Latest / State of the Union Addresses 1829-1836 / 016 - Andrew Jackson December 7 1835 part 2

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016 - Andrew Jackson December 7 1835 part 2 · State of the Union Addresses 1829-1836

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Speaker 1: Section sixteen of State of the Union Addresses eighteen twenty
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Speaker 1: nine to eighteen thirty six. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Andrew Jackson,
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Speaker 1: December seventh, eighteen thirty five, Part two. In any event, however,
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Speaker 1: the principle involved in the new aspect which has been
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Speaker 1: given to the controversy is so vitally important to the
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Speaker 1: independent administration of the government that it can neither be
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Speaker 1: surrendered nor compromitted without national degradation. I hope it is
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Speaker 1: unnecessary for me to say that such a sacrifice will
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Speaker 1: not be made through any agency of mine. The honor
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Speaker 1: of my country shall never be stained by an apology
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Speaker 1: from me for the statement of truth and the performance
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Speaker 1: of duty. Nor can I give any explanation of my
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Speaker 1: official acts, except such as is due to integrity and justice,
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Speaker 1: and consistent with the principles on which our institutions have
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Speaker 1: been framed. This determination will, I am confident, be approved
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Speaker 1: by my constituents. I have indeed studied their character, to
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Speaker 1: but little purpose. If the sum of twenty five million
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Speaker 1: francs will have the weight of a feather in the
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Speaker 1: estimation of what appertains to their national independence. And if
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Speaker 1: unhappily a different impression should at any time obtain in
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Speaker 1: any quarter, they will I AM sure rally round the
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Speaker 1: Government of their choice with alacrity and unanimity and silence
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Speaker 1: forever the degrading imputation. Having thus frankly presented to you
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Speaker 1: the circumstances which since the last session of Congress have
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Speaker 1: occurred in this interesting and important matter, with the views
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Speaker 1: of the Executive in regard to them, it is at
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Speaker 1: this time only necessary to add that whenever the advice
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Speaker 1: is now daily expected from our charge d'affairs shall have
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Speaker 1: been received, they will be made the subject of a
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Speaker 1: special communication. The condition of the public finances was never
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Speaker 1: more flattering than at the present period. Since my last
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Speaker 1: annual communication, all the remains of the public debt have
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Speaker 1: been redeemed, or money has been placed in deposit for
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Speaker 1: this purpose whenever the creditors choose to receive it. All
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Speaker 1: the other pecuniary engagements of the Government have been honorably
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Speaker 1: and promptly fulfilled, and there will be a balance in
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Speaker 1: the treasury at the close of the year of about
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Speaker 1: nineteen million dollars. It is believed that after meeting all
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Speaker 1: outstanding and an expended appropriations, there will remain near eleven
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Speaker 1: million dollars to be applied to any new objects which
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Speaker 1: Congress may designate, or to the more rapid execution of
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Speaker 1: the works already in progress. In aid of these objects,
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Speaker 1: and to satisfy the current expenditures of the ensuing year.
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Speaker 1: It is estimated that there will be received from various
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Speaker 1: sources twenty million dollars more in eighteen thirty six. Should
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Speaker 1: Congress make new appropriations in conformity with the estimates which
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Speaker 1: will be submitted from the proper departments, amounting to about
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Speaker 1: twenty four million dollars, still, the available surplus at the
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Speaker 1: close of the next year, after deducting all unexpended appropriations,
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Speaker 1: will probably not be less than six million dollars. This
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Speaker 1: s can, in my judgment, be now usefully applied to
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Speaker 1: proposed improvements in our navy yards, to new national works
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Speaker 1: which are not enumerated in the present estimates, or to
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Speaker 1: the more rapid completion of those already begun. Either would
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Speaker 1: be constitutional and useful, and would render unnecessary any attempt
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Speaker 1: in our present peculiar condition to divide the surplus revenue
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Speaker 1: or to reduce it any faster than will be effected
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Speaker 1: by the existing laws. In any event, as the annual
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Speaker 1: Report from the Secretary of the Treasury will enter into
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Speaker 1: details showing the probability of some decrease in the revenue
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Speaker 1: during the next seven years and a very considerable deduction
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Speaker 1: in eighteen forty two, it is not recommended that Congress
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Speaker 1: should undertake to modify the present tariff so as to
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Speaker 1: disturb the principles on which the Compromise Act was passed.
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Speaker 1: Taxation on some of the articles of general consumption, which
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Speaker 1: are not in competition our own productions, may be no
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Speaker 1: doubt so diminished as to lessen to some extent the
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Speaker 1: source of this revenue. And the same object can also
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Speaker 1: be assisted by more liberal provisions for the subjects of
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Speaker 1: public defense, which, in the present state of our prosperity
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Speaker 1: and wealth, may be expected to engage your attention. If, however,
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Speaker 1: after satisfying all the demands which can arise from these sources,
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Speaker 1: the unexpended balance in the treasury should still continue to increase,
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Speaker 1: it would be better to bear with the evil until
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Speaker 1: the great change is contemplated in our terifflaws have occurred,
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Speaker 1: and shall enable us to revise the system with that
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Speaker 1: care and circumspection which are due to so delicate and
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Speaker 1: important a subject. It is certainly our duty to diminish,
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Speaker 1: as far as we can, the burdens of taxation, and
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Speaker 1: to regard all the restrictions which are imposed on the
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Speaker 1: trade and navigation of our citizens as evils which we
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Speaker 1: shall mitigate whenever we are not prevented by the adverse
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Speaker 1: legislation and policy of foreign nations, or those primary duties
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Speaker 1: which the defense and independence of our country enjoin upon us.
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Speaker 1: That we have accomplished much toward the relief of our
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Speaker 1: citizens by the changes which have accompanied the payment of
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Speaker 1: the public debt and the adoption of the present revenue
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Speaker 1: laws is manifest from the fact that compared to eighteen
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Speaker 1: thirty three, there is a diminution of near twenty five
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Speaker 1: million dollars in the last two years, and that are expenditures,
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Speaker 1: independently of those for the public debt, have been reduced
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Speaker 1: near nine million dollars during the same period. Let us
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Speaker 1: trust that by the continued observance of economy, and by
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Speaker 1: harmonizing the great interests of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. Much
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Speaker 1: more may be accomplished to diminish the burdens of government,
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Speaker 1: and to increase still further the enterprise and the patriotic
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Speaker 1: affection of all classes of our citizens and all the
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Speaker 1: members of our happy confederacy. As the data which the
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Speaker 1: Secretary of the Treasury will lay before you in regard
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Speaker 1: to our financial resources are full and extended, and will
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Speaker 1: afford a safe guide in your future calculations, I think
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Speaker 1: it unnecessary to offer any further observations on that subject. Here.
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Speaker 1: Among the evidences of the increasing prosperity of the country,
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Speaker 1: not the least gratifying is that afforded by the receipts
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Speaker 1: from the sales of the public lands, which amount in
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Speaker 1: the present year to the unexpected sum of eleven million dollars.
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Speaker 1: This circumstance attests the rapidity with which agriculture, the first
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Speaker 1: and most important occupation of man, advances and contributes to
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Speaker 1: the wealth and power of our extended territory. Being still
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Speaker 1: of the opinion that it is our best policy, as
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Speaker 1: far as we can consistently with the obligations under which
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Speaker 1: those lands were ceded to the United States, to promote
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Speaker 1: their speedy settlement. I beg leave to call the attention
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Speaker 1: of the present Congress to the suggestions I have offered
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Speaker 1: respecting it in my former messages. The extraordinary receipts from
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Speaker 1: the sales of the public lands invite you to consider
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Speaker 1: what improvements the land system, and particularly the condition of
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Speaker 1: the General Land Office may require. At the time this
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Speaker 1: institution was organized near a quarter century ago, it would
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Speaker 1: probably have been thought extravagant to anticipate for this period
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Speaker 1: such an addition to its business, as has been produced
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Speaker 1: by the vast increase of those sales during the past
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Speaker 1: and present years. It may also be observed that since
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Speaker 1: the year eighteen twelve, the land offices and surveying districts
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Speaker 1: have been greatly multiplied, and that numerous legislative enactments from
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Speaker 1: year to years since that time have imposed a great
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Speaker 1: amount of new and additional duties upon that office. While
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Speaker 1: the want of a timely application of force commensurate with
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Speaker 1: the care and labor required has caused the increasing embarrassment
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Speaker 1: of accumulated arrears in the different branches of the establishment.
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Speaker 1: These impediments to the expedition of much duty in the
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Speaker 1: General Land Office induce me to submit to your judgment
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Speaker 1: whether some modification of the laws relating to its organization,
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Speaker 1: or an organization of a new character be not called
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Speaker 1: for at the present juncture to enable the Office to
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Speaker 1: accomplish all the ends of its institution with a greater
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Speaker 1: degree of facility and promptitude than experience has proved to
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Speaker 1: be practicable under existing regulations. The variety of the concerns,
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Speaker 1: and the magnetitude and complexity of the details occupying and
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Speaker 1: dividing the attention of the Commissioner appeared to render it difficult,
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Speaker 1: if not impracticable, for that officer, by any possible asciduity,
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Speaker 1: to bestow on all the multifarious subjects upon which he
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Speaker 1: is called to act, the ready and careful attention due
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Speaker 1: to their respective importance, unless the legislature shall assist him
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Speaker 1: by a law providing or enabling him to provide for
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Speaker 1: a more regular and economical distribution of labor with the
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Speaker 1: incident responsibility among those employed under his direction. The mere
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Speaker 1: manual operation of affixing his signature to the vast number
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Speaker 1: of documents issuing from his office subtracts so largely from
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Speaker 1: the time and attention claimed by the weighty and complicated
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Speaker 1: subjects daily accumulating in that branch of the public service,
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Speaker 1: as to indicate the strong necessity of Rome advising the
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Speaker 1: organic law of the establishment. It will be easy for
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Speaker 1: Congress hereafter to proportion the expenditure on account of this
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Speaker 1: branch of the service to its real wants, by abolishing
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Speaker 1: from time to time the offices which can be dispensed.
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Speaker 1: With the extinction of the public debt having taken place,
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Speaker 1: there is no longer any use for the offices of
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Speaker 1: Commissioners of Loans and of the Sinking fund. I recommend
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Speaker 1: therefore that they be abolished, and that proper measures be
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Speaker 1: taken for the transfer to the Treasury Department of any funds,
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Speaker 1: books and papers connected with the operations of those offices,
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Speaker 1: and that the proper power be given to that department
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Speaker 1: for closing, Finally, any portion of their business which may
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Speaker 1: remain to be settled. It is also incumbent on Congress,
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Speaker 1: in guarding the pecuniary interests of the country, to discontinue,
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Speaker 1: by such a law as was passed in eighteen twelve,
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Speaker 1: the receipt of the bills of the Bank of the
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Speaker 1: United States in payment of the public revenue, and to
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Speaker 1: provide for it the designation of an agent whose duty
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Speaker 1: it shall be to take charge of the books and
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Speaker 1: stock of the United States in that institution, and to
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Speaker 1: close all connection with it after the third of March
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Speaker 1: eighteen thirty three, when its charter expires. In making provision
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Speaker 1: in regard to the disposition of this stock, it will
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Speaker 1: be essential to define clearly and strictly the duties and
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Speaker 1: powers of the officer charged with that branch of the
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Speaker 1: public service. It will be seen from the correspondence which
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Speaker 1: the Secretary of the Treasury will lay before you, that,
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Speaker 1: notwithstanding the large amount of the stock which the United
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Speaker 1: States hold in that institution, no information has yet been
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Speaker 1: communicated which will enable the government to anticipate when it
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Speaker 1: can receive any dividends or derive any benefit from it.
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Speaker 1: Connected with the condition of the finances and the flourishing
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Speaker 1: state of the country in all its branches of industry,
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Speaker 1: it is pleasing to witness the advantages which have been
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Speaker 1: already derived from the recent laws regulating the value of
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Speaker 1: the gold coinage. These advantages will be more apparent in
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Speaker 1: the course of the next year, when the branch mints
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Speaker 1: authorized to be established in North Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana
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Speaker 1: shall have gone into operations aided, as it is hoped
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Speaker 1: they will be, by further reforms in the banking systems
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Speaker 1: of the States, and by judicious regulations on the part
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Speaker 1: of Congress in relation to the custody of the public moneys.
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Speaker 1: It may be confidently anticipated that the use of gold
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Speaker 1: and silver as circulating medium will become general in the
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Speaker 1: ordinary transactions connected with the labor of the country. The
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Speaker 1: great desideratum in modern times is an efficient check upon them,
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Speaker 1: the power of banks, preventing that excessive issue of paper
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Speaker 1: whence arise those fluctuations in the standard of value which
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Speaker 1: render uncertain the rewards of labor. It was supposed by
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Speaker 1: those who established the Bank of the United States that
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Speaker 1: from the credit given to it by the custody of
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Speaker 1: the public moneys and other privileges, and the precautions taken
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Speaker 1: to guard against the evils which the country had suffered
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Speaker 1: in the bankruptcy of many of the state institutions of
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Speaker 1: that period, we should derive from that institution all the
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Speaker 1: security and benefits of a sound currency, and every good
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Speaker 1: end that was attainable under the provision of the Constitution
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Speaker 1: which authorizes Congress alone to coin money and regulate the
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Speaker 1: value thereof. But it is scarcely necessary now to say
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Speaker 1: that these anticipations have not been realized after the extensive
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Speaker 1: embarrassment and distress recently produced by the b of the
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Speaker 1: United States from which the country is now recovering, aggravated
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Speaker 1: as they were, by pretensions to power which defied the
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Speaker 1: public authority, in which, if acquiesced in by the people,
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Speaker 1: would have changed the whole character of our government. Every
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Speaker 1: candid and intelligent individual must admit that for the attainment
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Speaker 1: of the great advantages of a sound currency, we must
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Speaker 1: look to a course of legislation radically different from that
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Speaker 1: which created such an institution. In considering the means of
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Speaker 1: obtaining so important an end, we must set aside all
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Speaker 1: calculations of temporary convenience and be influenced by those only
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Speaker 1: which are in harmony with the true character and the
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Speaker 1: permanent interests of the republic. We must recur to first
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Speaker 1: principles and see what it is that has prevented the
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Speaker 1: legislation of Congress and the States on the subject of
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Speaker 1: currency from satisfying the public expectation and realizing results corresponding
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Speaker 1: to those which have attended the action of our system
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Speaker 1: when truly consistent with the great principle of equality upon
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Speaker 1: which it rests, and with that spirit of forbearance and
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Speaker 1: mutual concession and generous patriotism, which was originally and must
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Speaker 1: ever continue to be the vital element of our union.
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Speaker 1: On this subject, I'm sure that I cannot be mistaken
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Speaker 1: in ascribing our want of success to the undue countenance
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Speaker 1: which has been afforded to the spirit of monopoly. All
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Speaker 1: the serious dangers which our system has yet encountered may
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Speaker 1: be traced to the resort to implied powers and the
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Speaker 1: use of corporation's clothed with privileges, the effect of which
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Speaker 1: is to advance the interests of the view at the
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Speaker 1: expense of the many. We have felt but one class
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Speaker 1: of these dangers exhibited in the contest waged by the
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Speaker 1: Bank of the United States against the government for the
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Speaker 1: last four years. Happily they have been obviated for the
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Speaker 1: present by the indignant resistance of the people. But we
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Speaker 1: should recollect that the principle, whence they sprung, is an
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Speaker 1: ever active one which will not fail to renew its
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Speaker 1: efforts in the same and in other forms, so long
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Speaker 1: as there is a hope of success, founded either on
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Speaker 1: the inattention of the people or the treachery of their
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Speaker 1: representatives to the subtled progress of its influence. The bank is,
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Speaker 1: in fact, but one of the fruits of a system
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Speaker 1: at war with the genius of all our institutions, a
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Speaker 1: system founded upon a political creed, the fundamental principle of
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Speaker 1: which is a distress of the popular will as a
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Speaker 1: safe regulator of political power, and whose great ultimate object
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Speaker 1: and inevitable result, should it prevail, is the consolidation of
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Speaker 1: all power in our system in one central government. Lavish
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Speaker 1: public disbursements and corporations with exclusive privileges would be its
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Speaker 1: substitutes for there original and as yet sound checks and
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Speaker 1: balances of the constitution, the means by whose silent and
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Speaker 1: secret operation or control would be exercised by the few
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Speaker 1: over the political conduct of the many, by first acquiring
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Speaker 1: that control over the labor and earnings of the great
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Speaker 1: body of the people. Wherever this spirit has effected an
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Speaker 1: alliance with political power, tyranny and despotism have been the fruit.
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Speaker 1: If it is ever used for the ends of government,
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Speaker 1: it has to be incessantly watched, or it corrupts the
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Speaker 1: sources of the public virtue, and agitates the country with
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Speaker 1: questions unfavorable to the harmonious and steady pursuit of its
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Speaker 1: true interests. We are now to see whether, in the
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Speaker 1: present favorable condition of the country, we cannot take an
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Speaker 1: effectual stand against the spirit of monopoly and practically prove,
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Speaker 1: in respect to the currency, as well as other important interests,
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Speaker 1: that there is no necessity for so extensive a resort
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Speaker 1: to it as that which has been heretofore practiced. The
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Speaker 1: experience of another year has confirmed the utter fallacy of
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Speaker 1: the idea that the Bank of the United States was
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Speaker 1: necessary as a fiscal agent of the government without its aid.
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Speaker 1: As such. Indeed, in despite of all the embarrassment it
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Speaker 1: was in its power to create, the revenue has been
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Speaker 1: paid with punctuality by our citizens. The business of exchange,
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Speaker 1: both foreign and domestic, has been conducted with convenience, and
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Speaker 1: the circulating medium has been greatly improved by the use
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Speaker 1: of the state banks, which do not derive their charters
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Speaker 1: from the general Government and are not controlled by its authority.
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Speaker 1: It is ascertained that the monies of the United States
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Speaker 1: can be collected and dispersed without loss or inconvenience, and
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Speaker 1: that all the wants of the community in relation to
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Speaker 1: exchange and currency are supplied as well as they have
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Speaker 1: ever been before. If under circumstances the most unfavorable to
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Speaker 1: the steadiness of the money market. It has been found
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Speaker 1: that the considerations on which the Bank of the United
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Speaker 1: States rested its claims to the public favourite were imaginary
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Speaker 1: and groundless. It cannot be doubted that the experience of
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Speaker 1: the future will be more decisive against them. It has
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Speaker 1: been seen that without the agency of a great moneyed monopoly,
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Speaker 1: the revenue can be collected and conveniently and safely applied
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Speaker 1: to all the purposes of the public expenditure. It is
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Speaker 1: also ascertained that, instead of being necessarily made to promote
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Speaker 1: the evils of an unchecked paper system, the management of
20:40
Speaker 1: the revenue can be made auxiliary to the reform which
20:43
Speaker 1: the legislatures of several of the States have already commenced
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Speaker 1: in regard to the suppression of small bills, and which
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Speaker 1: as only to be fostered by proper regulations on the
20:53
Speaker 1: part of Congress to secure a practical return to the
20:56
Speaker 1: extent required for the security of the currency to the
20:59
Speaker 1: constitutional medium severed from the government as political engines and
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Speaker 1: not susceptible of dangerous extension and combination. The state banks
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Speaker 1: will not be tempted, nor will they have the power
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Speaker 1: which we have seen exercised, to divert the public funds
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Speaker 1: from the legitimate purposes of the government. The collection and
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Speaker 1: custody of the revenue, being, on the contrary, a source
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Speaker 1: of credit to them, will increase the security which the
21:27
Speaker 1: states provide for a faithful execution of their trusts by
21:32
Speaker 1: multiplying the scrutinies to which their operations and accounts will
21:36
Speaker 1: be subjected, thus disposed as well from interest as the
21:41
Speaker 1: obligations of their charters. It cannot be doubted that such
21:45
Speaker 1: conditions as Congress may see fit to adopt respecting the
21:48
Speaker 1: deposits in these institutions, with a view to the gradual
21:53
Speaker 1: disuse of the small bills, will be cheerfully complied with,
21:57
Speaker 1: and that we shall soon gain, in place of the
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Speaker 1: Bank of the United States, a practical reform in the
22:03
Speaker 1: whole paper system of the country. If by this policy
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Speaker 1: we can ultimately witness the suppression of all bank bills
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Speaker 1: below twenty dollars, it is apparent that gold and silver
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Speaker 1: will take their place and become the principal circulating medium
22:19
Speaker 1: in the common business of the farmers and mechanics of
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Speaker 1: the country. The attainment of such a result will form
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Speaker 1: an era in the history of our country which will
22:30
Speaker 1: be dwelt upon with delight by every true friend of
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Speaker 1: its liberty and independence. It will lighten the great tax
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Speaker 1: which our paper system has so long collected from the
22:41
Speaker 1: earnings of labor, and do more to revive and perpetuate
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Speaker 1: those habits of economy and simplicity which are so congenial
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Speaker 1: to the character of Republicans than all the legislation which
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Speaker 1: has yet been attempted to this subject. I feel that
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Speaker 1: I cannot to earnestly invite them special attention of Congress,
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Speaker 1: without the exercise of whose authority the opportunity to accomplish
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Speaker 1: so much public good must pass unimproved. Deeply Impressed with
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Speaker 1: its vital importance, the executive has taken all the steps
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Speaker 1: within his constitutional power to guard the public revenue and
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Speaker 1: defeat the expectation which the Bank of the United States
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Speaker 1: indulged of renewing and perpetuating its monopoly on the ground
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Speaker 1: of its necessity as a fiscal agent and as affording
23:30
Speaker 1: a sounder currency than could be obtained without such an institution.
23:35
Speaker 1: In the performance of this duty, much responsibility was incurred,
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Speaker 1: which would have been gladly avoided if the stake which
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Speaker 1: the public had in the question could have been otherwise preserved.
23:46
Speaker 1: Although clothed with the legal authority and supported by precedent,
23:51
Speaker 1: I was aware that there was in the act of
23:53
Speaker 1: the removal of the deposits a liability to excite that
23:57
Speaker 1: sensitiveness to executive power which it is characteristic and the
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Speaker 1: duty of free men to indulge. But I relied on
24:05
Speaker 1: this feeling, also directed by patriotism and intelligence, to vindicate
24:11
Speaker 1: the conduct which in the end would appear to have
24:13
Speaker 1: been called for by the interests of my country. The
24:17
Speaker 1: apprehensions natural to this feeling, that there may have been
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Speaker 1: a desire, through the instrumentality of that measure, to extend
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Speaker 1: the executive influence, or that it may have been prompted
24:28
Speaker 1: by motives not sufficiently free from ambition, were not overlooked.
24:33
Speaker 1: Under the operation of our institutions, the public servant who
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Speaker 1: has called on to take a step of high responsibility
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Speaker 1: should feel in the freedom which gives rise to such apprehensions.
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Speaker 1: His highest security when unfounded. The attention which they arouse,
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Speaker 1: and the discussions they excite, deprive those who indulge them
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Speaker 1: of the power to do harm when just they but
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Speaker 1: hasten the certainty with which the great body of our
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Speaker 1: citizens never failed to repel an attempt to procure the
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Speaker 1: sanction to any exercise of power inconsistent with the jealous
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Speaker 1: maintenance of their rights. Under such convictions, and entertaining no
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Speaker 1: doubt that my constitutional obligations demanded the steps which were
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Speaker 1: taken in reference to the removal of the deposits, it
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Speaker 1: was impossible for me to be deterred from the path
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Speaker 1: of duty by a fear that my motives could be misjudged,
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Speaker 1: or that political prejudices could defeat the just consideration of
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Speaker 1: the merits of my conduct. The result has shown how
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Speaker 1: safe is this reliance upon the patriotic temper and enlightened
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Speaker 1: discernment of the people. That measure has now been before
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Speaker 1: them and has stood the test of all the severe
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Speaker 1: analysis which its general importance, the interests it affected, and
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Speaker 1: the apprehensions it excited were calculated to produce. And it
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Speaker 1: now remains for Congress to consider what legislation and has
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Speaker 1: become necessary. In consequence, I need only add to what
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Speaker 1: I have, on former occasions said on this subject. Generally
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Speaker 1: than in the regulations which Congress may prescribe. Respecting the
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Speaker 1: custody of the public moneys, it is desirable that as
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Speaker 1: little discretion as may be deemed consistent with their safe
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Speaker 1: keeping should be given to the executive agents. No one
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Speaker 1: can be more deeply impressed than I am with the
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Speaker 1: soundness of the doctrine which restrains and limits, by specific provisions,
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Speaker 1: executive discretion as far as it can be done consistently
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Speaker 1: with the preservation of its constitutional character. In respect to
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Speaker 1: the control over the public money. This doctrine is peculiarly applicable,
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Speaker 1: and is in harmony with the great principle which I
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Speaker 1: felt I was sustaining in the controversy with the Bank
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Speaker 1: of the United States, which has resulted in severing to
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Speaker 1: some extent a dangerous connection between a moneyed and political power.
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Speaker 1: The duty of the legislature to define, by clear and
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Speaker 1: positive enactments, the nature and extent of the action which
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Speaker 1: it belongs to the executive to superintend, springs out of
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Speaker 1: a policy analogous to that which enjoins upon all branches
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Speaker 1: of the federal government, and abstinence from the exercise of
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Speaker 1: powers not clearly granted. In such a government possessing only
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Speaker 1: limited and specific powers, the spirit of its general administration
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Speaker 1: cannot be wise or just when it opposes the reference
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Speaker 1: of all doubtful points to the great source of authority,
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Speaker 1: the States and the people, whose number and diversified relations
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Speaker 1: securing them against the influences and excitements which may mist
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Speaker 1: lead their agents, make them the safest depository of power
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Speaker 1: in its application to the executive With reference to the
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Speaker 1: legislative branch of the government, the same rule of acts
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Speaker 1: action should make the President ever anxious to avoid the
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Speaker 1: exercise of any discretionary authority which can be regulated by Congress,
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Speaker 1: the biases which may operate upon him will not be
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Speaker 1: so likely to extend to the representatives of the people
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Speaker 1: in that body. In my former messages to Congress, I
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Speaker 1: have repeatedly urged the propriety of lessening the discretionary authority
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Speaker 1: lodged in the various departments, but it has produced no
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Speaker 1: effect as yet, except the discontinuance of extra allowances in
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Speaker 1: the Army and Navy, and the substitution of fixed salaries
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Speaker 1: in the latter. It is believed that the same principles
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Speaker 1: could be advantageously applied in all cases, and would promote
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Speaker 1: the efficiency and economy of the public service. At the
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Speaker 1: same time that greater satisfaction and more equal justice would
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Speaker 1: be secured to the public officers. Generally, the accompanying report
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Speaker 1: of the Secretary of War will put you in possession
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Speaker 1: of the operations of the department confided to his care
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Speaker 1: in all its diversified relations. During the past year. I
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Speaker 1: am gratified in being able to inform you that no
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Speaker 1: occurrence has required any movement of the military force, except
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Speaker 1: such as is common to a state of peace. The
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Speaker 1: services of the army have been limited to their usual
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Speaker 1: duties at the various garrisons upon the Atlantic and inland frontier.
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Speaker 1: With the exceptions stated by the Secretary of War. Our
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Speaker 1: small military establishment appears to be adequate to the purposes
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Speaker 1: for which it is maintained, and it forms a nucleus
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Speaker 1: around which any additional force may be collected should the
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Speaker 1: public exigencies unfortunately require any increase of our military means.
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Speaker 1: End of Section sixteen