PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



770 



time of five hundred and eighty-eight vessels, com- 

 pleted and in the course of completion, and of these 

 seventy-five are ironclad or armored steamers. The 

 events of the war give an increased interest and im- 

 portance to the navy, which will probably extend be- 

 yond the war itself. 



The armored vessels in our navy completed and in 

 service, or which are under contract or approaching 

 completion, are believed to exceed in number those of 

 any other Power. But, while these maybe relied upon 

 for harbor defence and coast service, others of greater 

 strength and capacity will be necessary for cruising 

 purposes, and to maintain our rightful position on the 

 ocean. 



The change that has taken place in naval vessels and 

 naval warfare since the introduction of steam as a mo- 

 tive power for ships of war, demands either a corre- 

 sponding change in some of our existing navy yards or 

 the establishment of new ones for the construction and 

 necessary repair of modern naval vessels. No inconsid- 

 erable embarrassment, delay, and public injury have 

 been experienced from the w_ant of such Governmental 

 establishments. The necessity of such a navy yard, so 

 furnished, at some suitable place upon the Atlantic 

 seaboard, has on repeated occasions been brought to 

 the attention of Congre_ss by the Navy Department, 

 and is again presented in the report of the Secretary 

 which accompanies this communication. 



I think it my duty to invite your special attention to 

 this subject, and also to that of establishing a yard 

 and depot for naval purposes upon one of the Western 

 rivers. A naval force has been created on those in- 

 terior waters, and under many disadvantages, within 

 little more than two years, exceeding in numbers the 

 whole naval force of the country at the commencement 

 of the present Administration. Satisfactory and im- 

 portant as have been the performance of the heroic 

 men of the navy at this interesting period, they are 

 scarcely more wonderful than the success of our me- 

 chanics and artisans in the production of war vessels, 

 which has created a new form of naval power. 



Our country has advantages superior to any other 

 nation in our resources of iron ana timber, with inex- 

 haustible quantities of fuel in the immediate vicinity 

 of both, and all available and in close proximity to 

 avigable waters. Without the advantage of public 

 works, the resources of the nation have been developed 

 and its power displayed in the cmistruction of a navy 

 of such magnitude, which has, at the very period of 

 its creation, rendered signal service to the Union. 



The increase of the number of seamen in the public 

 service, from seven thousand five hundred men in the 

 spring of 1861, to about thirty-four thousand at the 

 present time, has been accomplished without special 

 legislation, or extraordinary bounties to promote that 

 increase. It has been found, however, that the opera- 

 tion of the draft, with the high bounties paid for army 

 recruits, is beginning to affect injuriously the naval 

 service, and will, if not corrected, be likely to impair 

 its efficiency by detaching seamen from their proper 

 vocation, and inducing them to enter the army. I 

 therefore respectfully suggest that Congress might 

 aid both the army and naval services by a definite pro- 

 vision on the subject, which would at the same time be 

 equitable to the communities more especially interested. 



I commend to your consideration the suggestions of 

 the Secretary of the Navy in regard to the policy of 

 fostering and training seamen, and also the education 

 of officers and engineers for the naval service. The 

 Naval Academy is rendering signal service in pre- 

 paring midshipmen for the highly responsible duties 

 which in after life they will be required to perform. In 

 order that the country should not be deprived of the 

 proper quota of educated officers, for which legal pro- 

 vision has been made at the Naval School, the vacan- 

 cies caused by the neglect or omission to make nomi- 

 nations from the States in insurrection have been filled 

 by the Secretary of the Navy. The school is now more 

 full and complete than at any former period, and in 

 every respect entitled to the favorable consideration of 

 Congress. 



During the past fiscal year the financial condition of 

 the Post Office Department has been one of increasing 

 prosperity, and I am gratified in being able to state 

 that the actual postal revenue has nearly equalled the 

 entire expenditures, the latter amounting to $11,314,- 

 206.84, and the former to $11,163,789.59, leaving a de- 

 ficiency of but $150,417.25. In 1860, the year immedi- 

 ately preceding the rebellion, the deficiency amounted 

 to $5,6;">6,705.49, the postal receipts of that year being 

 $2,645,722.19 less than those of 1863. 



The decrease since 1860 in the annual amount of 

 transportation has been only about twenty-five per 

 cent., but the annual expenditure on account of the 

 same has been reduced thirty-five percent. It is mani- 

 fest, therefore, that the Post Office Department may 

 become self-sustaining in a few years, even with the 

 restoration of the whole service. 



The international conference of postal delegates from 

 the principal countries of Europe and America, which 

 was called at the suggestion of the Postmaster-Gen- 

 eral, met at Paris on the llth of May last, and con- 

 cluded its deliberations on the 8th of June. The prin- 

 ciples established by the conference as best adapted 

 to facilitate postal intercourse between nations, and as 

 the basis of future postal conventions, inaugurate a 

 general system of uniform international charges, at 

 reduced rates of postage, and cannot fail to produce 

 beneficial results. 



I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the In- 

 terior, which is herewith laid before you, for useful and 

 varied information in relation to the public lands, In- 

 dian affairs, patents, pensions, and other matters of 

 public concern pertaining to his Department. 



The quantity of land disposed of during the last and 

 the first quarter of the present fiscal year was three 

 million eight hundred and forty-one thousand five 

 hundred and forty-nine acres, of which one hundred 

 and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and. eleven acres 

 were sold for cash, one million four hundred and fifty- 

 six thousand five hundred and fourteen acres were 

 taken up under the homestead law, and the residue 

 disposed of under laws granting lands for military 

 bounties, for railroad, and other purposes. It also ap- 

 pears that^the sale of the public lands is largely on the 

 increase. 



It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our 

 wisest statesmen that the people of the United States 

 had a higher and more enduring interest in the early 

 settlement and substantial cultivation of the public 

 lands than in the amount of direct revenue to be de- 

 rived from the sale of them. This opinion has had a 

 controlling influence in shaping legislation upon the 

 subject of our national domain. 



I may cite, as evidence of this, the liberal measures 

 adopted in reference to actual settlers ; the grant to 

 the States of the overflowed land within their limits, in 

 order to their being reclaimed and rendered fit for culti- 

 vation ; the grants to railway companies of alternate sec- 

 tions of lancf upon the contemplated lines of theirroads, 

 which, when completed, will so largely multiply the 

 facilities for reaching our distant possessions. This 

 policy has received its most signal and beneficent 

 illustration in the recent enactment granting home- 

 steads to actual settlers. 



Since the first day of January last the before-men- 

 tioned quantity of one million four hundred and fifty- 

 six thousand five hundred and fourteen acres of land 

 have been taken up under its provisions. This fact 

 and the amount of sales furnish gratifying evidence of 

 increasing settlement upon the public lands, notwith- 

 standing the great struggle in which the energies of 

 the nation have been engaged, and which has required 

 so large a withdrawal of our citizens from their accus- 

 tomed pursuits. 



I cordially concur in the recommendation of the Sec- 

 retary of the Interior, suggesting a modification of the 

 act in favor of those engaged in the military and naval 

 service of the United States. I doubt not that Con- 

 gress will cheerfully adopt such measures as will, 

 without essentially changing the general features of 

 the system, secure, to the greatest practicable exten^ 



