Year: 1865




be too anxious to read the future; many
incidents which, from speculative point
OF view, might raise alarm will quietly set
tie themselves. .


1t Is our first duty to prepare in earnest for re
coVery from the ever increasing evils of an ire.
deemable currency, without sudden revulsion
ana yet without untimely procrastination. For
that end we must each in our respective position
prepare the way. | hold it the duty of the Exc
cutlVe to insist upon frugality IN the expendi-
lures: and sparing economy is itself a great ma
tonal resource. Of the banks to which authority
has been given to issue notes secured by bonds Of
the U. 81, we may require the greatest moderation
and prudence, and the law must be rigdly en-.
forced when its limits are exceeded. We NAV
each one OF us, counsel our active and enterpris-
ing country-Inen to be constantly on their guard
to Ilquidatc debts contracted in paper currency
and by conducting business as nearly as possible
ON system of cash payment or short credits to
hold themselves prepared to return to the stand
ard of gold and silver To aid our fellow.ctizens
IN the prudent management of their monetary
affairs, the duty devolves on us to diminish by
far the amount of paper money now in circula-
ton. Five years ago the bank-note circulation
in the country amounted to not much more than
200 millions, now the circulation, bank and
national, exceeds 700 millions. The statement
OF this fact reComme nds more strongly than any
words of mine could do, the necessity of our re.
stralning this expansion. The gradual reduction
OF the currency is the only measure that can save
the business OF the country from disastrous ca
lamitles, and this can be almost imperceptably
accomplished by gradual funding the national
| circulation in securities that maybe made redeem.
able at the pleasure of government.


| Our debt is douby sccure-frst in the actual
wealth and still greater undeveloped resources of
the country and next in the character of our in
stltutions. The most intelligent observers among
political economists have not failed to remark,
that the public debt of a country is safe in pro.
portion as its people are free that the debt of
republic is the safest of all. Our history confirms
and establishes the theory, and is, | firmly
believe, destined to give it a still more signal IL.
lnstration. The secret of this superiority springs
not merely from the fact that in a republic
the national obligations are distributed more
widely through countless numbers in all classes
of society it has its root in the character of our
| laws. Here all men contribute to the public wei
fare, and bear their fair shares of the public bur
| dans. During the war, under the impulses OF
patriotism, the men of the great body of the peo.
pie. without regard to their own comparative
want of wealth, thronged to our armies and fl
led fleets Of war and held themselves ready to
offer their lives for the public good. Now, In
their turn the property and income of the coun-
try should bear their just proportion of the bur-
den Of taxation, while in our impost system
through means of which increased vitality is in
cidenaly impaired to all the industrial interests
of the nation, the duties should be so adjusted
as to fall most heavily on articles of luxury
leaving neCesSaries OF life as free from taxation
as the absolute wants of the Government, eGono-
mically administered, will Justify. No favored
class should demand freedom from assessment,
and the taxes should be so distributed as not to


all unduly on the poor but rather on the accu-
mulated wealth OF the country. We should look
at the national debt Just as it is-nOt as a nation.
al blessing, but as heavy burden on the indus
try OF the countryto be discharged without unnec
essary delay.


1t is estimated by the Secretary of the Treasu-
rythat the expenditures for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1865, will exceed the receipts, Sll2,-
1874 9tT 1t is gratifying to state that it is also
estimated that the revenue for the year ending
June 80, 1861 will exceed the expenditures in the
sum of Sill ,6S2,sl8. The amount or so much
as may be deemed sufficient for the purpose, may
be applied to the reduction of the public debt,
which, on the 3lst Of Oct 1865, was S2,T40,-
55i,7I0 Every reduction will diminish the to-
tai amount of interest to be paid, and so enlarge
the means of still further reduction, until the
whole shall be liquidated and this, as will be
seen from the estimates of the Secretary OF the
Treasury, may be accomplished by annual pay
ments even within period not exceeding thirty
years. have faith that we shall do all this in
feaSonaDle tllle lhdt az we nave amazed Tue
world by the suppression ofa civil war which was
thought to be beyond the control of any Govern
ment, so we shall equally show the superiority of
our institutions by the prompt and faithful dis
charge of our national obligations.


%


Our relations with the Emperor of China, 50
recent IN their origin, are most friendly Our
commerce with his dominions Is receiving new
developments; and il is very pleasing to find that
the Government of that great Empire manifests
satisfaction with our policy, and reposes just
confidence in the fairness which marks our inter.
course. The unbroken harmony between the Uni
ted States and the Emperor OF Russia is receiv-
ing new support from an enterprise designed
to carry teographic lines across the continent of
Asia, through his dominions, and so to connect
us with oil Europe by new channel Of inter-
course.


Our commerce with South America is about to
receive encouragement by direct line of mail
steamships to the rising Empire of Brazil. The
party of men of science who have
recently left our country to make scientific ex-
ploraton of the natural history and rivers and
mountain ranges of that region, have received
from the Emperor that generous welcome which
was to have been expected from his constant