Morning journal and courier., 1882-12-05

approved shall be law and the part dsapproved shall ail to become law unless repsssed according to the provisions prescribed for the passage of bills over uch provision as the foregoing IS part of the fun 1amental law Alabama, California, Colorado, | New Jersey, New York Pennsylvania, Tex as and West Virginia. l commend to your careful | s would not afford the best remedy for what is often grave embarrassment, both to members of Congress and to the Executive and is sometimes serious pub lie mischief.
 THE NAVY.
 The report of the Secretary of tho Navy states the of the various squadrons during the year in home and foreign waters where officers and seamen, with such ships as possess have continu ed to illustrate the high character and excellent dis cipline of the naval organi ization, On the 21st of December, 1884, information received that the exploring steamer Jeannette had been crushed and abandoned In the Arctic Ocean. The officers and boats for the Coast of siberia One of the parties under command of Chief Engineer George W. Mel vile, reached the laud and falling in with natives, was saved. Another, under Lieutenant Commander De ong in near ad sansad he a but two of the number had died from fatigue ana pa m the of ant chpR but long ana m T at As slight tribute to their heroisn1 give in this communication the names of the gallant men tenant oommander e aeorge .S w. De Long, surgeon James NJ. Anlber, Jerome J. Collins, Hans Halmer
 ter ee idoph pressler csr oStH Reise 1ver son, ths cook An Sam and the Indian Aexy. The of
 
 Charles w. Chipp, commander, William Dunbar, AL fred sweetman, Walter sharvell, Albert c. kuehne, son. Lieutenant Giles B. Harber and Master William H. scheutze are now bringing gin home the remalts In pursuance of the directions of Congress the Rodgers fitted out for the relief of the Jeannette in accordance with act of Congress of March B. 1884, sailed from San Francisco June Is under the com mand of Lieutenant Robert M. Berry. On November winter quarters at St. Lawrence but the officers and succeeded in escaping to the shore: eutenant for the Jeannette along the coast of Siberia fell in with Chief Engineer Melvilles party and returned home by way of Europe. The other officers and the crew of the Rodgers brought from St. Lawrence by the whaling steamer North Star Master Charles F. Putnam, who had been placed in charge Of oepot from S Lawrence Bay across the ice in blinding standing all efforts to rescue him.
 THE AVAILABLE NAVAL FORGE.
 It appears by the secretarys report that the E cruisers IA sngle-turreted monitors built ourlne
 the rebellion large number of smooth @ pore gnhl
 ing vessels should be gradually replaced by iron o
 steel ships, the monitors by modern armored vessels and the armament by hgh-prow r1hea guns. !ht
 reconstruction of our navy, which was recommendee
 my last was Degan ny e wo large
 armored steel vessels of the character
 the late Naval Advisory Board ana m @
 ized as approved by that act call your atteh1ion U
 the Of the a ana ,oore crns
 CTS of smaller dimensions and one teet oespaScn yes ' gel. ht
 rei for the torpedo service and for the bar \ bor defenses.
 [ RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE NAVY DEPARTMENT. | Pending the consideration by Congress of the poll
 cv to he Hereafter adopted in conducting the egh
 large navy yards and their expensive esGanlshenes
 Per the
 of affording the officers and seamen ot the navy oE
 mnder appropriste control and direction tn \ Secretary advises that the Lighthouse service ah ! Ceast Survey be transferred organized, fror \ the Treasury to the Navy department; and he als
 suggests for which he assigns that s1n
 may wisely be made of the cruising re' | enue vessels.
 OUR MERCHANT MARINE.
 The Secretary forcibly depicts the intimate COT
 eeroiaI marine and invites attention to the
 tinued decadence of the latter and the correspondn
 The subject is one of the utmost importance to th \ national welfare Methods of rev1v1ng America
 in the ocean carrying trade should receive the imIn ? | diate attention of Congress. We have mechanic
 modern iron Steamships fair competition with or ! ' commercial rivals Our disadvantage in buiidll . higher taxes, and greater interest on capital wh1 the ocean highways are already monop1azed ny 9i
 some way be overcome, and for our rapid eommun 1n
 cation with foreign lands we should not cont.nae a \ depend wholly ui vessels built in the yaf as
 other countries aad sailing under foreign flags WI
 no United M m ates po1 our for
 ! tending our commerce greatly restricted, wh1 the nations which build and sail the ships ana car
 the mails and passengers obtain thereby consp1cuo . ' adyantages for advancing their trade.
 THE posToFEIcE DEPARTMENT.
 Tho report of the Postmaster General gives 0,
 dence of the satisfactory condition of that depal ! ment and contains many valuable data and accomp
 nsing suggestions which cannot fail to Dc o 1ntere The information which it affords that the ceipts for the fiscal have exceeded the expenc
 must be very graymf eu Whieh may fair
 claim particular attention refer you to bis observ
 present basis fixing salaries and allowances of a tending the money order system ana or eniarga T
 under it's control telegraph system of the countl though from this last and most important recomnas ,, ! dation must withhold my concurrence.
 THE REDUCTION OF LETTER POSTAGE. B At the last session of Congress several bills we introduced into the House of Representatives Tor
 reduction of letter postage to the rate of two cer j. | per half-ounce. I have given much study and
 ection to this subject, and am thoroughly persuad that such a reduction would be for the best intere of the public. It has been the policy of the goveI nent foundation to defray as far as possil the form of postage It has never been claimed ho that this service ought to be productive of revenue. As has been stated already, the repe
 of the Postmaster General shows that there is now ,f very considerable surplus in his department, a that henceforth the receipts likely to increase much greater ratio than tho necessary expenditur Unless change is made in the existing laws, profits of the postal service will in very few yes n swell the revenues of the government many milio is dollars The time seems suspicious, therefore, "a ' some reduction in the rates of postage.
 W In what shall that reduction consist ? review the legislation which has been had this subj during the last thirty years discloses that domes letters constitute the only class of mail matter Whi | been favored 8 .e rates am convinced that the burden of naainta ing service falls most unequally upon that ca
 l relief. That such relief may be extended withc detriment either public interests will be discover ,t upon reviewing the results of former reduction Immedately prior to the act of 1s45 the postage Il letter composed of single sheet was as follow thirty and eighty miles, 10 cents between eighty d one hundred and fifty miles, 12H between one hr four hundred miles, 25: By the act of 1s45 the DO s age upon single letter conveyed for any dstaI the 'a Sct of snS single exceeding 5000 miles for three cents and any grea d distance for six cents It will be noticed that be Ie relatively quite important as that which is proposed In each case there ensued sued, temE E E a. mess, which substantially repaired that loss wtt
 tion iS this country and elsewhere goes for nsag S it may be safely predicted that the stimulus Of 50
 once increase the number of letters consigned to 'a mails. The advantages of secrecy would lead to y cards and open circulars, and in divers other ,t the volume of rstclass matter would be enormous ,f augmented. Such increase amounted in England s the first year after the adoption of penny postage is than 125 per cent As result of careful es 7, ! have become convinced that the deficiency for year after the proposed reduction would not
 while the dehciency after the reduction of 1s45 W more than IA per cent and after that of 1891 was v ed by statistics furnished me by the Postofacs ! pertinent. Tho act of 1S45 passed in face Of f fact that there existed deficiency of more tn
 ' $30, ,O00 That of 1851 was encouraged by the sl1s
 i surplus of $132, 900. The excess of revenue in
 ! next fiscal year is likely to be $5, ,5o00oO,
 ! If Congress should approve these suggest1ons '- be deemed desirable to supply to some exte - | the deficiency which must for a time result by
 creasing the charge for carry ing merchandise wni is only sixteen cents per pound But, even VII
 out such an increase am confident that the rece1l under the Giminished rates would equal the expen u ! lures after the lapse of three or four years
 n THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.
 IT The report of the Department of Justice brin IS anew to your notice the necessity of enlarglng present system of federal jurisprudence 80 as ee
 ually to answer the requirements Of the eVer-1
 ing litigation with which it is called upon to deal e The Attorney General renews the suggestions of
 predecessor that in the interests of justice bet1 70 in certain judicial districts for fixing the fe
 | of witnesses and jurors
 o THE STAR ROUTE TRIAL.
 70 In my message of December last referred to per ing criminal proceedings growing out of alleg frauds in what is known the Star route service
 the Postof6ce department, and advised you that h
 f enjoined upon the Attorney General and associs Q counsel, to whom the interests of the governme
 were entrusted, the duty of prosecuting With the most vigor of the law all persons who might be fou
 chargeabe with those offences trial of one of the
 cases has since occurred It occupied for many wee , the attention of the Supreme Court of the Dstr1 !, and conducted with great zeal and ability It ! suited in disagreement of the jury, but the eau " | has been again placed upon the calendar and "