State of the Union AddressesPolk, James K. (James Knox)
History
State of the Union Addresses
Polk, James K. (James Knox)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
The annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury will exhibit a detailed
statement of the condition of the finances. The imports for the fiscal year
ending on the 30th of June last were of the value of $121,691,797, of which
the amount exported was $11,346,623, leaving the amount retained in the
country for domestic consumption $110,345,174. The value of the exports for
the same period was $113,488,516, of which $102,141,893 consisted of
domestic productions and $11,346,623 of foreign articles.
The receipts into the Treasury for the same year were $29,499,247.06, of
which there was derived from customs $26,712,667.87, from the sales of
public lands $2,694,452.48, and from incidental and miscellaneous sources
$92,126.71. The expenditures for the same period were $28,031,114.20, and
the balance in the Treasury on the 1st day of July last was $9,126,439.
08.
The amount of the public debt, including Treasury notes, on the 1st of the
present month was $24,256,494.60, of which the sum of $17,788,799.62 was
outstanding on the 4th of March, 1845, leaving the amount incurred since
that time $6,467,694.98.
In order to prosecute the war with Mexico with vigor and energy, as the
best means of bringing it to a speedy and honorable termination, a further
loan will be necessary to meet the expenditures for the present and the
next fiscal year. If the war should be continued until the 30th of June,
1848, being the end of the next fiscal year, it is estimated that an
additional loan of $23,000,000 will be required. This estimate is made upon
the assumption that it will be necessary to retain constantly in the
Treasury $4,000,000 to guard against contingencies. If such surplus were
not required to be retained, then a loan of $19,000,000 would be
sufficient. If, however, Congress should at the present session impose a
revenue duty on the principal articles now embraced in the free list, it is
estimated that an additional annual revenue of about two millions and a
half, amounting, it is estimated, on the 30th of June, 1848, to $4,000,000,
would be derived from that source, and the loan required would be reduced
by that amount. It is estimated also that should Congress graduate and
reduce the price of such of the public lands as have been long in the
market the additional revenue derived from that source would be annually,
for several years to come, between half a million and a million dollars;
and the loan required may be reduced by that amount also. Should these
measures be adopted, the loan required would not probably exceed
$18,000,000 or $19,000,000, leaving in the Treasury a constant surplus of
$4,000,000. The loan proposed, it is estimated, will be sufficient to cover
the necessary expenditures both for the war and for all other purposes up
to the 30th of June, 1848, and an amount of this loan not exceeding
one-half may be required during the present fiscal year, and the greater
part of the remainder during the first half of the fiscal year succeeding.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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