PUBLIC DOCUMENTS 



689 



by Congress, and no bank note circulation not se- 

 cured by the Government. That the Government 

 and the people will derive great benefit from this 

 change in the banking systems of the country can 

 hardly be questioned. The national system will 

 create a reliable and permanent influence in support 

 of the national credit, and protect the people against 

 losses in the use of paper money. ^ nether or not 

 any further legislation is advisable for the sup- 

 pression of State bank issues, it will be for Congress 

 to determine. It seems quite clear that the Treasury 

 cannot be satisfactorily conducted unless the Gov- 

 ernment can exercise a restraining power over the 

 bank note circulation of the country. 



The report of the Secretary of War and the ac- 

 companying documents will detail the campaigns of 

 the armies in the field since the date of the last an- 

 nual message, and also the operations of the several 

 administrative bureaus of the War Department dur- 

 ing the last year. It will also specify the measures 

 deemed essential for the national defence, and to 

 keep up and supply the requisite military force. 



The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents 

 a comprehensive and satisfactory exhibit of the 

 affairs of that department and of the naval service. 

 It ia a subject of congratulation and laudable pride 

 to our countrymen that a navy of such vast propor- 

 tions has been organized in so brief a period, and 

 conducted with so much efficiency and success. 



The general exhibit of the navy, including vessels 

 under construction on the 1st of December, 1864, 

 shows a total of 671 vessels, carrying 4,610 guns, and 

 of 510,303 tons, being an increase during the year 

 over and above all losses in shipwreck or in battle, 

 of 83 vessels, 107 gun?, and 4-'.4'.7 tons. The total 

 number of men at this time in the naval service, in- 

 cluding officers, is about 51,000. 



There have been captured by the navy during the 

 year 324 vessels, and the whole number of naval cap- 

 tures since hostilities commenced is 1,379, of which 

 237 are steamers. 



The gross proceeds arising from the sale of con- 

 demned prize property, thus tar reported, amount to 

 14,390, io'.\51. A large amount of such proceeds is 

 still under adjudication and yet to be reported. 



The total expenditure of the Navy Department of 

 every description, including the cost of the immense 

 squadrons that have been called into existence from 

 the 4th of March, 1861, to the 1st of November, 1864, 

 arei-.. 



Your favorable consideration is invited to the va- 

 rious recommendations of the Secretary of the Navy, 

 especially in regard to a navy yard and suitable es- 

 tablishment for the construction and repair of iron 

 vessels, and the machinery and armature for our 

 ships, to which reference was made in my last an- 

 nual message. 



Your attention is also invited to the views ex- 

 pressed in the report in relation to the legislation of 

 Congress at its last session in respect to prize on our 

 inland waters. 



I cordially concur in the recommendation of the 

 Secretary as to the propriety of creating the new 

 rank of vice-admiral in our naval service. 



Your attention is invited to the report of the Post- 

 master General for a detailed account of the opera- 

 tions and financial condition of the Post Office De- 

 partment. 



The postal revenues for the year ending June 30, 

 1884, amounted to -$:_ . and the expen- 



ditures to 812,644,786.20 ; the excess of expenditures 

 over receipts being 206, 652.42. 



The views presented by the Postmaster General on 

 the subject of special grants by the Government in 

 aid of the establishment of new lines of ocean mail 

 steamships, and the policy he recommends for the 

 development of increased commercial intercourse 

 with adjacent and neighboring countries, should re- 

 ceive the careful consideration of Congress. 



it is of noteworthy interest that the steady expan- 



VOL. IT. 14 A 



sion of population, improvement, and gi renimentul 

 institutions over the new and unoccupied portions 

 of our country have scarcely been checked, much 

 iipeded or destroyed, by our great civil war, 

 which at first glance would seem to have absorbed 

 almost the entire energies of the nation. 



The organization and admission of the State of 

 Nevada has been completed in conformity with law, 

 and thus our excellent system is firmly established 

 in the mountains, which once seemed a barren and 

 uninhabitable waste between the Atlantic States and 

 those which have grown up on the coast of the Pa- 

 cific Ocean. 



The Territories of the Union are generally in a 

 condition of prosperity and rapid growth. Idaho 

 and Montana, by reason of their great distance and 

 the interruption of communication with them by In- 

 dian hostilities, have been only partially organized ; 

 but it is understood that these difficulties are about 

 to disappear, which will permit their governments, 

 like those of the others, to go into speedy and full 

 operation. 



As intimately connected with and promotive of 

 this material growth of the nation, I ask the atten- 

 tion of Congress to the valuable information and im- 

 portant recommendations relating to the public lands, 

 Indian affairs, the Pacific Railroad, and mineral dis- 

 coveries, contained in the report of the Secretary of 

 the Interior, which is herewith transmitted, and 

 which report also embraces the subjects of patents, 

 pensions, and other topics of public interest pertain- 

 ing to his department. 



The quantity of public land disposed of during tbe 

 five quarters ending on the SOth of September last, 

 was 4,221,342 acres, of which 1,533,614 acres were 

 entered under the homestead law. The remainder 

 was located with military land warrants, agricul- 

 tural scrip certified to States for railroads, anil sold 

 for cash. The cash received for sales and location 

 fees was $1, 019, -146. 



The income from sales during the fiscal year end- 

 ing June 30, 1804, was $678,007.21, against 

 received during the preceding year. The aggregate 

 number of acres surveyed during the year has b~eu 

 equal to the quantity disposed of; and there is open 

 to settlement about 138,000,000 acres of surveyed land. 



The great enterprise of connecting the Atlantic 

 with the Pacific States by railways and telegraph 

 lines has been entered upo'n with a vigor that gives 

 assurance of success notwithstanding the embarrass- 

 ments arising from the prevailing high prices of ma- 

 terials and labor. The route of the main line of the 

 road has been definitely located for one hundred 

 miles westward from the initial point of Omaha City, 

 Nebraska, and a preliminary location of the Pacific 

 Railroad of California has been made from Sacra- 

 mento eastward to the great bend of the Truekee 

 River in Nevada. 



Numerous discoveries of gold, silver, and cinnabar 

 mines have been added to the many heretofore known, 

 and the country occupied by the Sierra Nevada and 

 Rocky Mountains and the subordinate ranges, now 

 teems with enterprising labor, which is richly re- 

 munerative. It is believed that the product o'f the 

 mines of precious metals in that region has during 

 the year reached, if not exceeded, one hundred mill- 

 ions in value. 



It was recommended in my last annual message 

 that our Indian system be rem'odelled. Congress, lit 

 its last session, "acting upon the recommendation, 

 did provide for reorganizing the system in California; 

 and it is believed ttiat under tbe present organization 

 the management of the Indians there will be attended 

 with reasonable success. Much yet remains to be 

 done to provide for the" proper government of the 

 Indians in other parts of the country to render it 

 secure for the advancing settler, and to provide for 

 the welfare of the Indian. Th.e Secretary reiterates 

 his recommendations, and to them the attention of 

 Congress is invited. 



