ts and
the extension of the same advantages to every portion of the country,
it is hoped will receive your favorable consideration.

To preserve and perpetuate the national literature should be among the
foremost cares of the National Legislature. The library gathered at
the Capitol still remains unprovided with any suitable accommodations
for its rapidly increasing stores. The magnitude and importance of the
collection, increased as it is by the deposits made under the law of
copyright, by domestic and foreign exchanges, and by the scientific
library of the Smithsonian Institution, call for building
accommodations which shall be at once adequate and fireproof. The
location of such a public building, which should provide for the
pressing necessities of the present and for the vast increase of the
nation's books in the future, is a matter which addresses itself to
the discretion of Congress. It is earnestly recommended as a measure
which should unite all suffrages and which should no longer be
delayed.

The joint commission created by the act of Congress of August 2, 1876,
for the purpose of supervising and directing the completion of the
Washington National Monument, of which commission the President is a
member, has given careful attention to this subject, and already the
strengthening of the foundation has so far progressed as to insure the
entire success of this part of the work. A massive layer of masonry
has been introduced below the original foundation, widening the base,
increasing the stability of the structure, and rendering it possible
to carry the shaft to completion. It is earnestly recommended that
such further appropriations be made for the continued prosecution
of the work as may be necessary for the completion of this national
monument at an early day.

In former messages, impressed with the importance of the subject,
I have taken occasion to commend to Congress the adoption of a
generous policy toward the District of Columbia. The report of
the Commissioners of the District, herewith transmitted, contains
suggestions and recommendations, to all of which I earnestly invite
your careful attention. I ask your early and favorable consideration
of the views which they express as to the urgent need of legislation
for the reclamation of the marshes of the Potomac and its Eastern
Branch within the limits of the city, and for the repair of the
streets of the capital, heretofore laid with wooden blocks and no