ds, and must, if continued,
lay the foundation of much future difficulty between the Government and
the lessees. According to the official records, the amount of rents
received by the Government for the years 1841, 1842, 1843, and 1844 was
$6,354.74, while the expenses of the system during the same period,
including salaries of superintendents, agents, clerks, and incidental
expenses, were $26,111.11, the income being less than one-fourth of the
expenses. To this pecuniary loss may be added the injury sustained by
the public in consequence of the destruction of timber and the careless
and wasteful manner of working the mines. The system has given rise to
much litigation between the United States and individual citizens,
producing irritation and excitement in the mineral region, and involving
the Government in heavy additional expenditures. It is believed that
similar losses and embarrassments will continue to occur while the
present system of leasing these lands remains unchanged. These lands are
now under the superintendence and care of the War Department, with the
ordinary duties of which they have no proper or natural connection. I
recommend the repeal of the present system, and that these lands be
placed under the superintendence and management of the General Land
Office, as other public lands, and be brought into market and sold upon
such terms as Congress in their wisdom may prescribe, reserving to the
Government an equitable percentage of the gross amount of mineral
product, and that the preemption principle be extended to resident
miners and settlers upon them at the minimum price which may be
established by Congress.

I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of War for
information respecting the present situation of the Army and its
operations during the past year, the state of our defenses, the
condition of the public works, and our relations with the various Indian
tribes within our limits or upon our borders. I invite your attention to
the suggestions contained in that report in relation to these prominent
objects of national interest. When orders were given during the past
summer for concentrating a military force on the western frontier of
Texas, our troops were widely dispersed and in small detachments,
occupying posts remote from each other. The prompt and expeditious
manner in which an army embracing more than half our peace establishment
was drawn together on an emergency so sudden refle