The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1875-12-18
DrrARTMrsT REPORTS,
ssssrfpaayfa0 IN rgsslasnt's Message.

The following is an abstract n th'
more important reports ~ The heads ID
departments, which accompanied the
message ~ the President. and which
have not heretofore been Published
aFrDRr ~ rms sGcHErAnr on uf fREAsraf.
The net ~. snaea Tor 30 aseal year wege fiA4
IN % ~, agd he ordinary expenses ssit en,
l NI 80. leaving "a H1rpiuH revenue, exclusive ~
The sinking fund - 81 go ,Njs ~. The receipts
expenditureaf eli hclow estimates about s71 900.
me estimate ~ revenues for TIE ensuing year
based 90 the figures ~ the first quarter, "a tf7,
~ ,if5sIf, and u exp nsest j. tlGt.fL 30 ?,
I giving a surplus 81 tD, y1s ,G0i ~. insufficient by
sd, y .n1 10 provide fgr the sinking fund. The
reduction Df the public debt has been 80 800,
1li.st, being : ,02l ,siG.5s more than the sur
! plus of revenues. The Secretary declares that be
regards the requirement Of law directing the
maintenance of the sinking fund ~ second only
IN Importance to the payment Of intefpst on the
public debt, and that he viii act so. Tie .ecre-
tnry Is able to annouce that 800, O0o, COO o. . per
cents have been funded into 8 per cents. He be-
lieves the remainder can be refunded 'in accord.
ance with the provisions Of the acts Of 1870 and
1875" But he recommends that further legisla-
ton be had extending the time for the redemp
ton Of the ~ per cents from ID 10 30 years from
the dafe OF their issue. On the subject Of the re-
sumption Of specie payments The secretary con
sumes much space. In order to insure resump-
ton by the day fixed by law-Jan. I, 1879, he
recommends the abolition OF the legal. tender
feature OF the greenbacks as 10 contracts entered
into after the first day of January, 1871. Mean
time he also recommends that authority be given
him to fund the legal-tender notes with long time
bonds for small sums-as low as f50-bearing a
low rate of interest, say 4 per cent, and that
these bonds be made available to national
banks as security for their circulation.
lie suggests that this authority might
be limited to 81, 0O0, 900 per month
The Seer, tary regrets that he has been compel
led 10 make sales of gold, but necessity has en-
forced him to the measure as a means of meet
ing the current expenses of Government. The
number of National banks organized up to the LIST
inst. is 2, i0,, of which 2 ,0S7 were doing business
Oct. l.. Reports of the last named date show
their capital to have been $504 500, I6l; circula-
ton, S3ls, 0,379; deposits, 1854 $40, SO loans,
: 1880, 20 ,93l; specie, including coin certificates,
So, $50 ,39. Under the free banking clause of
the act of Jan. IA, ISIS, $40, $50 ,675 of national
bank notes have been issued and IS, 763, 1856 of
2 1874, which provides for the retirement of ma
tional bank circulation, and the surrender of
bonds deposited as security by the sub
stitution of legal tender notes, s3I, 5I6, 10
of such legal tender notes have been deposited.
this sum $l7 ,33T ,537 has been paid out in re-
emption of national bank notes, and 800, 1885,
642 remain in the Treasury. On account of the
silver resumption scheme s,243, 6l2 ounces of
silver bullion have been purchased, at an aver
age price of Ill A. 10 cents per standard ounce,
and 1t has been coined to the amount of $40, 000,-
O09. But the Secretary declines to use it. He
For obvious reasons it has been, and
yet is, lmpraoticable to put or keep silver in cir
The receipts from customs for the
years ending June 20, 1874, and 1878, are
showing a falling of in the latter
year of 50, 9S6, Ill .3t. The views of the Secre-
tary in support of a tariff for revenue as
in his report of last year are reiterated.
lie refers to two evils in the collection of customs
duties, namely, smuggling and naturalization
The restoration of the duty on tea and coffee is
recommended. During the fiscal year 1873 the
cost of collecting the customs revenue has been
more than half a million dollarsb by drop
ping employees and reducing the salaries of
others. Fines and penalties are among the things
that We're, only $2S, 52l 70 having been collected
for the first quarter of the current fiscal year, on
the basis of which the falling of for the year, as
compared with 1873, will be 500 900. This loss
has been met bya further reduction of expenses to
the amount of more than q million dollars per an
But the Secretary doubts if the reduction
be maintained without injury TO the service.
The Internal Revenue exhibit is more gratifying
than that of customs. The total receipts for the
fiscal year 1874 were 8I02 ,64i 746. 90, while those
Tor the last year aggregated $1l0, 5i5, l5i. %, an
of 3 so ,497. 25. There was also an in
crease of So 49,, 704. 20 for the months Of October
and November of this year as compared with the
corresponding months of ls74. The subject of
frauds by the Whisky Ring and their prosecu-
is discussed at length. Reasons are given
ior the refusal to compromise any cases of fraud,
md it is declared that persistent and systematic
.rauds will be visited with the severest penalties
If the law,