634 Presidential Addresses 



trials and fatigues to which they are of necessity 

 subjected. 



There is not a cloud on the horizon at present. 

 There seems not the slightest chance of trouble with 

 a foreign power. We most earnestly hope that this 

 state of things may continue ; and the way to insure 

 its continuance is to provide for a thoroughly effi- 

 cient navy. The refusal to maintain such a navy 

 would invite trouble, and if trouble came would en- 

 sure disaster. Fatuous self-complacency or vanity, 

 or short-sightedness in refusing to prepare for dan- 

 ger, is both foolish and wicked in such a nation as 

 ours ; and past experience has shown that such fatu- 

 ity in refusing to recognize or prepare for any crisis 

 in advance is usually succeeded by a mad panic of 

 hysterical fear once the crisis has actually arrived. 



The striking increase in the revenues of the Post- 

 Office Department shows clearly the prosperity of 

 our people and the increasing activity of the business 

 of the country. 



The receipts of the Post-Office Department for 

 the fiscal year ending June 30 last amounted to $121,- 

 848,047.26, an increase of $10,216,853.87 over the 

 preceding year, the largest increase known in the his- 

 tory of the postal service. The magnitude of this 

 increase will best appear from the fact that the en- 

 tire postal receipts for the year 1860 amounted to 

 but $8,518,067. 



Rural free-delivery service is no longer in the ex- 

 perimental stage ; it has become a fixed policy. The 



