Morning journal and courier., 1880-12-07

For premium on bonds purchased-.---- 2,795,32o Az
 Total ordinary expenditures. ... 2e7. .642, ,957 7s
 Leaving surplus revenue of ...-s 65, ,883. .653 20
 Which, with amount drawn from
 the cash balance in Treasury Off,. 6,O04, ,434 21 Making. 7s,96s, LOST fl
 Was applied to the redemption
 Of bonds for sinking fund s73.65 300 %
 Of fractional currency 251,7 717 Al
 Of the loan of 1S5S.. S.....-....-.....-.. 10000 %
 Of temporary loan. an.....--............ 100 % Oi bounty land scrip 25 OO Of compound interest notes. ......... 16,50O co Of 7.30 notes of 1864-'5.. 2650 % Of one and two year notes.. 3,TOO OO Of old demand notes. 495 % 73,96sos7 Al The amount due the sinking fund for this year was S37, ,931, ,643. 55. There was applied thereto the sum of $73, 904, ,617.41, being
 S35, ,972, ,973. .96 in excess of the annual re- quirements for this year.
 The aggregate of the revenues from all sources during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1880, was $333, ,526, ,61O.98, an increase over the preceding year of $59, ,699, ,426. 52. The receipts thus far of the current year, amount to $35O, COG, 1000 which will be sufficient to ! meet the estimated expenditures of the year, and leave 8 surplus of $90, 0,00O,000.
 It is fortunate that this large surplus rev enue occurs at period when it may be di rectly applied to the payment of the public debt soon to be redeemable. No public duty has been more constantly cherished in the United States than the policy of paying the nations debt as rapidly as possible.
 The debt of the United States less cash in the Treasury and exclusive of accruing inter- | est, attained it's maximum of S2, 756, ,431 ; 571. 43 in August, 1865, and has since that l time been reduced to 5 1886, 019, 504. 65. Of the principal of the debt, $1O9, 758, 100 has been paid since March l, 1877, efecting an annual saving of interest of $6, ,1O7, 593. The burden of interest has also been diminished 41,a ofh hondc IoIx5r Ia of iT1. | terest, and the application of the proceeds to | the redemption of bonds bearing a higher | rate. The annual saving thus secured since March l, 1877, is $14, 290, ,453. 50.
 Within short period over six hundred millions of five and six per cent. bonds will become redeemable. This pres ents very | favorable opportunity not only to further re- 1 duce the principal of the debt, but also to re | duce the rate of interest on that which vii | remain unpaid. I call the attention of Con gress to the views expressed on this subject by l the Secretary of the Treasury in his annual re l port, and recommend prompt legislation, to | enable the Treasury department to complete ! the refunding of the debt which is about tc l mature.
 The continuance of specie payments has ] not been interrupted or endangered since the | date of resumption. It has contributed 1 greatly to the revival of business and to oul remarkable prosperity. The fears that pre- cSSOAAk'eNAAAS AOSNA]AA l proved groundless. No considerable amount of United States notes have been presented for redemption, while very l large sums of gold bullion, both domes | tic and imported, are taken to the hints and exchanged for coin or notes. The incr ease ! of coin and bullion in the United States since 1 January l, 1879, is estimated at $227, ,399,- l 42S.
 There are still in existence, uncancelled, $346, 6S1 ,O16 of United States legal tender notes. These notes were authorized as war | measure, made necessary by the exigencies of | the conflict in which the United States was then engaged. The preservation of the na- tion's existence required, in the judgment of Congress, an issue of legal tender paper l money. That it served well the purpose for which it was created is not question d, but the employment of the notes as taper money indefinitely after the accomplishment of the object for which they were provided, was not contemplated by the framers of the law un-
 der which they were issued. These notes long since became like any other pecuniary obligation of the government-a debt to be paid, and, when paid, to be cancelled as mere evidence of an indebtedness no longer exist ing. I therefore repeat what was said in the annual message of last year, that the retire ment from circulation of United States notes, with the capacity of legal tender in private
 contracts, is step to be taken in our prog
 ress toward safe and stable currency, which
 should be accepted as the policy and duty of
 the government and the interest and security
 of the people.
 At the time of the passage of the act now
 in force requiring the coinage of silver dol
 lars, fixing their value and giving them legal
 tender character, 1t was believed by many of
 the supporters of the measure that the silver dollar which it authorized, would speedily
 become, under the operations of the law, of equivalent value to the gold dollar. There
 
 they doubted as to the probability of this re- suit, nevertheless were willing to give to the proposed experiment. fair trial, with view to stop the coinage, if experience should prove that the silver dollar authorized by the bill continued to be of less commercial value than the standard gold dollar.
 The coinage of silver dollars, under the act referred to, began in March, 1878, and has been continued as required by the act. The average rate per month to the present time has been $2, ,276, 492. The total amount coined prior to the first of November last was $72, ,847, 75O. Of this amount $47 ,084, 45O re- main in the Treasury, and only $25. 763, 291 are in the hands of the people. A constant effort has been made to keep this currency in circulation, and considerable expense has been necessarily incurred for this purpose, but its return to the Treasury is prompt and sure. Contrary to the confident anticipation of the friends of the measure at the time of it's adoption, the value of the silver dollar, containing 412i grains of silver, has not in creased. During the year prior to the pass age of the bill authorizing it's coinage, the market value of the silver which it contained was from ninety to ninety-two cents, as com pared with the standard gold dollar. During the last year the average market value of the silver dollar has been eighty eight and half cents
 It is obvious that the legislation of the last Congress in regard to silver, so far as it was based on an anticipated rise in the value of silver as result of that legislation, has failed to produce the effect then predicted. The longer the law remains in force, requiring as it does the coinage of 8 nominal dollar, which, in reality is not dollar, the greater becomes the danger that this country will be forced to accept 8 single metal as the sole legal stand ard of value, in circulation, and this is 8 standard of less value than it purports to be worth in the recognized money of the world.
 The Constitution of the United States, sound financial principles, and our best in- terests, all require that the country should have it's ilegal-tender money, both gold and silver coin, of an intrinsic value, as bull lion, equivalent to that which, upon its face, it purports to possess. The Constitution, in express terms, recognizes both gold and siI- yer as the only true legal tender money. To banish either of these metals from our cur rency is to narrow and limit the circulating medium of exchange to the disparagement of important interests. The United States pro- duces more silver than any other country, and is directly interested in maintaining it as one of the two precious metals which furnish the coinage of the world. It will, in my judg- ment, contribute, to this result if Congress will repeal so much of existing legislation as requires the coinage of silver dollars contain ing only 4124 grains of silver, and in its stead will authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to coin silver dollars of equivalent value, as brllion with pold dollars This will deffaud no man and will be in accordance with fa- miliar precedents. Congress, on several oc- casions, has altered the ratio of value between gold and silver, in order to establish it more