The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-12-17
THE FIRST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC.
A Review of the Condition and Affairs
Of the Union.
The Educational QuestiOn---A COnSti-
tutiOnaI Amendment of he-FulIest
r. Scope and Power Sug-
gested.
Sectarianism Opposed Compulsory
Education, and an Educational
Qualification for Voters
Recommended.
Suggestion that Church Property be
Taxed, and that POlygamy be
Suppressed---Resump-
tiOn OfSpeeie Pay
ment Urged.
No Present Chance for the Cubans---
The Spaniards Threatened---Mexi-
can Observation-Disclosures
Claims---0cean Tele-
graphy, Etc.

Claims---Ocean Tele-
graphy, Etc.
To tie Senate and House of Representatives:
In submitting my seventh annual message
to Congress, in this Centennial year of our
national existence as free and Independent
people, it affords me great pleasure to recur
to the advancement that has been made from
the time of the Colonies, one hundred years
ago. We were then people numbering only
5000 900; now we number more than 40
100000. Then industries were confined al
most exclusively to tillage of the soil; now
manufactures absorb much of the labor of the
country Our liberties remain unimpaired.
The bOndsmen have been freed from slavery.
We have become possessed of the respect, if
not friendship, of all civilized nations Our
progress has been great in all the arts and
sciences, commerce, navigation, mining, me-
chanics, law, medicine etc, and in general
education. The progress is likewise encour-
aging, our thirteen States have become thirty
eight, including Colorado, which has taken
the steps to become a State, and eight Terri
tories including the Indian Territory and
Alaska, and excluding Colorado, making ter
ritory extending from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. On the South we have extended to
the Gulf of Mexico, and in the West from
the Mississippi to the Pacific. One hundred
years ago the cotton gin, the steamship, the
railroad, the telegraph, the reaping, sewing,
and modern printing machines, and numer-
Gus other inventions of scarcely less value to
our business and happiness, were entirely
unknown.
In 177G manufacturers scarcely existed,
even in name. In all this vast territory, in
1870, more than 100000 of persons were en-
plOyed in manufactures, producing more
than s., 100 600 of produce, in amount an
nually nearly equal to our national debt;
from nearly the whole of the population OF
1776 being engaged i'll the one occupation of
agriculture, in 1870 so numerous and diversi-
fed had become the occupations of our peO-
pie, that less than 6,000000 out of more than
40,OO0000 were so engaged. The eXtraOrdi-
nary effect produced in our country by a re-
sort TO such occupations has built market
for the products of fertile lands distant from
the seaboard and the markets of the world.
The American system of working the various
and extensive manufactures, next to the
plow and pasture, and adding connecting
railroad and steamboat lines, has produced
in our distant country results not equaled by
the intelligent parts of other nations The
ingenuity and skill of American mechanics
has been demonstrated at home and abroad,
in a manner most fiattering to their pride
But for the extraordinary genius and ability
of our mechanics, the achievements of our
agriculturlstS, manufacturers and transport
erS throughout the country would have been
impossible of attainment. The progress of
tne miner uttS also Dcen RFedIlE promoted.
OF coal our production was small; now many
millions of tons are mined annually. So with !
iron, which formed scarcely an appreciable !
part of our prOduct-half q century ago. We |
now produce more than the world consumed !
at the beginning of our national existence. |
Lead, zinc and copper, from being articles of |
import, we may expect to be large exporters
of in the near future. The development of |
gold and silver mines throughout the States |
and Territories has not only been remarkable, |
but has had large influence upon the busi- |
ness of all commercial nations.
\ PLEA FOR POPULAR EDUCATION.
Our merchants, in the last hundred years, |
have had a success and have established a |
reputation for enterprise, sagacitv, progress
and integrity unsurpassed by people of older |
nationalities This good name is not con-
fined to their homes but goes out on every |
sea and into every port where commerce |
enters. With equal pride we can point to
our progress in all of the learned professions
as are now about to enter upon the sec
Ond centennial. Commencing our manhood |
a nation, it is well to look back upon the |
past and study what will be best to preserve
and advance our future greatness. From the /
fall of Adam for his transgreSsiOns to the
present day, no nation has ever been free !
from threatened danger to its prosperity and
happiness. We should look TO the dangers
threatened and remedy them so far as lies
in our power. We are republic where one
man is as good as another, before the law.
Under such a form of government it is of the
greatest Importance that all should be pos
sessed of education and intelligence enough |
TO cast vote with right understanding of |
its meaning. A large association of ignorant
men cannot, for any considerable power op-
pose as successful a resistance to tyranny as
oppression from the educated few inevitably
sink acquieScence to the will of intelligence
whether directed by the demagOgue or by |
priestcraft. Hence, the education of the mass
becomes the first necessity for the preServa-
ton of our institutions. They are worth
preserving, because they have secured the
greatest good to the greatest proportion of
population of any form of government yet |
devised. All other forms of government APP
prOach it Just in proportion to the general |
diffusion of education and independence of
thought and action. As the primary step |
therefore to our advancement in all that has
marked our progress in the past century, / |
suggest for your earnest consideration, and
most earnestly recommend ii as a conStitu-
tiOnal amendment, and that it be submitted
to the Legislatures of the several States for
ratification, making it the duty of each of the
several States to establish and forever main
tain free public schools adequate TO the edu-
cation Of all the children in the rudimentary |
branches within their respective limits, irreS-
pective OF sex, color, birthplace religion;
fOrbidding the teachings in said schools of
AtheiStic or Pagan, taxing and pro-
hbiting the granting of any school funds or |
school taxes or any part thereof either by
municipal others, for the ben
eft of any other object of any nature or kind
whatever, in connection with this important |
question.
TAXING CHURCH PROPERTY RECOMMENDED. |
would also call your attention to the inn
pOrtance of correcting an evil that, if per-
mitted to continue, will probably lead to
great trouble in our land before the close of
the nineteenth century. 1t is the accumu-
lation OF q vast amount of UntaXed church |
property. In 1850 | believe, the church
of the United States which paid no
tax, municipal nor State amounted to about |
$50 600, ,000; in1S60 the amount had doubled;
in 1873 it is about S1,0O0,000,000; by 1900,
without check, it is safe to say this property |
will reach a sum exceeding IS, 900, 900 600. So |
vast sum, receiving all the protection and
benefit of the government, without bearing its
of the burdens and expenses of
the same, will not be looked upon acqui-
esceutlv bv those who have paid taxes. In a
growing country where real estate enhances
so rapidly with time as in the United States,
there is scarcely a limit to the wealth that may
be acquired bycOrporatiOns, religious or other
wise, II allowed TO retain real estate without
taxation. The contemplation of so vast a
property as here alluded TO, without taxation,
may lead to sequestratiOn without cOnstitu-
uonal authority, and through blood | would
suggest the taxation of all property, equally,
whether church or corporation, exempting
only the last resting place of the dead, and
possibly, with proper restrictions, church
edifces.
Our relations with most of the foreign
powers continue on a satisfactory and friendly
footing. Increased intercourse, the extension
of commerce and cultivation of mutual in
tereSts have improved our relations with a
large majority of the powers of the world,
rendering practicable the peaceful solution
of questions which, from time e. time, arise,
leaving few which demand extended or par
ticular notice. Correspondence of the De
partment of State with our diplomatic repre-
sentation abroad is transmitted herewith. l