Congress and the enactment of more efficient laws for the prevention
of these abuses.

The report of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Education shows
very gratifying progress throughout the country in all the interests
committed to the care of this important office. The report is
especially encouraging with respect to the extension of the advantages
of the common-school system in sections of the country where the
general enjoyment of the privilege of free schools is not yet
attained.

To education more than to any other agency we are to look as the
resource for the advancement of the people in the requisite knowledge
and appreciation of their rights and responsibilities as citizens, and
I desire to repeat the suggestion contained in my former message in
behalf of the enactment of appropriate measures by Congress for
the purpose of supplementing with national aid the local systems of
education in the several States.

Adequate accommodations for the great library, which is overgrowing
the capacity of the rooms now occupied at the Capitol, should be
provided without further delay. This invaluable collection of books,
manuscripts, and illustrative art has grown to such proportions, in
connection with the copyright system of the country, as to demand the
prompt and careful attention of Congress to save it from injury in its
present crowded and insufficient quarters. As this library is national
in its character, and must from the nature of the case increase even
more rapidly in the future than in the past, it can not be doubted
that the people will sanction any wise expenditure to preserve it and
to enlarge its usefulness.