th day of September, 1862, while bathing in the Potomac River
near the Chain Bridge, with the knowledge and consent of his commanding
officer, he was drowned.

It is perfectly clear that he lost his life while in the enjoyment of a
privilege and when at his request military discipline was relaxed and
its restraints removed for his comfort and pleasure. His death resulted
from his voluntary and perfectly proper personal indulgence, and can not
be in the least attributed to military service.

The father does not appear to be so needy and dependent as is often
exhibited in cases of this class.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 25, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 3561, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Edwin W. Warner."

A claim for pension on behalf of the beneficiary named in this bill
was filed in the Pension Bureau May 6, 1867. It has been examined and
reexamined and always rejected, until, on the 29th day of December,
1888, as the result of a personal and thorough investigation by the
Commissioner, a pension was allowed and a certificate issued under which
the claimant will be paid $18 a month hereafter and arrearages amounting
to something near $2,000.

As the special act for the benefit of this claimant was passed by the
Congress upon the supposition that nothing had been done for the
beneficiary therein named, I deem it best, in his interest, and probably
consistent with the intent of the Congress, that the bill herewith
returned should not become a law.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 12047, entitled "An act
granting an increase of pension to George Colwell."

The record shows that this beneficiary was enrolled in the military
service August 10, 1862, and was mustered out June 1, 1865.

There is no record of any disability during his service.

He was pensioned at the rate of $2 a month for a dog bite just above the
ankle.

In September, 1865, three months after his discharge, he strained the
knee of the leg which had been bitten.

In 1887 he applied for an increase of pension, alleging increased
disability. This increased disability appears plainly to be the result
of the strain or injury to the knee, and in no way connected with the
bite for which he was pensioned.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 10791, entitled "An
act granting a pension to Marinda Wakefield Reed."

This beneficiary filed an application for pension in November, 1876,
alleging that her husband, William A. Reed, died in September of that
year of consumption contracted in the line of military duty.

The records show that the soldier was in hospital in the year 1864 for
chronic diarrhea and intermittent fever.

On the 5th day of November, 1864, he was injured in a railroad accident
while on his way home to vote at the Presidential election of that year.

The beneficiary claimed in August, 1885, in support of her application
for pension that those injuries resulted in consumption, from which the
soldier died, and the favorable report of the House committee to which
the bill herewith returned was referred seems to proceed upon the same
theory.

Nothing appears which satisfactorily connects this injury, which was
received in November, 1864, with death from consumption in 1876.

Another difficulty in the case is found in the fact that when the
soldier was injured he was clearly not engaged in any military duty nor
was his injury in any degree attributable to military service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1889_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill 11466, entitled "An act granting a
pension to Mary A. Selbach."

This bill does not give the name of any soldier to whom the beneficiary
was related or in what capacity the pension provided for is to be paid
to her, but it appears from the report of the committee accompanying the
bill that she is the widow of Gustavus Selbach, a volunteer in the Ninth
Regiment of Ohio Volunteers.

This soldier drew a pension from January, 1882, to January 16, 1886,
when he died. He claimed disability for disease of the ears and a
resulting deafness of his left ear. There appears to be no evidence in
his record of any disability or medical treatment while in the service,
and the medical examination upon his application for pension shows no
rating for any disability other than that alleged by him and for which
he was pensioned--disease of the ears and resulting deafness.

It is conceded that the soldier died January 16, 1886, of pneumonia.

The widow filed a claim for pension in May, 1887.

The testimony of physicians upon her claim covered seven years prior
to his death, thus dating back to the year 1879, and they speak of
the disease of the ear and of the kidneys, which, in their opinion,
undermined his health, so that "he succumbed to an attack of pneumonia,
which to a person of ordinary good health would not have been considered
serious."

It can hardly be supposed that the trouble with his ears caused the
soldier to fall a victim to pneumonia; and so far as the kidney disease
tended in that direction, it is to be observed that it apparently did
not make its appearance until fourteen years after the soldier's
discharge.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1880_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 11586, entitled "An act for the
relief of Stephen Williams."

It appears from the records that the beneficiary for whom a pension is
provided in this bill served as a volunteer in an Illinois regiment from
October, 1862, to October; 1864, at which date he is reported as a
deserter.

He filed a claim for pension in 1881, in which he alleged that he was
struck with a gunstock upon his head and injured in October, 1864.

The evidence shows that a drunken comrade struck the claimant with the
stock of his gun because he would not buy whisky for him.

This, upon all the facts, does not appear to be a proper case for
allowing a pension for an injury suffered in the line of military duty.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 2, 1889_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 139, entitled "An act
to credit and pay to the several States and Territories and the District
of Columbia all moneys collected under the direct tax levied by the act
of Congress approved August 5, 1861."

The object of this bill is quite clearly indicated in its title. Its
provisions have been much discussed in both branches of Congress and
have received emphatic legislative sanction. I fully appreciate the
interest which it has excited and have by no means failed to recognize
the persuasive presentation made in its favor. I know, too, that the
interposition of Executive disapproval in this case is likely to arouse
irritation and cause complaint and earnest criticism. Since, however, my
judgment will not permit me to assent to the legislation proposed, I can
find no way of turning aside from what appears to be the plain course of
official duty.

On the 5th day of August, 1861, a Federal statute was passed entitled
"An act to provide increased revenue from imports, to pay interest on
the public debt, and for other purposes."

This law was passed at a time when immense sums of money were needed
by the Government for the prosecution of a war for the Union, and the
purpose of the law was to increase in almost every possible way the
Federal revenues. The first seven sections of the statute were devoted
to advancing very largely the rates of duties on imports, and to
supplement this the eighth section provided that a direct tax of
$20,000,000 should be annually laid and that certain amounts therein
specified should be apportioned to the respective States. The remainder
of the law, consisting of fifty sections, contained the most particular
and detailed provisions for the collection of the tax through Federal
machinery.

It was declared, among other things, that the tax should be assessed
and laid on all lands and lots of ground, with their improvements and
dwelling houses; that the annual amount of said taxes should be a lien
upon all lands and real estate of the individuals assessed for the same,
and that in default of payment the said taxes might be collected by
distraint and sale of the goods, chattels, and effects of the delinquent
persons.

This tax was laid in execution of the power conferred upon the General
Government for that purpose by the Constitution. It was an exercise
of the right of the Government to tax its citizens. It dealt with
individuals, and the strong arm of Federal power was stretched out to
exact from those who owed it support and allegiance their just share
of the sum it had decreed should be raised by direct taxation for the
general good. The lien created by this tax was upon the land and real
estate of the "individuals" assessed for the same, and for its
collection the distraint and sale of personal property of the "persons
delinquent" were permitted.

But while the direct relationship and responsibility between the
individuals taxed and the Federal Government were thus created by the
exercise of the highest attribute of sovereignty, it was provided in the
statute that any State or Territory and the District of Columbia might
lawfully "assume, assess, collect, and pay into the Treasury of the
United States" its quota of said tax in its own way and manner and by
and through its own officers, assessors, and collectors; and it was
further provided that such States or Territories as should give notice
of their intention to thus assume and pay or to assess, collect, and pay
into the Treasury of the United States such direct tax, should be
entitled, in lieu of the compensation, pay, per diem, and percentage in
said act prescribed and allowed to assessors, assistant assessors, and
collectors of the United States, to a deduction of 15 per cent of the
quota of direct tax apportioned to such States or Territories and levied
and collected through their officers.

It was also provided by this law and another passed the next year that
certain claims of the States and Territories against the United States
might be applied in payment of such quotas. Whatever may be said as to
the effect of these provisions of the law, it can hardly be claimed that
by virtue thereof or any proceedings under them the apportioned quotas
of this tax became debts against the several States and Territories, or
that they were liable to the General Government therefor in every event,
and as principal debtors bound by an enforceable obligation.

In the forty-sixth section of the law it is provided that in case any
State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, after notice given of its
intention to assume and pay or to levy, collect, and pay said direct tax
apportioned to it, should fail to pay the amount of said direct tax, or
any part thereof, it should be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury
to appoint United States officers as in the act provided, whose duty it
should be to proceed forthwith to collect all or any part of said direct
tax "the same as though said State, Territory, or District had not given
notice nor assumed to levy, collect, and pay said taxes or any part
thereof."

A majority of the States undertook the collection of their quotas and
accounted for the amount thereof to the General Government by the
payment of money or by setting off claims in their favor against the
tax. Fifteen per cent of the amount of their respective quotas was
retained as the allowance for collection and payment. In the Northern,
or such as were then called the loyal States, nearly the entire quotas
were collected and paid through State agencies. The money necessary for
this purpose was generally collected from the citizens of the States
with their other taxes, and in whatever manner their quotas may have
been canceled, whether by the payment of money or setting off claims
against the Government, it is safe to say, as a general proposition,
that the people of these States have individually been obliged to pay
the assessments made upon them on account of this direct tax and have
intrusted it to their several States to be transmitted to the Federal
Treasury.

In the Southern States, then in insurrection, whatever was actually
realized in money upon this tax was collected directly by Federal
officers without the interposition of State machinery, and a part of its
quota has been credited to each of these States.

The entire amount applied upon this tax, including the 15 per cent for
collection, was credited to the several States and Territories upon the
books of the Treasury, whether collected through their instrumentalities
or by Federal officers.

The sum credited to all the States was $17,359,685.51, which includes
more than $2,000,000 on account of the 15 per cent allowed for
collecting. Of the amount credited only about $2,300.000 is credited to
the insurrectionary States. The amount uncollected of the twenty
millions directed to be raised by this tax was $2,646,314.49, and nearly
this entire sum remained due upon the quotas apportioned to these
States.

In this condition of affairs the bill under consideration directs the
Secretary of the Treasury "to credit to each State and Territory
of the United States and the District of Columbia a sum equal to
all collections, by set-off or otherwise, made from said States and
Territories and the District of Columbia, or from any of the citizens
or inhabitants thereof, or other persons, under the act of Congress
approved August 5, 1861, and the amendatory acts thereto." An
appropriation is also made of such a sum as may be necessary to
reimburse each State, Territory, and the District of Columbia for all
money found due to it under the provisions of the bill, and it is
provided that all money still due to the United States on said direct
tax shall be remitted and relinquished.

The conceded effect of this bill is to take from the money now in the
Treasury the sum of more than $17,000,000, or, if the percentage allowed
is not included, more than $15,000,000, and pay back to the respective
States and Territories the sums they or their citizens paid more than
twenty-five years ago upon a direct tax levied by the Government of the
United States for its defense and safety.

It is my belief that this appropriation of the public funds is not
within the constitutional power of the Congress. Under the limited and
delegated authority conferred by the Constitution upon the General
Government the statement of the purposes for which money may be lawfully
raised by taxation in any form declares also the limit of the objects
for which it may be expended.

All must agree that the direct tax was lawfully and constitutionally
laid and that it was rightfully and correctly collected. It can not be
claimed, therefore, nor is it pretended, that any debt arose against the
Government and in favor of any State or individual by the exaction of
this tax. Surely, then, the appropriation directed by this bill can not
be justified as a payment of a debt of the United States.

The disbursement of this money clearly has no relation to the common
defense. On the contrary, it is the repayment of money raised and long
ago expended by the Government to provide for the common defense.

The expenditure can not properly be advocated on the ground that the
general welfare of the United States is thereby provided for or
promoted. This "general welfare of the United States," as used in the
Constitution, can only justify appropriations for national objects and
for purposes which have to do with the prosperity, the growth, the
honor, or the peace and dignity of the nation.

A sheer, bald gratuity bestowed either upon States or individuals,
based upon no better reason than supports the gift proposed in this
bill, has never been claimed to be a provision for the general welfare.
More than fifty years ago a surplus of public money in the Treasury was
distributed among the States; but the unconstitutionality of such
distribution, considered as a gift of money, appears to have been
conceded, for it was put into the State treasuries under the guise of
a deposit or loan, subject to the demand of the Government.

If it was proposed to raise by assessment upon the people the sum
necessary to refund the money collected upon this direct tax, I am
sure many who are now silent would insist upon the limitations of the
Constitution in opposition to such a scheme. A large surplus in the
Treasury is the parent of many ills, and among them is found a tendency
to an extremely liberal, if not loose, construction of the Constitution.
It also attracts the gaze of States and individuals with a kind of
fascination, and gives rise to plans and pretensions that an uncongested
Treasury never could excite.

But if the constitutional question involved in the consideration of this
bill should be determined in its favor, there are other objections
remaining which prevent my assent to its provisions.

There should be a certainty and stability about the enforcement of
taxation which should teach the citizen that the Government will only
use the power to tax in cases where its necessity and justice are not
doubtful, and which should also discourage the disturbing idea that the
exercise of this power may be revoked by reimbursement of taxes once
collected. Any other theory cheapens and in a measure discredits a
process which more than any other is a manifestation of sovereign
authority.

A government is not only kind, but performs its highest duty when it
restores to the citizen taxes unlawfully collected or which have been
erroneously or oppressively extorted by its agents or officers; but
aside from these incidents, the people should not be familiarized with
the spectacle of their Government repenting the collection of taxes and
restoring them.

The direct tax levied in 1861 is not even suspected of invalidity. There
never was a tax levied which was more needed, and its justice can not be
questioned. Why, then, should it be returned?

The fact that the entire tax was not paid furnishes no reason that would
not apply to nearly every case where taxes are laid. There are always
delinquents, and while the more thorough and complete collection of
taxes is a troublesome problem of government, the failure to solve the
problem has never been held to call for the return of taxes actually
collected.

The deficiency in the collection of this tax is found almost entirely in
the insurrectionary States, while the quotas apportioned to the other
States were, as a general rule, fully paid; and three-fourths or
four-fifths of the money which it is proposed in this bill to return
would be paid into the treasuries of the loyal states. But no valid
reason for such payment is found in the fact that the Government at
first could not, and afterwards, for reasons probably perfectly valid,
did not, enforce collection in the other States.

There were many Federal taxes which were not paid by the people in the
rebellious States; and if the nonpayment by them of this direct tax
entitles the other States to a donation of the share of said taxes paid
by their citizens, why should not the income tax and many other internal
taxes paid entirely by the citizens of loyal States be also paid into
the treasuries of these States? Considerations which recognize sectional
divisions or the loyalty of the different States at the time this tax
was laid should not enter into the discussion of the merits of this
measure.

The loyal States should not be paid the large sums of money promised
them by this bill because they were loyal and other States were not,
nor should the States which rebelled against the Government be paid
the smaller sum promised them because they were in rebellion and thus
prevented the collection of their entire quotas, nor because this
concession to them is necessary to justify the proposed larger gifts
to the other States.

The people of the loyal States paid this direct tax as they bore other
burdens in support of the Government, and I believe the taxpayers
themselves are content. In the light of these considerations I am
opposed to the payment of money from the Federal Treasury to enrich the
treasuries of the States. Their funds should be furnished by their own
citizens, and thus should be fostered the taxpayer's watchfulness of
State expenditures and the taxpayer's jealous insistence upon the strict
accountability of State officials. These elements of purity and strength
in a State are not safely exchanged for the threatened demoralization
and carelessness attending the custody and management of large gifts
from the Federal Treasury.

The baneful effect of a surplus in the Treasury of the General
Government is daily seen and felt. I do not think, however, that this
surplus should be reduced or its contagion spread throughout the States
by methods such as are provided in this bill.

There is still another objection to the bill, arising from what seems to
me its unfairness and unjust discrimination.

In the case of proposed legislation of at least doubtful
constitutionality, and based upon no legal right, the equities which
recommend it should always be definite and clear.

The money appropriated by this bill is to be paid to the governors of
the respective States and Territories in which it was collected, whether
the same was derived through said States and Territories, or directly
"from any of the citizens or inhabitants thereof or other persons;" and
it is further provided that such sums as were collected in payment of
this Federal tax through the instrumentality of the State or Territorial
officials, and accounted for to the General Government by such States
and Territories, are to be paid unconditionally to their governors,
while the same collected in payment of said tax by the United States,
or, in other words, by the Federal machinery created for that purpose,
are to be held in trust by said States or Territories for the benefit of
those paying the same.

I am unable to understand how this discrimination in favor of those who
have made payment of this tax directly to the officers of the Federal
Government, and against those who made such payments through State
or Territorial agencies, can be defended upon fair and equitable
principles. It was the General Government in every case which exacted
this tax from its citizens and people in the different States and
Territories, and to provide for reimbursement to a part of its citizens
by the creation of a trust for their benefit, while the money exacted in
payment of this tax from a far greater number is paid unconditionally
into the State and Territorial treasuries, is an unjust and unfair
proceeding, in which the Government should not be implicated.

It will hardly do to say that the States and Territories who are the
recipients of these large gifts may be trusted to do justice to its
citizens who originally paid the money. This can not be relied upon; nor
should the Government lose sight of the equality of which it boasts,
and, having entered upon the plan of reimbursement, abandon to other
agencies the duty of just distribution, and thus incur the risk of
becoming accessory to actual inequality and injustice.

If in defense of the plan proposed it is claimed that exact equality can
not be reached in the premises, this may be readily conceded. The money
raised by this direct tax was collected and expended twenty-seven years
ago. Nearly a generation has passed away since that time. Even if
distribution should be attempted by the States and Territories, as well
as by the Government, the taxpayers in many cases are neither alive nor
represented, and in many other cases if alive they can not be found.
Fraudulent claims would often outrun honest applications and innumerable
and bitter contests would arise between claimants.

Another difficulty in the way of doing perfect justice in the operation
of this plan of reimbursement is found in the fact that the money to
be appropriated therefor was contributed to the Federal Treasury for
entirely different purposes by a generation many of whom were not born
when the direct tax was levied and paid, who have no relation to said
tax and can not share in its distribution. While they stand by and
see the money they have been obliged to pay into the public Treasury
professedly to meet present necessities expended to reimburse taxation
long ago fairly, legally, and justly collected from others, they can not
fail to see the unfairness of the transaction.

The existence of a surplus in the Treasury is no answer to these
objections. It is still the people's money, and better use can be found
for it than the distribution of it upon the plea of the reimbursement
of ancient taxation. A more desirable plan to reduce and prevent the
recurrence of a large surplus can easily be adopted--one that, instead
of creating injustice and inequality, promotes justice and equality by
leaving in the hands of the people and for their use the money not
needed by the Government "to pay the debts and provide for the common
defense and general welfare of the United States."

The difficulties in the way of making a just reimbursement of this
Direct tax, instead of excusing the imperfections of the bill under
consideration, furnish reasons why the scheme it proposes should not be
entered upon.

I am constrained, upon the considerations herein presented, to withhold
my assent from the bill herewith returned, because I believe it to be
without constitutional warrant, because I am of the opinion that there
exists no adequate reasons either in right or equity for the return of
the tax in said bill mentioned, and because I believe its execution
would cause actual injustice and unfairness.

GROVER CLEVELAND.




PROCLAMATION.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas public interests require that the Senate should be convened at
12 o'clock on the 4th day of March next to receive such communications
as may be made by the Executive:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do
hereby proclaim and declare that an extraordinary occasion requires the
Senate of the United States to convene at the Capitol, in the city of
Washington, on the 4th day of March next, at 12 o'clock noon, of which
all persons who shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that
body are hereby required to take notice.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washington,
the 26th day of February, A.D. 1889, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the one hundred and thirteenth.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:
  T.F. BAYARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 5, 1888_.

_To the Civil Service Commission_.

GENTLEMEN: The efficiency of the public service, in my opinion, renders
it necessary to include in the classified service and subject to
examination the employees in the railway mail service. The difficulties
in the way of this movement can, I believe, be overcome by carefully
prepared rules and regulations.

I have this day directed the Postmaster-General to so revise the
classification of his Department as to include these employees in one or
more classes; and in furtherance of my purpose I have to request that,
after conference with the Postmaster-General, you will prepare the
necessary modifications of the present rules and regulations to meet the
proposed extension.

Yours, very truly,

GROVER CLEVELAND.



UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., December 5, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: The Commission recommends that Special Departmental Rule No. 1 be
amended by adding to the exceptions from examination therein declared
the following:

  "10. In all the Departments: Bookbinders."

Very respectfully,

  A.P. EDGERTON,
  CHAS. LYMAN,
  _United States Civil Service Commissioners_.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 6, 1888_.

The above proposed amendment is hereby approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



Amendments to General Rules II, III, IV, Departmental Rules V, VIII,
Customs Rule III, and Postal Rules II, VI, are hereby made and
promulgated as follows:


GENERAL RULE II.

In line 1 strike out the word "three" and insert in place thereof the
word "four." At the end of the rule insert the following: "4. The
classified railway mail service." The rule as thus amended will read:

  There shall be four branches of the classified civil service, as
  follows:

  1. The classified departmental service.

  2. The classified customs service.

  3. The classified postal service.

  4. The classified railway mail service.


GENERAL RULE III.

In section 9, line 2, after the word "service," insert the words "and
the classified railway mail service." The section as thus amended will
read:

  9. Every applicant for examination for the classified departmental
  service and the classified railway mail service must support the
  statements of his application paper by certificates of persons
  acquainted with him, residents of the State, Territory, or district in
  which he claims _bona fide_ residence; and the Commission shall
  prescribe the form and number of such certificates.


In section 10, line 1, after the word "or," insert the words "procured
by his;" strike out all after the word "connivance" in line 1 to and
including the word "and" in line 3, and in place of the words stricken
out insert the words "or any;" strike out all after the word "consent"
in line 1 to and including the word "examination" in line 5; strike out
the words "for refusing" in line 6; change the period to a comma at the
end of line 6 and insert after the comma the words "or to certify him
for appointment, or for his removal after appointment." The section as
thus amended will read:

  10. A false statement made by an applicant, or procured by his
  connivance, or any deception or fraud practiced by an applicant, or
  by any person on his behalf with his consent, shall be good cause
  for refusal to examine such applicant, or to mark his papers after
  examination, or to certify him for appointment, or for his removal
  after appointment.


GENERAL RULE IV.

In section 2 strike out the letter "_a_," in brackets, in line 2;
change the period to a semicolon at the end of line 4; in line 5 strike
out the letter "_b_," in brackets, and strike out all after the
word "has" to and including the word "has" in line 7, and write the
section as one paragraph. The section as thus amended will read:

  2. The Commission may refuse to certify an eligible who is so defective
  in sight, speech, or hearing, or who is otherwise so defective
  physically as to be apparently unfit to perform the duties of the
  position to which he is seeking appointment, or an eligible who has been
  guilty of crime or of infamous or of notoriously disgraceful conduct.


DEPARTMENTAL RULE V.

In section 2, paragraph 6, after the word "service" in line 3, insert
the words "or the classified railway mail service;" in paragraph 7, line
1, strike out the word "and," and after the word "postal" in the same
line insert the words "and railway mail." The section as thus amended
will read:

  _Local boards_.--These boards shall be organized at one or more
  places in each State and Territory where examinations for the classified
  departmental service or the classified railway mail service are to be
  held, and shall conduct such examinations; and each shall be composed of
  persons in the public service residing in the State or Territory in
  which the board is to act.

_Customs, postal, and railway mail boards_.--These boards shall
conduct such examinations for the classified departmental service as the
Commission may direct.


DEPARTMENTAL RULE VIII.

In section 1, clause (_c_), line 1, after the word "post-office,"
insert "or to the classified railway mail service;" in line 2, after
the word "from," strike out the words "such an office" and insert "a
classified post-office or the classified railway mail service." The
clause as thus amended will read:

  (_c_) From the Post-Office Department to a classified post-office
  or to the classified railway mail service, and from a classified
  post-office or the classified railway mail service to the Post-Office
  Department, upon requisition by the Postmaster-General.


In section 2, line 6, after the word "been," insert "in the classified
railway mail service or." The section as thus amended will read:

  2. No person may be transferred as herein authorized until the
  Commission shall have certified to the officer making the transfer
  requisition that the person whom it is proposed to transfer has passed
  an examination to test fitness for the place to which he is to be
  transferred, and that such person has during at least six months
  preceding the date of the certificate been in the classified railway
  mail service or in the classified service of the Department, customs
  district, or post-office from which the transfer is to be made:
  _Provided_, That no person who has been appointed from the copyist
  register shall be transferred to a place the salary of which is more
  than $900 per annum until one year after appointment.

CUSTOMS RULE III.

In section 2, clause (_c_), at the end of line 1, insert "and the
classified railway mail service." The clause as thus amended will read:

  (_c_) Conduct such examinations for the classified departmental
  service and the classified railway mail service as the Commission may
  direct.


POSTAL RULE II.

In section 5, at the end of clause (_e_) of that section, strike
out the period and insert a comma, and after the comma the following:

  _Provided_, That superintendents of mails shall be selected from
  among the employees of the railway mail service.

The clause as thus amended will read:

  Superintendents designated by the Post-Office Department, and reported
  as such to the Commission, _Provided_, That superintendents of
  mails shall be selected from among the employees of the railway mail
  service.


POSTAL RULE VI.

In section 1, clause (_a_), after the word "another" in line 1 of
that clause, strike out the comma and insert a semicolon, and after the
semicolon the following:

  From any classified post-office to the classified railway mail service,
  and from the classified railway mail service to any classified
  post-office.


In clause (_b_), after the word "post-office" in line 1, insert "or
from the classified railway mail service," and in line 2, after the word
"post-office," insert "or to the classified railway mail service."

In section 2, line 6, after the word "certificate" insert "in the
classified railway mail service or." The rule as thus amended will read:

  1. Transfers may be made as follows:

  (_a_) From one classified post-office to another, from any
  classified post-office to the classified railway mail service, and from
  the classified railway mail service to any classified post-office, upon
  requisition of the Postmaster-General.

  (_b_) From any classified post-office or from the classified
  railway mail service to the Post-Office Department, and from the
  Post-Office Department to any classified post-office, or to the
  classified railway mail service, upon requisition of the
  Post-master-General.

  2. No person may be transferred as herein authorized until the
  Commission shall have certified to the officer making the transfer
  requisition that the person whom it is proposed to transfer has passed
  an examination to test fitness for the place to which he is to be
  transferred, and that such person has been at least six months next
  preceding the date of the certificate in the classified railway mail
  service or in the classified service of the Department or post-office
  from which the transfer is to be made.


Approved, January 4, 1889.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



RAILWAY MAIL RULES.

RAILWAY MAIL RULE I.

The classified railway mail service shall include all the officers,
clerks, and other persons in that service classified under the
provisions of section 6 of the act to regulate and improve the civil
service of the United States, approved January 16, 1883.

RAILWAY MAIL RULE II.

1. To test fitness for admission to the classified railway mail service
the following examinations shall be provided:

_Clerk examination_,--This examination shall include not more than
the following subjects:

(_a_) Orthography.

(_b_) Copying.

(_c_) Penmanship.

(_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules, fractions, and percentage.

(_e_) Letter writing.

(_f_) The geography of the United States, and especially of the
State or railway mail division in which the applicant resides.

(_g_) The railway systems of the State or railway mail division in
which the applicant resides.

(_h_) Reading addresses.

_Other competitive examinations_.--Such other competitive
examinations as the Commission may from time to time deem necessary.

_Noncompetitive examinations_.--Such examinations may, with the
approval of the Commission, be held under conditions stated in General
Rule III, clause 2.

2. No person shall be examined for the railway mail service if under 18
or over 35 years of age, except that any person honorably discharged
from the military or naval service of the United States by reason of
disability resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of
duty, and whose claim of preference under section 1754 of the Revised
Statutes has been allowed by the Commission, may be examined without
regard to his age.

3. Any person desiring examination for admission to the classified
railway mail service must, in his own handwriting, make request for a
blank form of application, which request, and also his application,
shall be addressed as follows: "United States Civil Service Commission,
Washington, D.C."

4. The date of reception, and also of approval, by the Commission of
each application shall be noted on the application paper.

5. Exceptions from examination in the classified railway mail service
are hereby made as follows:

(_a_) General superintendent.

(_b_) Assistant general superintendent.

6. No person appointed to a place under any exception to examination
hereby made shall within one year after appointment be transferred to
another place not also excepted from examination; but after service of
not less than one year in an examination-excepted place he may be
transferred to a place not excepted from examination upon the
certificate of the Commission that he has passed an examination to test
fitness for the place to which his transfer is proposed.


RAILWAY MAIL RULE III.

1. The papers of every examination shall be marked under the direction
of the Commission, and each competitor shall be graded on a scale of
100, according to the general average determined by the marks made by
the examiners on his papers.

2. The Commission shall appoint in each railway mail division as many
boards of examiners as it may deem necessary for the good of the service
and the convenience of applicants: _Provided_, That there shall be
at least one such board in each Territory and not less than two in each
State, except that the number may be limited to one each in the States
of Rhode Island and Delaware.

3. These boards shall conduct such examinations for admission to and
promotions in the classified railway mail service and such examinations
for the other branches of the classified service as the Commission may
direct. They shall also mark such examination papers as the Commission
may direct.

4. Unless otherwise directed by the Commission, the papers of
examination for admission to the classified railway mail service shall
be marked by the central board.

5. The papers of an examination having been marked, the Commission shall
ascertain--

(_a_) The name of every competitor who has, under section 1754 of
the Revised Statutes, claim of preference in civil appointments, and who
has attained a general average of not less than 65 per cent; and all
such competitors are hereby declared eligible to the class or place to
test fitness for which the examination was held.

(_b_) The name of every other competitor who has attained a general
average of not less than 70 per cent; and all such applicants are hereby
declared eligible to the class or place to test fitness for which the
examination was held.

6. The names of all preference-claiming competitors whose general
average is not less than 65 per cent, together with the names of all
other competitors whose general average is not less than 70 per cent,
shall be entered upon the register of persons eligible to the class or
place to test fitness for which the examination was held.

7. The grade of each competitor shall be expressed by the whole number
nearest the general average attained by him, and the grade of each
eligible shall be noted upon the register of eligibles in connection
with his name. When two or more eligibles are of the same grade,
preference in certification shall be determined by the order in which
their application papers were filed.

8. There shall be a register of eligibles for each State and Territory,
and the names of all the eligibles of any State or Territory shall be
entered upon the register for that State or Territory. The eligibles of
the District of Columbia shall be entered, according to their election,
upon the register of the State of Maryland or upon that of the State of
Virginia.

9. Immediately after the general averages shall have been ascertained
each competitor shall be notified that he has passed or has failed to
pass.

10. If a competitor fail to pass, he may, with the consent of the
Commission, be allowed a reexamination at any time within six months
from the date of failure without filing a new application; but if such
reexamination be not allowed within that time he shall not be again
examined without making in due form a new application.

11. No eligible shall be allowed reexamination during the term of his
eligibility unless he shall furnish evidence satisfactory to the
Commission that at the time of his examination, because of illness or
other good cause, he was incapable of doing himself justice in said
examination.

12. The term of eligibility shall be such as the Commission may by
regulation determine, but shall not be less than one year from the day
on which the name of the eligible is entered upon the register:
_Provided_, That for public and sufficient reasons the Commission
shall have authority to extend the term of eligibility of the eligibles
on the register of any State or Territory for such period, not exceeding
one year, as it may deem necessary, without correspondingly extending
the term of the eligibles on the registers of the other States and
Territories as to which the same reasons do not exist.


RAILWAY MAIL RULE IV.

1. All vacancies in the classified railway mail service above class 1,
unless among the places excepted from examination, shall be filled by
promotion, upon such tests of fitness as the Postmaster-General, with
the approval of the Commission, may prescribe: _Provided_, That a
vacancy occurring in a State or railway mail division in any grade may
be filled by the transfer of a clerk of the same grade from another
State or division, under such regulations as the Postmaster-General,
with the approval of the Commission, may prescribe, or by reappointment
under the provisions of Railway Mail Rule VI.

2. All vacancies in class 1, unless filled by transfer or reappointment
under Railway Mail Rule VI, shall be filled in the following manner:

(_a_) The general superintendent shall, in form and manner to be
prescribed by the Commission, request the certification to him of
eligibles from a State or Territory in which a vacancy then exists.

(_b_) The Commission shall certify from the register of the State
or Territory in which the vacancy exists the names of the three
eligibles thereon having the highest averages who have not been three
times certified: _Provided_, That if upon said register there are
the names of eligibles having a claim of preference under section 1754,
Revised Statutes, the names of such eligibles shall be certified before
the names of other eligibles of higher grade: _Provided further_;
That if there are not three eligibles upon the register of the State or
Territory in which the vacancy exists eligibles may be certified from
the register of any adjoining State or Territory.

(_c_) The name of an eligible shall not be certified more than
three times.

3. Of the three names certified to the general superintendent one shall
be selected and designated for appointment, and more than one may be if
there be more than one vacancy existing at the time.

4. Each person designated for appointment shall be notified, and upon
reporting to the proper officer shall be appointed for a probational
period of six months, at the end of which period, if his conduct and
capacity be satisfactory, he shall be absolutely appointed; but if his
conduct and capacity be not satisfactory he shall be so notified, and
such notice shall be his discharge from the service.

5. The general superintendent, with the approval of the
Postmaster-General, shall prescribe regulations under which each
probationer shall be observed and tested and a record kept of his
conduct and capacity, and such record shall determine his fitness for
the service and whether he shall be dropped during or at the end of
probation or be absolutely appointed.

6. There may be certified and appointed in each State and Territory, in
the manner provided for in this rule, such number of substitute clerks,
not exceeding the ratio of one substitute to twenty regular clerks, in
such State or Territory as the Post-master-General may authorize, and
any vacancies occurring in class 1 in any State or Territory in which
substitutes have been appointed shall be filled by the appointment
thereto of those substitutes in the order of their appointment as
substitutes without further certification. The time during which any
substitute is actually employed in the service shall be counted as a
part of his probation.


RAILWAY MAIL RULE V.

1. Transfers may be made as follows:

(_a_) From the classified railway mail service to any classified
post-office, and from any classified post-office to the classified
railway mail service, upon requisition of the Postmaster-General.

(_b_) From the classified railway mail service to the Post-Office
Department, and from the Post-Office Department to the classified
railway mail service, upon requisition of the Postmaster-General.

2. No person shall be transferred as herein authorized until the
Commission shall have certified to the Postmaster-General that the
person whom it is proposed to transfer has passed an examination to test
fitness for the place to which he is to be transferred, and that such
person has been at least six months next preceding the date of the
certificate in the classified railway mail service or in the classified
service of the post-office or Department from which the transfer is to
be made: _Provided_, That no employee shall be transferred to any
grade which he could not enter by original appointment by reason of any
age limitation prescribed by the civil-service rules.


RAILWAY MAIL RULE VI.

1. Upon requisition of the Postmaster-General the Commission shall
certify for reinstatement in a grade or class no higher than that in
which he was formerly employed any person who within one year next
preceding the date of the requisition has, through no delinquency or
misconduct, been separated from the classified railway mail service.


RAILWAY MAIL RULE VII.

1. The general superintendent of the railway mail service shall report
to the Commission--

(_a_) Every probational (whether substitute or regular) and every
absolute appointment in the railway mail service in each State or
Territory; every appointment under any exception to examination
authorized by Railway Mail Rule II, clause 5; every reappointment under
Railway Mail Rule VI, and every appointment of a substitute to a regular
place.

(_b_) Every refusal to make an absolute appointment and the reason
therefor, and every refusal or neglect to accept an appointment in the
classified railway mail service.

(_c_) Every transfer into the classified railway mail service.

(_d_) Every separation from the classified railway mail service and
the cause of such separation.

(_e_) Every promotion or degradation in the classified railway mail
service, if such promotion or degradation be from one class to another
class.

(_f_) Once in every six months, namely, on the 30th of June and the
31st of December of each year, the whole number of employees in each
railway mail division, arranged by States and classes, showing the
number of substitutes and the number of regular employees in each class
in each State or Territory.


EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 4, 1889_.

The above rules are hereby approved, to take effect March 15, 1889:
_Provided_, That such rules shall become operative and take effect
in any State or Territory as soon as an eligible register for such State
or Territory shall be prepared, if it shall be prior to the date above
fixed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., February 8, 1889_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: The Commission recommends that Special Departmental Rule No. 1 be
amended by adding to the exceptions from examination therein declared
the following:

  "11. In the Department of Justice: Assistant attorneys.

  "12. In the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Experiment Stations:
  Private secretary to the Director."


Very respectfully,

CHAS LYMAN,
  _United States Civil Service Commissioner._

Approved, February 11, 1889.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., February 9, 1889_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: This Commission has the honor to recommend that the order of the
President fixing the places to which appointments may be made upon
noncompetitive examination under General Rule III, section 2, clause
(_f_), may be amended by including among such places the following:

  "In the Post-Office Department: Captain of the watch."


This recommendation is based upon the letter of the Postmaster-General
dated December 19, 1888, in which he says:

  "I would request that places in the Post-Office Department subject to
  noncompetitive examination be increased by including the position of
  captain of the watch, as the duties of the position are of such a nature
  that the head of the Department should be permitted to recommend for
  examination such person as would possess such other qualifications in
  addition to the merely clerical ones as would commend him to the head of
  the Department to fill satisfactorily such position."


Very respectfully,

CHAS LYMAN,
  _United States Civil Service Commissioner._

Approved, February 11, 1889.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
  _Washington, D.C., February 9, 1889_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: This Commission has the honor to recommend that the order
heretofore approved by you authorizing noncompetitive examination under
General Rule III, section 2, clause (_e_), to test fitness for
certain designated places in the classified departmental service, may be
amended by the revocation of so much of the order above referred to as
provides for the appointment upon noncompetitive examination of
"inspector of electric lights" in the office of the Secretary in the
Treasury Department.

Very respectfully,

CHAS. LYMAN,
  _United States Civil Service Commissioner_.

Approved, February 11, 1889.

GROVER CLEVELAND.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1889_.

Whereas by an act of Congress entitled "An act to enable the President
to protect the interests of the United States in Panama," approved
February 25, 1889, it was enacted as follows:

That there be, and is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $250,000 to enable the
President to protect the interests of the United States and to provide
for the security of persons and property of citizens of the United
States at the Isthmus of Panama in such manner as he may deem expedient.

And whereas satisfactory information has been received by me that a
number of citizens of the United States have been thrown out of
employment and left destitute in the Republic of Colombia by the
stoppage of work on the Panama Canal:

_It is therefore ordered_, That so much as is necessary of the fund
appropriated by the said act be expended, under the direction and
control of the Secretary of State, in furnishing transportation to the
United States to any citizen or citizens of the United States who may be
found destitute within the National Department of Panama, in the
Republic of Colombia.

GROVER CLEVELAND.














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