The Yazoo City Whig and political register. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 183?-1840, 1840-01-24

For various details in respect to the mat
tiers in charge Of these departments, / would
refer you to those important documents, sat-
isfied that you will find in them many valua-
| bic suggestions, which will be found deser-
wing the attention of the Legislature.
The excess Of liabilities over the revenue
for the last two years has been met out of the
surplus which had previously accumulated.
The cash on hand on the 18th ult, was about
$206,701 95, and the current income of the
Departments varies very little from the rate
of current expenditures. Most of the ser
vice suspended last year has been restored
and most of the new routes established by the
act of 9TH July, 1888, have been setinto OPP
Grafton at an annual cost Of SI36 ,O Not
wlthstanding the pecuniary difficulties of
the country, the revenue oft Department
appears to be increasing; and unless it shall
be seriously checked by the recent suspension
of specie payments by so many of the banks,
it will be able not only to maintain the pres
ent mail service, but in ashort time 10 extend
it. 1t is gratifying to witness the prompt
tuGe and fidelity with which the agents of
this department in general perform their du-
ties.
From report made in December of last
year by the Secretary of State to the Senate,
showing the trial docket Of each of the Cir
cult Courts, and the number of miles each
Judge has TO travel in the performance of his
duties, great inequality appears in the a.
mount Of labor assigned to each Judge. The
number ofterms to be held in each of the
courts composing the ninth circuit, the dis
tances between the places at which they sit,
and from thence to the seat of Government,
are represented to be such as to render it i'm
possible for the judge of that circuit TO per-
form, in manner corresponding with the
public exigencies, his term and circuit duties.
A revision, therefore, of the present arrange
ment of the circuits. seems TO be called for,
and is recommended to your notice.
think it proper to call your attention to
the power assumed by Territorial legislatures
to authorize the issue of bonds by corporate
companies, on the guaranty of the territory
Congress passed law in 1896, providing
that no act of the Territorial Legislature in
cooperating banks, should have the force of
law until approved by Congress, but acts Of
a very exceptionable character previously
passed by the Legislature of Florida, were
suffered to remain in force by virtue of which
bonds may be issued to a very large amount
by those institutions upon the faith of the
Territory. A resolution intending to be
joint one, passed the Senate at the same ses-
sion, expressing the sense of Congress that
the laws in question ought not to be permit
ted to remain in force unless amended in
many material respects, but it failed in the
House Of Representatives for want of time,
and the desired amendments have not been
made. The int ests involved are Of great
importance, and the subject deserves your
early attention.
Hha oF &bo
relative to the best mode of keeping and dis
bursting the public revenue still iniuriously
affects the business of the country. The
of specie payments in 1887 rem
dered the use OF deposte banks, as prescrib-
ed by the act of 1886, source rather of en-
barrassment than aid, and of necessity placed
the custody of most of the public money af-
forwards collected in charge of the public
officers. The new securities for its safety,
which this required, were principal cause
of my converting an extra session of Con-
gress, but in consequence of disagreement
between the two houses, neither then or at
any subsequent period, has there been any
legislation on the subject. The effort made
at the last session to obtain the authority of
congress to punish the use of public money
for private purposes as a crime, measure
attended under other governments with sig
nal advantage, was also unsuccessful, from
diversities of opinion that body, notwith-
standing the anxiety doubtless felt by it to
afford every practicable security. The re-
suit of this is still to leave the custody of the
public money without those safeguards
which have been for several years earnestly
desired by the Executive, and as the RENE
DIV is only to be found in the action of the
legislature, it imposes on me the duty of
again submitting to you the policy of pass
ing law providing for the safe-keeping of
the public moneys, and especially to ask that
it's use for private purposes by any officers
intrusted with it, may be declared to be felo-
ny, punishable with penalties proportionable
to the magnitude of the offence.
These circumstances, and hitherto known
defects in the existing laws, and partial de-
rangement in the general operations of laws,
have, during the last three years, much in
creased the difficulties attendant on the col
lection, keeping and disbursement of the re-
venue, and called forth corresponding exer-
tons from those having them in charge
Happily these have been successful beyond
Vast sums have been collect
ed and disbursed by the several departments
with unexpected cheapness and ease; trans
fers have been readily made to every part of
The Union, however distant, and detalcatlonS
have been far less than might have been an
ticipated, from the absence of adequate legal
restraints. Since the officers of the Treasu-
" and Post Office Departments we've charg-
ed with the entire custody. of most of the
public moniesreceived bythem, there have
been collected sixty-six millions of dollars,
and, excluding the case ofthe late collector
At New York, the aggregate amount oflosses
sustained in the collection cannot, it is be-
ieved, exceed sixty thousand dollars. The
iefalcation of the late collector at that city,
Of the extent and circumstances of which
HAS been fully informed, ran through
all the modes Of keeping the public money
hat have been hitherto in use, and was dis
by an aggravated disregard Of du
", that broke through the restraints Of every
system, and cannot, therefore, be usefully
referred to asa test of the comparative safe
Of either.