For the remaining three-quarters of the current fiscal year it is esti mated that the receipts will be: For the same period it is estimated that the expenditures will be: This will leave $44,800,000 surplus revenue applicable to the purchase or redemption of the public debt. The amount required for this purpose, under the sinking-fund law, for the year, will be about $29,200,000. It is estimated that the receipts for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874, will be: The foregoing estimates are based upon the amount of revenue collected since the acts of May and June, 1872, went into operation; but the imports have been large, and considerable sums have been obtained by internal revenue officers on account of old taxes and claims; hence it will be wise to leave the sources of revenue undisturbed for the present session. It is estimated that the expenditures for the same period will be: For civil expenses. Foreign intercourse. Indians.. Pensions. Military establishment, including fortifications, chinery and improvements at navy yards..... Interest on the public debt.... Total.... Leaving the estimated surplus revenue.. $18, 000, 000 00 1,325,000 00 5, 700, 000 00 30, 500, 000 00 36,000,000 00 22, 500, 000 00 41, 500, 000 00 98, 000, 000 00 3,875,000 00 29, 200, 000 00 286, 600, 000 00 $33, 700, 000 00 The estimates received from the several Executive Departments show that the following amounts will be required for the same period: Legislative ... Executive. Judicial.. Foreign intercourse. Military Naval... Indians.. Pensions .. Public works Postal deficiency Postal subsidies. Miscellaneous Permanent .... Interest on public debt. Interest on Pacific Railway stocks. Total... $2,973, 274 40 17, 129, 261 90 3,587, 050 00 1,326, 754 00 32, 894, 854 84 20, 151, 220 15 5,700, 975 28 30, 500, 000 00 29, 687, 345 69 6, 310, 602 00 1,100, 000 00 9,596, 974 52 16, 293, 163 49 98, 000, 000 00 3,877, 410 72 29, 191, 369 28 308, 323, 256 27 The reduction in taxation since the close of the war is estimated to have been By the acts of March 31, 1868, and July 20, 1868....... 45, 000, 000 Since the institution of the sinking fund, in May, 1869, and in accordance with the act of February 25, 1862, there has been purchased on this account, up to and including June 30, 1872, $99,397,600 in bonds of the various issues known as five-twenties, at a net cost in currency of $110,997,185 89, or an estimated cost, in gold, of $94,097,243 82. In addition to the purchases for the sinking fund, bonds have been purchased to the amount of $173,237,950, at a net cost, in currency, of $195,008,288 53, or an estimated cost, in gold, of $163,376,054 35. The cost of these bonds, estimated in gold, has varied from $82 21 per $100 to $99 99 per $100-the most recent purchase being at the rate of $98 66 per $100. The average cost, in gold, of the whole amount of the purchases, up to and including the last day of September, was $94 64 per $100. In this connection I would call attention to the various tables accompanying this report, which furnish elaborate details of the money oper ations and accounts of the Government. The condition of our carrying trade with foreign countries is always a subject of interest, and at the present moment it is one of solicitude. The imports and exports of the United States, excluding gold and silver, amounted to $1,070,641,163, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1872, and of this vast trade only 281 per cent. was in American vessels. In the year 1860 nearly 71 per cent. of our foreign commerce was in American ships; but in 1864 it had fallen to 46 per cent., in 1868 to 44 per cent., and in 1871 to less than 38 per cent. The earnings of vessels engaged in the foreign carrying trade probably exceed one hundred million dollars a year, of which less than one-third is earned under our own flag. The act of Congress allowing a drawback on foreign articles used in the construction of American vessels has given encouragement to shipbuilding; but I am of opinion that this measure is entirely inadequate. When we consider that nearly three-fourths of the foreign commerce of the country is under foreign flags, it is plain that there can be no considerable and speedy change unless the Government shall act at once and in a liberal and comprehensive spirit. The rise in the price of iron and the advance in the wages of labor in England during the past year favor the Government and people of the United States; but this advantage, due to natural causes, should not lead us to trust the future to the force of those causes, but should induce us rather to act at once and with vigor. It may happen that we cannot regain the control of the direct trade between Europe and the United States, but there is an immense field to be occupied upon the Pacific Ocean and in the South Atlantic. England controls the markets of the world by controlling the channels of communication, and I am convinced that a wonderful impetus will be given to the agricultural and manufacturing interests of the country by the increase of our commercial marine. Merchants in distant countries must purchase goods at points with which they have frequent and regular communication, and when such communication exists with one country only, the cost of merchandise becomes unimportant, as there are no means of comparison; nor is there opportunity for the advantages of competition. Hence a great producing country can afford to estab lish and maintain lines of steamships upon the ocean, as the indirect benefits will much exceed the cost. The details of our trade with foreign countries, as represented by the returns made to the Statistical Bureau, are also unsatisfactory. From these returns it appears that the imports of merchandise for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1872, were $626,595,077, and the exports estimated in gold, were $444,046,086, showing a balance against the country of $182,548,991. This balance is in some degree apparent rather than real. On the 30th of June, 1871, the value of goods remaining in warehouse was $68,324,659, while on the 30th of June, 1872, it was $122,211,266, showing an excess at the close of the last fiscal year of $53,886,607. Deducting this excess, we have a balance based upon the actual consumption of the country of $128,662,384. From this a further reduction should be made of $66,133,845, being the excess of exports over the imports of gold. After these deductions there still remains an adverse balance of $62,528,539. This adverse balance has been met probably by freight on merchandise carried in American vessels, profits on exports made on account of American merchants and shippers, the sale of bonds abroad, and investments in the United States by inhabitants of other countries. The exports of merchandise for the year 1872 were $13,298,933 less than for the year 1871. The exports of wheat, wheat flour, raw cotton, cotton manufactures, gold and silver, fire-arms, manufactures of leather, illuminating oil, and beef, fell off $82,066,325, while there was a gain of $68,767,392 in the exports of corn, furs, hides, skins, bacon, hams, lard, leaf tobacco, manufactures of iron, wood, leather, and many minor articles. There was an increase of exports in every branch of manufactures, except cotton, leather, and fire-arms. The decrease of our exports in wheat and wheat flour was twelve million dollars; raw cotton, thirty-seven million dollars; manufactured cotton, one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; gold and silver, eleven million six hundred thousand dollars; fire-arms, twelve million dollars; manufactures of leather, six hundred thousand dollars; illuminating oils, three million five hundred thousand dollars; and beef, two million dollars. The statistics of imports show an increase of seven million in coffee, eighteen million in sugar, nearly six million in tea, nearly three million in tin plates, more than seventeen million in raw wool, two million in pig iron, ten million in manufactures of iron, five million in manufac tures of cotton, four million in manufactures of silk, and about seven million in manufactures of wool. These statistics are not presented as affording a basis for legislation, but rather because they are exceptional in character, and not likely to be repeated. During the last year thorough examinations have been made of the Mint at Philadelphia, aud of the branch mints at San Francisco and Carson City, and exhaustive reports upon the condition of each, and also upon several questions of a general character connected with the mint service, made by Doctor Linderman and Professor Rogers, are to be printed for the use of the Department and Congress. From these reports it appears that the service is in a satisfactory condition. In the last ten years the commercial value of silver has depreciated about three per cent. as compared with gold, and its use as currency has been discontinued by Germany and some other countries. The financial condition of the United States has prevented the use of silver as currency for more than ten years, and I am of opinion that upon grounds of public policy no attempt should be made to introduce it, but that the coinage should be limited to commercial purposes, and designed exclusively for commercial uses with other nations. |