Show ARTHURS ADVICE to the forty eighth U S congress in its last and short session As to how bow to preserve the th financial prosperity of the flie union maintain the excellency of its postal facility protect the public domain from land sharks resuscitate 11 our oar marino majesty on oil tho mighty main and otherwise advance abo interests of uncle sam rv reutern aal ireba to the tile HERALD fin rin the following columns we give th the most important practical suggestions and statements regarding the various brandies of the public service vice as embodied in the able message of president chester cheater A arthura Arl hura portion of which appeared yesterday 10 lo TREASURY the affairs of the Tea treasury sury department are cry very fully discussed in the rep report of the secretary it appears hint the ordinary ree revenues fur for the 11 ral y year eart ended J june une were from customs 7 ig 76 from internal revenue from all utter uther sources total ordinary revenues 3 I 1 the public expenditures during the same period were ere zor forcial Forc civil ivl e for foreign inter charbe 1260 37 for indiana 29 for pen pensions sioni 55 I 1 for oi the military establishment lish ment including river and harbor improvements prove ments and ar ur serials for the naval establishment lish ment including vessels machinery and improvements im pro vein en ta at navy ards 44 for miscellaneous expenditures tures including public buildings light house sand collecting the revenue F for or expenditures on account of the tile district of columbia for interest int prest on the public debt 54 48 for the tile sinking fund 50 total ex expenditures pend it ures 83 leaving a surplus of 1 1306 09 As compared mith the preceding fiscal year there was a net decrease I 1 of in the amount of expenditures hie the aggregate were lees less titan those of the year pra pre 1 vinus by about therall alie fall ingoe of there alie rev cine ventie for cu customs made up nearly 20 ins this deficiency fici ency and about 23 of he the remainder rein under was due to 0 the diminished receipts from front internal taxation thes the secretary estimates the total receipts for the tile fiscal year which will end june SO 30 1885 at and find the total expenditures at 2101 ag in in w inch which are included the in terest of the debt and ho the amount payable to lie the sinking lund tins this would leave a surplus lor for the entire year ear at about the value of exports from the united states to foreign countries during the year ear ending june 30 1884 basas as as follows domestic merchandise foreign iner merchandise chandise total merchandise specie ba total 5 aga the cotton and cotton manufactures ded in this statement yero ere valued at 13 res att it afa at provisions at mineral oils at dunne during the earne fame period he the exports were ns as follows follow merchandise fG gold and silver Bl lver total the secretary in in the course of his report con considers riders the propriety of beautifying the deepens of ofir aab silver silv er coins and of BO increasing their weight that they may bear hem them due ratio of value of the stans dard aard dollar his conclusions in this regard are cordially approved in my annual ines Fage of 1882 I 1 recommended the abolition of all ex eis elpe taice except those relating to distilled dif H tilled spirits this recommend a lion tion isnow is now renewed in cate cake these ta taxes xea shall bo be abolished the revenues that will still remain to the government will in my opinion not ot only annite to meet me its reasonable expenditures di tures but will it I 1 afford a surplus largo large enough to 0 o permit such tariff reduction tion as mav may seem to be ad advisable when th the e re results stilts of the recent reab revenue lawa laws and crom commercial mercial treaties shall have shown in in what quarters these reductions can bo most judiciously effected one of the greal es it of the problems ems which appeal tn to the w pf af congress for solution tion Is ament of the ine our foreign trade and thus relieving the depreE depression sion u under 1 which our birj industries dit destries dus tries are n now av languishing T ahe he 1 Secle secretary tary of the treasury ry advises adv leea that the duty ditty of investigating this beinar be in trusted I 1 in the first instance to a competent commission while fully recognizing the considerations that may be urged against this course I 1 am nevertheless of the opinion that 1 upon the whole no other would be likely to enact speedier ppe edler edier or better remits k ua ts that portion of the Secre report which concerns the tile condition of our shipping interests cannot fail fall to command your attention lie emphatically recommends that ag 91 an incentive to the investment of american capital in american steamships I 1 the lie government shall by liberal payments for mail transportation or pa otherwise t r ie lend its active assistance istance to individual enterprise and he lie declares hia bit belief that if that course be not tot pursued our foreign carrying trade mut remain as it is today to day almost exclusively in the hands 0 of foreigners eig eigners nere the 5 4 per cent bonds of the government to the amount of more than have bave since my last rat annual message been redeemed by the treasury Trea Fury the bonds of that issue still outstanding amount to a little over about one fourth of which will be retired through the operations of he sinking fund during the coti coning ing year As these bonds still continue the chief basis for the circulation odthe of the national banks Bankst the be question how to avert the contraction of the currency caused bv their retirement ti rement is one of constantly increasing importance it seems to be cen brally conceded that tho law g governing overn this matter exacts from the banks excessive security and that upon their present bond deposits a larger circulation than is now allowed allo aed may be granted with safety I 1 hope that the bill which passed the senate at the last session permitting the issue of notes equal to the face value of the deposited bonds will commend itself to tho the ip approval of the house of representatives WAR in ta the I 1 0 expenses of the war depart ament the secretary report reports a decre decrease aeo of f more wore than of which reduction was effected in the expendi expends ex urea tires for rivers and harbors and in expenditures fur the quartermasters quarte rm asters department outside of that department nt the annual expenses of all the army bureaus proper except e possibly the ordnance bureau arc r e substantially ab fixed charges which cannot be materially diminished without a change in the numerical strength of the arm army the expenditures in the quart quartermasters erni asters department can an readily be subjected to discretion and it is in reported by the secretary of war that as a result of exercising uch fuch discretion in reducing the number of the draught and pack animals in the arav t alie ie annual cost of supplying an and caring dearing for such animals isnow is now less than it wes in 1882 the reports of the military commanders show that the last year has been notable for its entire freedom from fro m indian outbreaks in defiance of the presidents proclamation of july 1 1884 certain intruders bought to make vett ett lement lenient in the indian territory they were promptly removed by a detachment ot of troops during the past session of bf congress a bill to provide a suitable fireproof fire proof building for the army medical mus pe it im a and tho the library of the surgeon generals office received the approval of the senate A similar bill reported favorably to the house home of representatives senta tives by one of its commit tees is still pending before that body it is hoped that during i tile coming ahe meas ineas lire pre may may become a law mid and thereafter 1 immediate hoeps maluo may to taken to sei cure a place of safe rare deposit for these valuable collections now in a elate state of insecure insecurity ity the funds fonds with which the works fur for the improvement of rivers and harbors were prosecuted during the fast last year x ear wa were are derived from the appropriations pro riat ions of the th act of august ad 1882 together with such few balances as were on hand from previous ap aps privations the balance in the arro treasury subject to requisition july 1883 1833 was mas the amount appropriated during the fiscal year of 1684 was and the amount drawn from the treasury during the fiscal year was at 54 leaving a balance of or in the treasury subject to requisition july list 1884 the secretary of war submits tha tho report of the chief of engineers ft ag to tho the probability of protecting our inas ims cities on the seaboard by fortifications and other defenses able to repel the modern methode of attack the lime has now come when sach defenses can be prepared with a confidence that they will not prove abortive and when the possible poss trove Is result of delay delav in making such anch preparations and seriously considered delay seems inexcusable for the most important fill cities those whose destruction or capture would be a national humiliation adequate of guns may be bb made by the gradual expenditure of a bum bilm much lesa less than a victorious enemy could levy aaa as a contribution adap an appropriation of about one tenth of that amount is asked to bepin the work and I 1 concur with tho th secretary of war in urging that it be granted the war department is its proceeding with the tile conversion of 10 inch smoothbore smooth bore guns into S 8 inch rifles by lining the former with tubes of forced forged or of coiled oiled c wrought iron irow fifty guns will sill be thua thus converted within the year JeRr this however does not obviate oblate the necessity of providing means for the construction of run guns a of the t he highest power both for the purposes of coast defense and forthe for the armament firmament of war vessels yer sels NAVY the report of the secretary of the navy exhibits the progress which has been made on the new steel cruisers authorized bythe by the acts of ang ath 1882 and march ad 1883 of the four vessels under contract chicago i of 4 ions tons it is more inan that half hilf finished fini thed the atlanta tonn tons has been successfully launched and her machinery Is now fitting the norton also of tons fyr launching launch latin chine inc and the dolphin a dispatch H earner of 1600 anns konsis is ready fur certain adverse caiti prisms upon the tile designs of these cruisers eru isern are discussed by the secretary who insists that the correctness of the conclusions reached by the advisory board and by the department have been demonstrated by recent development in bhim building abroad the machinery of the double turret ted moui monitors tors puritan terror and contracted for under the act of march 3 1883 are in process of construction no work ha has been done during thy the past year on heir their armar armor for lack of the necessary appropriations A fourth monitor the monad nock still remains unfinished lit at the tile navy yard in california it is rec thit early steps be taken to comp complete lete these vessels in thi e the last fait of the state mes pages that I 1 shall have the honor to transmit to the tile congress of the tile united states I 1 cannot too strongly urge on your attention the duty of ine iniz our navy as rapidly as possible to the high state of efficiency which formerly characterized st it As the I 1 long on 1 peace that has lulled in into a sen 0 of financial security may at an any time linit bo be disturbed it is plain that the policy of this arm of the service is dictated by of ue use economy econ orny of just regard for our fetui e of true appreciation of or t the e dignity and honor of the republic postoffice POST OFFICE the report of the postmaster general en acquaints you with the present condition and needs of the postal service it discloses the gratifying 1 fact that the masa mass of the revenue from the reduction of the rate in letter as recommended in my message of dec 1882 and effected by the act of march 3 1883 has been much less than was generally anticipated my bly recommendation of the reduction was based upon the belief that the actual falling off in receipts from letter postage for the year immediately succeeding the chango change of the rate would be it lias has proved to be only this is a trustworthy indication that the revenue will goon soon be restored to the former volume by the natural increase of sealed correspondence I 1 confidently repeat therefore the recommendation of my last annual message thal alie single rate of post ape age upon drop letters bo be reduced to one cent wherever a payment of two cents is now required by law the double rate is only exacted at offices where the carrier system is in operation and it appears that at these olli oes the increase in the tile tax upon local letters defrays the cost not only of its own collection and delivery but lie the collection and delivery of all other mail matter this is an inequality that ought no longer to exist I 1 approve roye the recommendations of the tile postmaster general that the unit of weight in the rating of first class matter should be one ounce instead of one half ounce as it now is in ili view of the stati statistic sticA furnished by the department it may well be doubted whether there thore would result at any 1 loss of revenue that it would greatly broin promote ote tho the convenience of the public is beyond disi dis pule the free delivery system lias has been lately applied to five cities and the total number of offices iu ili which it is now in operation is ATTORNEY GENERAL the attorney general renews the recommendation contained in fit his report of last year touching the fees of witnesses and jurors 11 ho 0 favors radical changes in the fee bill the adoption of the system by which attorneys and marshals of t lie united states should be compensated solely by salaries and the erection by lie the government of a pert penitentiary tertiary tent iary forthe for lie confinement of offenders against its laws of the varied governmental concerns in ili charge of the interior department part ment INTERIOR 0 the reports of its secretary present an interesting summary among the topics deserving particular attention I 1 refer you to his ob observations re peca 1 ng our indian afra affair irs the preemption erilla n and timber limber culture acts the failure of railroad companies to take title to lands granted by the government ment and thu the operation the tile pens pen sion office the patent office the census bureau and the bureau of allusion has been made already to the relation that both as between dil different tribes and as between indiana and the whites the past year has been one of unbroken peace in this ei circumstance the ho president la Is glad to find justification for the policy of the government in dealing with the indian ludian question and the tile confirmation of the views which were fully expressed in his first communication muni intini cation to the forty seventh congress the secretary urges anew tha enactment of a statute for the punishment of crimes committed on indian than reservations and recommends the pas passage estre of the bill now pending in the house of Re natives for the purchase r chase of a ft tract of square pui miles lea from the sioux reservation both these there measures are worthy of approval |