CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



137 



Dec. 5 the Congress notified the President that 

 it was ready to proceed to business, and he sent 

 in his annual message, as follows: 



To the Senate and House of Representatives: 



At the threshold of your deliberations you are 

 called to mourn with your countrymen the death 

 of Vice-President Hobart, who passed from this 

 life on the morning of Nov. 21 last. His great 

 soul now rests in eternal peace. His private life 

 was pure and elevated, while his public career was 

 ever distinguished by large capacity, stainless in- 

 tegrity, and exalted motives. He has been re- 

 moved from the high office which he honored and 

 dignified, but his lofty character, his devotion to 

 duty, his honesty of purpose, and noble virtues 

 remain with us as a priceless legacy and example. 



The Fifty-sixth Congress convenes in its first 

 regular session with the country in a condition of 

 unusual prosperity, of universal good will among 

 the people at home, and in relations of peace 

 and friendship with every government of the 

 world. Our foreign commerce has shown great 

 increase in volume and value. The combined 

 imports and exports for the year are the largest 

 ever shown by a single year in all our his- 

 tory. Our exports for 1899 alone exceeded by 

 more than a billion dollars our imports and ex- 

 ports combined in 1870. The imports per capita 

 are 20 per cent, less than in 1870, Avhile the ex- 

 ports per capita are 58 per cent, more than in 

 1870, showing the enlarged capacity of the United 

 States to satisfy the wants of its own increasing 

 population, as well as to contribute to those of 

 the peoples of other nations. 



Exports of agricultural products were $784,- 

 776,142. Of manufactured products we exported 

 in value $339,592,146, being larger than any pre- 

 vious year. It is a noteworthy fact that the only 

 years in all our history when the products of our 

 manufactories sold abroad exceeded those bought 

 abroad were 1898 and 1899. 



Government receipts from all sources for the 

 fiscal year ended June 30, 1899, including $11,- 

 798,314.14, part payment of the Central Pacific 

 Railroad indebtedness, aggregated $610,982,004.35. 

 Customs receipts were $206,128,481.75, and those 

 from internal revenue $273,437,161.51. 



For the fiscal year the expenditures were $700,- 

 093,564.02, leaving a deficit of $89,111,559.67. 



The Secretary of the Treasury estimates that 

 the receipts for the current fiscal year will aggre- 

 gate $640,958,112, and upon the basis of present 

 appropriations the expenditures will aggregate 

 $000,958,112, leaving a surplus of $40.000,000. 



For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1899, the 

 internal-revenue receipts were increased about 

 $100,000,000. 



The present gratifying strength of the Treasury 

 is shown by the fact that on Dec. 1, 1899, the 

 available cash balance was $278,004,837.72, of 

 which $239,744,905.36 was in gold coin and bul- 

 lion. The conditions of confidence which prevail 

 throughout the country have brought gold into 

 more general use, and customs receipts arc now 

 almost entirely paid in that coin. 



The strong position of the Treasury with re- 

 spect to cash on hand and the favorable showing 

 made by the revenues have made it possible for 

 the Secretary of the Treasury to take action un- 

 der the provisions of section 3694, Revised Stat- 

 utes, relating to the sinking fund. Receipts ex- 

 ceeded expenditures for the first five months of 

 the current fiscal year by $13,413,389.91, and, as 

 mentioned above, the Secretary of the Treasury 

 estimates that there will be a surplus of approx- 

 imately $40,000,000 at the end of the year. Under 





such conditions it was deemed advisable and 

 proper to resume compliance with the provisions 

 of the sinking-fund law, which for eight years has 

 not been done because of deficiencies in the rev- 

 enues. The Treasury Department therefore of- 

 fered to purchase during November $25,000,000 

 of the 5-per-cent. loan of 1904, or the 4-per-cent. 

 funded loan of 1907, at the current market price. 

 The amount offered and purchased during Novem- 

 ber was $18,408,600. The premium paid by the 

 Government on such purchases was $2,263,521, and 

 the net saving in interest was about $2,885,000. 

 The success of this operation was sufficient to in- 

 duce the Government to continue the offer to 

 purchase bonds to and including the 23d day of 

 December, instant, unless the remainder of the 

 $25,000,000 called for should be presented in the 

 meantime for redemption. 



Increased activity in industry, with its wel- 

 come attendant a larger employment for labor at 

 higher wages gives to the body of the people a 

 larger power to absorb the circulating medium. 

 It is further true that year by year, with larger 

 areas of land under cultivation, the increasing 

 volume of agricultural products, cotton, corn, and 

 wheat, calls for a larger volume of money supply. 

 This is especially noticeable at the crop-harvesting 

 and crop-moving period. 



In its earlier history the national banking act 

 seemed to prove a reasonable avenue through 

 which needful additions to the circulation could 

 from time to time be made. Changing conditions 

 have apparently rendered it now inoperative to 

 that end. The high margin in bond securities 

 required, resulting from large premiums which 

 Government bonds command in the market, or 

 the tax on note issues, or both operating together, 

 appear to be the influences which impair its public 

 utility. 



The attention of Congress is respectfully in- 

 vited to this important matter with the view of 

 ascertaining whether or not such reasonable modi- 

 fications can be made in the national banking 

 act as will render its service in the particulars 

 here referred to more responsive to the people's 

 needs. I again urge that national banks be 

 authorized to organi/e with a capital of $25,000. 



I urgently recommend that to support the exist- 

 ing gold standard, and to maintain " the parity 

 in value of the coins of the two metals (gold and 

 silver) and the equal power of every dollar at all 

 times in the market and in the payment of debts," 

 the Secretary of the Treasury be given additional 

 power and charged with the duty to sell United 

 States bonds and to employ such other effective 

 means as may be necessary to these ends. The 

 authority should include the power to sell bonds 

 on long and short time, as conditions may re- 

 quire, and should provide for a rate of interest 

 lower than that fixed by the act of Jan. 14, 1875. 

 While there is now no commercial fright which 

 withdraws gold from the Government, but, on the 

 contrary, such widespread confidence that gold 

 seeks the Treasury demanding paper money in 

 exchange, yet the very situation points to the 

 present as the most fitting time to make ade- 

 quate provision to insure the continuance of the 

 gold standard and of public confidence in the abil- 

 ity and purpose of the Government to meet all 

 its obligations in the money which the civilized 

 world recognizes as the best. The financial trans- 

 actions of the Government are conducted upon a 

 gold basis. We receive gold when we sell United 

 States bonds, and use gold for their payment. We 

 are maintaining the parity of all the money issued 

 or coined by authority of the Government. We 

 are doing these things with the means at hand. 



