ould not be made.

The drift of sentiment in civilized communities toward full recognition
of the rights of property in the creations of the human intellect has
brought about the adoption by many important nations of an international
copyright convention, which was signed at Berne on the 18th of
September, 1885.

Inasmuch as the Constitution gives to the Congress the power "to promote
the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to
authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings
and discoveries," this Government did not feel warranted in becoming a
signatory pending the action of Congress upon measures of international
copyright now before it; but the right of adhesion to the Berne
convention hereafter has been reserved. I trust the subject will receive
at your hands the attention it deserves, and that the just claims of
authors, so urgently pressed, will be duly heeded.

Representations continue to be made to me of the injurious effect upon
American artists studying abroad and having free access to the art
collections of foreign countries of maintaining a discriminating duty
against the introduction of the works of their brother artists of other
countries, and I am induced to repeat my recommendation for the
abolition of that tax.

Pursuant to a provision of the diplomatic and consular appropriation act
approved July 1, 1886, the estimates submitted by the Secretary of State
for the maintenance of the consular service have been recast on the
basis of salaries for all officers to whom such allowance is deemed
advisable. Advantage has been taken of this to redistribute the salaries
of the offices now appropriated for, in accordance with the work
performed, the importance of the representative duties of the incumbent,
and the cost of living at each post. The last consideration has been too
often lost sight of in the allowances heretofore made. The compensation
which may suffice for the decent maintenance of a worthy and capable
officer in a position of onerous and representative trust at a post
readily accessible, and where the necessaries of life are abundant and
cheap, may prove an inadequate pittance in distant lands, where the
better part of a year's pay is consumed in reaching the post of duty,
and where the comforts of ordinary civilized existence can only be
obtained with difficulty and at exorbitant cost. I trust that in
considering the submitted schedules no mis