The regular maintenance and a steady increase in the
efficiency of this most important arm in proportion to the growth of
our maritime intercourse and interests is recommended to the attention
of Congress.
The use of the Navy in time of peace might be further utilized by a
direct authorization of the employment of naval vessels in explorations
and surveys of the supposed navigable waters of other nationalities
on this continent, especially the tributaries of the two great rivers
of South America, the Orinoco and the Amazon. Nothing prevents,
under existing laws, such exploration, except that expenditures
must be made in such expeditions beyond those usually provided for
in the appropriations. The field designated is unquestionably one
of interest and one capable of large development of commercial
interests--advantageous to the peoples reached and to those who
may establish relations with them.
Education of the people entitled to exercise the right of franchise
I regard essential to general prosperity everywhere, and especially so
in republics, where birth, education, or previous condition does not
enter into account in giving suffrage. Next to the public school, the
post-office is the great agent of education over our vast territory.
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