A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 7, part 2: Rutherford B. Hayes

Part 2

Chapter 23,889 wordsPublic domain

Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you, Senators, Representatives, judges, fellow-citizens, here and everywhere, to unite with me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not only of material prosperity, but of justice, peace, and union--a union depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion of a free people; "and that all things may be so ordered and settled upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations."

MARCH 5, 1877.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the final adjournment of the Forty-fourth Congress without making the usual appropriations for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878, presents an extraordinary occasion requiring the President to exercise the power vested in him by the Constitution to convene the Houses of Congress in anticipation of the day fixed by law for their next meeting:

Now, therefore, I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States, do, by virtue of the power to this end in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress to assemble at their respective chambers at 12 o'clock noon on Monday, the 15th day of October next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as in their wisdom their duty and the welfare of the people may seem to demand.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 5th day of May, A.D. 1877, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and first.

R.B. HAYES.

By the President: WM. M. EVARTS, _Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it is provided in the Constitution of the United States that the United States shall protect every State in this Union, on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature can not be convened), against domestic violence; and

Whereas the governor of the State of West Virginia has represented that domestic violence exists in said State at Martinsburg, and at various other points along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in said State, which the authorities of said State are unable to suppress; and

Whereas the laws of the United States require that in all cases of insurrection in any State or of obstruction to the laws thereof, whenever it may be necessary, in the judgment of the President, he shall forthwith, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a limited time:

Now, therefore, I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States, do hereby admonish all good citizens of the United States and all persons within the territory and jurisdiction of the United States against aiding, countenancing, abetting, or taking part in such unlawful proceedings; and I do hereby warn all persons engaged in or connected with said domestic violence and obstruction of the laws to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before 12 o'clock noon of the 19th day of July instant.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 18th day of July, A.D. 1877, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and second.

R.B. HAYES.

By the President: F.W. SEWARD, _Acting Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the governor of the State of Maryland has represented that domestic violence exists in said State at Cumberland, and along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in said State, which the authorities of said State are unable to suppress; and

Whereas the laws of the United States require that in all cases of insurrection in any State or of obstruction to the laws thereof, whenever, in the judgment of the President, it becomes necessary to use the military forces to suppress such insurrection or obstruction to the laws, he shall forthwith, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a limited time:

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 21st day of July, A.D. 1877, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and second.

[SEAL.]

R.B. HAYES.

By the President: WM. M. EVARTS, _Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the governor of the State of Pennsylvania has represented that domestic violence exists in said State which the authorities of said State are unable to suppress; and

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 23d day of July, A.D. 1877, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and second.

[SEAL.]

R.B. HAYES.

By the President: WM. M. EVARTS, _Secretary of State_.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 9, 1877_.

SIR:[1] The President directs me to say that the several Departments of the Government will be closed on Wednesday, the 30th instant, to enable the employees to participate in the decoration of the graves of the soldiers who fell during the rebellion.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

W.K. ROGERS, _Secretary_.

[Footnote 1: Addressed to the heads of the Executive Departments, etc.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 26, 1877_.

Hon. JOHN SHERMAN, _Secretary of the Treasury_.

MY DEAR SIR: I have read the partial report of the commission appointed to examine the New York custom-house. I concur with the commission in their recommendations. It is my wish that the collection of the revenues should be free from partisan control, and organized on a strictly business basis, with the same guaranties for efficiency and fidelity in the selection of the chief and subordinate officers that would be required by a prudent merchant. Party leaders should have no more influence in appointments than other equally respectable citizens. No assessments for political purposes on officers or subordinates should be allowed. No useless officer or employee should be retained. No officer should be required or permitted to take part in the management of political organizations, caucuses, conventions, or election campaigns. Their right to vote and to express their views on public questions, either orally or through the press, is not denied, provided it does not interfere with the discharge of their official duties.

Respectfully,

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, June 22, 1877_,

SIR:[2] I desire to call your attention to the following paragraph in a letter addressed by me to the Secretary of the Treasury on the conduct to be observed by officers of the General Government in relation to the elections:

No officer should be required or permitted to take part in the management of political organizations, caucuses, conventions, or election campaigns. Their right to vote and to express their views on public questions, either orally or through the press, is not denied, provided it does not interfere with the discharge of their official duties. No assessment for political purposes on officers or subordinates should be allowed.

This rule is applicable to every department of the civil service. It should be understood by every officer of the General Government that he is expected to conform his conduct to its requirements.

Very respectfully,

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 2: Addressed to Federal officers generally.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 7, 1877_.

By virtue of authority conferred upon the President of the United States by the provisions of section 2132, Revised Statutes of the United States, as follows:

The President is authorized, whenever in his opinion the public interest may require the same, to prohibit the introduction of goods, or of any particular article, into the country belonging to any Indian tribe, and to direct all licenses to trade with such tribe to be revoked and all applications therefor to be rejected. No trader to any other tribe shall, so long as such prohibition may continue, trade with any Indians of or for the tribe against which such prohibition is issued--

the introduction into the Indian country, for the purpose of sale or exchange to or with Indians, of any breech-loading firearms, and of any special ammunition adapted to such arms, and the sale and exchange to Indians in the Indian country of any such arms or ammunition, is hereby prohibited; and it is hereby directed that all authority under any license to trade in such arms or ammunition is hereby revoked.

The introduction into the country or district occupied by any tribe of hostile Indians, for the purpose of sale or exchange to them, of arms or ammunition of any description, and the sale or exchange thereof to or with such Indians, is hereby prohibited; and it is hereby directed that all license to trade in arms or ammunition of any description with such tribe be revoked.

By virtue of section 2150, Revised Statutes, as follows:

The military forces of the United States may be employed in such manner and under such regulations as the President may direct--

* * * * *

Third. In preventing the introduction of persons and property into the Indian country contrary to law, which persons and property shall be proceeded against according to law.

* * * * *

All military commanders are hereby charged with the duty of assisting in the execution of the above order and of Executive order of November 23, 1876,[3] the provisions of which are extended to include all Indian country within the Territories of Idaho, Utah, and Washington and the States of Nevada and Oregon.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 3: See pp. 398-399.]

SPECIAL SESSION MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON, _October 15, 1877._

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The adjournment of the last Congress without making appropriations for the support of the Army for the present fiscal year has rendered necessary a suspension of payments to the officers and men of the sums due them for services rendered after the 30th day of June last. The Army exists by virtue of statutes which prescribe its numbers, regulate its organization and employment, and which fix the pay of its officers and men and declare their right to receive the same at stated periods. These statutes, however, do not authorize the payment of the troops in the absence of specific appropriations therefor. The Constitution has wisely provided that "no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law;" and it has also been declared by statute that "no department of the Government shall expend in any one fiscal year any sum in excess of appropriations made by Congress for that fiscal year." We have, therefore, an Army in service, authorized by law and entitled to be paid, but no funds available for that purpose.

It may also be said, as an additional incentive to prompt action by Congress, that since the commencement of the fiscal year the Army, though without pay, has been constantly and actively employed in arduous and dangerous service, in the performance of which both officers and men have discharged their duty with fidelity and courage and without complaint. These circumstances, in my judgment, constituted an extraordinary occasion requiring that Congress be convened in advance of the time prescribed by law for your meeting in regular session. The importance of speedy action upon this subject on the part of Congress is so manifest that I venture to suggest the propriety of making the necessary appropriations for the support of the Army for the current year at its present maximum numerical strength of 25,000 men, leaving for future consideration all questions relating to an increase or decrease of the number of enlisted men. In the event of the reduction of the Army by subsequent legislation during the fiscal year, the excess of the appropriation could not be expended; and in the event of its enlargement the additional sum required for the payment of the extra force could be provided in due time. It would be unjust to the troops now in service, and whose pay is already largely in arrears, if payment to them should be further postponed until after Congress shall have considered all the questions likely to arise in the effort to fix the proper limit to the strength of the Army.

Estimates of appropriations for the support of the military establishment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878, were transmitted to Congress by the former Secretary of the Treasury at the opening of its session in December last. These estimates, modified by the present Secretary so as to conform to present requirements, are now renewed, amounting to $32,436,764.98, and, having been transmitted to both Houses of Congress, are submitted for your consideration.

There is also required by the Navy Department $2,003,861.24. This sum is made up of $1,446,688.16 due to officers and enlisted men for the last quarter of the last fiscal year; $311,953.50 due for advances made by the fiscal agent of the Government in London for the support of the foreign service; $50,000 due to the naval-hospital fund; $150,000 due for arrearages of pay to officers, and $45,219.58 for the support of the Marine Corps.

There will also be needed an appropriation of $262,535.22 to defray the unsettled expenses of the United States courts for the fiscal year ending June 30 last, now due to attorneys, clerks, commissioners, and marshals, and for rent of court rooms, the support of prisoners, and other deficiencies.

A part of the building of the Interior Department was destroyed by fire on the 24th of last month. Some immediate repairs and temporary structures have in consequence become necessary, estimates for which will be transmitted to Congress immediately, and an appropriation of the requisite funds is respectfully recommended.

The Secretary of the Treasury will communicate to Congress, in connection with the estimates for the appropriations for the support of the Army for the current fiscal year, estimates for such other deficiencies in the different branches of the public service as require immediate action and can not without inconvenience be postponed until the regular session.

I take this opportunity also to invite your attention to the propriety of adopting at your present session the necessary legislation to enable the people of the United States to participate in the advantages of the International Exhibition of Agriculture, Industry, and the Fine Arts which is to be held at Paris in 1878, and in which this Government has been invited by the Government of France to take part.

This invitation was communicated to this Government in May, 1876, by the minister of France at this capital, and a copy thereof was submitted to the proper committees of Congress at its last session, but no action was taken upon the subject.

The Department of State has received many letters from various parts of the country expressing a desire to participate in the exhibition, and numerous applications of a similar nature have also been made at the United States legation at Paris.

The Department of State has also received official advice of the strong desire on the part of the French Government that the United States should participate in this enterprise, and space has hitherto been and still is reserved in the exhibition buildings for the use of exhibitors from the United States, to the exclusion of other parties who have been applicants therefor.

In order that our industries may be properly represented at the exhibition, an appropriation will be needed for the payment of salaries and expenses of commissioners, for the transportation of goods, and for other purposes in connection with the object in view; and as May next is the time fixed for the opening of the exhibition, if our citizens are to share the advantages of this international competition for the trade of other nations the necessity of immediate action is apparent.

To enable the United States to cooperate in the international exhibition which was held at Vienna in 1873, Congress then passed a joint resolution making an appropriation of $200,000 and authorizing the President to appoint a certain number of practical artisans and scientific men who should attend the exhibition and report their proceedings and observations to him. Provision was also made for the appointment of a number of honorary commissioners.

I have felt that prompt action by Congress in accepting the invitation of the Government of France is of so much interest to the people of this country and so suitable to the cordial relations between the Governments of the two countries that the subject might properly be presented for attention at your present session.

The Government of Sweden and Norway has addressed an official invitation to this Government to take part in the International Prison Congress to be held at Stockholm next year. The problem which the congress proposes to study--how to diminish crime--is one in which all civilized nations have an interest in common, and the congress of Stockholm seems likely to prove the most important convention ever held for the study of this grave question. Under authority of a joint resolution of Congress approved February 16, 1875, a commissioner was appointed by my predecessor to represent the United States upon that occasion, and the Prison Congress having been, at the earnest desire of the Swedish Government, postponed to 1878, his commission was renewed by me. An appropriation of $8,000 was made in the sundry civil act of 1875 to meet the expenses of the commissioner. I recommend the reappropriation of that sum for the same purpose, the former appropriation having been covered into the Treasury and being no longer available for the purpose without further action by Congress. The subject is brought to your attention at this time in view of circumstances which render it highly desirable that the commissioner should proceed to the discharge of his important duties immediately.

As the several acts of Congress providing for detailed reports from the different Departments of the Government require their submission at the beginning of the regular annual session, I defer until that time any further reference to subjects of public interest.

R.B. HAYES.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., October 17, 1877_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of a board of inquiry appointed by the Secretary of the Interior to examine into the causes of the fire which destroyed a part of the Interior Department building on the 24th of last month.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., October 17, 1877_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of the Navy, setting forth the particulars with reference to the existing deficiencies in the Navy Department.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _November 12, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 1st instant, I transmit herewith reports from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War, with their accompanying papers.[4]

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 4: Correspondence relative to Mexican border troubles.]

WASHINGTON, _November 12, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 5th instant, I transmit herewith reports from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury, with their accompanying documents.[5]

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 5: Correspondence relative to the imposition of a differential duty of 50 cents per ton upon Spanish vessels entering ports of the United States.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _November 12, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 16th of October, 1877, I have the honor to transmit herewith a statement of the appropriations and expenditures by the Navy Department from the 4th of March, 1789, to June 30, 1876.

A similar statement for the War Department is being prepared as rapidly as the limited clerical force in the Treasury Department will permit, and when completed will be transmitted to the Senate.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _November 12, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 30th of October, 1877, I have the honor to transmit herewith a statement of the annual appropriations and expenditures for army and navy pensions, showing also the repayments, the amounts carried to the surplus fund, and the net expenditures under each appropriation from March 4, 1789, to June 30, 1876.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _November 14, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, I transmit herewith a report[6] from the Secretary of State.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 6: Stating that the information relative to the forcible rescue of two prisoners from the jail of Starr County, Tex., by an armed band of Mexicans had been transmitted by the President to the House of Representatives on the 12th instant.]

WASHINGTON, D.C., _November 15, 1887_.

_To the House of Representatives_: