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.* R. B. HAYES. EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 2, 1878. To the Senate of the United States: In answer to the resolution of the Senate of April 16, 1878, I transmit herewith reports† made to me by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney-General. R. B. HAYES. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, May 10, 1878. 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. *Correspondence with Spain relative to the seizure of the steamer Virginius, etc. + 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 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.* R. B. HAYES. 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. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, May 25, 1878. 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. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, June 11, 1878. 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† called for by the resolution. R. B. HAYES. *Correspondence relative to the terms and conditions under which the Cuban insurgents surrendered and to the policy of Spain in the government of Cuba. 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 ex penses 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. To the House of Representatives: EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 15, 1878. 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. To the Senate: WASHINGTON, June 17, 1878. 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.* R. B. HAYES. 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 *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. 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 4121⁄2 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. To the House of Representatives: EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 6, 1878. 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, |