in the country was $2,240,773,88.8, as against $2,204,651,000 on the
1st day of November, 1893, and the money of all kinds in circulation,
or not included in the Treasury holdings, was $1,672,093,422, or $24.27
per capita upon an estimated population of 68,887,000. At the same date
there was held in the Treasury gold bullion amounting to $44,615,177.55
and silver bullion which was purchased at a cost of $127,772,988. The
purchase of silver bullion under the act of July 14, 1890, ceased on
the 1st day of November, 1893, and up to that time there had been
purchased during the fiscal year 11,917,658.78 fine ounces, at a cost
of $8,715,521.32, an average cost of $0.7313 per fine ounce. The total
amount of silver purchased from the time that law took effect until the
repeal of its purchasing clause, on the date last mentioned, was
168,674,682.53 fine ounces, which cost $155,931,002.25, the average
price per fine ounce being $0.9244.
The total amount of standard silver dollars coined at the mints of the
United States since the passage of the act of February 28, 1878, is
$421,776,408, of which $378,166,793 were coined under the provisions of
that act, $38,531,143 under the provisions of the act of July 14, 1890,
and $5,078,472 under the act providing for the coinage of trade-dollar
bullion.
The total coinage of all metals at our mints during the last fiscal
year consisted of 63,485,220 pieces, valued at $106,216,730.06, of
which there were $99,474,912.50 in gold coined, $758 in standard silver
dollars, $6,024,140.30 in subsidiary silver coin, and $716,919.26 in
minor coin.
During the calendar year 1893 the production of precious metals in the
United States was estimated at 1,739,323 fine ounces of gold of the
commercial and coinage value of $35,955,000 and 70,000,000 fine ounces
of silver of the bullion or market value of $46,800,000 and of the
coinage value of $77,576,000. It is estimated that on the 1st day of
July, 1894, the stock of metallic money in the United States,
consisting of coin and bullion, amounted to $1,251,640,958, of which
$627,923,201 was gold and $624,347,757 was silver.
Fifty national banks were organized during the year ending October 31,
1894, with a capital of $5,285,000, and 79, with a capital of
$10,475,000, went into voluntary liquidation. Twenty-one banks, with a
capital of $2,770,000, were placed in the hands of receivers. The total
number of national banks in existence on the 31st day of October last
was 3,756, being 40 less than on the 31st day of October, 1893. The
capital stock paid in was $672,671,365, being $9,678,491 less than at
the same time in the previous year, and the surplus fund and individual
profits, less expenses and taxes paid, amounted to $334,121,082.10,
which was $16,089,780 less than on October 31, 1893. The circulation
was decreased $1,741,563. The obligations of the banks to each other
were increased $117,268,334 and the individual deposits were
$277,294,489 less than at the corresponding date in the previous year.
Loans and discounts were $161,206,923 more than at the same time the
previous year, and checks and other cash items were $90,349,963 more.
The total resources of the banks at the date mentioned amounted to
$3,473,922,055, as against $3,109,563,184.36 in 1893.
From the report of the Secretary of War it appears that the strength of
the Army on September 30, 1894, was 2,135 officers and 25,765 enlisted
men. Although this is apparently a very slight decrease compared with
the previous year, the actual effective force has been increased to the
equivalent of nearly two regiments through the reorganization of the
system of recruiting and the consequent release to regimental duty of
the large force of men hitherto serving at the recruiting depots. The
abolition of these depots, it is predicted, will furthermore effect an
annual reduction approximating $250,000 in the direct expenditures,
besides promoting generally the health, morale, and discipline of the
troops.
The execution of the policy of concentrating the Army at important
centers of population and transportation, foreshadowed in the last
annual report of the Secretary, has resulted in the abandonment of
fifteen of the smaller posts, which was effected under a plan which
assembles organizations of the same regiments hitherto widely
separated. This renders our small forces more readily effective for any
service which they may be called upon to perform, increases the extent
of the territory under protection without diminishing the security
heretofore afforded to any locality, improves the discipline, training,
and esprit de corps of the Army, besides considerably decreasing the
cost of its maintenance.
Though the forces of the Department of the East have been somewhat
increased, more than three-fourths of the Army is still stationed west
of the Mississippi. This carefully matured policy, which secures the
best and greatest service in the interests of the general welfare from
the small force comprising our Regular Army, should not be
thoughtlessly embarrassed by the creation of new and unnecessary posts
through acts of Congress to gratify the ambitions or interests of
localities.
While the maximum legal strength of the Army is 25,000 men, the
effective strength, through various causes, is but little over 20,000
men. The purpose of Congress does not, therefore, seem to be fully
attained by the existing condition. While no considerable increase in
the Army is, in my judgment, demanded by recent events, the policy of
seacoast fortification, in the prosecution of which we have been
steadily engaged for some years, has so far developed as to suggest
that the effective strength of the Army be now made at least equal to
the legal strength. Measures taken by the Department during the year,
as indicated, have already considerably augmented the effective force,
and the Secretary of War presents a plan, which I recommend to the
consideration of Congress, to attain the desired end. Economies
effected in the Department in other lines of its work will offset to a
great extent the expenditure involved in the proposition submitted.
Among other things this contemplates the adoption of the
three-battalion formation of regiments, which for several years has
been indorsed by the Secretaries of War and the Generals Commanding the
Army. Compact in itself, it provides a skeleton organization, ready to
be filled out in the event of war, which is peculiarly adapted to our
strength and requirements; and the fact that every other nation, with a
single exception, has adopted this formation to meet the conditions of
modern warfare should alone secure for the recommendation an early
consideration.
It is hardly necessary to recall the fact that in obedience to the
commands of the Constitution and the laws, and for the purpose of
protecting the property of the United States, aiding the process of
Federal courts, and removing lawless obstructions to the performance by
the Government of its legitimate functions, it became necessary in
various localities during the year to employ a considerable portion of
the regular troops. The duty was discharged promptly, courageously, and
with marked discretion by the officers and men, and the most gratifying
proof was thus afforded that the Army deserves that complete confidence
in its efficiency and discipline which the country has at all times
manifested.
The year has been free from disturbances by Indians, and the chances of
further depredations on their part are constantly becoming more remote
and improbable.
The total .expenditures for the War Department for the year ended June
30, 1894, amounted to $56,039,009.34. Of this sum $2,000,614.99 was for
salaries and contingent expenses, $23,665,156.16 for the support of the
military establishment, $5,001,682.23 for miscellaneous objects, and
$25,371,555.96 for public works. This latter sum includes
$19,494,037.49 for river and harbor improvements and $3,947,863.56 for
fortifications and other works of defense. The appropriations for the
current year aggregate $52,429,112.78, and the estimates submitted by
the Secretary of War for the next fiscal year call for appropriations
amounting to $52,318,629.55.
The skill and industry of our ordnance officers and inventors have, it
is believed, overcome the mechanical obstacles which have heretofore
delayed the armament of our coasts, and this great national undertaking
upon which we have entered may now proceed as rapidly as Congress shall
determine. With a supply of finished guns of large caliber already on
hand, to which additions should now rapidly follow, the wisdom of
providing carriages and emplacements for their mount can not be too
strongly urged.
The total enrollment of the militia of the several States is 117,533
officers and enlisted men, an increase of 5,343 over the number
reported at the close of the previous year. The reports of militia
inspections by Regular Army officers show a marked increase in interest
and efficiency among the State organizations, and I strongly recommend
a continuance of the policy of affording every practical encouragement
possible to this important auxiliary of our military establishment.
The condition of the Apache Indians held as prisoners by the Government
for eight years at a cost of half a million dollars has been changed
during the year from captivity to one which gives them an opportunity
to demonstrate their capacity for self-support and at least partial
civilization. Legislation enacted at the late session of Congress gave
the War Department authority to transfer the survivors, numbering 346,
from Mount Vernon Barracks, in Alabama, to any suitable reservation.
The Department selected as their future home the military lands near
Fort Sill, Ind. T., where, under military surveillance, the former
prisoners have been established in agriculture under conditions
favorable to their advancement.
In recognition of the long and distinguished military services and
faithful discharge of delicate and responsible civil duties by
Major-General John M. Schofield, now the General Commanding the Army,
it is suggested to Congress that the temporary revival of the grade of
lieutenant-general in his behalf would be a just and gracious act and
would permit his retirement, now near at hand, with rank befitting his
merits.
The report of the Attorney-General notes the gratifying progress made
by the Supreme Court in overcoming the arrears of its business and in
reaching a condition in which it will be able to dispose of cases as
they arise without any unreasonable delay. This result is of course
very largely due to the successful working of the plan inaugurating
circuit courts of appeals. In respect to these tribunals the suggestion
is made, in quarters entitled to the highest consideration that an
additional circuit judge for each circuit would greatly strengthen
these courts and the confidence reposed in their adjudications, and
that such an addition would not create a greater force of judges than
the increasing business of such courts requires. I commend the
suggestion to the careful consideration of the Congress. Other
important topics are adverted to in the report, accompanied by
recommendations, many of which have been treated at large in previous
messages, and at this time, therefore, need only be named. I refer to
the abolition of the fee system as a measure of compensation to Federal
officers; the enlargement of the powers of United States commissioners,
at least in the Territories; the allowance of writs of error in
criminal cases on behalf of the United States, and the establishment of
degrees in the crime of murder. A topic dealt with by the
Attorney-General of much importance is the condition of the
administration of justice in the Indian Territory. The permanent
solution of what is called the Indian problem is probably not to be
expected at once, but meanwhile such ameliorations of present
conditions as the existing system will admit of ought not to be
neglected. I am satisfied there should be a Federal court established
for the Territory, with sufficient judges, and that this court should
sit within the Territory and have the same jurisdiction as to
Territorial affairs as is now vested in the Federal courts sitting in
Arkansas and Texas.
Another subject of pressing moment referred to by the Attorney-General
is the reorganization of the Union Pacific Railway Company on a basis
equitable as regards all private interests and as favorable to the
Government as existing conditions will permit. The operation of a
railroad by a court through a receiver is an anomalous state of things
which should be terminated on all grounds, public and private, at the
earliest possible moment. Besides, not to enact the needed enabling
legislation at the present session postpones the whole matter until the
assembling of a new Congress and inevitably increases all the
complications of the situation, and could not but be regarded as a
signal failure to solve a problem which has practically been before the
present Congress ever since its organization.
Eight years ago in my annual message I urged upon the Congress as
strongly as I could the location and construction of two prisons for
the confinement of United States prisoners. A similar recommendation
has been made from time to time since, and a few years ago a law was
passed providing for the selection of sites for three such
institutions. No appropriation has, however, been made to carry the act
into effect, and the old and discreditable condition still exists.
It is not my purpose at this time to repeat the considerations which
make an impregnable case in favor of the ownership and management by
the Government of the penal institutions in which Federal prisoners are
confined. I simply desire to again urge former recommendations on the
subject and to particularly call the attention of the Congress to that
part of the report of the Secretary of War in which he states that the
military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., can be turned over to the
Government as a prison for Federal convicts without the least
difficulty and with an actual saving of money from every point of view.
Pending a more complete reform, I hope that by the adoption of the
suggestion of the Secretary of War this easy step may be taken in the
direction of the proper care of its convicts by the Government of the
United States.
The report of the Postmaster-General presents a comprehensive statement
of the operations of the Post-Office Department for the last fiscal
year.
The receipts of the Department during the year amounted to
$75,080,479.04 and the expenditures to $84,324,414.15.
The transactions of the postal service indicate with barometric
certainty the fluctuations in the business of the country. Inasmuch,
therefore, as business complications continued to exist throughout the
last year to an unforeseen extent, it is not surprising that the
deficiency of revenue to meet the expenditures of the Post-Office
Department, which was estimated in advance at about $8,000,000, should
be exceeded by nearly $1,225,000. The ascertained revenues of the last
year, which were the basis of calculation for the current year, being
less than estimated, the deficiency for the current year will be
correspondingly greater, though the Postmaster-General states that the
latest indications are so favorable that he confidently predicts an
increase of at least 8 per cent in the revenues of the current year
over those of the last year.
The expenditures increase steadily and necessarily with the growth and
needs of the country, so that the deficiency is greater or less in any
year, depending upon the volume of receipts.
The Postmaster-General states that this deficiency is unnecessary and
might be obviated at once if the law regulating rates upon mail matter
of the second class was modified. The rate received for the
transmission of this second-class matter is 1 cent per pound, while the
cost of such transmission to the Government is eight times that amount.
In the general terms of the law this rate covers newspapers and
periodicals. The extensions of the meaning of these terms from time to
time have admitted to the privileges intended for legitimate newspapers
and periodicals a surprising range of publications and created abuses
the cost of which amounts in the aggregate to the total deficiency of
the Post-Office Department. Pretended newspapers are started by
business houses for the mere purpose of advertising goods, complying
with the law in form only and discontinuing the publications as soon as
the period of advertising is over. "Sample copies" of pretended
newspapers are issued in great numbers for a like purpose only. The
result is a great loss of revenue to the Government, besides its
humiliating use as an agency to aid in carrying out the scheme of a
business house to advertise its goods by means of a trick upon both its
rival houses and the regular and legitimate newspapers. Paper-covered
literature, consisting mainly of trashy novels, to the extent of many
thousands of tons is sent through the mails at 1 cent per pound, while
the publishers of standard works are required to pay eight times that
amount in sending their publications. Another abuse consists in the
free carriage through the mails of hundreds of tons of seed and grain
uselessly distributed through the Department of Agriculture. The
Postmaster-General predicts that if the law be so amended as to
eradicate these abuses not only will the Post-Office Department show no
deficiency, but he believes that in the near future all legitimate
newspapers and periodical magazines might be properly transmitted
through the mails to their subscribers free of cost. I invite your
prompt consideration of this subject and fully indorse the views of the
Postmaster-General.
The total number of post-offices in the United States on the 30th day
of June, 1894, was 69,805, an increase of 1,403 over the preceding
year. Of these, 3,428 were Presidential, an increase in that class of
68 over the preceding year.
Six hundred and ten cities and towns are provided with free delivery.
Ninety-three other cities and towns entitled to this service under the
law have not been accorded it on account of insufficient funds. The
expense of free delivery for the current fiscal year will be more than
$12,300,000, and under existing legislation this item of expenditure is
subject to constant increase. The estimated cost of rural free delivery
generally is so very large that it ought not to be considered in the
present condition of affairs.
During the year 830 additional domestic money-order offices were
established. The total number of these offices at the close of the year
was 19,264. There were 14,304,041 money orders issued during the year,
being an increase over the preceding year of 994,306. The value of
these orders amounted to $138,793,579.49, an increase of
$11,217,145.84. There were also issued during the year postal notes
amounting to $12,649,094.55.
During the year 218 international money-order offices were added to
those already established, making a total of 2,625 such offices in
operation June 30, 1894. The number of international money orders
issued during the year was 917,823, a decrease in number of 138,176,
and their value was $13,792,455.31, a decrease in amount of
$2,549,382.55. The number of orders paid was 361,180, an increase over
the preceding year of 60,263, and their value was $6,568,493.78, an
increase of $1,285,118.08.
From the foregoing statements it appears that the total issue of money
orders and postal notes for the year amounted to $165,235,129.35.
The number of letters and packages mailed during the year for special
delivery was 3,436,970. The special-delivery stamps used upon these
letters and packages amounted to $343,697. The messengers fees paid for
their delivery amounted to $261,209.70, leaving a balance in favor of
the Government of $82,487.30.
The report shows most gratifying results in the way of economies worked
out without affecting the efficiency of the postal service. These
consist in the abrogation of steamship subsidy contracts, reletting of
mail transportation contracts, and in the cost and amount of supplies
used in the service, amounting in all to $16,619,047.42.
This report also contains a valuable contribution to the history of the
Universal Postal Union, an arrangement which amounts practically to the
establishment of one postal system for the entire civilized world.
Special attention is directed to this subject at this time in view of
the fact that the next congress of the union will meet in Washington in
1897, and it is hoped that timely action will be taken in the direction
of perfecting preparations for that event.
The Postmaster-General renews the suggestion made in a previous report
that the Department organization be increased to the extent of creating
a direct district supervision of all postal affairs, and in this
suggestion I fully concur.
There are now connected with the Post-Office establishment 32,661
employees who are in the classified service. This includes many who
have been classified upon the suggestion of the Postmaster-General. He
states that another year's experience at the head of the Department
serves only to strengthen the conviction as to the excellent working of
the civil-service law in this branch of the public service.
Attention is called to the report of the Secretary of the Navy, which
shows very gratifying progress in the construction of ships for our new
Navy. All the vessels now building, including the three torpedo boats
authorized at the last session of Congress and excepting the
first-class battle ship Iowa, will probably be completed during the
coming fiscal year.
The estimates for the increase of the Navy for the year ending June 30,
1896, are large, but they include practically the entire sum necessary
to complete and equip all the new ships not now in commission, so that
unless new ships are authorized the appropriations for the naval
service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, should fall below the
estimates for the coming year by at least $12,000,000.
The Secretary presents with much earnestness a plea for the
authorization of three additional battle ships and ten or twelve
torpedo boats. While the unarmored vessels heretofore authorized,
including those now nearing completion, will constitute a fleet which
it is believed is sufficient for ordinary cruising purposes in time of
peace, we have now completed and in process of construction but four
first-class battle ships and but few torpedo boats. If we are to have a
navy for warlike operations, offensive and defensive, we certainly
ought to increase both the number of battle ships and torpedo boats.
The manufacture of armor requires expensive plants and the aggregation
of many skilled workmen. All the armor necessary to complete the
vessels now building will be delivered before the 1st of June next. If
no new contracts are given out, contractors must disband their workmen
and their plants must lie idle. Battle ships authorized at this time
would not be well under way until late in the coming fiscal year, and
at least three years and a half from the date of the contract would be
required for their completion. The Secretary states that not more than
15 per cent of the cost of such ships need be included in the
appropriations for the coming year.
I recommend that provision be made for the construction of additional
battle ships and torpedo boats. The Secretary recommends the
manufacture not only of a reserve supply of ordnance and ordnance
material for ships of the Navy, but also a supply for the auxiliary
fleet. Guns and their appurtenances should be provided and kept on hand
for both these purposes. We have not to-day a single gun that could be
put upon the ships Paris or New York of the International Navigation
Company or any other ship of our reserve Navy.
The manufacture of guns at the Washington Navy-Yard is proceeding
satisfactorily, and none of our new ships will be required to wait for
their guns or ordnance equipment.
An important order has been issued by the Secretary of the Navy
coordinating the duties of the several bureaus concerned in the
construction of ships. This order, it is believed, will secure to a
greater extent than has heretofore been possible the harmonious action
of these several bureaus and make the attainment of the best results
more certain.
During the past fiscal year there has been an unusual and pressing
demand in many quarters of the world for the presence of vessels to
guard American interests.