The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1874-12-17


The Presidents message is hardly worth
printing. People may be curious TO know
to-day what the President said yesterday,
but. tomorrow the whole will be utterly
forgotten by the country, and even by Con-
gress. The message is referred, as mat
ter Of respect to bis ExcelIency, to several
committees; but even these, in their re-
ports, forget the suggestions Of President
Grant, and obey instead the dictates of
partisansIip or Of statesmanship. In point
OF style the message is almost ludicrous.
Grants legs must have been weary when
he twisted about among the crooked, In
yolyed and ineomprehensible sentences that
especially distinguish the first paragraphs
Of this unique and ugly state paper.l There
are involved modes Of expression, which
will probably pass into common use, illus
trative Of ignorance in high places, to be-
come as memorable as President Tsylor's
sail the world and the rest OF mankind"
The President first advises tho speed
lest possible return TO specie payment !;
the repeal Of the legal tender act the
authorization Of the Secretary of the
Treasury to borrow gold as needed !;
and, after resumption, free banking is to be
substituted for the national banking system.
Then the President discusses our foreign
relations, recommending the exclusion Of
Chinese women and the education OF Japan
ese boys in American to be employed in the
consulates Of the two countries, The per
petu1I ontrages Of Mexican bandits on
Texan frontiersmen are considered in ten
lines of this extraordinary State paper, and
the good President only ''h0pes for the ef-
fectual suppression Of these acts Of tcrong. ~
No recommendation is made with reference
to Cuban affairs. TheWar progresses with
out material advantage 20 either party, and
our relations with Spain are wholly IN
settled, and ''by no means satisfactory. -
Reform Of naturalization laws and of
those affecting expatFiation is recon-
mended. The President approves the
policy of the Secretary Of the Treasury,
who asserts the necessity for an early re-
turn to specie paymehtsjn On this issue,
thus presented, there will arise fierce con-
flict between the West, South and Central
States on the ono hand and Wall street and
the East on the other. The H0Yenue Of the
Postoffice Department was augmented a
million and a half and its expenses three
millions last year. Texas, it may be OBJ
served, growing as the State does in wealth
and population with unexsmpied rapidity,
derives no advantage from these increased
expenditures. The President defends his
intervention IN the affairs Of Louisiana, as
serts that there is much laWlessness and
white leagueism in the South, that affairs in
Arkansas are in muddleand that it IS diff
cult to get at the truth about Southern
facts. He would have Congress define
for him policy with reference to the
Southern States, giving, however, the Radi-
cal version Of Arkansas history. Curiously
enough, in discussing these matters, the,
President addresses himself ''to the whole
people of the United States, >" as If he
doesn't like the I'color line" as drawn In
Southern elections; but fails to tell how
it can be obiterated when negro will only
vote the black ticket, even refusing to sup
port Greeley when the philosopher was only
partially whitewashed. Grant would in
crease the number of Federal judicial dis
tricts by adding two to the present number
Litigation may be promoted, and the num-
Der of offices and sinecures multiplied. The
peace or Quaker policy of dealing with the
Indians is approved, and the President evil
IDENTIFY thinks that women's scalps and mis-
sionary steaks arc at last at a discount
among the Apaches and Comanches. Grant
would have ''rebels, who were pensioned
for services in the war of 1912, restored to
the pension list. To make civil service re-
form practicable, the President demands
the assistance Of Congress, and says If it
be not conceded he viii cease to execute
the underlined purposes of the law. To
promote American shipbuilding, subYentions
are proposed to be given to American built
mail-carrying steamships. Finally, the ever
blessed negro-governed and royslly-plund-
cred District of Columbia is commended to
the kindness and generosity OF Congress,
and then the President closes his lips, even
as he tells us in the last words Of his mos
sage that the mouth Of the Mississippi is
still unopened.