The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-12-17

report favors legislation looking to speci
, payments, thus supporting the view
previously expressed in this message
, He also recommends economy in the ap
preparations, and calls attention to tn,
loss of revenue from repeating the tas
on tea and coffee, without benefit to the
\ consumer. He recommends an increast
of ten cents q gallon on whisky, anG
further that no modification be made in
the Banking and Currency Bill passed al
the last session of Congress, unless the
modification should become necessary by
reason of the adoption of measures foI
returning to specie payments. In these
recommendations I cordially join.
would suggest to Congress the pro.
priety of readjusting the tariff, 80 as to
increase the number of articles upon
which duties are levied. Those articles
which enter into our manufactures, and
are not produced at home, it seems to me
should be entered free; those articles of
manufactures which we produce, con-
stitute part of but do not produce the
whole, that part which we do not pro-
duce should enter free also. / will in
stance fine wool dyes, etc. These must
be imported to form part of the manu-
facture of the higher grades of wooden
goods, and chemicals used as dyes, COM
pounded in medicines, and used in vari-
Gus ways in manufactures, come under
this class The introduction free of the
dyes of such wools as we do not produce
should stimulate the manufacturer of
goods requiring these that we do pro-
duce, and therefore would be benefit
to home production. There are many
articles entering into home manufac-
lures, which we do not produce ourselves,
the tariff upon which increases the cost
of producing the manufactured article.
All corrections in this regard are in the
direction Of bringing labor and capital
in harmony with each other, and of sup
plying one of the elements much needed.
The report of the Secretary of War,
herewith attached, and forming a part of
this message, gives all the information
concerning the operations, wants, and
necessities of his department, and con-
tains many suggestions and recommenda-
tions which l commend to your special
attention. There is no class of Govern
ment employees who are harder worked
than the army officers, and none who
perform their tasks more cheerfully and
more efficiently, and under circumstances
of greater privations and hardships Leg
islation is desirable to render more eff
cient this branch of the public service.
All the recommendations of the Secretary
of War l regard as judicious, and espec-
tally commend to your attention the fol-
lowing: The consolidation of Govern
ment arsenals; mileage to officers, trav-
cling under orders; the exemption of
money received from the sale of sub
sistence stores, from being converted into
the Treasury; the use of appropriations
for the purpose of subsistence, without
waiting for the beginning of the fiscal
year, for which the appropriations are
made for additional appropriations for
the collection of torpedo material; for
increased appropriations for the manu-
facture of arms; for relieving the various
States from Indebtedness, for arms
charged to them during the rebellion;
for dropping officers from the rolls of the
army without trial, for the offense of
drawing pay more than once for the same
period; for the Encouragement of the
plan to pay soldiers by checks; and for
the establishment of a professorship of
rhetoric and English literature at West
Point.
The reasons for the recommendations
are obvious, and are set forth sufficiently
in the report attached. Ialso recommend
that the status of the ffcorps of the army
be fixed, where this has not already been
done, so that promotions may be made
and vacancies filled as they occur in each
grade. When reduced below the number
to be fixed by the necessity for such leg
islation, is especially felt now in the Pay
Department. The number of vacancies
in that department is below the number
adequate to the performance of the du-
ties required by law.
The efficiency of the Navy has been
largely increased during the last year,
under the impulse of the foreign COM
plicatiOns which threatened us. At the
commencement of the last session of
Congress, most of our efficient wooden
ships put in condition for immediate
service, and the repairs of our iron-clad
feet were pushed with the utmost vigor.
The result is that most of these are now
in an effective state, and need only to be
manned and put in commission, to 60 at
once into service. Some of the new
sloops authorized by Congress are al
ready in commission, and most of the
remainder are launched and wait only
the completion of machinery to enable
them to take their places as part of our
effective force. Two iron torpedo ships
have been completed during the last
year, and four of our large double-tur-
reted iron clads are undergoing repairs.
When these are finished everything that
is needful to our navy, as now author
lied, will be in condition for service, and
with the advance in the science of tor
pedo warfare, the American navy, COM
paratively small as it is, will be found
powerful for the purposes of peaceful
Nation.
Much has also been accomplished dur
ing the year in aid of science, and to in
crease the sum of general knowledge and
further the interests of commerce and
civilization. Extensive and much needed
soundings have been made for hydro
graphic purposes, and to fix the proper
routes of ocean telcgraphs; the surveys of
the Great Isthmus have been undertaken
and completed, and two vessels of the
navy are now employed, in conjunction
with those of England, France, and Ger
many and Russia, in observations con-
nected with the transit of Venus, useful
and interesting to the scientific world.
Estimates for this branch of the public
service do not differ materially from
those of last year, those for the general
support of the service being somewhat
less, and those for improvements at the
various stations, rather larger than the
corresponding estimate made a year ago.
The regular maintenance, and steady
increase in the efficiency of this most i'm
portant arm in proportion to the growth
of our maritime intercourse and interests
is recommended to the attention of Con-
gress. The use of the navy during peace
might be further utilized by direct
authorization of the employment of naval
vessels in surveys of the supposed navi-
gable waters of other nationalities in this
Continent, especially tributaries of the
q