CLEVELAND
CLEVELAND
of the 49th congress, convened Dec. 6, 1886. the
President sent in his second annual message, in
■which he recommended a reasonable restriction
of Chinese immigration, coupled with assurances
to the Chinese government of ample protection
to its subjects already within our borders ; and
sucli guardian.ship as would insure them speedy
and impartial trial if accused of crime committed
in foreign countries, or rendition for trial if ac-
cused of crime committed at home. He repeated
his recommendation made to the former congress
for the abolition of the tax on foreign works of
art ; recommended a provision for the full recog-
nition of the rights of property in the creations
of the human intellect as applied to authors and
inventors, in securing an international copy-
right ; and directed attention to the large accu-
mulation of revenue, suggesting that legislative
action should relieve the people from the un-
necessary burden of taxation, thus made appar-
ent. He claimed that capital and labor would
be made harmonious by reducing the tariff, thus
lowering the prices of the necessaries of life then
augmented by a superfluous tax. He brought
again to the attention of the people the vast ac-
cumulation of coined silver and recommended a
suspension of compulsory coinage, re.stricting the
supply to the actual demand to meet the need of
a circulatory medium. In the matter of pensions
he reported the total amount paid from 1861 to
1886 to be §808,624,811.57, and that during the
fiscal year then closed 40,857 new pensions had
been allowed, and 2229 pensioners previously
dropped from the rolls, restored. In closing this
portion of his message he added : " As long as we
adhere to the principle of granting pensions for
service and disability as the result of the service,
the allowing of pensions should be restricted to
cases presenting these featvires."' In the regula-
tion of the differences between capital and labor
he claimed the true solution to be that capital
should, in recognition of the brotherhood of our
citizenship and in the spirit of American fairness,
generously accord to labor its just compensation
and consideration, on the ground that labor is
capital's best protection and faithful allj'; and
in the mattev of the bankrupt Freedman's sav-
ings and trust company he maintained that it
was the plain dut\- of the government to make
good to depositors the §1,291,744.50 deposited in
that institution and lost, in view of the general
belief and understanding that inasmuch as the
banks were largely under control of commissioned
United States officers wearing the uniform of the
army and naturally supposed to be agents of the
government, the depositors were in a degree
■wards of the nation. On Jan. 17, 1887, the inva-
lid pension bill was passed by the house by a
vote of 180 to 76 and by the senate on the 27th
witliout a discussion and on Feb. 11, 1887, the
President returned it unsigned, giving at length
his objections. On Feb. 24, 1887, a motion to
pass the bill notwithstanding the veto was de-
bated in the house but it failed to pass over the
veto. On February 14, Secretary Manning re-
signed and on March 31, Charles S. Fairchild was
appointed secretary of the treasury-. In his mes-
sage to the congress assembled Dec. 6, 1887, the
President reiterated his former demand for a
relief to a congested treasury, and stated that
should no provision be made to stop the accumu-
lation, by Jime, 1888, the surplus would exceed
$140,000,000, which condition in no measure
comported with the depleted monetary condi-
tion of the country. He devoted this message
exclusively to recommending a radical reduction
in the tariff, rather than extravagant appropria-
tions with their demoralizing consequences. In
this message he said, " It is a condition which
confronts us, not a theory. Relief from this con-
dition may involve a slight reduction of the
advantages which we award over home produc-
tions but the entire withdrawal of such advan-
tages would not be contemplated." This message
placed the subject of tariff reform before con-
gress; the Democratic advocates in the house
were led by Roger Q. Mills of Texas, and the
Republican protectionists by "William McKinley,
Jr., of Ohio. The Mills bill passed the house July
21, 1888, by a vote of 162 to 149, an almost
strictly party vote, but failed to reach a vote in
the senate before the adjournment of the 50th
congress. Another important matter presented
to the 50th congress by the President, was the
fisheries treaty which was sent to the senate,
Feb. 20, 1888. This treaty had been negotiated
by commissioners consisting of Thomas F. Bay-
ard, secretary of state, William L. Putnam of
Maine and James B. Angell of Michigan on the
part of the L'nited States, and Joseph Chamber-
lain, L. S. Sackville-West and Charles Tupper on
the part of Great Britain, and was signed at
Washington, Feb. 15, 1888. The President rec-
ommended its immediate publication and dis-
cussion, which suggestion the senate adopted.
On August 21, the senate refused to adopt the
treaty by a vote of twenty-seven to thirty, and
on the 23d the President asked of congress fuller
power to undertake retaliation in case harsh
measures should become necessarj^ in conse-
quence of the rejection of the treaty. A bill
such as the President asked for was passed by
the house September 8, but the senate took no
action and the subject remained iindecided at the
end of the session, no relief being furnished until
Jan. 24, 1887. when the senate passed the act by
a vote of forty-six to one. The President in his
fourth annual message, at the second session of
