I'l IM.IC !<)( 1 MKN1S. 



.^ire, $810,000,000 making the total 



'. i ..MI 1S4U to 1857, 



:;lollllted til -71,- 



80, inclusive, to $148,000,000 ; 



lu-ive, $822,000,000 



<>f net exports since 1849, 



.,'uro show an excess of pn>- 



,>ort8 of $183,000,000. There 



1,000,000 in coin, something more 



in circulation on the Pacific coast, 



: llimis in tlio national iinil other Imnks 



in ui: This, however, taking 



.-.-omit tin- speric in the country prior t>. 



than three hundred millions of dollars 

 which have not been accounted for by exportation, 

 and therefore may yet remain in the country. 

 Thc-e are important facts, and show how com- 



Ethe inferior currency will supersede the 

 . forcing it from circulation among the masses, 



.IIMM;; it to he exported as a mere article of 

 tr.i.ii'. t mid to the money capital of foreign lands. 



show the necessity of retiring our paper 



t the return of gold and silver to the 



avenues of trade may be invited, and a demand 



1 which will cause the retention at homo of 



-t so much of the productions of our rich and 



uMi'ole gold-bearing fields as may be sufficient 

 for purposes of circulation. It is unreasonable to 

 to return to u sound currency so long as the 

 nmcnt, by continuing to issue irredeemable 

 notes, fills the channels of circulation with depreci- 

 ated paper. Notwithstanding coinage by our mints, 

 ;' eight hundred and seventy-four millions 

 of dollars, the people are now strangers to the cur- 

 rency which was designed for their use and benefit, 

 and specimens of the precious metals bearing 

 national device are seldom seen, except 

 when produced to gratify the interest excited by 

 their novelty. If depreciated paper is to be con- 

 tinned as the permanent currency of the country, 

 and all our coin is to become a mere article of traffic 

 and speculation, to the enhancement in price of all 

 that is indispensable to the comfort of the people, it 

 would be wise economy to abolish our mints, thus 

 saving the nation the care and expense incident to 

 such establishments, and let all our precious metals 

 be exported in bullion. The time has come, how- 

 ever, when the Government and national banks 

 should be required to take the most efficient steps 

 and make all necessary arrangements for a re- 

 sumption of specie payments at the earliest practi- 

 cable period. Specie payments having been once 



:ed by the Government and banks, all notes or 

 bills of paper issued by either of a less denomination 

 than twenty dollars should, by law, be excluded 

 from circulation, so that the people may have the 

 benefit and convenience of a gold and silver cur- 

 which, in nil their business transactions, will 

 be uniform in value at home and abroad. 



"Kverv man of property or industry, every man 

 who desires to preserve what he honestly possesses, 

 or to obtain what he can honestly earn, has a direct 

 interest in maintaining a safe circulating medium 

 such a medium as shall be real and substantial, not 

 liable to vibrate with opinions; not subject to be 

 blown up or down by the breath of speculation, but 

 to be made stable and secure. A disordered cur- 

 rency is one of the greatest political evils. It under- 

 lain, -s (lie virtues necessary for the support of the 

 social system, and encourages propensities destruc- 

 tive of its happiness ; it, wars against industry, 

 frugality, and economy, and it fosters the evil spirits 

 of extravagance and speculation." It has been 

 asserted by one of our profound and most gifted 



urn, that " of all the contrivances for cheating 

 tin- laboring classes of mankind, none has been more 



i.il than that which deludes them with 

 money. This is the mo-t ell.-ctual of inventions to 

 fertilize the rich man's fields by the sweat of the 

 poor man's brow. Ordinary tyranny, oppression, 



exceiiive taxation these bear lightly on the happi- 

 ness of the maun of the community compartd with a 

 fraudulent currency and the robbci 



. lepreei.it, -d paper. Our own hi 



for our iiistnietioii enough, and more than CM. 

 of the demor:ili/in'_' tendency, the injustice, ar 

 intolerable oppression, on the virtuous and w- 

 nosed, of a degraded paper currency, authorized by 

 law, or in any way countenanced tyr Government." 

 It is one of the most successful devices, in times of 

 peace or war, expansions or revulsions, to accom- 

 pli -h the transfer of all the precious metals from the 

 great mass of the people into the hands of the few, 



they are hoarded in secret places, or dep 

 in strong boxes, under bolts and bars, while the 

 people are left to endure all the inconveniences, 

 sacrifice, and demoralization resulting from the use 

 of a depreciated and worthless paper money. 



The condition of our finances and the operations 

 of our revenue system are set forth and fully ex- 

 plained in the able and instructive rcp> rt of the Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury. On the 30th of June, 1866, 

 the public debt amounted to $2,783,425,879; on the 

 80th of June last it was $2,692,199,215, showing a 

 reduction during the fiscal year of $91,226,664. Dur- 

 ing the fiscal year ending June 80, 1867, the receipts 

 were $490,684,010, and the expenditures $340,729,129, 

 leaviig an available surplus of $143,904,880. It i- 

 estimated that the receipts for the fiscal vear ending 

 June 30, 1868, will be $417,161, 928, and that the ex- 

 penditures will reach the sum of $898,269,226, leaving 

 in the Treasury a surplus of $23,892,702. For the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, 1869, it is estimated that 

 the receipts will amount to $381,000,000, and that the 

 expenditures will be $372,000,000, showing an excess 

 of $9,000,000 in favor of the Government. 



The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to 

 the necessity of a thorough revision of our revenue 

 system. Our internal revenue laws and impost system 

 should be so adjusted as to bear most heavily on arti- 

 cles of luxury, leaving the necessaries of life as free 

 from taxation as may be consistent with the real 

 wants of the Government, economically administered. 

 Taxation would not then fall unduly on the man of 

 moderate means ; and while none would be entirely 

 exempt from assessment, all, in proportion to their 

 pecuniary abilities, would contribute toward the 

 support of the State. A modification of the internal 

 revenue system, by a large reduction in the number 

 of articles now subject to tax, would be followed by 

 results equally advantageous to the citizen and the 

 Government. It would render the execution of the 

 law less expensive and more certain, remove obstruc- 

 tions to industry, lessen the temptations to evade the 

 law, diminish the violations ana frauds perpetrated 

 upon its provisions, make its operations less inquisi- 

 torial, and greatly reduce in numbers the army of 

 tax-gatherers created by the system, who " take 

 from the mouth of honest labor the bread it has 

 earned." Retrenchment, reform, and economy should 

 be carried into every branch of the public service, 

 that the expenditures of the Government may be re- 

 duced, and the people relieved from oppressive tax- 

 ation ; a sound currency should be restored, and the 

 public faith in regard to the national debt sacredly 

 observed. The accomplishment of these important 

 results, together with the restoration of the Union of 

 the States upon the principles of the Constitution, 

 would inspire confidence at home and abroad in the 

 stability of on- institutions, and bring to the nation 

 prosperity, peace, and good-will. 



The report of the Secretary of War ad interim ex- 

 hibits the operations of the army and of the several 

 bureaus of the War Department. The aggregate 

 strength of our military force, on the 3"th of Septem- 

 .^, was 515,315. 'The total estimate for military 



of the War Department from January 1 to October 



