A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents | Page 8

breaking down our protective tariff or seriously injuring any domestic
industry.
The construction of a sufficient number of modern war ships and of
their necessary armament should progress as rapidly as is consistent
with care and perfection in plans and workmanship. The spirit, courage,
and skill of our naval officers and seamen have many times in our
history given to weak ships and inefficient guns a rating greatly beyond
that of the naval list. That they will again do so upon occasion I do not
doubt; but they ought not, by premeditation or neglect, to be left to the
risks and exigencies of an unequal combat. We should encourage the
establishment of American steamship lines. The exchanges of
commerce demand stated, reliable, and rapid means of communication,
and until these are provided the development of our trade with the
States lying south of us is impossible.
Our pension laws should give more adequate and discriminating relief
to the Union soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans. Such
occasions as this should remind us that we owe everything to their
valor and sacrifice.
It is a subject of congratulation that there is a near prospect of the
admission into the Union of the Dakotas and Montana and Washington
Territories. This act of justice has been unreasonably delayed in the
case of some of them. The people who have settled these Territories are
intelligent, enterprising, and patriotic, and the accession of these new
States will add strength to the nation. It is due to the settlers in the

Territories who have availed themselves of the invitations of our land
laws to make homes upon the public domain that their titles should be
speedily adjusted and their honest entries confirmed by patent.
It is very gratifying to observe the general interest now being
manifested in the reform of our election laws. Those who have been for
years calling attention to the pressing necessity of throwing about the
ballot box and about the elector further safeguards, in order that our
elections might not only be free and pure, but might clearly appear to
be so, will welcome the accession of any who did not so soon discover
the need of reform. The National Congress has not as yet taken control
of elections in that case over which the Constitution gives it jurisdiction,
but has accepted and adopted the election laws of the several States,
provided penalties for their violation and a method of supervision. Only
the inefficiency of the State laws or an unfair partisan administration of
them could suggest a departure from this policy.
It was clearly, however, in the contemplation of the framers of the
Constitution that such an exigency might arise, and provision was
wisely made for it. The freedom of the ballot is a condition of our
national life, and no power vested in Congress or in the Executive to
secure or perpetuate it should remain unused upon occasion. The
people of all the Congressional districts have an equal interest that the
election in each shall truly express the views and wishes of a majority
of the qualified electors residing within it. The results of such elections
are not local, and the insistence of electors residing in other districts
that they shall be pure and free does not savor at all of impertinence.
If in any of the States the public security is thought to be threatened by
ignorance among the electors, the obvious remedy is education. The
sympathy and help of our people will not be withheld from any
community struggling with special embarrassments or difficulties
connected with the suffrage if the remedies proposed proceed upon
lawful lines and are promoted by just and honorable methods. How
shall those who practice election frauds recover that respect for the
sanctity of the ballot which is the first condition and obligation of good
citizenship? The man who has come to regard the ballot box as a
juggler's hat has renounced his allegiance.
Let us exalt patriotism and moderate our party contentions. Let those
who would die for the flag on the field of battle give a better proof of

their patriotism and a higher glory to their country by promoting
fraternity and justice. A party success that is achieved by unfair
methods or by practices that partake of revolution is hurtful and
evanescent even from a party standpoint. We should hold our differing
opinions in mutual respect, and, having submitted them to the
arbitrament of the ballot, should accept an adverse judgment with the
same respect that we would have demanded of our opponents if the
decision had been in our favor.
No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and
love or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and so
full of