The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1873-12-06
The Message.

Inc message
While we should have been incXcusable
for emitting to publish President Grants
message, and while everybody ought TO read
lit, there Is no doubt that its length is greater
than there was any need of, and that upon
the whole it will prove very dry reading The
President touches upon" great many i'm
portant subjtc but just when you come to
the interesting point where you wan. to
know what wise course he has to recommend,
you are baffled by the naioe statement that Il
have not reflected enough on this subject to
make any positive recommendation, butyour
attention is invited to it,"
The matter of most immediate interest, Of
course, is, what the President has TO say
about the Cuba question. 1t any one expects
in his utterances on that subject even mod
lcum of the ring of Gen Jackson under like
circumstances, he will be sadly disappointed.
The President deplores what he is pleased to
call the sad condition Of Cuba in consequence
of the existence of slavery there, and the help
essncss of Spain in consequence and then
details how he and Secretary Fish and the
spanish minister Polo have succeeded in
temporary patching up the Virginius diff
Guilty. If anything serious is to grow out OF
it hereafter, he prefers to lc, congress shout
der the responsibility.
In references to the next important Quc5-
ton, the national finances, the President is
even more wordy and non ommittal. Wheth-
err he is in favor of contraction or initiation
of the currency to help us out of the present
difficulty no one can tell from what he says,
though he seems decided in the opinion that
our currency needs greater elasticity, and
that the true way to attain TINT elasticity is to
return to specie payment
On the subject of cheap transportation, the
President seems anxious to rid himself of the
matter and leave it in the hands Of the senate
committee and congress. eX- !
cent that he thinks the Hudson river, the st.
Clair flats and the Illinois and Mississippi
rivers ought to be kept in good navgable or,
der at the national expense,
Is the President in favor of repeating the
salary steal? The subject is very remotely
alluded to in his recommendations Of such
a constitutional amendment that the Presi.
dent can hereafter vote a part Of the bill
without killing the whole of IT, i
Is he in favor Of free banking? 1t is a
question for the consideration Of congress-
he tells us.
What about the extension of our dilapidat
I'd American commerce? He thinks an ex J
oloration up the Amazon might open new
fields in that department Of enterprise.
How about the tariff? He thinks the tariff |
avs should be so coditied that the common /"
people can understand them, and that con e
yress must decide whether OF not the tax
ught to be restored on tea and coffee
In regard to war or navy matters, the re- L
orts of the heads OF these departments are !
imply referred to The Postmaster Generals I
OF a system OF postal saw
ngs.banks is dryly endorsed, but his postal
clegraph scheme is apparently given the
old shoulder.
with brief mentions" of dozen of other
ubjects, in regard TO which no new intorma-
ion is impaired or action suggested, the
President closes with the curious recommen-
aion that residences be erected az Washing,
on for each cabinet officer and that the states ?
Nc invited to erect in the same city residences II
or their senator's We submit that the u
is incomplete without also
including barracks or common boarding
ouses for the representatives. Such estab- Il
shments ought to be placed under military .
lrveillancc, so as to protect the members
erfectiy from all contact with the abomna-
lie lobby.