provisions, as well as other considerations, make it desirable
that this subject should receive attention before the close of the
present session. I therefore express an earnest wish that the Senate may
be able to consider and determine before the adjournment of Congress
whether it will give its constitutional concurrence to the conclusion of
a treaty with Great Britain for the purposes already named, either in
such form as is proposed by the British plenipotentiaries or in such
other more acceptable form as the Senate may prefer.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _June 18, 1874_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State and its
accompanying papers.[80]

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 80: Report of the United States delegates to the eighth session
of the International Statistical Congress, held at St. Petersburg,
Russia, in August, 1872, and appendix.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, June 20, 1874_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I respectfully invite the attention of Congress to one feature of the
bill entitled "An act for the government of the District of Columbia,
and for other purposes." Provision is therein made for the payment of
the debts of the District in bonds to be issued by the sinking-fund
commissioners, running fifty years and bearing interest at the rate of
3.65 per cent per annum, with the payment of the principal and interest
guaranteed by the United States.

The government by which these debts were created is abolished, and no
other provision seems to be made for their payment. Judging from the
transactions in other bonds, there are good grounds, in my opinion, for
the apprehension that bonds bearing this rate of interest when issued
will be worth much less than their equivalent in the current money of
the United States. This appears to me to be unjust to those to whom
these bonds are to be paid, and, to the extent of the difference between
their face and real value, looks like repudiating the debts of the
District. My opinion is that to require creditors of the District of
Columbia to receive these bonds at par when it is apparent that to be
converted into money they must be sold at a large discount will not only
prove greatly injurious to the credit of the District, but will reflect
unfavorably upon the credit and good faith of the United States.

I would recommend, therefore, that provision be made at the present