Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1876-12-14
DECEMBER Il, 1876. !.

Ill, IT:fi'lini % Sfas[E!so fC'}EfH2sf itfz, =
1876. ......'.,, e ,.ss :,
and 1876. This increase is asked in order to
provide for the increased cavalry force, should
their services be necessary to prosecute work
upon important buildings; to provide for the
armament of Notifications and manufacture
of small arms, and to replenishr the working
stock in the supply departments. The appro'
priations for these last named shave, for the
past few years, been so limited that the accu.
mutations in store will be entirely exhausted
during the present year, and it will be neces.
sary to at once begin to replenish them. !
invite your special attention is the following
Recommendations Of the Secretary Of War
/, First. That the claims under the actaof Ju-
ly 4, 1864, for supplies taken by the army
during the war, be removed from the Offices OF
the auartermaster and ,commissary generals
and transferred to the Southern Claims Com
mission. These claims are precisely similar
in nature to those now before the Southern
Claims Commission, and the war department
bureau have not the clerical force for their
examination nor the proper machinery for
investigating the loyalty Of the claimants.
Second. That Congress sanction the scheme
of an annuity fund for the benefit of the fam
lilies Of deceased officers, and that it also pro.
vide for the permanent organization OF the
signal service, both Of which were recon-
mended in my last annual message.
Third. That the manufacturing operations
of the ordnance department be concentrated
at three arsenals and an armory, and that the
remaining arsenals be sold and the price ap'
piled to this object by the ordnance depart
sment. 3,,!Si
RIVER AND HARBoR IMPROVEMENTS.
The appropriations for river and harbor
improvements for the current year were So
O15,O00. With my approval, the secretary of
war directed that Of this amount $2,0O0,O0O
should be expended and no more work should
be begun and none prosecuted which were not
of national importance. Subsequently this
amount was increased to $2,237 800, and the
works are now progressing on this basis. The
improvement of the South Pass of the Mis-
sissippi river, under James B. Eads and his
associates, is progressing favorably. At the
present time there is a channel Of twenty and
three tenths feetin depth between the jetties
at the mouth of the pass, and eighteen and
one half feet at the head of the pass. Meth
er channel, however, has the width required
before payments can be made by the United
States. A commission of engineer officers is
now. examining these works, and their reports
will be presented as soon as received. tt9s
THE NAVY. j..:2E dG14y1
The department of the secretary Of the
navy shows that branch of the service to be
in condition as effective as is possible to keep
it with the means and authority given the
department. 1t is, of course, not possible to
rival the costly and progressive establishments
of the great European powers with the old
material of our navy to which no increase has
been authorized since the war, except the
eight small cruisers built to supply the place
Of others which had gone to decay. Yet the
most has been done that was possible With the
means at command, and by substantially re
building some of our old ships with durable
material, and completely repairing and re6t-
ting our monitor fleet, the navy has been
gradually so brought up that though it does
not maintain its relative position among the
progressive navies Of the world, it. is now in
q condition more powerful and effective than
it has ever been in timeiof peace The com.
plete repairs of our FIVE heavy iron-clads are
only delayed on account of the inadequacy Of
the appropriation made last year for the
working bureaus of the departments, which
were actually less in amount than those made
before the war, notwithstanding the greatly
enhanced price of labor and materials and
the increase in the cost of the naval service
growing out of the universal use and great
expense of steam machinery. The money
necessary for these repairs should be provided
at once, that they may be completed without
further unnecessary delay and expense. When
this is done, all the strength that there is in
our navy will be developed and useful to it's
full capacity, aud it will be powerful for pur.
poses Of defence, and also for offensive action,
should the necessity for that arise, within q
reasonable distance from our shores. The fact
that our navy is not more modern and power
ful than it is has been made cause of COM
plant against the secretary of the navy by
persons who at the same time criticise and
complain of his epdeavors to bring the navy
that we have to its best and most efficient con-
dition. But the good sense Of the country
will understand that it is really due to his
practical action that we have at this time
any effective naval force at command.
-.3 THE PosToFFIcE. ''5'!'s'.
The report Of the postmaster-general shows
the excess of expenditures, excluding expen.
ditures on account of previous years, over re-
ceipts for the fiscal year ended June Sd, 1875,
to be $4,151 1886. The estimated expendi-
lures for the fiscal year ending June 80, 1875,
are $36, ,723, ,432.43; estimated revenue for the
same period $30,645, ,165, leaving an estimated
excess Of expenditures to be appropriated as
deficiency Of $6,O78, ,267.4S. The postmaster
general, like his predecessor, is convinced that
q change in the basis of adjusting the salaries
of postmasters of the fourth class is necessary
for the good of the service as well as for the
interests of government, and urgently recon-
mends that the compensation of the class of
postmasters above mentioned be based upon
the business of their respective Offices, as as
certained from the sworn returns to the audi
tor of stamps cancelled. A few postmasters
in the Southern States have expressed great
Of their personal safety on &C.
count of their connection with the postal ser.
vice, and have specially requested that their
reports of apprehended danger should not be
made public lest it should result in the loss Of
their lives; but no positive tesSimonyof inter
ference has been submitted except in the. case
of a mail messenger at Spartanburg, in South
Carolina, who reported that he had been vic.