Part 6

I have the honor to transmit herewith an additional report (and an accompanying statement) addressed to me by the commissioners appointed under the act of Congress approved July 19, 1876, authorizing the repavement of that part of Pennsylvania avenue lying between the Treasury Department and the Capitol Grounds.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 13, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a special report upon the subject of forestry by the Commissioner of Agriculture, with the accompanying documents.

R.B. HAYES.

[A similar message was sent to the Senate.]

WASHINGTON, _January 11, 1878_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 3d ultimo, requesting to be furnished with the correspondence between the Government of Venezuela and that of the United States had since the adjournment of the first session of the Forty-fourth Congress in relation to the Venezuela Mixed Claims Commission, I transmit the report of the Secretary of State, together with its accompanying documents.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 14, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have received the following resolution of the Senate:

IN EXECUTIVE SESSION, SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, _December 11, 1877._

_Resolved_, That the President be respectfully requested to inform the Senate, with the view to the transaction of its executive business, whether in any of the instances of nominations hitherto sent to the Senate stated to be for appointment in place of officers removed such removals had been made at the time of sending such nominations to the Senate.

In reply I would respectfully inform the Senate that in the instances referred to removals had not been made at the time the nominations were sent to the Senate. The form used for such nominations was one found to have been in existence and heretofore used in some of the Departments, and was intended to inform the Senate that if the nomination proposed were approved it would operate to remove an incumbent whose name was indicated.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 17, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 13th November last calling for information concerning the cause, numbers engaged, number of lives lost, and probable cost of the late so-called Nez Percé War, I have the honor to submit the accompanying communication from the General of the Army and an extract from the annual report of that officer. Upon the subject of the cost of the Nez Percé War, I submit reports from the Quartermaster-General and the Commissary-General of Subsistence.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _January 18, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty of friendship and commerce between the United States and the Government of the Samoan Islands, signed on the 17th instant.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of December 6, 1877, I inclose a report made to me by the Attorney-General, the results of which seem to be correct, and which affords the information[8] requested.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 8: Operation of the Union Pacific Railroad and its branches.]

[A similar message was sent to the House of Representatives, in answer to a resolution of that body of November 27, 1877.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 23, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of November 16, 1877, I transmit reports[9] made to me by the Attorney-General and the Secretary of the Navy.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 9: Relating to the seizure of logs, lumber, and naval stores suspected or having been taken from the public lands.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 29, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to a resolution of the Senate of the 10th ultimo, I transmit herewith copies of reports[10] of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs and General Land Office, dated 9th and 21st instant, respectively.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 10: Relating to payments to the Ute Indians under the fourth article of the agreement of September 13, 1873, and to the occupancy of lands ceded by said Indians.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1878_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The commission appointed under the act of Congress approved March 3, 1873, entitled "An act to authorize inquiries into the causes of steam-boiler explosions," have addressed a report of progress, made to date thereof, to the Secretaries of the Treasury and Navy Departments, which has been transmitted to me by these officers. The commission also present a copy of a report dated February 27, 1877, which they say "was mislaid and did not reach the President." These reports are respectfully submitted for the information of Congress.

WASHINGTON, _February 6, 1878_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 6th of December last, a report from the Secretary of State and its accompanying papers.[11]

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 11: Correspondence relative to the Franco-German War.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 11, 1878_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of Congress entitled "Joint resolution accepting a painting[12] tendered to Congress by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson," approved by me on the 1st instant, I have this day caused a copy of the resolution to be delivered to Mrs. Thompson.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 12: Carpenter's painting of President Lincoln and his Cabinet at the time of his first reading of the Proclamation of Emancipation.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 20, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of January 30, 1878, I transmit herewith a report,[13] dated the 16th instant, from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 13: Relating to the survey of lands in the Indian Territory, etc.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 20, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate dated December 7, 1877, I transmit herewith reports from the General of the Army, the Quartermaster-General, the Commissary-General of Subsistence, and the Chief of Ordnance, showing what has been the cost (estimated) of the late war with the Sioux Indians, and what the casualties of rank and file among the soldiers engaged in said Sioux War.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 27, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the information of the Senate, the reply of the Commissioner of Agriculture to a resolution of the Senate of the 20th instant, "relative to the disease prevailing among swine," etc.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _March 21, 1878_.

_To the Senate_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 11th of March instant, I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.[14]

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 14: Correspondence relative to the appointment of a third commissioner under the twenty-third article of the treaty with Great Britain of May 8, 1871, on the question of the fisheries.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 25, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In further answer to the resolution of the Senate of December 7, 1877, as to the cost of the Sioux War, I transmit copies of additional reports on the subject received from the Military Division of the Missouri.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, D.C., _March 27, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the Senate's resolution of the 14th ultimo, requesting to be furnished with a copy of correspondence between the Government of the United States and that of China respecting the "Ward" claims and the claim of Charles E. Hill, I herewith submit a letter from the Secretary of State, together with its accompanying papers.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _March 29, 1878_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 21st ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State and its accompanying papers.[15]

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 15: Correspondence with Spain relative to the seizure of the steamer _Virginius_, etc.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 2, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of April 16, 1878,1 transmit herewith reports[16] made to me by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney-General.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 16: Relating to the defalcations of William R. Whitaker while collector of internal revenue for the first district of Louisiana and while assistant treasurer of the United States at New Orleans.]

WASHINGTON, _May 10, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention defining the rights, immunities, and privileges of consular officers, between the United States and His Majesty the King of Italy, signed on the 8th instant.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _May 14, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 29th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with its accompanying papers.[17]

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 17: Correspondence relative to the terms and conditions under which the Cuban insurgents surrendered and to the policy of Spain in the government of Cuba.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 17, 1878_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit, for your appropriate action, a communication from the Secretary of State, on the subject of the result of the deliberations of the Fishery Commission appointed under certain provisions of the treaty of Washington, with the accompanying documents.

Article XXII of the treaty provides that any sum of money which the commissioners may award shall be paid by the United States Government in a gross sum within twelve months after such award shall have been given.

The commission announced the result of its deliberations on the 23d day of November last year, and an appropriation at the present session of Congress will be necessary to enable the Government to make the payment provided for in the treaty.

I respectfully submit to the consideration of Congress the record of the transaction as presented upon the papers, and recommend an appropriation of the necessary sum, with such discretion to the executive government in regard to its payment as in the wisdom of Congress the public interests may seem to require.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _May 25, 1878_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to its ratification, a consular convention between the United States and the Netherlands, signed on the 23d instant.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _June 11, 1878_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 27th May ultimo, I transmit the response of the Secretary of State, accompanied by a copy of the papers[18] called for by the resolution.

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 18: Relating to the convention of May 20, 1875, for the establishment of an international bureau of weights and measures.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 12, 1878_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In transmitting herewith to Congress a communication from the Secretary of State on the subject of the conference provided for in the act of February 28, 1878, entitled "An act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar and to restore its legal-tender character," I respectfully recommend that an adequate appropriation be made for certain expenses of the conference and of the commissioners attending the same on behalf of the United States, as suggested in the communication of the Secretary of State.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 15, 1878_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of the board for testing iron, steel, and other metals, as requested in the resolution of the House of Representatives dated April 27, 1878.

R.B. HAYES.

WASHINGTON, _June,7, 1878_.

_To the Senate_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 27th of May ultimo, I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.[19]

R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 19: Correspondence, etc., relative to the selection of M. Maurice Delfosse as one of the commissioners under the treaty with Great Britain of May 8, 1871, on the fisheries question.]

VETO MESSAGES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 28, 1878_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

After a very careful consideration of the House bill No. 1093, entitled "An act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar and to restore its legal-tender character," I feel compelled to return it to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with my objections to its passage.

Holding the opinion, which I expressed in my annual message, that "neither the interests of the Government nor of the people of the United States would be promoted by disparaging silver as one of the two precious metals which furnish the coinage of the world, and that legislation which looks to maintaining the volume of intrinsic money to as full a measure of both metals as their relative commercial values will permit would be neither unjust nor inexpedient," it has been my earnest desire to concur with Congress in the adoption of such measures to increase the silver coinage of the country as would not impair the obligation of contracts, either public or private, nor injuriously affect the public credit. It is only upon the conviction that this bill does not meet these essential requirements that I feel it my duty to withhold from it my approval.

My present official duty as to this bill permits only an attention to the specific objections to its passage which seem to me so important as to justify me in asking from the wisdom and duty of Congress that further consideration of the bill for which the Constitution has in such cases provided.

The bill provides for the coinage of silver dollars of the weight of 412-1/2 grains each, of standard silver, to be a legal tender at their nominal value for all debts and dues, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. It is well known that the market value of that number of grains of standard silver during the past year has been from 90 to 92 cents as compared with the standard gold dollar. Thus the silver dollar authorized by this bill is worth 8 to 10 per cent less than it purports to be worth, and is made a legal tender for debts contracted when the law did not recognize such coins as lawful money.

The right to pay duties in silver or in certificates for silver deposits will, when they are issued in sufficient amount to circulate, put an end to the receipt of revenue in gold, and thus compel the payment of silver for both the principal and interest of the public debt. One billion one hundred and forty-three million four hundred and ninety-three thousand four hundred dollars of the bonded debt now outstanding was issued prior to February, 1873, when the silver dollar was unknown in circulation in this country, and was only a convenient form of silver bullion for exportation; $583,440,350 of the funded debt has been issued since February, 1873, when gold alone was the coin for which the bonds were sold, and gold alone was the coin in which both parties to the contract understood that the bonds would be paid. These bonds entered into the markets of the world. They were paid for in gold when silver had greatly depreciated, and when no one would have bought them if it had been understood that they would be paid in silver. The sum of $225,000,000 of these bonds has been sold during my Administration for gold coin, and the United States received the benefit of these sales by a reduction of the rate of interest to 4 per cent. During the progress of these sales a doubt was suggested as to the coin in which payment of these bonds would be made. The public announcement was thereupon authorized that it was "not to be anticipated that any future legislation of Congress or any action of any department of the Government would sanction or tolerate the redemption of the principal of these bonds or the payment of the interest thereon in coin of less value than the coin authorized by law at the time of the issue of the bonds, being the coin exacted by the Government in exchange for the same." In view of these facts it will be justly regarded as a grave breach of the public faith to undertake to pay these bonds, principal or interest, in silver coin worth in the market less than the coin received for them.

It is said that the silver dollar made a legal tender by this bill will under its operation be equivalent in value to the gold dollar. Many supporters of the bill believe this, and would not justify an attempt to pay debts, either public or private, in coin of inferior value to the money of the world. The capital defect of the bill is that it contains no provision protecting from its operation preexisting debts in case the coinage which it creates shall continue to be of less value than that which was the sole legal tender when they were contracted. If it is now proposed, for the purpose of taking advantage of the depreciation of silver in the payment of debts, to coin and make a legal tender a silver dollar of less commercial value than any dollar, whether of gold or paper, which is now lawful money in this country, such measure, it will hardly be questioned, will, in the judgment of mankind, be an act of bad faith. As to all debts heretofore contracted, the silver dollar should be made a legal tender only at its market value. The standard of value should not be changed without the consent of both parties to the contract. National promises should be kept with unflinching fidelity. There is no power to compel a nation to pay its just debts. Its credit depends on its honor. The nation owes what it has led or allowed its creditors to expect. I can not approve a bill which in my judgment authorizes the violation of sacred obligations. The obligation of the public faith transcends all questions of profit or public advantage. Its unquestionable maintenance is the dictate as well of the highest expediency as of the most necessary duty, and should ever be carefully guarded by the Executive, by Congress, and by the people.

It is my firm conviction that if the country is to be benefited by a silver coinage it can be done only by the issue of silver dollars of full value, which will defraud no man. A currency worth less than it purports to be worth will in the end defraud not only creditors, but all who are engaged in legitimate business, and none more surely than those who are dependent on their daily labor for their daily bread.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 6, 1878._

_To the House of Representatives:_

I return herewith House bill No. 3072, entitled "An act to authorize a special term of the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of Mississippi to be held at Scranton, in Jackson County," with the following objections to its becoming a law:

The act provides that a special term of the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of Mississippi shall be held at Scranton, in Jackson County, Miss., to begin on the second Monday in March, 1878, and directs the clerk of said court to "cause notice of said special term of said court to be published in a newspaper in Jackson, Miss., and also in a newspaper in Scranton, at least ten days before the beginning thereof."

The act can not be executed, inasmuch as there is not sufficient time to give the notice of the holding of the special term which Congress thought proper to require.

The number of suits to be tried at the special term in which the United States is interested is forty-nine, and the amount involved exceeds $200,000. The Government can not prepare for trial at said special term, because no fund appropriated by Congress can be made available for that purpose. If, therefore, the Government is compelled to go to trial at the special term provided for by this bill, the United States must be defeated for want of time and means to make preparation for the proper vindication of its rights.

The bill is therefore returned for the further consideration of Congress.

R.B. HAYES.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it is provided in the laws of the United States that whenever, by reason of unlawful obstructions, combinations or assemblages of persons, or rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States, it shall become impracticable, in the judgment of the President, to enforce by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings the laws of the United States within any State or Territory, it shall be lawful for the President to call forth the militia of any or all the States and to employ such parts of the land and naval forces of the United States as he may deem necessary to enforce the faithful execution of the laws of the United States or to suppress such rebellion, in whatever State or Territory thereof the laws of the United States may be forcibly opposed or the execution thereof forcibly obstructed; and

Whereas it has been made to appear to me that, by reason of unlawful combinations and assemblages of persons in arms, it has become impracticable to enforce by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings the laws of the United States within the Territory of New Mexico, and especially within Lincoln County therein, and that the laws of the United States have been therein forcibly opposed and the execution thereof forcibly resisted; and

Whereas the laws of the United States require that whenever it may be necessary, in the judgment of the President, to use the military force for the purpose of enforcing the faithful execution of the laws of the United States, 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 especially of the Territory of New Mexico, against aiding, countenancing, abetting, or taking part in any such unlawful proceedings; and I do hereby warn all persons engaged in or connected with said obstruction of the laws to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before noon of the 13th day of October instant.

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 7th day of October, A.D. 1878, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and third.

R.B. HAYES.

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

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

The recurrence of that season at which it is the habit of our people to make devout and public confession of their constant dependence upon the divine favor for all the good gifts of life and happiness and of public peace and prosperity exhibits in the record of the year abundant reasons for our gratitude and thanksgiving.

Exuberant harvests, productive mines, ample crops of the staples of trade and manufactures, have enriched the country.