The importance of these experiments can hardly be overestimated when we consider the almost endless variety of purposes for which iron and steel are employed in this country and the many thousands of lives which daily depend on the soundness of iron structures. I need hardly refer to the recent disaster at the Ashtabula bridge, in Ohio, and the conflicting theories of experts as to the cause of it, as an instance of what might have been averted by a more thorough knowledge of the properties of iron and the best modes of construction. These experiments can not properly be conducted by private firms, not only on account of the expense, but because the results must rest upon the authority of disinterested persons. They must therefore be undertaken under the sanction of the Government. Compared with their great value to the industrial interests of the country, the expense is very slight. The board recommend an appropriation of $40,000 for the next fiscal year, and I earnestly commend their request to the favorable consideration of Congress. I also recommend that the board be required to conduct their investigations under the direction of the Secretary of War, and to make full report of their progress to that officer in time to be incorporated in his annual report. U. S. GRANT. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 2, 1877. I transmit, in answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 10th ultimo, a report of the Secretary of State, with its accompanying papers.* U. S. GRANT. EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 3, 1877 To the Senate and House of Representatives: By the act of Congress approved January 14, 1875, "to provide for the resumption of specie payments," the 1st of January, 1879, is fixed as the date when such resumption is to begin. It may not be desirable to fix an earlier date when it shall actually become obligatory upon the Government to redeem its outstanding legal-tender notes in coin on presentation, but it is certainly most desirable, and will prove most beneficial to every pecuniary interest of the country, to hasten the day when the paper circulation of the country and the gold coin shall have equal values. At a later day, if currency and coin should retain equal values, it might become advisable to authorize or direct resumption. I believe the time has come when by a simple act of the legislative branch of the Government this most desirable result can be attained. I am strengthened in this view by the course trade has taken in the last two years and by the strength of the credit of the United States at home and abroad. *Preliminary and final reports of J. Hubley Ashton, agent of the United States before the United States and Mexican Claims Commission. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876, the exports of the United States exceeded the imports by $120,213,102; but our exports include $40,569,621 of specie and bullion in excess of imports of the same commodities. For the six months of the present fiscal year from July 1, 1876, to January 1, 1877, the excess of exports over imports amounted to $107,544,869, and the import of specie and bullion exceeded the export of the precious metals by $6,192,147 in the same time. The actual excess of exports over imports for the six months, exclusive of specie and bullion, amounted to $113,737,040, showing for the time being the accumulation of specie and bullion in the country amounting to more than $6,000,000, in addition to the national product of these metals for the same period—a total increase of gold and silver for the six months not far short of $60,000,000. It is very evident that unless this great increase of the precious metals can be utilized at home in such a way as to make it in some manner remunerative to the holders it must seek a foreign market as surely as would any other product of the soil or the manufactory. Any legislation which will keep coin and bullion at home will, in my judgment, soon bring about practical resumption, and will add the coin of the country to the circulating medium, thus securing a healthy "inflation" of a sound currency, to the great advantage of every legiti mate business interest. The act to provide for the resumption of specie payments authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to issue bonds of either of the descriptions named in the act of Congress approved July 14, 1870, entitled "An act to authorize the refunding of the national debt," for not less than par in gold. With the present value of the 41⁄2 per cent bonds in the markets of the world, they could be exchanged at par for gold, thus strengthening the Treasury to meet final resumption and to keep the excess of coin over demand, pending its permanent use as a circulating medium, at home. All that would be further required would be to reduce the volume of legal-tender notes in circulation. To accomplish this I would suggest an act authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue 4 per cent bonds, with forty years to run before maturity, to be exchanged for legal-tender notes whenever presented in sums of $50 or any multiple thereof, the whole amount of such bonds, however, not to exceed $150,000,000. To increase the home demand for such bonds I would. recommend that they be available for deposit in the United States Treasury for banking purposes under the various provisions of law relating to national banks. I would suggest further that national banks be required to retain a certain percentage of the coin interest received by them from the bonds deposited with the Treasury to secure their circulation. I would also recommend the repeal of the third section of the joint resolution "for the issue of silver coin," approved July 22, 1876, limiting the subsidiary coin and fractional currency to $50,000,000. I am satisfied that if Congress will enact some such law as will accomplish the end suggested they will give a relief to the country instant in its effects. and for which they will receive the gratitude of the whole people. U. S. GRANT. EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 9, 1877 To the Senate and House of Representatives: The accompanying memorial is transmitted to Congress at the request of a committee, composed of many distinguished citizens of New York, recently appointed to cooperate with a generous body of French citizens who design to erect in the harbor of New York a colossal statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World." Very little is asked of us to do, and I hope that the wishes of the memorialists may receive your very favorable consideration. U. S. GRANT. EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 9, 1877. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit herewith the catalogues and report of the board on behalf of the Executive Departments at the International Exhibition of 1876, with their accompanying illustrations. The labors performed by the members of the board, as evinced by the voluminous mass of information found in the various papers from the officers charged with their preparation, have been in the highest degree commendable, and believing that the publication of these papers will form an interesting memorial of the greatest of international exhibitions and of the centennial anniversary of the independence of our country, I recommend that they be printed in a suitable form for distribution and preservation. The letter of the chairman of the board will give to Congress the history of its organization, the law and Executive orders under which it has acted, and the steps which have been taken to preserve the large and instructive collections made, with a view to their forming a part of a national museum, should Congress make the necessary appropriations for such a desirable object. U. S. GRANT. "To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 15, 1877. I transmit herewith, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 13th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers.* U. S. GRANT. *Statements of appropriations and expenditures of the Department of State from March 4, 1789, o June 30, 1876, inclusive. WASHINGTON, February 23, 1877. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, bearing date the 20th instant, with its accompaniments, being the report of the commissioner of the United States and of the officers of engineers attached to the commission appointed to determine the boundary line between the United States and the possessions of Great Britain from the northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. These reports announce the completion of the labors of this commission, whereby the entire boundary line between the United States and the possessions of Great Britain is marked and determined, except as to that part of the territory of the United States which was ceded by Russia under the treaty of 1867. U. S. GRANT. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, February 24, 1877. I transmit herewith, in answer to the resolution of the House of Rep resentatives of the 25th ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers.* U. S. GRANT. EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 26, 1877. To the Senate of the United States: I have the honor to return herewith Senate bill No. 234, entitled “An act to allow a pension of $37 per month to soldiers who have lost both an arm and a leg." Under existing law soldiers who have lost both an arm and a leg are entitled to draw a monthly pension of $18. As the object of this bill is to allow them $18 per month for each of these disabilities, or $36 in all, it is returned simply for an amendment of title which shall agree with its provisions. When this shall have been done, I will very gladly give it my immediate approval. U. S. GRANT. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 28, 1877. In answer to the resolution † of the Senate of the 27th instant, I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, together with the papers which accompanied it. U. S. GRANT. *Correspondence, etc., connected with the agency of A. B. Steinberger in the Samoan Islands. + Directing the Secretary of State to transmit any communication demanding the payment of moneys claimed to be due the Dominican Government from the United States. VETO MESSAGES. EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 15, 1877. To the House of Representatives: For the reasons set forth in the accompanying communication addressed. to the Secretary of the Interior by the Commissioner of the General Land -Office, I have the honor to return herewith without my signature the bill (H. R. 2041) entitled “An act to amend section 2291 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in relation to proof required in homestead entries." U. S. GRANT. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C., January 12, 1877. The PRESIDENT. SIR: I have the honor to return herewith enrolled bill H. R. No. 2041, entitled "An act to amend section 2291 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in relation to proof required in homestead entries," which accompanied your letter of the 10th instant, requesting to be informed whether any objection was known to this Department why the same should not become a law. The matter was referred to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and I transmit herewith a copy of a letter from him suggesting certain amendments to the second section of said act. I concur in the recommendations made by the Commissioner. I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant, Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., January 11, 1877. The Honorable SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. SIR: I am in receipt, by your reference of yesterday's date, of "An act to amend section 2291 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in relation to proof required in homestead entries," which has passed both Houses of Congress and now awaits the signature of the President. The purpose of the act is to enable parties seeking title under the homestead law to make final proof before a judge or clerk of court in the county or district where the lands are situated. Its provisions are in conformity with the views and recommendations of this office, and I see no objection to them in so far as relates to the taking of the testimony. I observe, however, that the second section provides that the proofs, affidavits, and oaths shall be filed in the office of the register, and no provision is made for the transmission of either the original papers or duplicates to this office, in order that patents may properly issue thereon, the provisions relating to certification for the purposes of evidence seeming to require that they shall remain on file in the district office. There is, therefore, no opportunity for the supervisory control of the Commissioner over entries so made to be exercised under the statutes, and thus the express requirements of existing law, as well as the essential harmony of the land system, are interfered with by its provisions. To remedy this defect in the proposed law I recommend that the act be returned to the legislative body with the request for an |