I recommend,
therefore, that an appropriation be made immediately to purchase the
remainder of the square on which the burned buildings stood, provided it
can be purchased at a fair valuation, or provided that the legislature
of Illinois will pass a law authorizing its condemnation for Government
purposes; and also an appropriation of as much money as can properly be
expended toward the erection of new buildings during this fiscal year.
The number of immigrants ignorant of our laws, habits, etc., coming into
our country annually has become so great and the impositions practiced
upon them so numerous and flagrant that I suggest Congressional action
for their protection. It seems to me a fair subject of legislation by
Congress. I can not now state as fully as I desire the nature of the
complaints made by immigrants of the treatment they receive, but will
endeavor to do so during the session of Congress, particularly if the
subject should receive your attention.
It has been the aim of the Administration to enforce honesty and
efficiency in all public offices. Every public servant who has
violated the trust placed in him has been proceeded against with all the
rigor of the law. If bad men have secured places, it has been the fault
of the system established by law and custom for making appointments,
or the fault of those who recommend for Government positions persons
not sufficiently well known to them personally, or who give letters
indorsing the characters of office seekers without a proper sense
of the grave responsibility which such a course devolves upon them.
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