PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



G47 



compared with the standard gold dollar. During the 

 last year the average market value of the silver dollar 

 has been 88i cents. 



It is obvious that the legislation of the last Congress 

 in regard to silver, so far as it was based on an antici- 

 pated rise in the value of silver as a result of that leg- 

 islation, has failed to produce the effect then predicted. 

 The longer the law remains in force, requiring as it 

 docs the coinage of a nominal dollar, which in reality 

 is not a dollar, the greater becomes the danger that 

 this country will be forced to accept a single metal as 

 the sole legal standard of value in circulation, and this 

 a standard of less value than it purports to be worth 

 in the recognized money of the world. 



The Constitution of the United States, sound finan- 

 cial principles, and our best interests, all require that 

 the country should have as its legal-tender money both 

 gold and silver coin of an intrinsic value, as bullion, 

 equivalent to that whichj upon its face, it purports to 

 possess. The Constitution, in express terms, recog- 

 nizes both gold and silver as the only true legal-tender 

 money. To banish either of these metals from our 

 currency is to narrow and limit the circulating medium 

 of exchange to the disparagement of important inter- 

 ests. The United States produces more silver than 

 any other country, and is directly interested in main- 

 taining it as one of the two precious metals which fur- 

 nish 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 containing only 41 2i grains of silver, 

 and in its stead will authorize the Secretary of the 

 Treasury to coin silver dollars of equivalent value, as 

 bullion, with gold dollars. This will defraud no man, 

 and will be in accordance with familiar precedents. 

 Congress, on several occasions, has altered the ratio 

 of value between gold and silver, in order to establish 

 it more nearly in accordance with the actual ratio of 

 value between the two metals. 



In financial legislation every measure in the direc- 

 ton of greater fidelity in the discharge of pecuniary 

 obligations has been found by experience to diminish 

 the rates of interest which debtors are required to pay, 

 and to increase the facility with which money can be 

 obtained for every legitimate purpose. Our own re- 

 cent financial history shows how surely money be- 

 comes abundant whenever confidence in the exact per- 

 formance of moneyed obligations is established. 



The Secretary of War reports that the expenditures 

 of the War Department for the fiscal year ended June 

 30. 1880, were $39,924,773.03. The appropriations for 

 this department, for the current fiscal year, amount to 

 $41,993,630.40. 



With respect to the Army, the Secretary invites at- 

 tention to the fact that its strength is li'nited by stat- 

 ute (section 1,115 Eevised Statutes) to not more than 

 30,000 enlisted men, but that provisos contained in 

 appropriation bills have limited expenditures to the 

 enlistment of but 25,000. It is believed the full legal 

 strength is the least possible force at which the pres- 

 ent organization can be maintained, having in view 

 efficiency, discipline, and economy. While the enlist- 

 ment of "this force would add somewhat to the appro- 

 priation for pay of the Army, the saving made in 

 other respects would be more than an equivalent for 

 this additional outlay, and the efficiency of the Army 

 would be largely increased. 



The rapid 'extension of the railroad system west of 

 the Mississippi Eiver, and the great tide of settlers 

 which has flowed in upon new "territory , impose on 

 the military an entire change of policy. The mainte- 

 nance of small posts along wagon and stage routes of 

 travel is no longer necessary. Permanent quarters at 

 points selected,"of a more substantial character than 

 those heretofore constructed, will be required. Under 

 existing laws permanent buildings can not be erected 

 without the sanction of Congress, and when sales of 

 military sites and buildings have been authorized the 

 moneys received have reverted to the Treasury and 

 could only become available through a new appropria- 

 tion. It is recommended that provision be made by a 



general statute for the sale of such abandoned military 

 posts and buildings as are found to be unni 

 and for the application of the proceeds to the con>t ruc- 

 tion of other posts. While many of the present po.-ts 

 are of but slight value for military purposes, owing 

 to the changed condition of the country, their occupa- 

 tion is continued at great expense and' inconvenience, 

 because they afford the only available shelter for 

 troops. 



The absence of a large number of officers of the line, 

 in active duty, from their regiments is a serioi. 

 ment to the maintenance of the service. The constant 

 demand for small detachments, each of which should 

 be commanded by a commissioned officer, and tho 

 various details of officers for necessary service away 

 from their commands, occasions a scarcity in the num- 

 ber required for company duties. With a view to 

 lessening this drain to some extent, it is recommended 

 that the law authorizing the detail of officers from the 

 active list, as professors of tactics and military science 

 at certain colleges and universities, be so amended as 

 to provide that all such details be made from the re- 

 tired list of the Army. 



Attention is asked to the necessity of providing by 

 legislation for organizing, arming, and disciplining 

 the active militia of the country, and liberal appro- 

 priations are recommended in this behalf. The re- 

 ports of the Adjutant-General of the Army and the 

 Chief of Ordnance touching this subject fully set forth 

 its importance. 



The report of the officer in charge of education in 

 the Army shows that there are seventy-eight schools 

 now in operation in the Army, with an aggregate at- 

 tendance of 2,305 enlisted men and children. The 

 Secretary recommends the enlistment of one hundred 

 and fifty school-masters, with the rank and pay of 

 commissary sergeants. An appropriation is needed 

 to supply the Judge- Advocates of the Army with suit- 

 able libraries, and the Secretary recommends that the 

 corps of Judge- Advocates be placed upon the same 

 footing, as to promotion, with the other staff corps of 

 the Army. Under existing laws, the Bureau of Military 

 Justice consists of one officer, the Judge- Advocate- 

 General, and the corps of Judge- Advocates of eight 

 officers of equal rank (majors), with a provision tnat 

 the limit of the corps shall remain at four when re- 

 duced by casualty or resignation to that number. The 

 consolidation of the Bureau of Military Justice and 

 the corps of Judge- Advocates, upon the same basis 

 with the other staff corps of the Army, would remove 

 an unjust discrimination against deserving officers, 

 and subserve the best interests of the service. 



Especial attention is asked to the report of the 

 Chief of Engineers upon the condition of our national 

 defenses. Frdm a personal inspection of many of the 

 fortifications referred to, the Secretary is able to em- 

 phasize the recommendations made, and to state that 

 their incomplete and defenseless condition is discredit- 

 able to the country. While other nations have been 

 increasing their means for carrying on offensive war- 

 fare and attacking maritime cities, we have been dor- 

 mant in preparation for defense ; nothing of impor- 

 tance has been done toward strengthening and finishing 

 our casemated works since our late Civil War, during 

 which the great guns of modern warfare and the heavy 

 armor of modern fortifications and ships came into 

 use among the nations ; and our earthworks, left by a 

 sudden failure of appropriations some years since in 

 all stages of incorapletion, are now being rapidly de- 

 stroyed by the elements. 



The two srreat rivers of the North American Con- 

 tinent the Mississippi and the Columbia have their 

 navigable waters wholly within the limits of the United 

 States, and are of vast importance to our internal and 

 foreign commerce. The permanency of the important 

 Avork on the South Pass of the Mississippi River seems 

 now to be assured. There has been no failure what- 

 ever in the maintenance of the maximum channel dur- 

 ing the six months ended August 9th last. This ex- 

 periment has opened a broad, deep highway to the 

 ocean, and is an improvement upon the permanent 



