US Presidency
1852

Since this latter period further purchases of the principal of the public debt have been made to the extent of $ 2,456,547.49, and the surplus in the Treasury will continue to be applied to that object whenever the stock can be procured within the limits as to price authorized by law. The value of foreign merchandise imported during the last fiscal year was $ 207,240,101, and the value of domestic productions exported was $ 149,861,911, besides $ 17,204,026 of foreign merchandise exported, making the aggregate of the entire exports $ 167,065,937. Exclusive of the above, there was exported $ 42,507,285 in specie, and imported from foreign ports $ 5,262,643. In my first annual message to Congress I called your attention to what seemed to me some defects in the present tariff, and recommended such modifications as in my judgment were best adapted to remedy its evils and promote the prosperity of the country. Nothing has since occurred to change my views on this important question.