having reference to
more ample provisions for the discipline and general improvement in the
character of seamen and for the reorganization and gradual increase of
the Navy I deem eminently worthy of your favorable consideration. The
principles which have controlled our policy in relation to the permanent
military force by sea and land are sound, consistent with the theory
of our system, and should by no means be disregarded. But, limiting
the force to the objects particularly set forth in the preceding part
of this message, we should not overlook the present magnitude and
prospective extension of our commercial marine, nor fail to give due
weight to the fact that besides the 2,000 miles of Atlantic seaboard
we have now a Pacific coast stretching from Mexico to the British
possessions in the north, teeming with wealth and enterprise and
demanding the constant presence of ships of war. The augmentation of
the Navy has not kept pace with the duties properly and profitably
assigned to it in time of peace, and it is inadequate for the large
field of its operations, not merely in the present, but still more in
the progressively increasing exigencies of the commerce of the United
States. I cordially approve of the proposed apprentice system for our
national vessels recommended by the Secretary of the Navy.

The occurrence during the last few months of marine disasters of the
most tragic nature, involving great loss of human life, has produced
intense emotions of sympathy and sorrow throughout the country. It
may well be doubted whether all these calamitous events are wholly
attributable to the necessary and inevitable dangers of the sea. The
merchants, mariners, and shipbuilders of the United States are, it is
true, unsurpassed in far-reaching enterprise, skill, intelligence, and
courage by any others in the world. But with the increasing amount of
our commercial tonnage in the aggregate and the larger size and improved
equipment of the ships now constructed a deficiency in the supply of
reliable seamen begins to be very seriously felt. The inconvenience may
perhaps be met in part by due regulation for the introduction into our
merchant ships of indented apprentices, which, while it would afford
useful and eligible occupation to numerous young men, would have a
tendency to raise the character of seamen as a class. And it is
deserving of serious reflection whether it may not be desirable to
revise the existing laws for the main