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m j——a——n—
glitsinrss
HS. COOPER. PIIYSK'IAN * SURGEON
• Newton Centre, Luxenie County Pa.
R.R. LITTLE, ATTORNEY AT LAW
Office on Tioga street, Tunkhannock Ka.
Geo s.tiitton, attcney at law
Tunkhonnock, Pa. Office n Sturk's Dm
ock, Ttoga street.
WM. M. PIATT, ATTORNEY AT LAW, 0
Bee in Stark's Crick Blocs Tioga St., Tunk
bannock. Fa
&jjf ghifjilfr iKuisf.
HARRISRURO, L'KNNA.
The undersigned having lately purchased the
41 BUEHLER HOUSE " property, has already com
menced such alterations ana improvements as will
render this old and popular House equal, ii' not supe
rior, to any Hotel in the City of Ilarrisimrr.
A continuance of the public patronage is refpect
fnlly solicited.
GEO. J. BOLTON
WALL'S HOTEL,
LATE AMERICA!* HOUSE.
TUN KHAN NOCK, WYOMING CO., 1' \
rHIS establishment lias recently been reGrt.d an
furnished in the latest style Kverv attention
will he given to the comfort aud convenience ot those
*j© patronise the House.
T B. WALL, Owner and Proprietor .
luukhannock, September 11, 1561.
NORTH BRANCH HOTEL,
MESIIOPPEN, WYOMING COUNTY. 1A
Win. H. CORTKIGHT, Frop'r
TT A VINO resumed ihe proprietorship of the above
fx Hotel, ihe umlersigned will spare no effort to
the house an agreeable place of sojourn tor
A:! who may favor it with their custom.
Win II CORTKIGHT.
Jans, 3rd, 1663
! T . .T. C B K€K IbTTT
Fit Y Slt'lAN tk SURGEON.
Would respectfully announce to the citirenso' Wy
uaing. that ho has located at Tuiikhatmock where
he will prouij-tly attcnl to all calls in the Lr - ot
hi* profession.
Will be found at home on t-atumlaya <>f
eaeh week
Joints JMfl,
TOWANTDA. BA.
D. B. BARTI.ET,
I Late ot the BBRAINARH IIOCSE, ELMIRA, N Y.
PROPRIETOR.
The MEANS HOTEL, i-one of the LARGEST
and BEST ARRANGED Houses in the country—lt
is fitted up in the most modern and improved style,
and no pains are spared to make it a pleasant and
agreeable stopping-place for all,
v 3, n2l,
CLARKE, KEEfiEY.&rfh,
■ AXCF ACTUHEKS AND WHOLESALE HEALERS IN
LADIES', MISSES' & GENTS'
filk unto CassimfiT flats
AND JOBBERS IN
PATS. CAPS, FUKS, STRAW GOODS,
PARASOLS AND IIMRKELI.AS.
BUFFALO AND FANCY ROBES,
848 BROADWAY,
CORNER OK LEONARD STREET,
w&m
ft. T- CLARK, 1
A. C KEENK.Y, \
8. LHKENEV. 5
M. OILMAN,
DENTIST.
\f" OILMAN, hag permaneni ly located in Tunk
l* Le hantß'ck Borough, and respectfully tendersda
pi ■ 'essional services to the cititens of this place h n
a ounding country.
/ LL WORK WARRANTED, TO GIVE SATIS
FA TION.
LF*Offlee Tutton's Law Office, near the Po
•ee .
• .11, mi
FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE
OF
ANDREW JOHNSON,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
(CONTINUED.)
But while 1 lmve no doubt that now, af
ter the close of the war, it is nut competent
for the Genera! Government to extend the
elective franchise in the several States, i.
equally clear that good faith requires the
security of the freedmen in their liberty
and their property, their right to labor.and
their right to claim the just return of their
labor. I cannot to strongly urge a dispas
sionate treatment of this subject, which
should he carefully kept aloof from all par
ty strife. VVe must equally avoid hasty
assumptions of any natural impossibility
for the two races to live side by side in a
state of mutual benefit and good will. The
experiment involves us in no inconsistency
let us. then, go on and make that experi
ment in good faith, and not he too easily
disheartened. The country is ill need of
labor, and tlm freedmen are in need,of em
ployment, culture, aid protection. While
their right of voluntaiy migration and ex
pat! ia ion is not to be questioned, 1 would
not advise their forced removal and colon
iza'ioti Let us rather encourage tin in to
honorable and useful industry, where it
may beneficial to then selves and to the
country ; and,instead of hastv antic : pation
of the certainty of failure, let there be
lutlung wanting to the fair trial of the ex-
pfiirnent. 1 lie cliangn in their condition
i> the substitution of l.tbor by contract for
the status of slavery The freed men can
not fairl) be accused of unwillingness to
work, so long as a doubt remains about bis
freedom of choice in his pursuits, and the
certainty of his recovering his stipulated
wages. In this Ihe interest of the employer
an J the employed coinci io. The emplover
desires in his workmen spirit and alacrity,
and these can be permanently secured in no
ther way. And if the one ought to bo
able to enforce the contract, so ought tiie
other. The public interest will lie best
promoted if the several States will provide
adequate proteetion and the remedies for the
fieedmen I ntil ih;s is in ome way ac
complished, there is no chance fur the ad
vantageous use of their Iqjxir ; arid the
blame of ill-success will not rest on them
I know that sincere philanthropy is ear
nest for the immediate realization of its r.e*
IIU tot a ms; but time i-. always an element
in ivfoim. It is one of liie greatest acts on
record to have brought four millions <f
people into freedom. The career of free
industry u ust he fairly op -tied to them ;
afl then their future prosperity and con
dition, must, after all. rest mainlv on them
selves. If they fail, and so perish awav,
let us be careful that the failure shall riot
V ittrihutablc to any denial of justice. In
ail that relates to the destiny of the freed
mui, we need not he to anxious to read the
future; many incidents which, from a
specu'ative point of view,might raise alarm,
■will quietly settle themselves.
Now that slavery is at an end, or near its
end. the greatness of its evil, i.i the point
o? viewlof public economy, becomes more
and more apparent. Slavery was essen
tially a monopoly of labcr. and as such
looked the States where it prevailed agamst
tlr* incoming of free industry. Where la
bor, was the property of capitalists, the,
white man was excluded from employment
or had but the second best chance of find
ing it ; and the foreign emigrant turned
away fiom the region where his condition
would he precarious With the destruc
tion of the monopoly, free labor will hasten
from all parts of the civil zed world to as
sist in developing various and immeasura
ble resources which have hitherto lain dor
mant. Tlte eight or nine States nearest
the Gulf of Mexic<> have a soil of exuberant
fertility, a climate friendly to long life, and
can sustain a denser population than is
found as yet in any part of our country
And the future influx of population to them
will be mainly from the North, or from the
most cultivated nations in Kurope. From
suflf'rings that have attended them during j
our late struggle, let me lo >k awav to the J
future, which is sure to he laden for them |
with greater prosperity than has ever be-I
fore been known. The removal ofth" mo
nopoly of slave labor is a pledge that those
regions will lie peopled by a numerous and
enterprising population, which will vie
with any in the Union in compactness, in
ventive genius, wealth and industry.
Our Government springs from and was
made for the people—not the people for
the Government. To them it owes allegi
ance, from them it must derive its courage,
"TO SPEAK HIS THOUGHTS IS EVERY FREEMAN'S RIGHT. "—Thomas Jefl'ersou.
TUNKHANNOCK, PA., WEDNESDAY, DEC. 20, 1865.
strength ar.d wisdom. But while the gov
ernment is thus -bound to defer to the peo
ple, from whom it derives its existence, it
should, from the very consideratio of its
origin, be strong in its power of resistance
to the establishment of inequalities. Mo
nopolies, perpetuities and class legislation
arc: contrary to the genius of free govern
ment, and ought not to be allowed. Here,
there is no room for favored classes or mo
nopolies , the principle of our government
is that of equal lajvs and freedom ol indus
try. Wherever monopoly attains a foot
hold, it is sure to he a source of danger,
discord and trouble. We shall but fulfill ;
our duties as legislators by according "equal
and exact justice to all men," special privi
leges to none. The government is subor
dinate to the people ; hut, as the agent and
representative of the people, it must be
he'd superior to monopolies, which,in them
selves, ought never to he granted, and
which, wlifge they exist, mu-t be subordi
nate and yield to the government.
Ihe constitution confers on Congress the
right to regulate commerce among the sev
eral Mates. It is of the first necessity, for
the maintenance of the Union, that com
merce should be fr-e and unobstructed.. No
State can be justified in*any device to tax
the transit of travel ami commerce between
States. The position of many States is
such that, it they were allowed to take ad
vantage of it for purposes of local revenue
the commerce between States might be in
juriously burdened, or even virtually pro
hibited. It is bes', while the country is
still young, and while the tendency to
danger* us monopolies of this kind is still
feeble, to use the power o! Congress so as
to prevent any selfish impediment to the
tree circulation of men and merchandise.—
A tax on travel and merchandise, in their
transit, constitutes one of the worst forms
of monopoly, and the evil is increased if
coupled with a denial of the choice of rout e.
When the vast extent of our country is con
sidered, it is plain that every obstacle to
the free circulation of commerce between
the States ought to be sternly guarded
against by appiopriatc legislation, within
the limits of the constitution.
The report of the Secretary of the Inte
rior explains the condition of the public
lands, the tiansactions of the Patent Office
ai.d the Pension Bureau, the management
of our Indian affairs, the progress made in
the construction of the Pacific Railroad
and furnishes information in r-fere nee to
matters of local interest in the District of
Columbia It also presents evidence of the
successful ope rations of ihe Homestead
Act, under the provisions of which 1,160,-
533 acres of the public lands were entered
during the fiscal year—more than one
fourth of the whole number of acres sold or
otherwise di>pos< d of during that period.—
It is estimated that the receipts derived
from this source are sufficient to cover the
expenses incident to the survey and dis
posal of lands entered under this act, and '
that payments in cash to the extent of from J
forty to fifty percent, w-11 be made by set
tlers, who may thus at any time acquire
title before the expiration of the period at
which it would otherwise vest. The home
stead policy was established only after
long and earnest resistance ; experience
proves its wisdom. The lands,in the hands
of industrious settlers, whose labor creates
wealth ar.d contributes to the public re
sources, are worth m<re to the United
States than if tliey had been reserved as a
solitude for future purchasers.
The lamentable events of the lat four
years, and the sacrifices made by the gal
lant men of our army and navy, have swel-1
led the records of the I'ensfon Bureau to an j
unprecedented extent. On the 30th dav of
June last, the total number of pensioners
was 85,986, requiring for their annual pay,
exclusive of expenses, the sum of &q,023,-
445. The number of applications that have
bvn allowed since that date will require a|
a large increase >f this amrmnt for the next i
fi-ctl year. The means for the payment of
the stipends due. under existing laws, to
our disabled soldiers and sailors, and to
the families of such as have perished in the
service of the countrv, will no doubt be
cheerfullv and promptly granted. A grate
ful people will not hesitate to sanction any
measures having for their object the relief
of soldiers mutilated and families made fa
therless in the i fT<uts to preserve our na
tional cxi-tence.
The report of the Postmaster General
presents an encouraging exhibit of the op
perations of the Post-office Department
durinc the year. The revenue of the past
year from the loyal Slates alone exceed the
maximum annual receipts from all the
States previous to the rebellion,in the sum
of $6,038,091 ; and the uoul average
Increase of revenue during the last four
years, compared jrith the revenues of the
four years immediately preceding the re
bellion, was $3,533;845. The revenue of
the last fiscal to $14,546,158
and the expenditures to $12,694,728, leav
ing a surplus of receipts over expenditures
of *801,480. Progress has been made in
restoring the postal service in the Southern
States The views presented by the Post
master-General against the policy of grant
ing subsides to ocean mail steamship lines
upon established routes, and in favor of
continuing the present system, which limits
the compensation for ocean service to the
postage earnings, arc recommended to the
careful consideiation of Congress
It appears, from the report of the Secre
tary ot the Navy, that while, at the com
mencement of the present year, there were
in commiss on 530 vessels of ail classes and
descriptions, armed with 3,000 guns and
manned by 51,000 men, the number of
vessels at present in commission is 117,
with 830 guns and 12,118 men. By this
prompt reduction of the naval forces the
expenses .of the government have been
largely diminished, and a number of ves
sels purchased for naval purposes from tin'
merchant marine, have been returned to
the peaceful pursuits of commerce. Since
the suppression of active hostilities our for
eign squadrons have been re-established,
and consist of vessels much more efficient
than those employed on similar service
previous to the rebellion. The segg.'stson
for the enlargement of the navy-yards; and
especially f*.: 1 the establishment of one in
fresh water fin* iron-clad vessels, is deserv
ing of consideration, as is also the recom
inendatiou for a different location and more
ample grounds for the Naval Academy.
In the report of the Secretary of War,
a general summary is given of the military
campaigns of 1864 and 1865, ending to
tHe suppression of arm d resistance in the
national authority in the insurgent States.
'Hie operations of the general administra
tive bureaus of the War Dcpattmcnt dur
ing the past year are detailed, and an esti
mate made ofttie appropriations that will
be required for military purposes in the
fiscal vear commencing the 30th dav of
e •
June, 1866. The national military force,
on the Ist of May 1865, numbered I,QuO,
516 men. It is proposed to reduce the
militaiy establishment to a peace footing,
comprehending 50,000 troops ot all aims,
organized so as to admit of an enlarge
ment by filling up the ranks to 82,000 il
Lite circumstances of the country should
require an augmentation of the ariny.—
The volunteer force lias already been re
duced by the discharge from service of
over 800,000 troops, and the department
is proceeding rapidly in the work ot fur
ther reduction. The war estimates are
reduced from $5,16,200,131' to $33,814,
461, Which amount, in the opinion of the
department, is adequate for a peace estab
lishment. The measures of retrenchment
in each bureau and branch of the service
exhibit a diligent encoriomy worthy ofcom
m* ndntioii. Reference is also made in the
report to the necessity of providing for a
tinif rm mi.ilia system, and to the propri
ety of making suitable provision lor wound
ed and disabled officers ami soldiers.
The revenue system of the country is a
subject of vital iutercst to its honor and
prosperity, and should command the ear
uest consideration of Congress. The Sec
retary of the Treasury will lay before you
a full and detailed report of the receipts and
disbursements of the last fiscal veat, of the
first quarter of the present fiscal year, of
the probable receipts and expenditures for
the oti.fr three quarters, and the estimates
for the year following the 30th of June,lß
- I might content myselt with a refer
ence to that report, in which yot! will find
all the information required for your delib
erations and decision. But the paramount
importance of the subject so presses itself
on my niiod. that I cannot but lay before
y<iu my views of the measures which are re
quired for the good character, and, I might
almost say, for the existence of this people.
The life of a republic lies certainly in the
energy, virtue and intelligence of its citi
zens ; bub it is equally true that a good rev
enue system is the life ofan organized gov
ernincnt. I meet you at a time wmii the.
nation hat- voluntarily burden ed itself with !
a debt unprecedented in our unuais. Vast
as its amount, it fades away into nothing
when compared with the countless blessings
that will he conferred upon our country
and upon man by the preservation of the
nation's life. . Now, on the first occasion of
the meeting of Congress since the return
of peace, it is of the utmost importance to
; inaugurate a just policy, which shall corn
| mend itself to those who oome after us for
TERMS, $2,00 PER. AXNX3M
its continuance. We must aim at nothing
less than the eoniplete effacement of the
financial evils that neeessarily follow a
state of civil war. We must endeavor to
apply the earliest remedy to the deranged
state of the currency, and not shrink from
devising a policy which, without being op
pressive to the people, shall immediately
begin to effect a reduction of the debt, and
if persisted in, discharge it fully within a
definitely fixed number of years.
It is our first duty to prepare in earnest
for our recovery from the ever-increasing
evils of a ii redeemable currency, without
a sudden revulsion, and yet without untime
ly prociastination. For the end we must,
each in his respective positions, prepare the i
way. I hold it the duty of the executive
fo insist upon frugality in the expenditures;
and a sparing economy is itself a great na
tional resource. ()(' the baks to which au
thority has been given to issue notes se
cured by bonds of the United States we
may require the greatest moderation and
prudence, and the law must be rigidly en
forced when its limits are exceeded. We
may, each one of us, counsel our active and
enterprising countrymen to be constantly
on their guard, to liquidate debts contract
ed in a paper currency, ai d by conducting
business as nearly as possible on a system
of cash payment ir short credits, to hold
themselves prepared to return to the stand
ard of gold and silver. To aid our fellow
citizens in the prudent management of
their momentary affairs, the duty devolves
on us to diminish by law the amount of pa
per money now in circulation. Five years
ago the bank-note circulation cf the coun
try amounte 1 to not much more than two
hundred millions; now the circulation,
bank and national,exceeds seven hundred
mil'io- * The simple statement of the
fact ri'ccomioends more strongly than any
words of mine could do, the necessity of
our restraining that expansion. The grad
ually reduction of the currency is the only
measure that can save the business of the
country from disastrous calamities , and
this can be almost imperceptibly accom
plished bv gradually funding the national
circulation nsecuri ies that may be made
redeemable at the pleasure of the govern
ment.
The Department of Agriculture, under
its present direction, is accomplishing
mneh in developing and utilizing tiie vast
agricultural capabilities of the country and
for information respecting the details of its
management reference is made to theanu
al repoit of the Commissioner.
1 have dwelt thus fully on our domestic
I affairs because of their transcendent impor
j tance. Under any circumstances, our
great extent of territory and variety of cli
mate, producing almost everything that is
necessary for the wants, and even the Com
forts of man. making us singularity inde
pendent of Ihe varying policy of foreign
powers, and protect us against every temp
tation to entangle alliances, while at the
present moment the rccstablishment of har
mony, and the strength that comes from
harmony, will be our best security against
"nations who feel power and forget right."
For myself, it has been and will be my
! constant aim to promote peace and amity
with all foreign nations and powers ; and
I have every reason to believe that they all
without exception, are animated by the same
1 disposition. Our relations with the Em
-1 peror of China, so recent in their origin,
j are most friendly. —Our commerce with
his dominions is receiving new develop
mcqts, and it is very pleasing to find that j
the government of that great empire man
ifests satisfaction with our policy, and re
poses just confidence in the fairness, which
marks our intercourse. The unbroken
harmony between the United States and
the Empire of Russia is receiviug a new
support from an enterprise designed to car
ry telegraphic lines across the continent of
•Asia, through his dominions, and so to con
nect us with all Europe by a new channel
of inierc u'se. Our commerce with South
America is about to receive encouragement
by a direct line of mail steamships to the
rising Empire of Brazil. The distinguish
ed partv of men of science who have recent
ly left our country to make a scientific ex
ploration of thenatnral history and rivers
and mountain ranges of that region, have
received from the Emperor that generous
welcome winch was to have been expected
from his constant friendship for the United
State*, and his well-known zeal in promo
ting the advancement of knowledge. A
hop is entertained that our commerce
with '.ho rich and populous counties that
border the Mediterranean sea may be
largely increased. Nothing will be want
ihg on the part of this government, to ex
i : ' ? r. ■ '
VOL. 5 NO. 20
tend the protection of our flag over the
enterprise of our fellow-citizens. We re
ceive from tbe Powers in that region assu
rances of good will; and it is worthy of
note that a special cnroy has brought us
messages of condolence on the death of
our late Chief Magistrate from the Bey of
Tunis, whose rule includes tbo old domin
ions of Carthage, on the African coast
Our debt is doubly secure—first in the
actual wealth and still greater undeveloped
resources of tbe country; and next ifl tbe
character of our institutions. The most
intelligent observers among political econ
omists have not failed to remark that the
public debt of a country is safe in propor
tion as its people aro fiee; that the debt
of a republic is the safest of all. Our his
tory confirm* and establishes the theory,
and is, I firmly believe, destined to give it
a still more signal illustration. The se
cret of this superiority springs not merely
from the fact that in a republic tbe nation
al obligations are distributed more widely
through countless numbers in allclasses of
society ; it has its root in the character of
our law s, llere all men contribute to the
public welfare, and bear their fair share of
the public burdens. During the war, un
der the impulses of patriotism, the men of
the great body of the people, without re
gard to their own comparitive want of
wealth, thronged to our armies and fillet!
our fleets of war, and held themselves ready
to offer their lires for the public good.—
Now, in their turn, the property and in
come of tbe country should bear their just
proportion of the burden of taxation, while
in our impost system, through means of
which increased vitality is incideotly im
parted to all the industrial interests of the
nation, the duties should be so adjusted as
to fall most beavily otTarticles of luxury,
leaving the necessaries of life as free from
taxation as the absolute wants of the gov
ernment, economically administered, will
justify. No favored class should demand
freedom from assessment, and the taxes
should be so distributed as not to fall un
duly on the poor, but lather on the accumu
lated wealth of the country. We should
look at the national debt just as it is—not
as a national blessing, but as a heavv bur
den on the industry of the country, to be
discharged without unnecessary delay.
It is estimated by the Secretary of the
Treasury that the expenditures for the fis
cal year ending the 30th of June, 1866,
will exceed the receipts $112,194, 947.
It is gratifying, however, to state that it is
also estimated that the revenue for the year
ending the 30ih of June, 1867, will ex
ceed the expenditures in the sum of slll,
682,818. This amount, or so much as
may be deemed sufficient for the purpose,
may be applied to the reduction of the
public debt which, on the 31st day of
October, 1865, was $2,740,854, 750.
Every reduction will diminish the total
amount of interest to be paid, and so en
large the means ot still further reductions,
until the whole shall be liquidated, and
this, as will be seen from the estimates of
the Secretary of the Treasury, may be ac
complished by annual payments even with
in a period not exceeding thirty years. I
have faith that we shall do all this within
a reasonable time; that, as we have amaz
ed the world by the suppressiori of a civil
war which was thought to be beyond the
control of any government, so we shall
equally show the superiority of our insti
tutions by the prompt and faithful dis
charge ofotlr national obligations.
Our domestic contest, now happily end
ed, lias left Sione traces in our relations
with one at least of the great maritime
Powers. The formal accordance of bel lig
erent rights to the insurgent States was
unprecedented, and has not been justified
by the issue, liut in the systems of neu
trality pursued by the powers that made
that concession, there was a marked differ
ence. The materials of war for the insur
gent States were furnished, in a great
measure, from the workshops of Great
Britain ; and Britis-h ships, manned by
British subjects, and prepared for receiving
British armaments, sailed from the ports of
Great Britain to make war on American
(jßinmerce. under the shelter of a commis
sion from the insurgent States. These ships
having once escaped from British ports, ev
er afterward entered them in every part
of the world to refit, and so to renew their
depredations. The consequences of this
conduct were disastrous to the States then
in rebellion, increasing their desolation and
misery by the prolongation of our civil con
test. It had,moreover,the effect, tb a great
extent to drive the American flag from the
sea, and to transfer much of onr shipping
and oar commerce to the very Power wheat