The only serious question presented is as to that article of the agreement which limits the distribution of the funds to be paid by the United States under it to the Sac and Fox Indians now in the Indian Territory.  I very gravely doubt whether the remnant or band of this tribe now living in Iowa has any interest in these lands in the Indian Territory.  The reservation there was apparently given in consideration of improvements upon the lands of the tribe in Kansas.  The band now resident in Iowa upon lands purchased by their own means, as I am advised, left the Kansas reservation many years before the date of this treaty, and it would seem could have had no equitable interest in the improvements on the Kansas lands, which must have been the result of the labors of that portion of the tribe living upon them.  The right of the Iowa band to a participation in the proceeds of the sale of the Kansas reservation was explicitly reserved in the treaty; but it seems to me upon a somewhat hasty examination of the treaty that the reservation in the Indian Territory was intended only for the benefit of those who should go there to reside.  The Secretary of the Interior has expressed a somewhat different view of the effect of this treaty; but if the facts are, as I understand, that the Iowa band did not contribute to the improvements which were the consideration for the reservation and did not accept the invitation to settle upon the reservation lands in the Indian Territory, I do not well see how they have either an equitable or legal claim to participate in the proceeds of the sale of those lands.

The whole matter is submitted for the consideration of Congress.

BENJ.  HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, July 2, 1890.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, inclosing the recommendations of the International American Conference for the establishment of improved facilities for postal and cable communication between the United States and the several countries of Central and South America.

I can not too strongly urge upon Congress the necessity of giving this subject immediate and favorable consideration and of making adequate appropriations to carry the recommendations into effect; and in this connection I beg leave to call attention to what was said on the subject in my annual message.[9] The delegates of the seventeen neighboring Republics, which have so recently been assembled in Washington at the invitation of this Government, have expressed their wish and purpose to cooperate with the United States in the adoption of measures to improve the means of communication between the several Republics of America.  They recognize the necessity of frequent, regular, and rapid steamship service, both for the purpose of maintaining friendly intercourse and for the convenience of commerce, and realize that without such facilities it is useless to attempt to extend the trade between their ports and ours.