US Presidency
1868

The entries under the homestead law cover 2,328,923 acres, nearly one-fourth of which was taken under the act of June 21, 1866, which applies only to the States of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida. On the 30th of June, 1868, 169,643 names were borne on the pension rolls, and during the year ending on that day the total amount paid for pensions, including the expenses of disbursement, was $ 24,010,982, being $ 5,391,025 greater than that expended for like purposes during the preceding year. During the year ending the 30th of September last the expenses of the Patent Office exceeded the receipts by $ 171, and, including reissues and designs, 14,153 patents were issued. Treaties with various Indian tribes have been concluded, and will be submitted to the Senate for its constitutional action. I cordially sanction the stipulations which provide for reserving lands for the various tribes, where they may be encouraged to abandon their nomadic habits and engage in agricultural and industrial pursuits.