upon Congress the propriety and necessity of immediate legislation for this purpose. The wisdom of legislation upon the part of Congress, in aid of the States, for the education of the whole people in those branches of study which are taught in the common schools of the country is no longer a question. The intelligent judgment of the country goes still further, regarding it as also both constitutional and expedient for the General Government to extend to technical and higher education such aid as is deemed essential to the general welfare and to our due prominence among the enlightened and cultured nations of the world. The ultimate settlement of all questions of the future, whether of administration or finance or of true nationality of sentiment, depends upon the virtue and intelligence of the people. It is vain to hope for the success of a free government without the means of insuring the intelligence of those who are the source of power. No less than one-seventh of the entire voting population of our country are yet unable to read and write. It is encouraging to observe, in connection with the growth of fraternal feeling in those States in which slavery formerly existed, evidences. of increasing interest in universal education, and I shall be glad to give my approval to any appropriate measures which may be enacted by Congress for the purpose of supplementing with national aid the local systems of education in those States and in all the States; and, having already invited your attention to the needs of the District of Columbia with respect to its public-school system, I here add that I believe it desirable, not so much with reference to the local wants of the District, but to the great and lasting benefit of the entire country, that this system should be crowned with a university in all respects in keeping with the national capital, and thereby realize the cherished hopes of Washington on this subject. I also earnestly commend the request of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution that an adequate appropriation be made for the establishment and conduct of a national museum under their supervision. The question of providing for the preservation and growth of the Library of Congress is also one of national importance. As the depository of all copyright publications and records, this library has outgrown the provisions for its accommodation; and the erection, on such site as the judgment of Congress may approve, of a fireproof library building, to preserve the treasures and enlarge the usefulness of this valuable collection, is recommended. I recommend also such legislation as will render available and efficient for the purposes of instruction, so far as is consistent with the public service, the cabinets or museums of invention, of surgery, of education, and of agriculture, and other collections the property of the National Government. The capital of the nation should be something more than a mere political center. We should avail ourselves of all the opportunities which Providence has here placed at our command to promote the general intelligence of the people and increase the conditions most favorable to the success and perpetuity of our institutions. R. B. HAYES. SPECIAL MESSAGES. EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 10, 1877. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, a copy of the report of the commission appointed by me on the 27th of September, 1877, to examine the several public buildings in this city and determine the nature and extent of their security against conflagrations and the measures to be taken to guard the buildings and their contents from destruction or damage by fire. The records of the Government constitute a most valuable collection for the country, whether we consider their pecuniary value or their historical importance; and it becomes my duty to call your attention to the means suggested for securing these valuable archives, as well as the buildings in which they are stored. The commissioners have performed their duties intelligently and faithfully. Their recommendations are fully concurred in by me and commended to the favorable consideration of Congress. R. B. HAYES. EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 10, 1877. To the Senate and House of Representatives: 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. [A similar message was sent to the Senate.] To the House of Representatives: R. B. HAYES. WASHINGTON, January 11, 1878. 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. To the Senate of the United States: EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, January 14, 1878. I have received the following resolution of the Senate: IN EXECUTIVE SESSION, SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 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. HAVES. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, January 18, 1878. 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. M P-VOL VII-31 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* requested. R. B. HAYES. [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 † made to me by the Attorney-General and the Secretary of the Navy. R. B. HAYES. EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 29, 1878. To the Senate of the United States: In response to a resolution of the Senate of the roth ultimo, I transmit herewith copies of reports of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs and General Land Office, dated 9th and 21st instant, respectively. R. B. HAYES. 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 steamboiler 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. R. B. HAYES. To the Senate: WASHINGTON, February 6, 1878. 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.§ * Operation of the Union Pacific Railroad and its branches. R. B. HAYES. Relating to the seizure of logs, lumber, and naval stores suspected of having been taken from the public lands. 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. 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* 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. HAVES. 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,† dated the 16th instant, from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. R. B. HAYES. 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. To the Senate: WASHINGTON, March 21, 1878. 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. ‡ R. B. HAYES. *Carpenter's painting of President Lincoln and his Cabinet at the time of his first reading of the Proclamation of Emancipation. Relating to the survey of lands in the Indian Territory, etc. 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. |