The leader., 1889-12-07

ment for the last fiscal year, but contains
many valuable suggestions for the improve
ment and extension of the service which are
commended to your attention. No other
branch of the government has SO close con-
/ tact with the daily life of the people, Almost
every one uses the service it offers and every
hour gained in the transmission of the great
commercial mails has an actual and possible
value that only those engaged in trade can
understand.
CONSTRUCTING NEW WAR VESSELS.
| In general, satisfactory progress has been
! made in the construction of the new ships of
| war authorized by Congress- The first vessel
of the new navy, the Dolphin, was subjected
| to very severe trial tests and to very much
adverse criticism. But it is gratifying to be
| able to state that cruise around the world,
/ from which she has recently returned, has
demonstrated that she is a first-class vessel of
! her rate.
| The report of the Secretary shows that
while the effective force of the navy is rap
idly increasing, by reason of the improved
build and armament of the new ships, the
number of our ships fit for sea duty grows
very slowly. We had, on the 4th of March
| last, thirty-seven serviceable ships, and
though four have since been added to the
! list, the total has not been increased, because
in the meantime four have been lost or con-
demned. Twenty-six additional vessels have
been authorized and appropriated for, but,
it is probable that when they are completed
our list will only be increased to forty two, a
gain of five The old wooden ships are
disappearing almost as fast as the new YES
sells are added. These facts carry their own
argument. One of the new ships may, in
fighting strength, be equal to two of the old,
but it cannot do the cruising duty of two. 1t
is Important therefore, that we should have
more rapid increase IN the number of SER
viceable ships 1concur in the recommends
eight armored ships, three gunboatS and five
torpedo boats be authorized.
INDIAN AFFAIRS
The report of the Secretary of the Interior
exhibits the transactions o. the government
with the Indian tribes. Substantial progress
has been made in the education of the chill
dren of school age and in the allotment of
lands to adult Indians. 1t is to be regretted
that the policy Of breaking up the tribal re-
/ latiOn and of dealing with the Indian as an
individual did not appear earlier in our leg
lslatlon. Large reservations, held in COM
mon and the maintenance of the authority
of the chiefs and headme1 have deprived the
individual OF every incentive to the exercise
of thrift. and the annuity has contributed an
affirmative impulse toward state of con-
frmed pauperism.
Our treaty stipulations should be observed
with fidelity and our legislation should be
highly considerate of the best interests of an
! ignorant and helpless people. The reserva
tionS are now generally surrounded by white
settlements We can no longer push the
Indian back into the wilderness, and it re-
| mains only, by every suitable agency, to
push him upward into the estate of a self
supporting and responsible citizen. For the
adult, the first step is to locate him upon a
farm, and for the child to place him in a
school
CLAIMS Of SETTLERS.
In the administration of the land laws the
policy of facilitating, in every proper way,
the adjustment of the honest claims of indi-
vidual settlers upon the public lands has
been pursued. The number of pending cases
| had during the preceding administration,
! been greatly increased under the operation
| of orders for time suspending final action
in q large part of the cases originating in the
West and Northwest. and by the subsequent
use of unusual methods of examination.
Only those who are familiar with the con-
ditions under which our agricultural lands
have been settled can appreciate the serious
and often the fatal consequences to the settler
of policy that puts his title under suspicion,
or delays the issuance of his patent While
care is taken to prevent and to expose fraud,
( it should not be imputed without reason.
The manifest purpose of the Homestead and
Pre-emptlon laws was to promote the settle
ment of the public domain by persons having
q bona fide intent to make home upon the
selected lands Where this intent is well es-
tablished and the requirements of the law
have been substantially complied with, the
claimant is entitled to prompt and friendly
consideration of his case. But. where there
is reason to believe that the claimant
is the mere agent of another, who is seek
ing to evade law intended to promote
small holdings, and to secure by fraudulent
methods large tracts of timber and other
lands, both principal and agent should not
only be thwarted in their fraudulent pur-
pose, but should be made to feel the full
penalties of our criminal statutes. The laws
should be SO administered as not to cOnfound
these two classes, and to visit penalties only
upon the latter.
THE PENSION SYSTEM.
The law now provides pension for every
soldier and sailor who was mustered into
the service of the United States during the
civil war and is now suffering from wounds
or disease having an origin in the service
and in the line of duty. Two of the three
necessary facts, viz muster and disability,
are usually susceptible of easy proof: but the
third, origin in the service, is often difficult,
and i'll many deserving cases impossible to
establish. That very many OF those who en-
dured the hardships of our most bloody and
arduous campaigns are now disabled from
diseases that had real but not traceable
origin III the service do not doubt
Besides these there is another class COM
posed of men many of whom served an en-
listment OF three full years, and of re-enlisted
veterans who added fourth year of service,
who escaped the casualties of battle and the
assaults OF disease, who were always ready
for any detail, who were in every battle line
of their command, and were mustered out in
sound health, and have. since the close of the
war, while fighting with the same indomita-
bic and independent spirit the contests of
civil life been overcome by disease or cas-
ualty.
ready involves very large annual expendi-
ture, neither am l deferred by that fact from
recommending that Congress grant pension
to such honorably discharged soldiers and
sailors of the civil war as having rendered
dependent upon their own labor for main
tenance and by disease or casualty are inca