Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-12-10
100000
S320.4ls000
S3O9,G39,3l9 o!

Interest upon tile capital fine mixing ess .,
| fund, lSj6'j3 w
Totals, $500, 1919 o.
According to this estimate there will be
surplus applicable to the payment of the prin-
cipal of the public debt, in addition to the
payments made on that account through the
sinking fund of $40, 17T8, 6s0.39.
But the Secretary thinks there are grounds
to believe that the expenditures will be re-
luced considerably from the above, SO that
there will be about fifty millions to go to re-
luce the debt. Still he advises caution in
dealing with the revenue system. 1t has eX-
tended and established manufactures and can
1ot be abandoned without injury 10 business.
The war in Europe has prevented the re-
funding of the national debt On this account
nc recommends the issuing of three hundred
millions in bonds at five per cent to supply
The place of the four and fonr ard a half per
cents. authoriz d.
The Secretary believes that the practice OF
paying interest by banks, except to one
another is injurious. The national banks
are we'll managed. lie tavors an agency in
New York to redeem their issues, the expense
to be borne by the banks. The amount OF
gold and silver deposited at the Mint and Its
several branches during the yearwas SO, 406,-
1910. The coinage was S2hG36,0l and
the value of gold and silver bars stamped WAS
ss.74S,s52.9l. The proportion of Ameriean
vessels engaged in foreign trade has not in
creased relatively during the year, although
there has been an actual increase in the en-
tries OF American vessels at the ports OF the
United States, amounting in the aggregate to
about l3o, 600 tons. The total tonnage en-
gagged in the foreign trade, entered at all OF
the ports of the United States, has increased
| from ) .5S3 900 tons in 1869 TO 5,951 900 tons
in 1870 But the proportion. of American
tonnage remains as in 1869 at thrIysix per
| cent. The reports of the Light House Board
and Superintendent of Coast Survey are sat
isfactory. The appropriation for collecting
| the customs revenue is not sufficient. An ex-
animation has been made to see if the expense
can be curtailed any, but larger appropria-
ton for preserving the public buildings are
necessary and the mode of inaugurating new
works is not a good one. New buildings
should not be undertaken without thorough
preliminary examination and survey, and
then the appropriation should We sufficient to
meet the entire cost. The building of steam
revenue cutters authorized by Congress failed
the last year and renewal of the appropria-
ton for the purpose is recommended. 1t Is
also Recommended to cut down the number
of old We, sells in the revenue service con-
siderably and thus reduce the expense largely.
The board to examine officers of the revenue
has been going on with its work. The con-
dtion of the Marine Hospitals has been i'm
proved. The appointment of Superlnten-
dent is desirable. The exclusive right to the
seal fisheries for twenty years was awarded to
the Alaska Commercial Company, who have
paid one dollar apiece on $4,000 seals, at San
Francisco, as the product Of 1869. Attention
is called to the inadequacy and inequality OF
the salaries of officers in the Treasury De
partment All clerks in the Treasury Depart
ment have to pass an examination before being
received. The Secretary thinks there should
be an examining board established, and the
system extended to all the principal custom
houses and revenue offices in the country,
but he does not accept the idea that the tenure
of Office for the clerks and employees in this
department should be changed. He believes
..that the present tenure of Office furnishes
the best security the people OF the country
can have that the business of the government
will be efficiently and properly performed.
| Of ha Dpnal does
not differ essentially from the business done
in banking houses and merchants counting
rooms, and there is TO reason why the tenure
of office should be permanent in one case that
does not apply with equal force to the others.
1t does happen, practically, that there are in
the Treasury Department, and in every bu-
reau and Office of it, menwho have been con-
nected with the service for several years, and
who possess all the knowledge, derived from
experience and tradition, that is essential to
the performance of their duties"
The number of clerks and officers in the
department at Washington is 2l43, of whom
1880 were there in March 1869, showing that
the total number of appointments under the
new administration has been but Gj4 There
are 81 in the department who were there in
1861. The report says:
"These statements show that the changes
in the department are not so numerous as to
deprive the service of the knowledge derived
from experience. On the other hand, the IN
PRODUCTION of new men secures additional
energy and efficiency Two errors prevail in
this community in connection with the subject.
One is that under a republican government
every man has right to an office. This is in
no sense true. The only right is that of the
people to elect and have appointed to office
persons best qualified to perform the work.
J The other erroris, that Offices in the Treas
ury Department are prizes which the Young
men of the country may wisely seek. Speak
ing generally it is misfortune to n young
man, who possesses even ordinary capacity
for business or labor, to remain permanently
, in the public offices of this city 1t is, how
ever, true that many of the most valuable
clerks in the Treasury are young men who
are pursuing professional studies, or who,
! 1 thA