The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1854-12-12

HudnCicS, anu various branches OF the
public service connected Herewith, will
refer you to the report of the Secretary Of
the Treasury, from which it will appear
that the amount of revenue during the
last official year, from all sources, IL @73,-
$40, ,705, and that the public expenditures
for the same period, exclusive of payments
on account Of the public debt, amounted
to $5i, ,482, 400. During the same period
the payments made on redemption of the
public debt, including interests and pre-
miums, amounted TO $24, 1865 To
the sum total of the receipts of that year.
is to be added balance remaining in tho
Treasury, at the commencement thereof,
amounting to $2l, 1879 of receipts
above expenditures, was also remaining
in the Treasury. ~. - i.
Although in the opinion of the Secfetds
ty of the Treasury, the receipts of the
current fiscal year, are not likely to- equal
in amount those of the last ~ at least
3 rs, ,000,0 shall continue to direct
the surplus revenues so far as it can be
judiciously and economically done, be ap-
piled to the redemption of the public
debt. The amount Of which at the COM
mencement of the last fiscal year was
$67, $40, ,628, of which there had been
paid on goth Nov. 1854. the sum Of $2g,-
255, ,l72, leaving balance of outstanding
public debt of only S34.975,4 456 rcdeema-
bic at different periods within IA years.
There are also remnants of othef Govern
ment Stocks, most of which are already
due, and on which interest has ceased,
but which have not yet been presented for
payment, amounting to 1888, 1863.
This statement exhibits the fact that
the annual income of the Government
greatly exceeds the amount of its public
debt, which latter remains unpaid, only
because the time of payment has not yet
matured, and it cannot be discharged at
once exceptat Inception ofpublic creditors,
who prefer to retain the securities of the
United States, and the other fact, not less
striking, that the annual revenue from all
sources exceeds by many millions of dol
lars the amount wanted for prudent and
economical administration Of The Govern
ment. The estimates, presented to Con-
gress from the different executive depart
ments at the last session, amounted TO
$l38, ,406,08, and the appropriations
made to the sum of S58, lis, ,958.
Of this excess appropriations over cs.
Inmates however, more than twenty mil
lions was applicable to extraordinary OBJ
jects, having no reference to the usua!
annual expenditures. Among those OBJ
jects was embraced ten millions to meet
the third article of the treaty between The
United States and Mexico ; so in fact OBJ
jects of ordinary expenses in the appro-
priations were limited to considerably less
than forty millions. / therefore renew
my recommendation for reduction Of
duties on imports. The report of the
Secretary of the Treasury, presents a Sc
ries of tables showing the operations of
the revenue system for several successive
years, and as the general principles of re-
duction of duties with view to revenue
and not protection, may now be regarded
as settled policy Of the country, I trust
that little difficulty will be encountered in
settling the details of measure to that
effect.
In connection with the subject, rec
ommend a change in the laws which re-
cent experience has shown to be essential
to the protection Of the Government
There is no express provision of law re-
quiring the records and papers of pub
lie character of the officers of the Cow
ernment to be left in their Offices for the
use of their successors, nor any provision
declaring it felony on their part to make
false entries in the books or return false
accounts. In the absence of such express
provision by law the retiring officers have
claimed and exercised the right to take in
to their own possession important books
and papers on the ground that these
were their private properly and have
them beyond the reach of the Govern
ment.
Conduct OF this character brought in
several cases to the notice of the present
Sec, of the Treasury, naturally awaken
ed his suspicion and resulted in the dis
closure that at four ports, namely Oswego,
Cleveland, Sandusky and Milwaukee, the
Treasury had, by false entries, been de-
frauded within the four years next pro-
ceeding March, 1859, Of the sum Of
10000 dollars. The great difficulty
with which the detection Of these frauds
has been attended, in consequence of the
abstraction of books and papers by the re-
firing officers and the facility with which
similar frauds in the public service may
be made hereafter render the necessity
of new legal enactments in the respects
above referred to, quite obvious.
For other material notifications Of the
revenue law which seems to me desirable,
| refer you to the Report Of the Secretary
of the Treasury. The Report and the ta-
bles which accompany it, furnish ample
evidence Of the solid foundation on which
the financial prosperity of the country
rests, and Of the salutary influence of the
Independent Treasury System upsn COM
merce and all monetery operations.
The experiences Of the last year furnish
additional reasons, ! regret to say, OF apaiD-
full character, for the recomme pdation here
tofore made to provide for increasing the mil
itary force employed in the territory inhabited
by the Indians. The settlers on the frontier
have suffered much from the incursions OF
predtory bands, and large parties of emf
grants to our Pacific possessions have been
massacred with impunity. The recurrence