n equivalent
specific duty.

By such an arrangement the consumer would not be injured. It is true
he might have to pay a little more duty on a given article in one year,
but, if so, he would pay a little less in another, and in a series of
years these would counterbalance each other and amount to the same
thing so far as his interest is concerned. This inconvenience would be
trifling when contrasted with the additional security thus afforded
against frauds upon the revenue, in which every consumer is directly
interested.

I have thrown out these suggestions as the fruit of my own observation,
to which Congress, in their better judgment, will give such weight as
they may justly deserve.

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will explain in detail the
operations of that Department of the Government. The receipts into the
Treasury from all sources during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1858,
including the Treasury notes authorized by the act of December 23, 1857,
were $70,273,869.59, which amount, with the balance of $17,710,114.27
remaining in the Treasury at the commencement of the year, made an
aggregate for the service of the year of $87,983,983.86.

The public expenditures during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1858,
amounted to $81,585,667.76, of which $9,684,537.99 were applied to the
payment of the public debt and the redemption of Treasury notes with the
interest thereon, leaving in the Treasury on July 1, 1858, being the
commencement of the present fiscal year, $6,398,316.10.

The receipts into the Treasury during the first quarter of the present
fiscal year, commencing the 1st of July, 1858, including one-half of the
loan of $20,000,000, with the premium upon it, authorized by the act
of June 14, 1858, were $25,230,879.46, and the estimated receipts for
the remaining three quarters to the 30th of June, 1859, from ordinary
sources are $38,500,000, making, with the balance before stated, an
aggregate of $70,129,195.56.

The expenditures during the first quarter of the present fiscal
year were $21,708,198.51, of which $1,010,142.37 were applied to the
payment of the public debt and the redemption of Treasury notes and the
interest thereon. The estimated expenditures during the remaining three
quarters to June 30, 1859, are $52,357,698.48, making an aggregate of
$74,065,896.99, being an excess of expenditure beyond the estimated
receipts into the Treasury from ordinary sources during the fiscal year
t