ite of this it
proposes, by the exercise of the lawmaking power, to sustain that
interest and to impose it in hopeless perpetuity as a tax upon the
competent and beneficent industries of the country.

The true method for the mining interests of Lake Superior to
obtain relief, if relief is needed, is to endeavor to make their great
natural resources fully available by reducing the cost of production.
Special or class legislation can not remedy the evils which this bill
is designed to meet. They can only be overcome by laws which will effect
a wise, honest, and economical administration of the Government, a
reestablishment of the specie standard of value, and an early adjustment
of our system of State, municipal, and national taxation (especially the
latter) upon the fundamental principle that all taxes, whether collected
under the internal revenue or under a tariff, shall interfere as little
as possible with the productive energies of the people.

The bill is therefore returned, in the belief that the true interests
of the Government and of the people require that it should not become
a law.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the President of the United States has heretofore set forth
several proclamations offering amnesty and pardon to persons who
had been or were concerned in the late rebellion against the lawful
authority of the Government of the United States, which proclamations
were severally issued on the 8th day of December, 1863, on the 26th
day of March, 1864, on the 29th day of May, 1865, on the 7th day of
September, 1867, and on the 4th day of July, in the present year; and

Whereas the authority of the Federal Government having been
reestablished in all the States and Territories within the jurisdiction
of the United States, it is believed that such prudential reservations
and exceptions as at the dates of said several proclamations were deemed
necessary and proper may now be wisely and justly relinquished, and that
an universal amnesty and pardon for participation in said rebellion
extended to all who have borne any part therein will tend to secure
permanent peace, order, and prosperity throughout the land, and to renew
and fully restore confidence and fraternal feeling among the whole
people, and their respect for and attachment to the National Government,
designed by its patriotic founders for the general good:

No