New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-12-08
'THEpREsIDENrs MESSAGE.

washington, d. O.. December Z, 1875. !
To the Senate and House Of Representatives:
In submitting my seventh annual message
to Congress in this
CENTENNIAL YEAR
of our national existence as q free and in
dependent people, it affords me great pleas
ure to recur to the advancement that has
been made from the time OF the colonies,
100 years ago. We were then q people
numbering only 100000 now we number
more than 40, 000, 900. The industries were
confined almost exclusively to the tillage OF
the soil; now manufactories absorb mach
OF the labor of the country. Our liberties
remain unimpaired. The bondsmen have
been freed from slavery. We have become
possessed of the respect il not the friend
ship of civilized nations. Our progress has
been great in all the arts, in sc-
ence, agriculture, commerce, nsviga-
ton, mining mechanics, law, medi
progress is likewise encouraging. Our
thirteen States have become Thirty ight,
including Colorado, which has taken the
initiat0ry steps to become q State, aud
eight Territories, including the Indian Ter.
rit0ry. and excluding Colorado, making
territory extending from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. On the south We have extended
the Mississippi to the Pacific.
One hundred years ago the cotton gin,
the steamship, the rail- DAD, the telegraph
the reaping, sewing and modern printing
machines, and numerous other inventions
of scarcely lees value to our business and
happiness were entirely unknown. In l776
manufactures scarcely ext. ted even in name
in all this vast territory. In 1870 more
than 1900. 900 Of persons were employed in
manufactures producing more than
81, l00, 100000 of products, in amount an
Dually nearly equal to our national debt.
From nearly the whole of the population of
l776 being engaged In the one occupation of
agriculture, ia 1870 SO numerous and diver
sitied had become the occupations of our
people that less than 5000 COO out of more
4O,O00,O0O were SO engaged.
The extraordinary fleet produced in our
country by resort to diversified occupa.
tiOns, hae built market for the products of
fertile lands distant from the seaboard and
the markets of the world. The American
system of locating various and extensive
manufactures, next to the pillow and the
pasture, and adding connecting railro ads
and steamboats,, has produced in our dis
tant interior country result noticeable by
the intelligent portions of all commercial
nations. The ingenuity and 81 ill of Am-r-
lean mechanics have been demonstrated at
home and abroad in = manner most flatter-
ing to their pride. But for the extraordi-
nary genius and ability of our mechanics,
the achievements of our asriculturists, man
utacturers and transporters throughout the
country would have been impossible OF
attainment.
Progress of the miner has also been
great. OF coal our production was small:
now many millions of tons are mined annu.
ally. So with iron, which formed scarcely
an appreciable part of our products half a
H.. 49,
the world consumed at the beginning of our
national existence. Lead, zinc and copper,
from being articles OF import we may ex-
pect to be- large exporters of in the near
future. The development of gold and silver
mines IN the United States and Territories
has not only been remarkable, but has had
large influence upon the business of all
commercial nations.
Our merchants in the last hundred years
have had a success, and have established
reputation for enterprise, sigacity, progress
and integrity unsurpassed by peoples of
older nstionalities. This good name is not
confined to their homes, but goes out upon
every sea and into every port where CON-
merce enters. With equal pride we can
point to our progress i'll all Of the learned
professions.
As we are now about to enter upon our
second centennial, commencing
1t is well to look back uron the past and
study what will be best to preserve and
advance our future greatness. From the
fall of Adam for his transgression to the
present day, no nation has been free from
threatened danger to its prosperity and
happiness. We should look to the dangers
threatening us and remedy them so far as
lies in our power. We are a republic where
of one man is as good as another before the
lnvr IT,In tnh f.Nptt ~ st
is of the greatest Importance that ali should
be possessed of education and intelligence
enough to cast vote with right under
standing of its meaning. A large associa-
ton of ignorant men can not Tor any CON
siderable period oppose successful resis-
lance to tyranny and oppression from the
educated FEW, but will inevitably sink into
acquiescence to the will of intelligence,
whether directed by the demagogue or
priestcraft. Hence the education of the
masses becomes Of thefrst necessity for
the preservation of our institutions. They
are worth preserving because they have
secured the greatest good to the greatest
portion of the population of any form of
government yet devised. All other forms
OF government approach it just in proper
ton to the general diffusion OF education
and independence of thought and action.
As the primary step, therefore, to our ad-
vancement in all that has marked our
progress in the past century, suggest for
your earnest consideration and most earn
estly recommend, that q constitutional
amendment be submitted to the Legisla-
lures Of the several States for ratification,
making it the dIty of the several States to
establish and forever maintain
FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
adequate to the education of all the children
in the rudimentary branches within their
linita irra Of aO1or
birthplace or religion, iorbidding the teach
ing in said schools of religious, atheistic or
pagan tenets, and prohibiting the granting
of any school funds or school taxes, or any
part thereof, either by legislative, municipal
or other authority, for the benefit or in aid,
directly or indirectly, of any religious sect
or denomination, or in aid or for the benefit
OF any other object of any nature Or kind
whatever.
In connection with this important ques-
ton l would also call your attention to the
importance of correcting an evil that, ii
allowed to continue, will probably lead to
great trouble in our land before the close OF
the nineteenth Gel fury. 1t is the accumula-
ton of vast amounts OF
UNTAxED CHURCH PROPERTY.
In 1850, believe the church property of
the United States which paid no tax, mu-
nieipaal oS or State, seG amounted to about out
doubled. In 1875 it ia about 81 900. 900, 900.
By 1900, without check it is safe to say
t6is property will reach q sum exceeding
90, OOO, 900, 900. So vast sum receiving all
the protection and benefits of government,
without bearing its proportion OF the bur
dens and expenses of the same, will not be
looked upon acquiesoently by those who
have to pay the taxes. In growing cOun-
try where real estate enhances SO rapidly
with time as in the United States, there is