The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-12-06

precise and definite regulations for
the electoral vote. When
it is remembered that for several days |
following the last presidential elec
tion it was generally feared that diff
fculties might arise in the count OF
the electoral vote, this recommended
tion has great force In it. A Senate
bill dealing with this reform now
lies on the Speakers table, and the
matter is in good shape for immedi
ate consideration.
He recommends the immediate
suspension of the coinage Of silver
dollars, and also of the issuance OF
silver certificates" This has been
substantially recommended to Con
gress in former messages. He points
to the fact that of the one hundred
and eighty-five million silver dollars
now coined, only little more than
forty millionsa rein circulation. The
danger that silver will become sour
sole metallic standard" he considers
serious.
An important suggestion is the APP
pointment ola commissioners to in-
yestigate the subject eft increasing
our foreign tfade. He recommends
the payment of subsidies to Ameri
can ships. The Secretary of the
Treasury is very emphatic on this
point, and the President cites him
with approval. 1t is DropOSe1 that
| this subsidy to American shipping
shall come in the way ofliberal pay
ment for the duty of carrying mails.
After April, 1885, Congress will he
under the necessity for making new
arrangements tor the forwarding OF
the mails, and this whole subject
might then he profitable considered.
The connection between the promo
ton of our shipping interest, and the
extenticn of our foreign trade is, of
course. very close, and yet the tive
things are not at all identical. We
might have very extensive foreign
trade carried wholly by foreign ship,
/ and, on the other hand, we might
have numerous merchant ships, and
yet very Door foreign trade. Meth
err the President nor the Secretary Oi
Treasury are very clear in their sus-
geStiOn5.
The President strongly recon-
mends the adoption of close CONNER
cial relations with the various Amer
lean states of both North and South
America. This is the. policy Ori4i
mated by Mr.. Blaine, and which was
so much criticised by his opponents
in both parties. This league of ~tate'
it is proposed, shall have unif nm
currency basis for the "whole system
of colnmOnw palths," so that the coin
r--..'.VD..- our MINES SnaT1 cIrcu
| late in them all. He also recon-.
mendS the establishment of consular
service on a sa laried footing, instead
of as now, under the free system
which is burdens0me to the trade
These recommendations, together
with the plan of Substituting Ameri
can merchant ships, are the Prrsi.
dents proposals for extending our
foreign trade.
The message is in harmony with
the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury in the proposal to abolish
all the excise taxes except those upon
distilled spirits. 1t is proposed 10y
the friends of protection to tighten
taxation by abOlishing the whole of
the internal revenue taxes, so as to
enforce the collection of the national
revenues from high tariffs. Tue
President does not favor free trade
but he speaks OF" reducing tariff bur
dens" somewhat in the language of
the free traders. 1t would seem that
it would have been becoming in r.,
President to have spoken more de-
cidely in favor Of protection. This j.
not only his last message, but he
last message of the retiring II pub.
lican al niniStratiOn. For twenty.
four years the p trty has maintained
protection, and under it tn country
has increased in wealth and prosper
ity. Just nov there is depression
in business, but this does not result
from the policy Of protection. Now
that the party goes out of power aud
the l0w-talitf Democrats come in, it
would seem to he the graceful thing
to do to stand Ivy the principles of the
old party to the last, and not to lisp
the language of the incoming party.
The President shows that the re
duction of letter postage from three
cents to two has been success. The
actual loss due to this reduction has
proven to be less than had been ex-
pected, while the increase in the
number of letters due to this cheap