Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1873-12-09
THE PREsIDBNT's MESSAGE.

:"
to depart from our usual custom Of giving to-
our readers the Presidents message in full,
and therefore copy the following condensed
notice from the Baltimore Sun Of "wednesday:
The Presidents message, which was de-
llvered to the two houses of Congress yester-
day, while it touches upon great number of
important subjects, hardly discusses any of
them in a way to challenge special criticism
or comment. I'm the very first sentence of
the message the President speaks of the past
year, especially slat.er part of it, as Gan
eventual one to the country, !" and then. pro-
ceeds to summarize ihesevents that have hap
pened, somewhatod dly Including aniongthem,
and in the same breath with the Virginius af-
fair, the fact that political partisauship has
almost ceased to exist, especially in the agri-
cultural regions" The statement is some-
what obscure, and whether intended to refer
to the rise of the oranges at the West, OF the
decline of the Ku>Klnx at the South, does
not clearly appear. In any, case the fact
echronicled can hardly be classed among events
Following the usual order of subjects OBJ
served in such documents, the message begins
as. far from home as possible, with our foreign
relations, and with one of the remotest of
these-the Emperorof China Gradually ap-
preaching matters of more consequence, the
President refers to the payment, by. Great
Britain of the Geneva award, aud urges the
appointment of commission to make distri-
button Of the amount among the parties en-
titled to it. Common honesty would suggest
as much, and it is to he hoped that the Pres.
idents Recommendation will be acted upon
There can be no Justification for the appropri-
alton or retention of this money by The United
States. A very sensible aud timely recom-
mendation is made in reference to the subject
of repatriation. It is shown how exceedingly
defective our present legislation is, and how
anomalous the position Of this country before
the world in this respect. The nation which
was the first to resist the sayish doctrine of
perpetual allegiance is now among the last to
indicate how its own citizens may elect a for
eign nationality. ..-,- .t.,-5
Upon the subject Of the Virginius nothing
new is communicated in the message Tho
terms of settlement are stated in the most
favorable manner possible to the United States,
with curious omission to mention those pro-
visos and qualifications which the public have
been given to understand form part of the set.
tlement and which were evidently inserted as
safeguards Of Spanish honor and to soothe
Spanish pride. The President excuses him,
self from going into greater detail, upon the
groundSthat the correspondence between tho
two governments was conducted in cypher
and by telegraph, and he awaits the receipt
of the actual text by mail
Passing from matters foreign to domestic,
the President recommends further amend.
ments to the constitution. authorizing the ex.
ecutive to veto billssin part and to approve in
part; prohibiting any legislation by Congress
within the'last twenty four hours of its sitting.
and restricting that body when convened in
extra session to such business as the czecu-
tive may lay before it. It is. questionable
whether any of these measures are sufficiently
important to require an amendment of the
constitution.
In introducing the subject of the national
finances, the President alludes to the present
difficulty of making both ends meet, and the
necessity OF greater economy in the matter of
government expenditures. One saving recon-.
mended being tho suspension for the present.
of work upon government buildings not vet
commenced, the hope is Incidentally * pressed
that one day we may feel rich enough to build
houses at Washington for the cabinet officers
and all persons who now receive Communication
1or quarters or rent at government expense
and that the States may be tempted to do the
handsome thing by building similar residences
for their Senators
sri Later on in the message the city of WASH
ington, its improved streets and avenues, and
its board of public works, come in for 'stirst>
rate notice" at the hands of the President
The idea, which has ceased to be a novel one.
Is presented that the establishment of the
capital should be an object of pride and in
terest to the whole country, and that the i1n>
provements in question should be regarded as
ga national investment"
Upon the subject of finances generally, and
the cognate topics of the currency and the
"panic," the message will hardly satisfy the
expectations of those who have been more or
less eagerly awaiting its uiterances There
Is want OF clearness in the language of the
message which is painfully suggestive of want
of cearness in the ideas of the writer First
and foremost We have the declaration ''that
we cannot have permanent prosperity until
specie basis is reached, and that specie Easis
cannot be reached and maintained until our
exports, exclusive of gold, pay for our i'm.
ports, interest due abroad, and other specie
obligations or so nearly so as to leave an APP
preciable accumulation of the precious metals
in the country from the product of our Mines"
Next we shown how, from increase of
population, increase of manufacturing, indus
tries, and the habit of tho southern negroes to
carry their wages in their breeches pockets
instead of depositing them in savings banks,
the currency is practically in a state of
gradual contraction. 1t is further regarded
as ''patent to the most casual observer that
much more currency or money is required
during the fall and winter months" than
during the rest of the year: and it is more
than intimated that with nom elastic cur
rency panics may thus come to be an autumn
nal institution, like the equinox, connected
with "moving the crops'' To meet this
emergency it is suggested that power be given
to tho Secretary of the Treasury during these
periods of annual stringency to issue to
national banks a certain amount of their own
notes upon deposit by them of an equal
amount of government bonds, the bonds to
be redeemable by the banks at their pleasure
hx,r eti,rr, e.