THE ABRIDGMENT. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, WITH TIE REPORTS OF THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AND SELECTIONS FROM ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS. EDITED BY W. H. MICHAEL. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1890. LIBRARY OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY. NOTE. The Abridgment of Message and Documents is compiled and distrib. uted in pursuance to the following statutes: SEC. 75. The Joint Committee on Public Printing shall appoint a competent person, who shall edit such portion of the documents accompanying the annual reports of the Departments as they may deem suitable for popular distribution, and prepare an alphabetical index thereto. SEC. 3798. Of the documents named in this section there shall be printed and bound, in addition to the usual number for Congress, the following numbers of copies, namely: Second. Of the President's message, the annual reports of the Executive Departments, and the abridgment of accompanying documents, unless otherwise ordered by either house, ten thousand copies for the use of the members of the Senate and twentyfive thousand copies for the use of the members of the House of Representatives. It may be said that the Abridgment is much in little. It is the result of boiling down about twenty thousand pages to nine hundred, without throwing out anything of real value to the reader. It has been the aim of the Joint Committee on Printing this year to furnish the Abridgment to the constituents of Senators and Members at an early day after the reports were made to Congress. It is the opinion of the committee that this precedent should be closely followed in the future. There can be no dissent from the conclusion that the Abridgment loses much of its real value by long-continued delay in its publication. W. H. MICHAEL, Clerk of Printing Records. MESSAGE. To the Senate and House of Representatives: There are few transactions in the administration of the Government that are even temporarily held in the confidence of those charged with the conduct of the public business. Every step taken is under the observation of an intelligent and watchful people. The state of the Union is known from day to day, and suggestions as to needed legislation find an earlier voice than that which speaks in these annual communications of the President to Congress. Good-will and cordiality have characterized our relations and correspondence with other Governments, and the year just closed leaves few international questions of importance remaining unadjusted. No obstacle is believed to exist that can long postpone the consideration and adjustment of the still pending questions upon satisfactory and honorable terms. The dealings of this Government with other states have been and should always be marked by frankness and sincerity, our purposes avowed, and our methods free from intrigue. This course has borne rich fruit in the past, and it is our duty as a nation to preserve the heritage of good repute which a century of right dealing with foreign Governments has secured to us. It is a matter of high significance, and no less of congratulation, that the first year of the second century of our constitutional existence finds, as honored guests within our borders, the representatives of all the independent states of North and South America met together in earnest conference touching the best methods of perpetuating and expanding the relations of mutual interest and friendliness existing among them. That the opportunity thus afforded for promoting closer international relations and the increased prosperity of the states represented will be used for the mutual good of all, I can not permit myself to doubt. Our people will await with interest and confidence the results to flow from so auspicious a meeting of allied and, in large part, identical interests. 3 |