The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-12-27
EEARs OF PERSONAL SAFETY.

FEARS OF PERSONAL SAFETY.
A few pestmaaters in the Southern States
have expressed great apprehensions OF their
safety on account of their connection with
the postal service, and have specially re-
quested that their reports of ~apprehended
danger should not baIenade public lest it
should result in the loss of their lives. But
no positive testimony of interference has
been submitted except in the case of q mail
messenger at Spartanburg, in South Caro-
lima, who reported that he had been vio-
lently driven away while in charge of the
mails on account Of his political affiliations
as assistant superintendent of the railway
mail service. Investigated the case, and
reported that the messenger had disappear
ed from his post, leaving his work to be
| performed by q substitute. The postmas-
! ter-general thinks this case is sufficiently
suggestive to justify him in recommending
that a more severe punishment should be
provided for the offense Of assaulting any
person in charge Of the mails, or OF retard-
ing or otherwise obstructing them by
threats of personal injury. A very crafty
ing result is presented in the fact thai the
deficiency in this department during the
last fiscal year was reduced to s4,0Sl, 790.lS
as against S. 69, 93S.SS of the preceding
year. The difference can be traced to the
large increase in its ordinary receipts
(Which greatly exceeded the estimates
therefor) and aslight decrease in its e1pen-
ditures. The ordinary receipts Of the post
Office department for the last seven years
have increased at an average of over eight
per cent. per annum, while the increase OF
expenditures for the same period has been
about ffty-6ve per cent. per annum, and
the decrease of deficiency in the revenues
has been at the rate Of nearly TWO per cent.
per annum.
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE.
The report of the commissioner of agri-
culture accompanying this message will be
found one Of great interest, marking, as it
does, the great progress OF the last century
in the variety of products OF the soil, in
creased knowledge and skill in the labor
of producing, saving and manipulating the
same to prepare them for the use of man, in
the Improvements in machinery to aid the
agriculturist in his labors, and in \ knowl-
edge of those scientific subjects necessary to
a thorough system of economy in agricul-
tural production, namely, chemistry, bo-
tany, entomology, etc. A study of this re-
port by those interested in agriculture, and
deriving their support from it, will find it
of value. In pointing out those articles
which are raised in greater quantity than
the needs of the world require, and must
sell, therefore, for less than the cost OF pro-
duction, and those which command a profit
over cost of production because there is not
an over production, Tcall special attention
to the need of the department for anew
gallery for the reception Of the exhibits re-
turned from the Centennial Exhibition, in
Guiding the exhibits donated by very many
foreign nations, and to the recommended
tions Of the commissioner of agriculture
generally. The reports Of the district COM
missioners and the board of health are just
received-too late to read them and to make
recommendations thereon-and are here
with submitted.
THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION.
The International Exhibition held in
Philadelphia this year in commemoration
OF the one hundred anniversary Of Ameri-
can independence, has proven great sue
cess, and will, no doubt, be of enduring ad-
vantage to the country. 1t has shown the
great progress in the arts, sciences, and me-
chanical skill made in q single century,
and demonstrated that We are but little be-
hind older nations in any one branch,
while in some we scarcely have q rival.
1t has served, too, not only to bring peoples
and products of skill and labor from all
parts of the world together, but in bringing
together people from all sections of our
own country, which must prove a great be-
neht in the information impaired and pride
of country engendered. 1t has been sug-
eested by scientists interested in and con-
nected with the Smithsonian Institution in
a communication herewith that the govern
ment exhibit be removed to the capital, and
a suitable building be erected or purchased
for its accommodation as q permanent ex-
hibit. I earnestly recommend this, and be-
lieving that Congress would second this
| view, l directed that all government e1hi-
bits at the Centennial Exhibition should re-
main where they are, except such as might
be injured by remaining in a building not
intended as q protection in inclement wea-
Their, or such as may be wanted by the de-
partment furnishing them, until the ques-
ton Of a permanent exhibition is acted
on. Although the moneys appropriated
by Congress to enable the participation Of
the several executive departments in the
International Exhibition of 1876 were not
sufficient 70 carry out the undertaking to
| the full extent at first contemplated, it
gives me pleasure to refer to the very eff
Gent and creditable n in which the
board appointed from these several depart
ments to provide an exhibition on the part
of the government have discharged their
duties with the funds placed at their ON
mand without a precedent to guide them
in the preparation of such a display. The
success of their labors was amply attested
by the sustained attention which the con-
tents of the government building attracted
during the period of the Exhibition from
both foreign and native visitors. I am
strongly impressed with the value of the
collection made by the government for the
purpose of the Exhibition, illustrating, as
it does, the mineral resources Of the coun-
try, the statistical and practical evidences
of our growth as a nation, and the uses Of
the mechanical arts, and the applications
| of applied science in the administration Of
the affairs of government. Many nations
have voluntarily contributed their exhibits
to the United States to increase the interest
in any permanent exhibition Congress may
provide for. For this act of generosity
they should receive the thanks of the peo-
pie, and respectfully suggest that a reso-
luton OF Congress to that effect be adopted.
THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT.
The attention Of Congress cannot be too
earnestly called to the necessity of throwing
some greater safeguard over the method of
choosing and declaring the election Of a
President. Under the present system there
seems TO be no provided remedy for contest
ing the election of any one State. The remedy
is partially, no doubt, in the enlightenment
of electors. The compulsory support of the
free school, and the Acknowledgement Of all
who cannot read and write the English Ian
guage after a fixed probation, would meet my
hearty approval. I would not make this
apply, however, to those already voters, but
I would to all becoming so after the e1pi-
ration of the probation fixed upon. For
| eigners coming to the country to be-
come citizens, who are educated in their
own language, would acquire the re-
quisite knowledge of ours during the
necessary residence to obtain naturaliza-
ton. If they did not take interest enough
in our language to acquire sufficient knowl-
edge of it to enable them %tostudythe institu-
tions and laws of the country intelligently,
T would NIT ropfor ppop Thorn tho RIGHT III