Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-06-19
A Message ffen tn President The
Condition OF the Treasury.

/ The President, Saturday, sent into Con
gress a message on the condition Of the ma
tional finances. After speaking ofthe in
suficiency Of the appropriations heretofore
asked by the Secretary Of the Treasury, he
says:
"Adversity teaches useful lessons to ma
tons as well as individuals. The habit Of
extravagant expenditures, fostered by O
large surplus in the Treasury, must now be
! corrected, or the country will be involved
Tin serious financial difficulties. Under
any form Of Government, extravaganza in
expenditure must be the natural conse-
quence, when those who authorize the cx-
penditures feel no responsibility in provi-
ding the means Of payment. Such had
been for number Of years our condition,
previously to the monetary revulsion in the
country. Fortunately, at least for the
cause ofpublic economy the case is rover
sed !; and to the extent Of the appropriations,
whatever these may be, engrafted on the
different appropriation bills, as we'll as those
made by private bills, and above the esti-
mates Of the different Departments, it will
be necessary for Congress to provide the
means Of payment before their adjournment
Without this the treasury will be exhaus-
ted before the LIST of January, and the pub
lie credit will be seriously impaired This
disgrace must fall upon the country.
cit is impossible fsr me, however, now
to ascertain this amount nor does there at
present seem to be the least probability that
this can be done, aad the necessary means
provided by Congress to meet any defcicn-
cy which may exist in the treasury, before
Monday next at II o'clock, the hour fixed
for the adjournment, it being now Satur-
day morning at half-past eleven O'clock 80
To accomplish this object, the appropri;l-
ton bills, as they shall have finally passed
by Congress, must be before me, and time
must be allowed to ascertain the amount of
the money appropriated, and to eneble Con
gress to provide tire Necessary means At
this writing, it is understood that several
Of these bills are yet before the committee Of
conference, and the amendments to some of
them have not even been printed Fore
seeing that such state Of things might cx-
list at the close Of the session. I stated in
the annual message to Congress
fIIere follows quotation from the annu-
al message, in which the President declar-
ed his determination to approve no bill
which he had not examined
'tThe present condition 9th Treasury
absolutely requires that | should adhere to
this resolution on the present occasion, for
the reasons which / have heretofore
presented.
''In former times, it was believed to be
the true character Of an appropriation bill
simply to carry into effect existing laws,
and the established policy of the country :
A practice has, however, grown up Of late
years to engraft on such bills at the last
hours Of the session large appropriations
for new and important objects not provided
for by pre-existing laws, and when no time
is left to the Executive for their cxamina-
ton and investigation. No alternative is
thus left to the President but either to ap-
prove measures without examination, Or,
by vetoing an appropriation bill, seriously
to embarrass the operation of the Govern
ment. This practice could never have pre-
vailed without surplus in the Trea sury
sufficiently large to cover an indefinite a.
mount Of appropriations. Necessity now
compels us to arrest it, at least SO far as to
afford time to ascertain the amount appro-
priated, and to provide the means Of pay
ment.
"For all these reasons, recommend to
Congress to postpone the day Of adjourn
ment for brief period. Ipromise that not
an hour shall be lost in ascertaining the
amount Of appropriations made by them for
which it will be necessary to provide.
know it will be inconverfaazt for the mem-
bers to attend called session, and this,
above all things, desire TO avoid.
JAMES BUCHANAN"