message in its support. The public debt, including that authorized to be
negotiated in pursuance of existing laws, and including Treasury notes,
amounted at that time to $65,778,450.41.

Funded stock of the United States amounting to about half a million of
dollars has been purchased, as authorized by law, since that period, and
the public debt has thus been reduced, the details of which will be
presented in the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury.

The estimates of expenditures for the next fiscal year, submitted by
the Secretary of the Treasury, it is believed will be ample for all
necessary purposes. If the appropriations made by Congress shall not
exceed the amount estimated, the means in the Treasury will be
sufficient to defray all the expenses of the Government, to pay off the
next installment of $3,000,000 to Mexico, which will fall due on the
30th of May next, and still a considerable surplus will remain, which
should be applied to the further purchase of the public stock and
reduction of the debt. Should enlarged appropriations be made, the
necessary consequence will be to postpone the payment of the debt.
Though our debt, as compared with that of most other nations, is small,
it is our true policy, and in harmony with the genius of our
institutions, that we should present to the world the rare spectacle of
a great Republic, possessing vast resources and wealth, wholly exempt
from public indebtedness. This would add still more to our strength,
and give to us a still more commanding position among the nations of
the earth.

The public expenditures should be economical, and be confined to such
necessary objects as are clearly within the powers of Congress. All such
as are not absolutely demanded should be postponed, and the payment of
the public debt at the earliest practicable period should be a cardinal
principle of our public policy.

For the reason assigned in my last annual message, I repeat the
recommendation that a branch of the Mint of the United States be
established at the city of New York. The importance of this measure is
greatly increased by the acquisition of the rich mines of the precious
metals in New Mexico and California, and especially in the latter.

I repeat the recommendation heretofore made in favor of the graduation
and reduction of the price of such of the public lands as have been long
offered in the market and have remained unsold, and in favor of
extending the rights o