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MONROE DOCTRINE.

This question was brought before the United States Senate by the introduction of various resolutions touching the controversy between Great Britain and Venezuela relating to the boundary of British Guiana. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations having considered the subject, Mr. Davis, on behalf of said committee, on January 20, 1896, reported the following preamble and resolution:

[Concurrent resolution relative to the assertion and enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine.] "Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring): That whereas President Monroe, in his message to Congress of December 2, A. D. 1823, deemed it proper to assert as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, were thenceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power; and

“Whereas, President Monroe further declared in that message that the United States would consider any attempt by the allied powers of Europe to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety; that with the existing colonies and dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and should not interfere, but that with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have on great consideration and on just principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or controlling in any other manner their destiny by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States; and further reiterated in that message that it is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happiness; and

"Whereas, the Doctrine and policy so proclaimed by President Monroe have since been repeatedly asserted by the United States by Executive declaration and action upon occasions and exigencies similar to the particular occasion and exigency which caused them to be first announced, and have been ever since their promulgation, and now are, the rightful policy of the United States; therefore,

"Be it resolved, That the United States of America reaffirms and confirms the Doctrine and principles promulgated by President Monroe in his message of December 2, A. D. 1823, and declares that it will assert and maintain that doctrine and those principles, and will regard any infringement thereof, and particularly any attempt

by any European power to take or acquire any new or additional territory on the American continents, or any island adjacent thereto, or any right of sovereignty or dominion in the same in any case or instance as to which the United States shall deem such attempt to be dangerous to its peace or safety, by or through force, purchase, cession, occupation, pledge, colonization, protectorate, or by control of the easement in any canal or any other means of transit across the American Isthmus, whether under unfounded pretension of right in cases of alleged boundary disputes or under any other unfounded pretensions, as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States, and as an interposition which it would be impossible in any form for the United States to regard with indifference."

The resolution was debated in the Senate on various dates until the close of the session without final action.

NAVAL APPROPRIATIONS.

Statement showing the total amount appropriated annually since 1882 for the naval establishment and the amounts appropriated annually during the same period for construction, equipment, and armament of new vessels.

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FLEETS OF THE WORLD.

Comparison of the principal fleets of the world in battle ships, coast-defense vessels, and torpedo boats, including those building or ordered.

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Among the battle ships are included all vessels which might be employed in the line-i. e., battle ships, seagoing coast-defense vessels, first-class monitors, and large armored cruisers.

Since the above statement was made we have lost the Maine, a second-class battle ship.

NICARAGUA CANAL.

From President McKinley's Message to Congress, December 6, 1897.

“A subject of large importance to our country and increasing appreciation on the part of the people, is the completion of the great highway of trade between the Atlantic and Pacific known as the Nicaragua Canal. Its utility and value to American commerce is universally admitted. The Commission appointed under date of July 24th last 'to continue the surveys and examinations authorized by the act approved March 2, 1895,' in regard to ‘the proper route, feasibility, and cost of construction of the Nicaragua Canal, with a view of making complete plans for the entire work of construction of such canal,' is now employed in the undertaking. In the future I shall take occasion to transmit to Congress the report of this Commission, making at the same time such further suggestions as may then seem advisable."

OATS.

The total reported production of oats in 1897 was 698,767,809 bushels, being 8,578,595 bushels, or 1.2 per cent, less than was reported for 1896. This production has been exceeded five times during the last ten years, the crops of the remaining years falling from 36,000,000 bushels to 175,000,000 bushels below it.

The total oat-producing area was 25,730,375 acres, as compared with 27,565,985 acres in 1896, a decrease of 1,835,610 acres, or 6.7 per cent.

The total value of the crop was $147,974,719, as compared with $132,485,033 in 1896, an increase of $15,489,686, or 11.7 per cent.

The average yield per acre, 27.2 bushels, is 1.7 bushels per acre above the average for the preceding ten years, having been exceeded during that period only in the years 1889, 1891, and 1895.

The average value per bushel, 21.2 cents, is 2.5 cents per bushel higher than the average for 1896. The average value per acre is $5.75, against $4.81 in 1896.

PACIFIC RAILROADS.

Republican Policy Regarding Their Sale Contrasted with the Policy Under Cleveland.

The pecuniary interest of the Government in the Union Pacific Railroad terminated on November 1, 1897, when its main line was sold to the purchasing trustees of the Union Pacific reorganization committee under a decree of the United States circuit court for the district of Nebraska. The bids of the trustees, which were accepted and the sale confirmed on November 6, 1897, covered the entire indebtedness to the United States to November 1, 1897, including $13,645,250 in bonds at par, then held by the Secretary of the Treasury for the Union Pacific sinking fund. The amount due the Government consisted of the following items:

Total amount of United States 6 per cent bonds issued in aid of the construction of the company's

main line

Interest paid thereon by the United States to Novem-
ber 1, 1897, and not reimbursed by transportation
service and 5 per cent of net earnings.....
Accrued interest to November 1, 1897, on the balance
of principal outstanding July 1, 1897, not yet due

Total

$27,236,512 00

30,830,181 51

381,530 24

58,448,223 75

The sinking fund in the United States Treasury belonging to the company consisted of $4,549,368.26 uninvested cash and $13,645,250.00 in bonds, aggregating $18,194,618.26. The proceeds of the bonds sold at par to the reorganization committee, together with the uninvested cash in the fund, have been covered into the Treasury in part payment of the company's indebtedness, leaving a balance due the Government of $40,253,605.49. This balance was de

creased by the payment of $6,100,000.00 on December 1st, and by the terms of the decree the remainder is required to be paid in four equal installments within thirty, forty, fifty, and sixty days, respectively, after the confirmation of sale.

During the Cleveland administration an attempt was made to effect a sale of the Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific lines. The Government entered into an agreement with the reorganization committee to the effect that the whole debt on the Union Pacific Railway, main line, and on the Kansas Pacific line, amounting in the aggregate to about $70,000,000, should be settled by a sale of the road which would realize to the Government about $42,000,000. This agreement fell to the ground, the McKinley Administration and the Department of Justice denying that any such agreement binding on the Government had been made. By the clever management of the President and the Attorney-General the reorganization committee was compelled, so far as the main line was concerned, to bid a sum which realized to the Government the total amount of the Government debt, namely $58,448,223.75.

Regarding the Kansas Pacific line, the reorganization committee had declared positively that they would not bid upon that road a sum which would yield to the Government more than $2,500,000 on its debt. The total Government debt upon this branch was $6,303,000, principal, and about an equal amount of accrued interest. It was made to appear beyond all question that the road was worth but very little if anything more than the amount of the prior incumbrance and the principal of the Government debt. By the action of the Department of Justice under President McKinley, which made an application to the court prior to the time of sale for leave to redeem the antecedent liens, to postpone the sale and to have a receiver appointed in the interest of the Government, the reorganization committee, which had formerly declared it would not bid a sum that would yield more than $2,500,000 to the Government, was persuaded to increase its bid, so that the Government actually realized on this sale the full amount of its principal-$6,303,000-the only loss upon the whole indebtedness of $70,000,000 for the two lines being the accrued interest on the Kansas Pacific debt, a result which may well be regarded with intense satisfaction.

A basis of settlement with the Central Pacific and Western Pacific railways was also fixed, by the adoption of the following amendment to the general deficiency bill in Congress. The amendment was added in the Senate and was concurred in by the House July 6, 1898, with the addition of the last paragraph which the Senate accepted:

That the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Attorney-General, and their successors in office, be, and

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