Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-12-16

orlng ABOUT specie payment more speedily
than any legislation looking to the redemption
of legal tenders in coin, but if would be at tn,
expense of honor. The legal tenders would
have no value beyond settling present liabili
ties, or properly speaking, repudisting them
They would bring nothing after debts were all
settled. There are few measures which
seem to me important in this connecti.n, and
which | commend to your earnest considers
ton repeal Of 80 much of the legal-tendel
acts as makes these notes receivable for debts
contracted after q date to be fixed in the act
itself, say not later than the 1st of January,
B17. We should then have Crotation at real
values, not fictitious ones, Gold would nc
longer be at a premium but the currency al a
discount A healthy reaction would set in at
once, and with it desire to make the curren-
cy equal to what it purports to be- The mer-
chants, manufacturers and tradesmen of every
calling, could do business on fair margin of
pront, the money received having an unvary-
ing value Laborers and all classes who work
for stipulated pay or salary, would receive
more than their income, because extra profits
would no longer be charged by the capitalists
to compensate for the risk of a downward
fiuctuating in the value of the currency. Sec
ond, That the Secretary of the Treasury be
authorized to redeem, say not to exceed
2,0OO. 900 monthly of legal tender notes by
issuing in their stead long bonds, bearing in
terest at the rate of 3 25-100 per cent per an
mum, OF denominations ranging from fifty to
one thousand dollars each. This would in
time reduce the legal tender notes to volume
that could be kept afloat without demanding
redemption in large sums suddenly. Third,
That additional power be given to the Secre-
tary of the Treasury to accumulate gold for
the final redemption of the currency, increas-
ing the revenue, and eurtailing the expenses,
or both. 1t is preferable to do both, and |
recommend that a reduction of expenditures
be made wherever it can be done without i'm
pairing Government obligations or crippling
the due execution thereof. One measure for
increasing the revenue, and the only one, l
think, is of the restoration of the duty on tea
and coffee. These duties would add probably
SIS, ,00O, 600 TO the present amount received
for imports, and would in no way increase the
prices paid for those articles by the consumers
These articles are the products of countries
collecting revenue from exports. and as we,
the largest consumers, reduce the duties they
proportionally increase them. With this adj
dltion to the revenue, many duties now col
lected and which gave but an insignificant re-
turn for the cost of collection might be re-
mitted and to the direct advantage Of consum-
ers at home. | would mention those articles
which enter into manufacturers of all sorts, all
duty paid upon such articles go directly to the
cost OF the article, when manufactured here,
and must be paid for by consumers. These
duties not only come from the consumers at
home, but act as a protection to foreign man.
ufacturers of the same completed articles in
our own and distant markets. l will suggest,
or mention, another subject bearing upon the
problem of how to enable the Secretary of the
l'roo oafrru fn ofa ho1 IL 70
wise some better method of verifying claims
against the Government than at present exists,
through the Court of Claims, especially, those
claims growing out Of the late war, Nothing
is more certain than that a large percentage Of
the amounts passed and paid, are part or
wholly fraudulent, or are far in excess of the
real losses sustained. The large amount of
losses, proven on good testimony according to
the existing laws by affidavits Of fictitious or
INSCRIPTIONS persons, to have been sustained
on small farms and plantations, aro not only
far beyond the possible yield Of those places
for any one year, but as every one knows who
has experience, and who has visited the scenes
of these spoilations are in many instances
more than the individual claimants were ever
worth, including their personal and real estate
The report of the Attorney General, which
will be submitted to Congress at an early day,
and of claims pending Of the class here pre-
sented
REPORT OF TnE SECRETARY OF WAR.
The report of the Secsetary of War, accom-
panying this message, gives detailed account
Of the army operations for the year just pass
ed, expenses for maintenance, &C., with re-
for Legislation, to which l re-
spectfully invite your attention. To some of
I 70 a1 off tba
necessity of making $4,000 of the appropria-
ton for the subsistence department available
before the beginning of the next fiscal year.
Without this provision troops at points dis
tant from supply and production must either
20 without food, or existing laws must be vi
plated 1t is not attended with cost to the
lreasury. Second-his recommendation of
The enactment of a system of anHuities for
families of deceased officers by voluntary de-
auctions from the monthly pay of officers
This, again, is not attended with any burden
upon the Treasury, and would for the future
relieve much distress which every old army
officer has witnessed in the past, of officers
dying suddenly or being killed, leaving fami-
lies without even the means of reaching their
friends, if fortunate enough to have friends to
aid them. Third-The repeal of the law
mileage. Fourth-the trial with
for the same Should war ever
occur between the United States and any
maritime power, torpedOes will be among, if
not the most effective and cheapest auxiliary
for the defense of harbors, and also in sggres-
,ive operations that we can have. Hence il
is advisable to learn by experiment their best
and application as well as their
effect. Fifth-a permanent organization for
signal service corps This service hiss now
become necessity of peace as well as war,
under the advancement made by the present
able management. Sixth-a renewal of the
appropriation for compiling the records of the
war, etc.
The condition of our navy at this time is a
subject of satisfaction. 1t does not contain,
it is true, any of the powerful cruising IRON
clads which make SO much of the maritime
strength of some other nations, but neither
our centennial situation nor our foreign policy
requires that we should have large number
Of ships of this character, while the situation
apd the nature of our ports continue to make
those of other nations less dangerous to us un-
der any circumstances. Our navy does con-
tain, however, considerable number of iron
clads of the monitor class, which, though not
properly cruisers, are powerful and effective
for harbor defense, and for operations near our
own shores. OF these all the single turreted
ones, fifteen in number, have been substanti-
ally requilt, their rotten wooden beams re-
placed with iron, their hulls strengthened, and
their engines and machinery thoroughly re-
paired, 80 that they are now in a most effec-
tive condition, and ready for sea as soon as
they can be manned ana put in commission.
The five double turreted iron-clads belong
ing to our navy. by far the most powerful of
our ships for fighting purposes, are also in
hand, undergoing repairs, and could be ready
for sea in periods varying from four to six
months. With those contemplated according
to the present design, and our two iron torpe-
do boats now ready, our iron-clad fleet will be
for the purposes of defense at home equal to
any force that can be revdily brought against
it. OF our wooden navy, all Of the cruisers of
various sizes to the number of about forty,
those now in commission, are in the
Atlantic, and could be ready fer duty as fast