US Presidency
1856

There was a subsequent increase of $ 2,750,000 for the debt of Texas, making a total of $ 71,879,937. Of this the sum of $ 45,525,319, including premium, has been discharged, reducing the debt to $ 30,963,909, all which might be paid within a year without embarrassing the public service, but being not yet due and only redeemable at the option of the holder, can not be pressed to payment by the Government. On examining the expenditures of the last five years it will be seen that the average, deducting payments on account of the public debt and $ 10,000,000 paid by treaty to Mexico, has been but about $ 48,000,000. It is believed that under an economical administration of the Government the average expenditure for the ensuing five years will not exceed that sum, unless extraordinary occasion for its increase should occur. The acts granting bounty lands will soon have been executed, while the extension of our frontier settlements will cause a continued demand for lands and augmented receipts, probably, from that source.