Message of the President of the United States. auspicious, and its success is too closely interwoven with the future prosperity of the country, to permit us for a moment to contemplate its abandonment. We have seen, under its influence, our specie augmented beyond eighty millions; our coinage increased so as to make that of gold amount, between August, 1834, and December, 1836, to ten millions of dollars; exceeding the whole coinage at the mint during the thirty-one previous years. The prospect of further improvement continued without abatement until the moment of the suspension of specie payments. This policy has now, indeed, been suddenly checked, but is still far from being overthrown. Amidst all conflicting theories, one position is undeniable: the precious metals will invariably disappear when there ceases to be a necessity for their use as a circulating medium. It was in strict accordance with this truth, that whilst, in the month of May last, they were every where seen, and were current for all ordinary purposes, they disappeared from circulation the moment the payment of specie was refused by the banks, and the community tacitly agreed to dispense with its employment. Their place was supplied by a currency exclusively of paper, and, in many cases, of the worst description. Already are the bank notes now in circulation greatly depreciated, and they fluctuate in value between one place and another; thus diminishing and making uncertain the worth of property and the price of labor, and failing to subserve, except at a heavy loss, the purposes of business. With each succeeding day the metallic currency decreases; by some it is hoarded in the natural fear that, once parted with, it cannot be replaced; while by others it is diverted from its more legitimate uses, for the sake of gain. Should Congress sanction this condition of things, by making irredeemable paper money receivable in payment of public dues, a temporary check to a wise and salutary policy will, in all probability, be converted into its absolute destruction. It is true that bank notes actually convertible into specie may be received in payment of the revenue, without being liable to all these objections, and that such a course may, to some extent, promote individual conve nience; an object always to be considered where it does not conflict with the principles of our Government or the general welfare of the country. If such notes only were received, and always under circumstances allowing their early presentation for payment, and if, at short and fixed periods, they were converted into specie, to be kept by the officers of the Treasury, some of the most serious obstacles to their reception would perhaps be removed. To retain the notes in the Treasury would be to renew, under another form, the loans of public money to the banks, and the evils consequent thereon. It is, however, a mistaken impression, that any large amount of specie is required for public payments. Of the seventy or eighty millions now estimated to be in the country, ten millions would be abundantly sufficient for that purpose, provided an accumulation of a large amount of revenue, beyond the necessary wants of the Government, be hereafter prevented. If to these considerations be added the facilities which will arise from enabling the Treasury to satisfy the public creditors, by its drafts or notes received in payment of the public dues, it may be safely assumed that no motive of convenience to the citizen requires the reception of bank paper. To say that the refusal of paper money by the Gov ernment introduces an unjust discrimination between the currency received by it, and that used by individuals in their ordinary affairs, is, in my judgment, to view it in a very erroneous light. The constitution prohibits the States from making any thing but gold and silver a tender in the payment of debts, and thus secures to every citizen a right to demand payment in the legal [25th CoNG. 1st SESS. currency. To provide by law that the Government will only receive its dues in gold and silver, is not to confer on it any peculiar privilege, but merely to place it on an equality with the citizen, by reserving to it a right secured to him by the constitution. It is doubtless for this reason that the principle has been sanctioned by successive laws, from the time of the first Congress under the constitution down to the last. Such precedents, never objected to, and proceeding from such sources, afford a decisive answer to the imputation of inequality or injustice. But, in fact, the measure is one of restriction, not of favor. To forbid the public agent to receive in payment any other than a certain kind of money, is to refuse him a discretion possessed by every citizen. It may be left to those who have the management of their own transactions, to make their own terms; but no such discretion should be given to him who acts merely as an agent of the people, who is to collect what the law requires, and to pay the appropriations it makes. When bank notes are redeemed on demand, there is then no discrimination in reality, for the individual who receives them may, at his option, substitute the specie for them; he takes them from convenience or choice. When they are not so redeemed, it will scarcely be contended that their receipt and payment, by a public officer, should be permitted, though none deny that right to an individual; if it were, the effect would be most injurious to the public, since their officer could make none of those arrangements to meet or guard against the depreciation, which an individual is at liberty to do. Nor can inconvenience to the community be alleged as an objection to such a regulation. Its object and motive are their convenience and welfare. If, at a moment of simultaneous and unexpected suspension by the banks, it adds something to the many embarrassments of that proceeding, yet these are far overbalanced by its direct tendency to produce a wider circulation of gold and silver, to increase the safety of bank paper, to improve the general currency, and thus to prevent altogether such occurrences, and the other and far greater evils that attend them. It may, indeed, be questioned, whether it is not for the interest of the banks themselves that the Government should not receive their paper. They would be conducted with more caution, and on sounder principles. By using specie only in its transactions, the Government would create a demand for it, which would, to a great extent, prevent its exportation, and, by keeping it in circulation, maintain a broader and safer basis for the paper currency. That the banks would thus be rendered more sound, and the community more safe, cannot admit of a doubt. The foregoing views, it seems to me, do but fairly carry out the provisions of the federal constitution in relation to the currency, as far as relates to the public revenue. At the time that instrument was framed, there were but three or four banks in the United States; and had the extension of the banking system, and the evils growing out of it, been foreseen, they would probably have been specially guarded against. The same policy which led to the prohibition of bills of credit by the States, would, doubtless, in that event, have also interdicted their issue as a currency in any other form. The constitution, however, contains no such prohibition; and, since the States have exercised for nearly half a century the power to regulate the busi ness of banking, it is not to be expected that it will be abandoned. The whole matter is now under discussion before the proper tribunal-the people of the States. Never before has the public mind been so thoroughly awakened to a proper sense of its importance; never bas the subject, in all its bearings, been submitted to so 25th CoNG. 1st SESS.] Message of the President of the United States. the act of the 23d of June, 1836, to be deposited with the States in October next. This sum, if so deposited, will be subject, under the law, to be recalled, if needed, to defray existing appropriations; and as it is now evident that the whole, or the principal part of it, will be want searching an inquiry. It would be distrusting the intelligence and virtue of the people to doubt the speedy and efficient adoption of such measures of reform as the public good demands. All that can rightfully be done by the federal Government, to promote the accomplish ment of that important object, will, without doubt, beed for that purpose, it appears most proper that the deperformed. In the mean time, it is our duty to provide all the remedies against a depreciated paper currency which the constitution enables us to afford. The Treasury Department, on several former occasions, has suggested the propriety and importance of a uniform law concerning bankruptcies of corporations, and other bankers. Through the instrumentality of such a law, a salutary check may doubtless be imposed on the issues of paper money, and an effectual remedy given to the citizen in a way at once equal in all parts of the Union, and fully authorized by the constitution. The indulgence granted by executive authority in the payment of bonds for duties has been already mentioned. Seeing that the immediate enforcement of these obligations would subject a large and highly respectable portion of our citizens to great sacrifices, and believing that a temporary postponement could be made without detriment to other interests, and with increased certainty of ultimate payment, I did not hesitate to comply with the request that was made of me. The terms allowed are, to the full extent, as liberal as any that are to be found in the practice of the Executive Department. It remains for Congress to decide whether a further postponement may not with propriety be allowed, and, if so, their legislation upon the subject is respectfully invited. The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will exhibit the condition of these debts; the extent and effect of the present indulgence; the probable result of its further extension on the state of the Treasury; and every other fact necessary to a full consideration of the subject. Similar information is communicated in regard to such depositories of the public moneys as are indebted to the Government, in order that Congress may also adopt the proper measures in regard to them. The receipts and expenditures for the first half of the year, and an estimate of those for the residue, will be laid before you by the Secretary of the Treasury. In his report of December last, it was estimated that the current receipts would fall short of the expenditures by about three millions of dollars. It will be seen that the difference will be much greater. This is to be attributed not only to the occurrence of greater pecuniary embarrassments in the business of the country than those which were then predicted, and, consequently, a greater diminution in the revenue, but also to the fact that the appropriations exceeded, by nearly six millions, the amount which was asked for in the estimates then submitted. The sum necessary for the service of the year, beyond the probable receipts, and the amount which it was intended should be reserved in the Treasury at the commencement of the year, will be about six millions. If the whole of the reserved balance be not at once applied to the current expenditures, but four millions be still kept in the Treasury, as seems most expedient, for the uses of the mint, and to meet contingencies, the sum needed will be ten millions. In making this estimate, the receipts are calculated on the supposition of some further extension of the indulgence granted in the payment of bonds for duties, which will affect the amount of the revenue for the present year to the extent of two and a half millions. It is not proposed to procure the required amount by loans or increased taxation. There are now in the Treasury nine million three hundred and sixty-seven thousand two hundred and fourteen dollars, directed by posite should be withheld. Until the amount can be collected from the banks, Treasury notes may be temporarily issued, to be gradually redeemed as it is received. I am aware that this course may be productive of inconvenience to many of the States. Relying upon the acts of Congress which held out to them the strong probability, if not the certainty, of receiving this instalment, they have in some instances adopted measures with which its retention may seriously interfere. That such a condition of things should have occurred, is much to be regretted. It is not the least among the unfortunate results of the disasters of the times; and it is for Congress to devise a fit remedy, if there be one. The money being indispensable to the wants of the Treasury, it is difficult to conceive upon what principle of justice or expediency its application to that object can be avoided. To recall any portions of the sums already deposited with the States, would be more inconvenient and less efficient. To burden the country with increased taxation, when there is in fact a large surplus revenue, would be unjust and unwise; to raise moneys by loans under such circumstances, and thus to commence a new national debt, would scarcely be sanctioned by the American people. The plan proposed will be adequate to all our fiscal operations, during the remainder of the year. Should it be adopted, the Treasury, aided by the ample resources of the country, will be able to discharge, punctually, every pecuniary obligation. For the future, all that is needed will be that caution and forbearance in appropriations which the diminution of the revenue requires, and which the complete accomplishment or great forwardness of many expensive national undertakings renders equally consistent with prudence and patriotic liberality. The preceding suggestions and recommendations are submitted, in the belief that their adoption by Congress will enable the Executive Department to conduct our fiscal concerns with success, so far as their management has been committed to it. Whilst the objects, and the means proposed to attain them, are within its constitutional powers and appropriate duties, they will at the same time, it is hoped, by their necessary operation, afford essential aid in the transaction of individual concerns, and thus yield relief to the people at large in a form adapted to the nature of our Government. Those who look to the action of this Government for specific aid to the citizens to relieve embarrassments arising from losses by revulsions in commerce and credit, lose sight of the ends for which it was created, and the powers with which it is clothed. It was established to give security to us all, in our lawful and honorable pursuits, under the lasting safeguard of republican institutions. It was not intended to confer special favors on individuals, or on any classes of them; to create systems of agriculture, manufactures, or trade; or to engage in them, either separately or in connexion with individual citizens or organized associations. If its operations were to be directed for the benefit of any one class, equivalent favors must, in justice, be extended to the rest; and the attempt to bestow such favors with an equal hand, or even to select those who should most deserve them, would never be successful. All communities are apt to look to Government for too much. Even in our own country, where its powers and duties are so strictly limited, we are prone to do so, especially at periods of sudden embarrassment and distress. But this ought not Report of the Postmaster General. to be. The framers of our excellent constitution, and the people who approved it with calm and sagacious deliberation, acted at the time on a sounder principle. They wisely judged that the less Government inteferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity. It is not its legitimate object to make men rich, or to repair, by direct grants of money or legislation in favor of particular pursuits, losses not incurred in the public service. This would be substantially to use the property of some for the benefit of others. But its real duty-that duty the performance of which makes a good Government the most precious of human blessings-is to enact and enforce a system of general laws commensurate with, but not exceed ing, the objects of its establishment, and to leave every citizen and every interest to reap, under its benign protection, the rewards of virtue, industry, and prudence. I cannot doubt that on this, as on all similar occasions, the Federal Government will find its agency most conducive to the security and happiness of the people, when limited to the exercise of its conceded powers. In never assuming, even for a well-meant object, such powers as were not designed to be conferred upon it, we shall in reality do most for the general welfare. To avoid every unnecessary interference with the pursuits of the citizen, will result in more benefit than to adopt measures which could only assist limited interests, and are eagerly, but perhaps naturally, sought for, under the pressure of temporary circumstances. If, therefore, I refrain from suggesting to Congress any specific plan for regulating the exchanges of the country, relieving mercantile embarrassments, or interfering with the ordinary operations of foreign or domestic commerce, it is from a conviction that such measures are not within the constitutional province of the General Government, and that their adoption would not promote the real and permanent welfare of those they might be designed to aid. [25th CoNG. 1st Sess. have wished that, in making my first communication to the I am aware, however, that it is not proper to detain you, at present, longer than may be demanded by the special objects for which you are convened. To them, therefore, I have confined my communication; and, believing it will not be your own wish now to extend your deliberations beyond them, I reserve till the usual period of your annual meeting that general information on the state of the Union which the constitution requires me to give. WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 1837. M. VAN BUREN. REPORT OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL. POST OFFICE Department, to retain them in specie to meet the drafts of the Department. To those who had been instructed to pay directly to contractors, another circular was sent reminding them of their duties and liabilities in reference to the moneys to be received and paid by them under existing laws. Instructions have recently been prepared, directing the manner in which returns of cash on hand are hereafter to be made to the Department, and forbidding the loaning or use of the moneys belonging to the public for any purpose whatsoever. Copies of these papers are annexed, marked A, B, and C. The difficulties and distresses of the times, though unquestionably great, are limited in their extent, and cannot be regarded as affecting the permanent prosperity of the nation. Arising, in a great degree, from the transactions of foreign and domestic commerce, it is upon them that they To the PRESIDENT of the United States: have chiefly fallen. The great agricultural interest has, in SIR: Immediately after the suspension of specie paymany parts of the country, suffered comparatively little; ments by the banks in New York, in May last, a circular and, as if Providence intended to display the munificence was sent out, directing all postmasters who had been inof its goodness at the moment of our greatest need, and instructed to deposite the proceeds of their offices in hanks, direct contrast to the evils occasioned by the waywardness of man, we have been blessed throughout our extended territory with a season of general health and of uncommon fruitfulness. The proceeds of our great staples will soon furnish the means of liquidating debts at home and abroad, and contribute equally to the revival of commercial activity, and the restoration of commercial credit. The banks, established avowedly for its upport, deriving their profits from it, and resting under obligations to it which cannot be overlooked, will feel at once the necessity and justice of uniting their energies with those of the mercantile interest. The suspension of specie payments, at such a time and under such circumstances as we have lately witnessed, could not be other than a temporary measure; and we can scarcely err in believing that the period must soon arrive when all that are solvent will redeem their issues in gold and silver. Dealings abroad naturally depend on resources and prosperity at home. If the debt of our merchants has accumulated, or their credit is impaired, these are fluctua tions always incident to extensive or extravagant mercantile transactions. But the ultimate security of such obligations does not admit of question. They are guarantied by the resources of a country, the fruits of whose industry afford abundant means of ample liquidation, and by the evident interest of every merchant to sustain a credit, hitherto high, by promptly applying these means for its preservation. I deeply regret that events have occurred which require me to ask your consideration of such serious topics. I could VOL. XIV.-A 2 In relation to upwards of ten thousand of the post of fices, these regulations make no change. The only change effected by them is, that about eleven hundred postmasters who formerly deposited their income in banks, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, according to its amount, now retain the money in their own hands till drawn for by the Department. To about nine-tenths of these, the new sys tem is more convenient than the old, as it saves them the trouble of going or sending to the banks and procuring certifi cates of deposite; it is equally safe, as their entire balances will be drawn for as often as they are deposited ; and it is more efficient, because some postmasters who might neglect to deposite will not venture to dishonor a draft. The postmasters who will not close their accounts quar. terly, will not, probably, exceed one hundred; and the balances in their hands, from quarter to quarter, are not likely, under a proper administration of the Department, to exceed, in ordinary times, one or two hundred thousand dollars. As they are required to have their balances always ready in gold and silver, the Department will always have the means of meeting its engagements; and if a default in an individual case should occasionally happen, nothing like a general refusal to pay, as in the case of the late deposite banks, is ever to apprehended. It will ever be the true policy of the Department not to have a large surplus; and, consequently, there will be little to intrust to the custody of postmasters or others. Moreover, the number of post offices now instructed to retain their funds, will be largely reduced upon an adjustment of the collection system to the mail service, as arranged within the last twelve months. Though in some places convenier.t, banks are not necessary to the collection and disbursement of the funds of this Department. In reference to more than ten thousand post offices, the collections and disbursements are effected more expeditiously and more conveniently without the interposition of banks, than they could be with it. The contractors who are creditors of the Department, are its collectors from postmasters, and the collection and disbursement are but one operation. It is generally effected in a few days after the close of each quarter. The operation is the same where the postmasters pay to contractors upon the drafts of the Department, though it is more tardy. The few offices in reference to which banks are a convenience, are those whose receipts are large, and are not likely to be absorbed from quarter to quarter by the drafts of the Department. They have generally iron chests or safes where the specie is kept; and, with a strict supervision and careful attention to their bonds, they will seldom, if ever, be found in default. The necessary transfers of funds are effected by the Department without inconvenience or loss. On the interior mail routes, the expenditure is generally greater than the income; so that after the contractors have received the entire revenue of the offices supplied by them, balances are still due. These balances are as readily paid off by drafts on the postmasters in the cities where the surplus arises, as they could be by checks on banks in the same places. The process is rendered the more easy from the fact that the heaviest surplus accrues at those points where funds are the most valuable, particularly at New York; so that the drafts of the Department to pay balances in the most distant parts of the Union are generally better than cash, being available for mercantile remittances. Thus, the necessary transfers of the Department are readily effected; and as this state of things is not likely to change, it would seldom, if ever, become necessary for the Department to transport specie from one point to another, if there was not a bank in existence. Upon the suspension of the banks, efforts were made in some quarters to compel the Department to receive irredeemable and depreciated paper for postages. Law, justice, and public policy, required an inflexible resistance of these efforts. Gold and silver are the only constitutional and legal currency of the United States, and nothing but that currency, or its equivalent, can be legally offered to the public creditors in payment. All taxes and postages are imposed in this currency, and all contracts are made upon its basis. The public faith could be kept, and the public business successfully carried on, only by a strict adherence to the plain letter, as well as obvious spirit, of the law. The undersigned is happy to state that all attempts to force the Department to receive depreciated paper were soon abandoned; that little difficulty has been experienced in collecting postages in specie, and none where the circulation of change tickets has been successfully resisted; and that the credit of the Department has been preserved unimpaired. Nor is any difficulty apprehended, so long as postages are collected in the constitutional currency of the United States. But, should the Department be compelled to receive, and offer to its creditors, the depreciated notes issued by hundreds of embarrassed, faithless, or bankrupt corporations or individuals, no sure calculation can be made as to the future; and there is reason to apprehend general discontent, extensive failures, and deplorable disorganization throughout the mail service. With what face could the Department insist on, and compel, a strict performance of contract obligations by contractors, when stripped of the power to perform the most vital part of the contracts (so far as the interest of the contractor is concerned) on its own part? Justice and sound policy alike demand a firm adherence, in the mail service, to the standard of value, and the basis of contracts prescribed by the constitution, and hitherto strictly maintained, (except for a short period,) amidst the calamities of war. On the whole, no legislation is necessary to maintain the credit of this Department, or enable it to manage its fiscal concerns, the existing laws, being deemed ample for those purposes. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, A. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, 1837. SIR: You will, until further orders, retain the proceeds of your office in your hands, in specie, to meet the drafts of this Department. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Postmaster at B. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Appointment Office, Washington, May 16, 1837. SIR: I am instructed by the Postmaster General to call your particular attention to the fact, that the rates of postage, as established by law, are based upon the legal currency of the United States. The following extracts from the printed regulations and the law, will clearly show what of currency to be received for postage, viz: are your duties and responsibilities in relation to the kind "You will receive nothing but specie, or its equivalent, for postage."-Instructions to Postmasters, chapter 5, section 62. "All payments to the Department, whether upon its drafts or by deposite in bank, must be in specie, or its equivalent. No allowance can be made to postmasters for the depreciation of money received for postage, nor for losses by fire, robbery, or theft."-Chap. 28, section 245. Extract from an act of Congress, approved on the 14th of April, 1836. "Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, hereafter, no bank notes of less denomination than ten dollars, and that from and after the 3d day of March, anno Domini 1837, no bank note of less denomination than twenty dollars shall be offered in payment, in any case whatsoever in which money is to be paid by the United States, or by the Post Office Department; nor shall any bank note, of any denomination, be so offered, unless the same shall be payable, and paid on demand, in gold or silver coin at the place where issued, and which shall not be equivalent to specie at the place where offered, and convertible into gold or silver upon the spot, at the will of the holder, and without delay or loss to him: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to make any thing but gold or silver a legal tender by any individual, or by the United States." Report on the Finances. Hence you will perceive that, whatever you may receive for postage, you are responsible for gold or silver; and that it is unlawful for you to offer in payment to contractors, or others, any note of any bank which does not pay its notes in specie. As the Postmaster General has no power to release you from your responsibilities under the laws, and as, on the contrary, it is his duty to see them faithfully executed, he has deemed it expedient to give you this notice, that you may guard yourself against loss in the collection of your postages. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Second Assistant Postmaster General. C. Postmasters, who may be under instructions to retain the proceeds of their offices until drawn for by the Department, will observe the following regulations, viz: Those whose nett proceeds are five hundred dollars or more per week, will report the amount weekly to the Department. Fractions of weeks at the beginning and end of quarters need not be reported separately. Those whose nett proceeds are not five hundred dollars per week, but amount to that sum or more per month, will report them monthly. The last month of each quarter need not be reported separately. At the end of each quarter, all postmasters at draft of fices will immediately ascertain the amount of nett revenue accruing at their respective offices during the quarter, and report it forthwith to the Department, setting down the sums, if any, which may have been reported weekly or monthly, and deducting them, thus exhibiting the balance not reported. All these reports must be by letter addressed to the Postmaster General, which must be sent separately, and not enclosed with the quarterly accounts, or tied to them, or to any other letter or packet on other business. Nor must it be delayed until the accounts are forwarded, if it can be Leller from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting his annual report on the state of the finances. House of Representatives September 5, 1837; read and laid upon the table. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, In pursuance of the duty of this Department to submit to Congress, at each session, the state of the finances, and in conformity with the request of the President that such other fiscal matters should, on this occasion, be presented, as appear to require early legislation, the undersigned has the honor to offer the following report: 1. CONDITION OF THE TREASURY. It is not proposed to give all the particulars relating to the receipts and expenditure which usually accompany an annual statement; but an exposition of them, under the customary general heads, so far as they have been ascertained, for the first half of the year, is subjoined. [25th CoNG. 1st Sess. Brief estimates for the other half are made, and such explanations added, as seem necessary to show with clearness not only the condition of the Treasury at this time, but its probable state for the residue of the year. According to the Treasurer's running account, the whole amount of available money in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1837, applicable to public purposes, was $42,468,859 97. From that sum, there were on that day reserved $5,000,000; and the balance, being $37,468,859 97, was, under the provisions of the act of June 23, 1836, to be placed in de posite with the States. It is ascertained that $27,063,430 80 of it have since been actually received by them. The amount of that portion of the first three instalments, the payment of which has not yet been acknowledged, though transfers were seasonably issued for it, is 1,165,575 dollars, 18 cents. The remainder is $9,367,214 98, and is the sum which was designed for the fourth instalment of deposites with the States on the 1st of October next. The amount reserved in the Treasury on the 1st of January, has since been increased, by returns subsequently received from banks, to the sum of $6,670,137 52; and which of course could not then be ascertained or taken into computation. Receipts. The receipts in the first half of the year, deposited in banks, and paid on drafts by collectors and receivers, so far as ascertained, have been: From customs From lands And from miscellaneous sources $7,234,451 5,303,731 512,263 To these may be added about $600,000 which remained in the hands of receivers, and $50,000 in those of collectors, subject to draft. All these make the aggregate for that half of the year $13, 187, 182. If no further postponement be granted on duty bonds, it is estimated that the whole receipts for the last half of the year, from all sources, will be about $9,500,000; which would make them, as ascertained and estimated for the whole year, $22,687,182. But if the brief extension of the present postponement, brought into view hereafter, and favorably regarded, be directed by Congress, the receipts will probably be about $7,000,000; while, by a postponement of the whole to another year, they will not be likely to exceed $4,500,000. Looking at our whole revenue, therefore, from all quarters, it appears that the balance of money reserved at the commencement of the years, as finally ascertained to be $6,670, 137, with the actual receipts for the first half at $13,187,182, and those now anticipated for the last half of it at $7,000,000, will constitute an aggregate of $26,854,319. The expenditure required to meet existing appropriations, during the last half of the year, will, as computed, equal the sum of $16,000,000; making, for the whole year, $32,733,884. Whatever expenditures shall arise within the year, upon new appropriations which Congress may think proper to make, will require a corresponding addition to this amount; but without them, it will constitute an excess of $5,876,565 of expenditures over both the receipts and the balance at the commencement of the year; besides not leaving, at the close of it, any thing in the mint or the Treasury for future uses, or to meet contingencies. |
