Mower County transcript., 1869-12-16

Of tho laws regulating tho subject, re- |
the postponement OF tor the |
present. also suggest the renewal OF tho |
tax on incomes, but Mt reduced rate, say |
Of 3 per cent. this tax to cxpile III three |
years with the funding OF tho national debt |
nas here suggested. feel safe in saying the, !
taxes and revenue from imports may be
reduced safely from 90 to 50 millions per an
mum at once and lstill further reduction from
year to year as the resources Of the country
are developed. ~--
The report of the secretary OF tho treas
nry shows tho receipts of tho government
for tho fiscal year ending june 80, 1869, to
be $40, 9l3, 3l7 dollars, and the expenditures
including interest, bonnties, NO to be
321, 400, 597 dollars Tho estimates for the
ensuing year arc more favorable to the Gov
ernmeAt, and will, no doubt, show large de-
crease Of the public debt The receipts i'll the
Treasury beyond expenditure have exceed
cd the amount necessary to be placed to tho
credit Of the sinking fund as provided by
law To lock up the surplus in the Treas
ury and withhold it from circulation, would
lead to such contraction of the currency as
to cripple trade and seriously affect tho
prosperity of the country. Under these
circumstances, the Secretary Of the Treas
ury and myself heartily concurred in the
proprioty OF using all the surplus currency
in the Treasury in the purchase of Gov.
ornment bonds, thus reducing tho interest
bearing debt of the country, and Of, sub
mitting to Congress the question of the
disposition to 10 made of the bonds SO
purchased. The bonds now held by the
treasury amount to about s75, 1000, 900
including those belonging to the sinking
fund. I recommend that the whole be
placed to the credit Of the sinking fund.
Your attention is respectfully invited to the
recommendations OF the Secretary OF the
Treasury for the creation Of the Office of
Commissioner Of Customs and Revenue,
for tho increase OF salary to certain Of
ticials, and tho, substitution of increased
National Bank circulation, to replace the
outstanding ) per cent. certificates, and
most especially to his recommendation for
the repeal OF the laws allowing shares OF
fines, penalties, forteitures, &C., to officers
of the government, or to infsrmers.
The Office of Commissioner Of Internal
Revenue is ono of the most arduous and
responsible under the Government; it falls
but little if any short ofa Cabinet position
in its importance and responsibilities.
would ask for it, therefore, such legislation
as in your Judgment wlll place the; office on
a footing OF dignity commensurate with its
importance and with character and quail
fcations OF the class of men required to fill
il properly. As the United States is the
freest OF all nations, so too its
people sympathize with ali peoples strug-
giing for liberty and ssl.goyernment; but
while so sympathizing, it is due to our
honor that We should abstain from enforc-
ing our views upon unwilling nations, and
from taking An interested part, without in
vitation, in the quarrels between different
nations or between governments AID their
subjects. Our course should always be in
conformity with strict justice and law, in
tsrnational and local. Such, has been the
policy of the administration in dealing
with those questions for more than year.
A valuable province of Spain, and a near
neishbor of ours, in whom all our people
cannot but feel a; deep interest, has been
struggling for indepence and freedom. The
people and government of the United States
entertain the same warm feelings
and sympathies for the people of Cuba in
thoir pending struggle that they manifest
ed throughout the previous struggles be-
tween Spain and the former colonies in be-
half of the latter, but the contest ct no
time assumed the conditions which
amount to war in the sense Of internation-
al law, or which would show the existence
of de facto political organization of the
insurgents sufficient to justify recogni.
ton of bel]igerency. The principle is
maintained that this nation is
it's own judge when to accord the right Of
belligerency, either to a people struggling
| to free themselves from a government they
believe to be oppressive, or TO independent
nations at-war with each other. The Unit
| ed States have no disposition to interfere
with the existing relations of Spain to heI
colonial posses ions on this continent.
They believe that in due time Spain and
other European powers will find it to their
interest to terminate those relations and es:
tsblish their present. dependendenciess az
| independent powers, members of the
family OF nations These dependencies are
no longer regarded as subject to transfer
from one European power to another. When
the present relations Of the colonies cease
they are to beeomeindepentent pewers, ex.
! ercising the right Of choice. and of self.
control in the determination of their future
condition and relations with other powers.
The United States, in order to put stop ia
bloodshcd in Cuba and in the interest
of a : neighboring. people, proposed
their good offices to bring the existing
contest to termination. The offer moi
being accepted by Spain, Oh basis which
We believed could be received by Cuba, was
withdrawn. It is hoped that the good Of:
fees of the United States may yet prove
advantageous for the settlement. of this
unhappy strife. Meanwhile number oi
illegal expeditions against Cuba have been
broken up. 1t has been the endeavor oi
the Administration to execute the neutral
| ity laws in good faith, no matter how un.
pleasant the task, made so by thessuffarine
we have endured from lack Of ike good
faith towards us by other ma
tions. The United States schoon.
er Lizzie Major was arrested
on the high seas by Spanish frigate and
two passengers taken from it and carried
as prisoners to Cuba. Representations oi
these facts were made to the Spanish Gov.
ernment, as soon as official information
Of them reached Washington. Tho two pas.
sengers were set at liberty, and the Spanish
Government assured the United States that
the captain Of the frigate in making the
capture had acted witho It law; that be had
been reprimsnded for tho irregularity Of
his conduct, and that the Spanieh authori.
ties in Cuba would not sanction any act
that could violate rights or trife with the
sovereignty of this nation.
| AAO 4NC6tlCU w g4o oS4AUA0 VI gu0 O1Ak
Mary Lowell, at one of the Bahama Islands
by The spanish authorities, is now the
subject of correspond between, this
Government and those of Spain and Great
Britain. The Captain General of Cuba,
about May last, issued a proclamation au-
thorizing search to be made Of vessels on
the high SEAS Immediate remonstrance
was made against this, whereupon the
Captain-G General issued a new proclamation
limiting the right of search of vessels OF
| the United States, so far as authorized un-
der the treaty of 1895. This proclamation
was, however, Immediately Withdrawn. I
have always felt that the most intimate re-
lations should be cultivated between the
republic of the United States and all inde-
pendent nations on this continent,
and it may be we'll worth
considering whether new treaties between
the United States and them may not be
proftably entered into, to secure more in
innate relations, friendly, commercial and
otherwise.
/ The subject of an inter-oceanic canal to
connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
through the Isthmus of Darien is one In
which commerce is greatly intereSted. In
structions have been given to our Minister
to the Republic of the United States of
Colombia to endeavor to obtain authority
for a survey by this government in order to
determine the practicability OF such On un-
dertaking, and charter for the right of
way to build by private enterprise such q
work, if the survey proves it to be pratic-
able. In order to comply with the agreement
Of the United States as to O mixed COM
mission ut Lima for the adjustment of
claims, it became necessary to send COM
missioner and secretary to Lima in August