The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1856-01-08

six dollars; the receipts fer the first quar-
ter, and the estimated receipts for the re-
manning three quarters, amount, together,
| to sixty-seven million nine hundred and
eighteen thousand seven hundred and thirty
| four dollars thus affording in all, as the a
vailabIe resources of the current fiscal year,
| the sum of eighty-six million eight hundred
| and fifty-six thousand seven hundred and
ten dollars.
If to the actual expenditures of the first
quarter of the current fiscal year, be added
/ the probable expenditures for the remain
/ ing three quarters, as-estimated by the Sc
| cretary of the Treasury, the sum total Will
be seventy -one million two hundred and
| twenty-six thousand eight hundred and for
ty-six dollars, thereby leaving an estimated
| balance in the treasury on July l, 1856, of
fifteen million six hundred and twenty three
| thousand eight hundred and sixty three dol
| lars and forty-one cents.
| In the above estimated expenditures of
! the present fiscal year are included three
million dollars to meet the last instalment OF
| the ten millions provided for in the late
| treaty with Mexico and seven million seven
hundred and fifty thousand dollars appro-
priatedon account of the debt due to Tex
as; which two sums make an aggregate a
mount of ten million seven hundred and fifty
!
lures, actual or estimated, for ordinary OBJ
| ;acts of the year, to the sum of sixty million
! four hundred and seventy-six thousand dol
| lars. .>.
The amount of the public debt, at the
commencement of the present fiscal year,
was forty million five hundred and eighty
three thousand six hundred and thirty-one
! dollars, and, deduction being made of sub
sequent payments, the whole public debt of
the federal government remaining at this
time is less than forty million dollars.
The remnant of certain other government
! stocks, amounting to two hundred and forty
| three thousand dollars, referred to in my
| last message as outstanding, has since been
| paid.
I am fully pursuaded that it would be
difficult to devise "a system superior to that
| by which the fiscal business of the govern
ment is now conducted. Notwithstanding
the great number of public agents of collec-
ton and disbursement, it is believed that
the checks and guards provided, including
the requirement of monthly returns, render
it scarcely possible for any considerable
| fraud on the part of those agents, or neglect
| involving hazard of serious public loss, to
| escape detection. / renew, however, the
| recommendation, heretofore made by me, OF
the enactment of a law declaring it felony
on the part of public officers to insert false
| entries in their books of record or account,
| or to make false returns, and also requiring
| them, on the termination of their service, to
deliver to their successors all books, re-
cords, and other objects of public nature
| in their custody.
Derived as our public revenue is, in chief
| part, from duties on imports, its magnitude
affords gratifying evidence Of the prospect
| ity, not only of our commerce, but of the
! other great interests upon which that de-
ponds.
The principle that all moneys not requir-
ed for the current expenses of the govern
ment shall remain for active employment in
the hands of the people, and the conspicuous
! fact that the annual revenue from all sources
| exceeds, by many millions of dollars, the a
mount needed for prudent and economical
administration of public affairs, cannot fail
to suggest the propriety of an early revision
and reduction of the tariff of duties on i'm
| ports. 1t is now so generally conceded
| that the purpose of revenue alone can justl-
fy the imposition of duties on imports, that,
in rc-adiusting the impost tables and sched-
ules. which unque stiona ably require essential
notifications, departure from the princi-
pies of the present tariff is not anticipated.
The army during the past year has been
actively engaged in defending the Indian
frontier, the state of the service permitting
but few and small garrisons in our perma-
nent Notifications. The additional regi-
ments authorized at the last session of Con-
gross have been recruited and organized,
and large portion of the troops have al
ready been sent to the field. All the duties
which devolve on the military establishment
have been satisfactorily performed, and the
dangers and privations incident to the char
acter of the service required of our troops
have furnished additional evidence of their
courage, zeal, and capacity to meet any
acquisitions which their country may make
| upon them. For the details of the military
operations, the distribution of the troops,
and additional provisions required for the
military service, | refer to the report of the
| Secretary of War and the accompanying
documents.
| Experience gathered from events which
| have transpired since my last annual mes
sage has but served to confirm the opinion
then expressed, of the propriety of making
| provision, by a retired list, for disabled
officers and for increased compensation to
| the officers retained on the list for active
duty. All the reasons which existed when
| these measures were recommended on former
| occasions continued without modification,
| except so far as circumstances have given
/ to some of them additional force.
| The recommendations heretofore made foI
| a partial reorganization of the army are also
| renewed. The thorough elementary educa-
ton given to those officers who commence
their service with the grade of cadet, quail
fies them, to a considerable extent, to per-
form the duties Of every arm of the service
but to give the highest efficiency to artillery
requires the practice and special STUDY OF
| M | is therefore, q
| licved to be advisable to maintain, in time
of peace, larger force Of that arm than can
| be usually employed in the duties appcr-
tanning TO the service of field and siege ar
tillcry. The dutie; Of the staff in all it,
various branches belong to the movements
of troops, and the efficiency of an army in
the field would materially depend upon the
ability with which those duties are dis
charged. 1t is not, as in the case of the
artillery, speciality, but requires, also, an
intimate knowledge of the duties of an Off
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