nce to take
part.

This invitation was communicated to this Government in May, 1876,
by the minister of France at this capital, and a copy thereof was
submitted to the proper committees of Congress at its last session,
but no action was taken upon the subject.

The Department of State has received many letters from various parts
of the country expressing a desire to participate in the exhibition,
and numerous applications of a similar nature have also been made at
the United States legation at Paris.

The Department of State has also received official advice of the
strong desire on the part of the French Government that the United
States should participate in this enterprise, and space has hitherto
been and still is reserved in the exhibition buildings for the use of
exhibitors from the United States, to the exclusion of other parties
who have been applicants therefor.

In order that our industries may be properly represented at the
exhibition, an appropriation will be needed for the payment of
salaries and expenses of commissioners, for the transportation of
goods, and for other purposes in connection with the object in view;
and as May next is the time fixed for the opening of the exhibition,
if our citizens are to share the advantages of this international
competition for the trade of other nations the necessity of immediate
action is apparent.

To enable the United States to cooperate in the international
exhibition which was held at Vienna in 1873, Congress then passed a
joint resolution making an appropriation of $200,000 and authorizing
the President to appoint a certain number of practical artisans and
scientific men who should attend the exhibition and report their
proceedings and observations to him. Provision was also made for the
appointment of a number of honorary commissioners.

I have felt that prompt action by Congress in accepting the invitation
of the Government of France is of so much interest to the people of
this country and so suitable to the cordial relations between the
Governments of the two countries that the subject might properly be
presented for attention at your present session.

The Government of Sweden and Norway has addressed an official
invitation to this Government to take part in the International Prison
Congress to be held at Stockholm next year. The problem which the
congress proposes to study--how to diminish crime--is one in which
all civilized nations have an interest i