Year: 1877

certain circuit courts of the United
States is now such that serious delays,
to the great injury and even oppression
of suitOrs, occur, and a remedy should
be sought for this condition of affairs.


THE INDIANS.


We are now at peace with all the In
dian tribes in our borders. To preserve
that peace, by just and humane poll
cy, will be the object of my earnest
endeavors. Whatever may be said of
their character and savage propensities,
of the difficulties of introducing among
them the habits of civilized life, and the
obstacles they have offered to progress
OF settlement In certain parts of the
country, the Indians are certainly en-
titled to our sympathy and to con-
seient1ous respect on our part for their
claims upon our sense of Justice. They
were the aboriginal occupants of the
land we now possess. They have been
driven from place to place. The pur-
chase money paid to them in some cases
for what they called their own has still
left them poor. In many instances
when they had settled down upon land
assigned to them by compact and began
to support themselves by their own
labor, they were rudely jostled off and
thrust into the wilderness again.
Many, it not most, of our Indian wars
have had their origin in broken prom
ises and acts of injustice upon our part,
and the advance of the Indians has been
slow because the treatment they re-
ceived did not permit to be faster and
more general. We cannot expect them
to improve and follow our guidance mn
less faith is kept with them in respect
ing the rights they possess, and unless
instead of depriving them of their op-
portunities we lend them a helping
hand.


Especially is it recommended to pro-
vide for Indians settled on their reserva-
tions, cattle and agricultural imple-
ments to aid them in whatever efforts
they may make to support themselves,
and by the establishment and mainten-
ance of schools to bring them under the
control of civilized influences. | see no
reason why Indians who can give salts
factory proof of having by theiI own
labor supported their families for O
number of years and who are willing to
detach themselves from their tribal re-
lati0ns should not be admitted to the
benefit of the homestead act and the
privileges of citizenship, and | recon-
mend the passage of law to that effect.


Earnest efforts are being made to
purify the Indian service SO that every
dollar appropriated by Congress shall
rebound to the benefit of the Indians as
intended. Those efforts will have nv
firm support, with an improved service,
and every possible encouragement held
out to the Indians to better their condi-
tion and to elevate themselves in the
scale of civilization.


TIMBER LANDS, ETC.


The experience of other nations
teaches us that country cannot be
stripped of its forests with impunity,
and we shall expose ourselves to the
glavest consequences unless the waste
full and improvident manner in which
the forests in the United States are be-
ing destroyed be effectually checked.
| earnestly recommend that the meas
ures suggested by the Secretary of the
Interior for the suppression of depIeda-
tions on the public timber lands of the
United States for the selling Of timber
from the public lands, and for the pres
ervatiOn of forests be embodied in law.
The attention of Congress is directed
to the disposition that might be made
of the desert lands, not fit for irrega-
ton.


AGRICULTURE.


With the fair prices which we obtain
for the products of the soil, especially
for the suplus which our people have
to export, we may confidently turn to
this as the most important of all our
resources for the revival of the de-
pressed industries of the country The
aff Of fhn 10
the productions of important articles of
consumption, will, it is hoped, improve
the demand for labor, and advance the
business of the country and eventually
result in saving some of the many
millions that are now annually paid to
foreign nations for sugar and other
staple products.


THE CENTENNIAL.


The final report of the board Oh be-
half of the United States at the Interna-
tional Exhibition of 1876 has been sub
mitted and as these papers contain
interesting and valuable information, |
recommended that the report be pub
lished.


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.


The interests of the district are en-
titled to especial consideration. Much
has been done to render the capital
healthful, convenient and attractive,
but much remains to be done. To i'm
pose upon the inhabitants of the dis
trict a large proportion of the cost of
improvements executed for the con-
venience of government, is an evident
injustice. The adjustment by Congress
of the financial relations between the
United States and the district, is recon-
mended. The affairs in the district are
as satisfactory as could be expected, in
view of the debt resting upon it. Your
attention is invited to the suggestions
of the board of health, and to the great
need of adding to the efficiency of the
public schools. / earnestly commend
to your care the interests of the people
of the district, who are so intimately
associated with the government estab-
lishment.


The present unfinished condition of
the Washington monument is repToach
to the nation. 1t cannot be doubted
that the patriotic sense of the country
will warmly respond to such provision
as may be made for its completion at
an early day, and urge upon Congress
the propriety and necessity of immedi-
ate legislation for the purpose.


EDUCATIONAL.


The intelligent Judgment of the coun-
: try regards it as both constitutional and
+, expedient for the general government
to extend to the technical and higher
, education such aid as is deemed essen
tial to the general welfare and to our
due prominence among the enlightened
and cultured nations of the world. 1t
5 is vain to hope for the success of free