Page. 6. Imports of foreign merchandise, 1867...... 408 7. Tonnage of American and foreign vessels entered and cleared at each col- 413 8. Tonnage of American and foreign vessels, entered from and cleared to 414 9. Bonded warehouse transactions from 1847 to 1867 416 325 333 334 335 337 341 Director of the Mint.... 1. Deposits at the Mint and branches, 1867. 2. Coinage at the Mint and branches, 1867... 3. Deposits of domestic gold and silver productions 4. Coinage of the Mint and branches from 1793 to 1867.. 5. Deposits of domestic gold productions, from 1804 to 1867. 6. Silver coinage from 1853 to 1867 7. Deposits of domestic silver productions from 1841 to 1867 8. Silver coins, their weight and value.. 9. Gold coins, their weight and value.. 10. Gold, silver, and copper coinage from 1792 to 1867 Inspectors of Steamboats... Light-house Board........... Register.. 1. Public debt, statement from 1791 to 1867. 2. Total revenue of the United States from 1791 to 1867... 346 346 347 348 349 293 194 152 354 356 358 360 364 368 370 370 391 393 157 160 120 1. Receipts and payments by the United States assistant treasurers and 1. Suits brought and business arising therefrom, 1857 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, November 30, 1867. In conformity with law, the Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to submit to Congress this his regular annual report. The finances of the United States, notwithstanding the continued depreciation of the currency, are in a much more satisfactory condition than they were when the Secretary had the honor to make to Congress his last annual report. Since the first day of November, 1866, $493,990,263 34 of interest-bearing notes, certificates of indebtedness and of temporary loans, have been paid or converted into bonds; and the public debt, deducting therefrom the cash in the treasury which is to be applied to its payment, has been reduced $59,805,555 72. During the same period decided improvement has also been witnessed in the general economical condition of the country. The policy of contracting the currency,) although not enforced to the extent authorized by law, has prevented an expan sion of credits, to which a redundant and especially a depreciated currency is always an incentive, and has had no little influence in stimulating labor and increasing production. Industry has been steadily returning to the healthy channels from which it was diverted during the war, and although incomes have been small and trade generally inactive, in no other commercial country has there been less financial embarrassment than in the United States. In order that the action of the Secretary, in the financial administration of the department, may be properly understood, a brief reference to the condition. of the treasury at the time the war was drawing to a close, and at some subsequent periods, seems to be necessary. On the 31st day of March, 1865, the total debt of the United States was $2,366,955,077 34, of the following descriptions, to wit: The resources of the treasury consisted of the money in the public depositories in different parts of the country amounting, as above stated, to $56,481,924 84; the revenues from internal taxes and customs duties, and the authority to issue bonds, notes, and certificates, under the following acts, to the following amounts: Act of February 25, 1862, bonds.. Act of June 30, 1864, bonds, 7.30 or compound interest notes... Certificates for temporary loans, act June 30, 1864 United States notes for payment of temporary loans, act Fractional currency, act June 30, 1864.. Act of March 3, 1865, bonds or interest-bearing notes. Making a total of.. $4,023, 600 00 27, 229, 900 00 79, 811, 000 00 97, 546, 471 71 16, 839, 431 00 25, 745, 905 93 533, 587, 200 00 784, 783, 508 64 Certificates of indebtedness, payable one year from date, or earlier at the option of the government, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum, might be issued to an indefinite amount, but only to public creditors desirous of receiving them in satisfaction of audited and settled demands against the United States. Early in April the fall of Richmond, and the surrender of the forces which had so long defended it, rendered it certain that the war was soon to be terminated, and that provision must be made for the payment of the army at the earliest practicable moment. The exigency was great, and the prospect of raising the money required to meet the present and prospective demands upon the treasury, under the laws then existing, was sufficiently discouraging to create solicitude and anxiety in the mind of a Secretary little experienced in public affairs, upon whom the responsibility of maintaining the credit of the nation had been unexpectedly devolved. There was no time to try experiments or to correct errors, if any had been committed, in the kind of securities which had been put upon the market. Creditors were importunate, the unpaid requisitions in the department were largely in excess of the cash in the treasury, the vouchers issued to contractors for the necessary supplies of the army and navy were being sold at from ten to twenty per cent. discount-indicating by their depreciation how uncertain was the prospect of early payment-while nearly a million of men were soon to be discharged from service, who could not be mustered out until the means to pay the large balances due them were provided. There was no alternative but to raise money by popular subscription to government securities of a character the most acceptable to the people, who had subscribed so liberally to previous loans. As a considerable amount of the seven-thirty notes had recently been disposed of satisfactorily by the department, and had proved to be the most popular security ever offered to the people, the Secretary determined to rely upon them, (although on the part of government they were in many respects objectionable,) and, in order to insure speedy subscriptions, to place them within the reach of all who might be willing to invest in them. In every city and town and village of the loyal, and at some points in the disloyal States, subscriptious were solicited. The press, with its immense power, and without distinction of party, seconded the efforts of the energetic and skilful agent who had charge of the loan. The national banks gave efficient aid by liberal subscriptions, while thousands of persons in humble life and with limited means hesitated not to commit their substance to the honor and good faith of the government. Before the end of July the entire loan, exceeding five hundred millions, was subscribed and paid for, and the Secretary was enabled with the proceeds, together with the receipts from customs and internal revenues, and the use to a limited extent of some of the other means at his disposal, to pay every requisition upon the treasury, and every matured national obligation. As evidence of the necessity that existed for prompt action in the negotiation of this loan, and the straits to which the treasury was reduced, it will be remembered by those who examined carefully the monthly statements of the department, that although during the month of April upwards of one hundred millions of dollars had been received from he sales of 7.30 notes, the unpaid requisitions, at its close, had increased to $120,470,000, while the cash (coin and currency) in all the public depositories amounted only to $16,835,800. If few men intrusted with the management of the finances of a great nation were ever in a position so embarrassing and trying as was that of the Secretary of the United States Treasury in the months of April and May, 1865, none certainly were ever so happily and promptly relieved. The Secretary refers to this period of his administration of the department with pleasure, because the success of this loan was to him not only a surprise and a relief, but because it indicated the resources of the country, and gave him the needed courage for the performance of the great work that was before him. Between the first days of April and September, 1865, the Secretary used his authority to issue securities as follows: Bonds under the act of February 25, 1862... Compound interest notes, act June 30, 1864. Certificates for temporary loans, act June 30, 1864... Fractional currency, act June 30, 1864 Seven-thirty notes, March 3, 1865..... ...... $4,023, 600 00 6, 000, 000 00 24, 978, 390 00 54, 696, 384 87 2,090, 648 44 529, 187, 200 00 620, 976, 223 31 On the 31st of August, 1865, the public debt reached the highest point, and was made up of the following items, to wit: Of these obligations, it will be noticed, $684,138,949 were a legal tender, to wit: United States notes Five per cent. notes Compound interest notes Total $433, 160, 569 00 33, 954, 230 00 217,024, 160 00 684, 138, 959 00 A very large portion of which were in circulation as currency. The temporary loans were payable in thirty days from the time of deposit, after a notice of ten days. The five per cent. notes were payable in lawful money, in one and two years from December 1, 1863. The compound interest notes were payable in three years from their respective dates, all becoming due between the tenth day of June, 1867, and the sixteenth day of October, 1868 The 7-30 notes were payable, in about equal proportions, in August, 1867, and June and July, 1868, in lawful money, or convertible at maturity, at the pleasure of the holder, into 5-20 bonds. The certificates of indebtedness would mature at various times between the thirty-first day of August, 1865, and the second day of May, 1867. During the month of September, 1865, the army having been reduced nearly to a peace footing, it became apparent that the internal revenues and the receipts for customs would be sufficient to pay all the expenses of the government and the interest on the public debt, so that thenceforward the efforts of the Secretary were to be turned from borrowing to funding. Besides the United States notes in circulation, there were nearly $1,300,000,000 of debts in the form of interest-bearing notes, temporary loans, and certificates of indebtedness, a portion of which were maturing daily, and all of which, with the exception of the temporary loans, (which, being in the nature of loans on call, might or might not be continued, according to the will of the holders,) must be converted into bonds or paid in money before the 16th of October, 1868. The country had passed through a war unexampled in its expensiveness and sacrifice of lives; it was afflicted with a redundant and depreciated currency; prices of property and the cost of living had advanced correspondingly with the increase of the circulating medium; men, estimating their means by a false standard of value, had become reckless and extravagant in their expenditures and habits; business, in the absence of a stable basis, was unsteady and speculative; and great financial troubles, the usual result of expensive wars, seemed to be almost inevi |