CONGRESS. (TiiE PRESIDENT'S MESSAOK.) 



151 



lerm of ten years is assured by the international 

 -compact, but the congress will doubtless have 

 much to do with shaping new lines of work and a 

 general policy. Its usefulness to the interests of 

 Latin-American trade is widely appreciated, and 

 shows a gratifying development. 



The practical utility of the consular service in 

 obtaining a wide range of information as to the 

 industries and commerce of other countries, and 

 the opportunities thereby afforded for introducing 

 the sale of our goods, have kept steadily in ad- 

 vance of the notable expansion of our foreign 

 trade, and abundant evidence has been furnished, 

 both at home and abroad, of the fact that the 

 consular reports, including many from our dip- 

 lomatic representatives, have to a considerable 

 extent pointed out ways and means of disposing 

 of a great variety of manufactured goods which 

 otherwise might not have found sale abroad. 



Testimony of foreign observers to the commer- 

 cial efficiency of the consular corps seems to be 

 conclusive, and our own manufacturers and ex- 

 porters highly appreciate the value of the serv- 

 ices rendered, not only in the printed reports, but 

 also in the individual efforts of consular officers 

 to promote American trade. An increasing part 

 of the work of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, 

 \vhose primary duty it is to compile and print the 

 reports, is to answ T er inquiries from trade organi- 

 zations, business houses, etc., as to conditions in 

 various parts of the world, and, notwithstanding 

 the smallness of the force employed, the work has 

 been so systematized that responses are made 

 with such promptitude and accuracy as to elicit 

 flattering encomiums. The experiment of printing 

 the consular reports daily for immediate use by 

 trade bodies, exporters, and the press, which was 

 begun in January, 1898, continues to give general 

 satisfaction. 



It is gratifying to be able to state that the sur- 

 plus revenues for the fiscal year ended June 30, 

 1900, were $79,527,060.18. For the six preced- 

 ing years we had only deficits, the aggregate of 

 which from 1894 to 1899, inclusive, amounted to 

 $283,022,991.14. The receipts for the year from all 

 sources, exclusive of postal revenues, aggregated 

 $567,240,851.89, and expenditures for all purposes, 

 except for the administration of the postal de- 

 partment, aggregated $487,713,791.71. The re- 

 ceipts from customs were $233,164,871.16, an in- 

 crease over the preceding year of $27,036,389.41. 

 The receipts from internal revenue were $295,327,- 

 926.76, an increase of $21,890,765.25 over 1899. 

 The receipts from miscellaneous sources were $38,- 

 748,053.97, as against $36,394,976.92 for the pre- 

 vious year. 



It is gratifying also to note that during the 

 .year a considerable reduction is shown in the ex- 

 penditures of the Government. The War Depart- 

 ment expenditures for the fiscal year 1900 were 

 $134,774,767.78, a reduction of $95,066,486.69 over 

 those of 1899. In the Navy Department the ex- 

 penditures were $55,953,077.72 for the year 1900, 

 as against $63,942,104.25 for the preceding year, 

 a decrease of $7,989,026.53. In the expendi- 

 tures on account of Indians there was a de- 

 crease in 1900 over 1899 of $2,630,604.38; and in 

 the civil and miscellaneous expenses for 1900 there 

 was a reduction of $13,418,065.74. 



Because of the excess of revenues over expendi- 

 tures the Secretary of the Treasury was enabled 

 to apply bonds and other securities to the sinking- 

 fund to the amount of $56,544,556.06. The de- 

 tails of the sinking-fund are set forth in the re- 

 port of the Secretary of the Treasury, to which I 

 invite attention. The Secretary of the Treasury 

 estimates that the receipts for the current fiscal 



year will aggregate $.",80,000,000 iin-l the expendi- 

 tures $500,000,000, leaving ;m exeess of revenues 

 over expenditures of $80,000,000. Tin: present 

 condition of the Treasury is one of undoubted 

 strength. The available cash bjilanc" N'ov 30 was 

 $139,303,794.50. Under the form of statement 

 prior to the financial law of Marc;!) I 1 h-i. 1herc 

 would have been included in the statement of 

 available cash gold coin and bullion held for the 

 redemption of United States notes. 



If this form were pursued, the cash balance, 

 including the present gold reserve of $150,000,000, 

 would be $289,303,794.50. Such balance Nov. 30, 



1899, was $296,495,301.55. In the general fund, 

 which is wholly separate from the reserve and 

 trust funds, there was on Nov. 30, $70,090,073.15 

 in gold coin and bullion, to which should be added 

 $22,957,300 in gold certificates subject to issue, 

 against which there is held in the Division of Re- 

 demption gold coin and bullion, making a total 

 holding of free gold amounting to $93,047,373.15. 



It will be the duty as I am sure it will be the 

 disposition of the Congress to provide whatever 

 further legislation is needed to insure the con- 

 tinued parity under all conditions between our 

 two forms of metallic money, silver and gold. 



Our surplus revenues have permitted the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury since the close of the fiscal 

 year to call in the funded loan of 1891 continued 

 at 2 per cent., in the sum of $25,364,500. To and 

 including Nov. 30, $23,458,100 of these bonds have 

 been paid. This sum, together with the amount 

 which may accrue from further redemptions un- 

 der the call, will be applied to the sinking-fund. 



The law of March 14, 1900, provided for refund- 

 ing into 2-per-cent. thirty-year bonds, payable, 

 principal and interest, in gold coin of the present 

 standard value, that portion of the public debt 

 represented by the 3-per-cent. bonds of 1908, the 

 4-per-cents. of 1907, and the 5-per-cents. of 1904, 

 of which there was outstanding at the date of 

 said law $839,149,930. The holders of the old 

 bonds presented them for exchange between March 

 14 and Nov. 30 to the amount of $364,943,750. 

 The net saving to the Government on these trans- 

 actions aggregates $9,106,166. 



Another effect of the operation, as stated by the 

 Secretary, is to reduce the charge upon the Treas- 

 ury for the payment of interest from the dates 

 of refunding to Feb. 1, 1904, by the sum of more 

 than $7,000,000 annually. From Feb. 1, 1904 to 

 July 1, 1907, the annual interest charge will be re- 

 duced by the sum of more than $5,000,000, and for 

 the thirteen months ending Aug. 1, 1908, by about 

 $1,000,000. The full details of the refunding are 

 given in the annual report of the Secretary of the 

 Treasury. 



The beneficial effect of the financial act of 



1900, so far as it relates to a modification of the 

 national banking act, is already apparent. The 

 provision for the incorporation of national banks 

 with a capital of not less than $25,000 in places 

 not exceeding 3,000 inhabitants has resulted in 

 the extension of banking facilities to many small 

 communities hitherto unable to provide them- 

 selves with banking institutions under the na- 

 tional system. There were organized from the en- 

 actment of the law up to and including Nov. 30, 

 369 national banks, of which 266 were with capi- 

 tal less than $50,000, and 103 with capital of 

 $50,000 or more. 



It is worthy of mention that the greater num- 

 ber of banks being organized under the new law 

 are in sections where the need of banking facilities 

 has been most pronounced. Iowa stands first, 

 with 30 banks of the smaller class, while Texas, 

 Oklahoma, Indian Territory, and the middle and 



