To the House of Representatives: 

I have the honor to transmit herewith reports from the Secretaries of the War Department and Department of the Interior, to whom were referred the resolutions of the House of Representatives of the 7th of January last, requesting “copies of all the correspondence between the different Departments of the Government and the peace commissioners during the war with the Modoc Indians in southern Oregon and northern California during the years 1872 and 1873; also copies of all the correspondence with and orders issued to the military authorities engaged in said war up to the period of the removal of said Modoc Indians from the States of Oregon and California.”

U.S.  GRANT.

WASHINGTON, February 17, 1874.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State and accompanying papers.[78]

U.S.  GRANT.

[Footnote 78:  Report of John M. Thacher, United States delegate to the International Patent Congress held at Vienna in August, 1873, and exhibits.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 19, 1874.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I have the honor to transmit herewith a memorial upon the “cultivation of timber and the preservation of forests,” and a draft of a joint resolution prepared by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, together with a communication from the Commissioner of the General Land Office upon the same subject.

U.S.  GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, February 25, 1874.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I have the honor herewith to submit the report of the Centennial
Commissioners, and to add a word in the way of recommendation.

There have now been international expositions held by three of the great powers of Europe.  It seems fitting that the one hundredth anniversary of our independence should be marked by an event that will display to the world the growth and progress of a nation devoted to freedom and to the pursuit of fame, fortune, and honors by the lowest citizen as well as the highest.  A failure in this enterprise would be deplorable.  Success can be assured by arousing public opinion to the importance of the occasion.

To secure this end, in my judgment, Congressional legislation is necessary to make the exposition both national and international.

The benefits to be derived from a successful international exposition are manifold.  It will necessarily be accompanied by expenses beyond the receipts from the exposition itself, but they will be compensated for many fold by the commingling of people from all sections of our own country; by bringing together the people of different nationalities; by bringing into juxtaposition, for ready examination, our own and foreign skill and progress in manufactures, agriculture, art, science, and civilization.