direction and control of the election of members of the House of
Representatives is clearly given to the General Government. A partial
and qualified supervision of these elections is now provided for by law,
and in my opinion this law may be so strengthened and extended as to
secure on the whole better results than can be attained by a law taking
all the processes of such election into Federal control. The colored man
should be protected in all of his relations to the Federal Government,
whether as litigant, juror, or witness in our courts, as an elector for
members of Congress, or as a peaceful traveler upon our interstate
railways.

There is nothing more justly humiliating to the national pride and
nothing more hurtful to the national prosperity than the inferiority of
our merchant marine compared with that of other nations whose general
resources, wealth, and seacoast lines do not suggest any reason for
their supremacy on the sea. It was not always so, and our people are
agreed, I think, that it shall not continue to be so. It is not possible
in this communication to discuss the causes of the decay of our shipping
interests or the differing methods by which it is proposed to restore
them. The statement of a few well-authenticated facts and some general
suggestions as to legislation is all that is practicable. That the great
steamship lines sailing under the flags of England, France, Germany,
Spain, and Italy, and engaged in foreign commerce, were promoted and
have since been and now are liberally aided by grants of public money
in one form or another is generally known. That the American lines of
steamships have been abandoned by us to an unequal contest with the
aided lines of other nations until they have been withdrawn, or in
the few cases where they are still maintained are subject to serious
disadvantages, is matter of common knowledge.