ted as to be efficient as war vessels when needed, and would of
themselves constitute a formidable force in order to repel attacks from
abroad. We can not be blind to the fact that other nations have already
added large numbers of steamships to their naval armaments and that this
new and powerful agent is destined to revolutionize the condition of
the world. It becomes the United States, therefore, looking to their
security, to adopt a similar policy, and the plan suggested will enable
them to do so at a small comparative cost.

I take the greatest pleasure in bearing testimony to the zeal and
untiring industry which has characterized the conduct of the members of
the Executive Cabinet. Each in his appropriate sphere has rendered me
the most efficient aid in carrying on the Government, and it will not,
I trust, appear out of place for me to bear this public testimony. The
cardinal objects which should ever be held in view by those intrusted
with the administration of public affairs are rigidly, and without favor
or affection, so to interpret the national will expressed in the laws as
that injustice should be done to none, justice to all. This has been the
rule upon which they have acted, and thus it is believed that few cases,
if any, exist wherein our fellow-citizens, who from time to time have
been drawn to the seat of Government for the settlement of their
transactions with the Government, have gone away dissatisfied. Where the
testimony has been perfected and was esteemed satisfactory their claims
have been promptly audited, and this in the absence of all favoritism or
partiality. The Government which is not just to its own people can
neither claim their affection nor the respect of the world. At the same
time, the closest attention has been paid to those matters which relate
more immediately to the great concerns of the country. Order and
efficiency in each branch of the public service have prevailed,
accompanied by a system of the most rigid responsibility on the part of
the receiving and disbursing agents. The fact, in illustration of the
truth of this remark, deserves to be noticed that the revenues of the
Government, amounting in the last four years to upward of $120,000,000,
have been collected and disbursed through the numerous governmental
agents without the loss by default of any amount worthy of serious
commentary.

The appropriations made by Congress for the improvement of the rivers of
the West and of t