Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-07

caution. There is danger that with the
coming of spring cholera viii again appear,
and liberal appropriation should be made
at this session to enable our quarantine and
port officers to exclude the deadly plague.
An Epidemic Can Be Avoided.
But the most careful and stringent quar-
antine regulations may not be sufficient ao-
solutely to exclude the disease. The medi-
cal and sanitary science has been such, how
ever, that if approved precautions are taken
at once to put all of our cities and towns In
the best sanitary condition, and o provision
is made for isolating any sporadic cases and
for q thorough disinfection, an epidemic
can, am sure, be avoided. This work ap-
pertains to the local authorities, and the re-
sponsibility and the penalty will be ap-
palling if it is neglected or unduly de-
laved.
We are peculiarly subject in our great
ports'to the spread of infectious diseases by
reason OF the fact that unrestricted lmml-
grafton brings to us out OF European cities
in the oveicrowded steerages of great steam
ships q large number of persons whose sur
roundings make them the easy victims of
the plague. This consideration, as well as
those affecting the political, moral and in
dustrial interests of our country, lead me to
renew the suggestion that admission to our
country and to the high privileges of its citi-
zenshlp should be more restricted and more
careful. We have, l think, fright and owe a
duty to our own people, and especially
to our working people, not only TO
keep out the vicious, the ignorant, the
civil disturber, the pauper, and the con-
tract laborer, but to check the too great
flow of immigration now coming by further
limitations
Progress of the Worlds Fair.
The report of the Worlds Columbian Ex-
position has not been submitted That OF
the Board of Management of the Govern
ment exhibit has been received and is here
with transmitted The work of construc-
tion and OF preparation for the opening OF
the Exposition in May next has progressed
most satisfactorily and upon scale OF lib
erality and magni6cence that will worthily
sustain the honor of the United States.
The District of Columbia is left, by a de-
cision of the Supreme Court of the District,
without any law regulating the liquor
traffic An old statute of the Legislature
Of the District relating to the licensing OF
various vocations, has hitherto been treated
by the commissioners as giving them power
to grant or refuse licenses to sell lntoxi-
eating liquors and as subjecting those
who sold without license to penalties; but
in May last the Supreme Court of the
District held against TINS view of the
powers of the commissioners. 1t is OF
urgent Importance, therefore, that Congress
should supply, either BY direct enactment
or by comforting discretionary powers upon
the commissioners, proper limitations and
restraints upon the liquor traffic in the Dis
trict The District has suffered in its repu-
tation by many crimes of violence, large
per cent of them resulting from drunken
ness and the liquor traffic. The capital OF
the nation should be freed from this re-
proach by the enactment of stringent re-
strictions and limitations upon the traffic
Protection of Railroad Employees.
In renewing the recommendation which I
have made in three preceding annual mes
sages, that Congress should legislate for the
protection of railroad employees against the
dangers incident to the old and inadequate
methods of braking and coupling which
are still in use upon freight business, do SO
with the hope that this Congress may take
action on the subject. Statistics furnished
by the Interstate Commerce Commission
show that during the year ending June 30,
1891, there were AZ different styles of car
coupIers reported to be in use, and that dur
ing the same period there were 1850
employees killed and 26, 140 injured. Nearly
16 per cent of the deaths occurred in the
coupling and uncoupling of cars and over 36
per cent of the injuries had the same origin.
The Civil Service Commission asks for an
increased appropriation for needed clerical
assistance, which think should be given. 1
extended the classified service March 1,
1892, to include physicians, superintend-
ents, assistant superintendents, school
teachers, and mntrons in the Indian service,
and have had under consideration the SUBJ
ject of some further extensions, but have
not as vet fully. determined upon the lines
upon which extensions can most properly
and usefully be made.
Abuses and Frauds In Elections.
have, in each of the three annual mes
sages which it has been my duty TO submit
to Congress, called attention to the evils
and dangers connected with our election
methods and practices as they are related to
the choice of officers of the National Gov
ernment. In my last annual message I
endeavored to invoke serious attention to
the evils of unfair appointments for Con-
gress. I cannot close this message without
again calling attention to these grave and
threatening evils
L had hoped that it was possible to Sc
cure o non-partisan inquiry by means of q
commission into evils the existence of
which is known to all, and that out of this
might grow legislation from which all
thought of partisan advantage should be
eliminated and only the higher thought ap-
pear of maintaining the freedom and purity
OF the ballot and the equality of the elector,
without the guaranty of which the Govern
ment could never have been formed. and
without the continuance OF which it cannot
continue to exist in peace and prosperity.
1t is time that mutual charges of unfairness
and fraud between the great parties should
cease, and that the sincerity of those who
profess a desire for pure and honest elections
should be brought to The test of their willing
ness to free our legislation and our election
methods from everything that tends to i'm
pair the public confidence in the announced
result
The Necessity Emphasized.
The necessity for an inquiry and for legis-
lation by Congress upon this subject is
emphasized by the fact that the tendency of
the legislation in some States in recent
years has in some important particulars
been away from and not toward free and
fair elections and equal apportionments Is
it not time that we should come together
upon the high plane of patriotism, while
we devise methods, that shall secure the
right of every man qualified by law to cast
a free ballot and give to every such ballot
an equal value in choosing our public
officers and in directing the policy Of the
Government?
Lawlessness is not less such but more,
where it usurps the functions of the peace
officer and of the courts. The frequent
lynching of colored people accused of crime
is without the excuse which has sometimes
been urged BY mobs for failure to pursue
the appointed methods for the punishment