r, asked for by the Secretary of the Interior, to the
amount of $539,350; and upon the estimates of the Postmaster-General for
the service of his Department the last fiscal year, ending 30th June,
1859, amounting to $4,296,009, together with the further estimate of
that officer for the service of the present fiscal year, ending 30th
June, 1860, being $5,526,324, making an aggregate of $10,361,683.

Should these appropriations be made as requested by the proper
Departments, the balance in the Treasury on the 30th June, 1861,
will not, it is estimated, exceed $3,530,196.61.

I transmit herewith the reports of the Secretaries of War, of the Navy,
of the Interior, and of the Postmaster-General. They each contain
valuable information and important recommendations well worthy of the
serious consideration of Congress.

It will appear from the report of the Secretary of War that the Army
expenditures have been materially reduced by a system of rigid economy,
which in his opinion offers every guaranty that the reduction will be
permanent. The estimates of the Department for the next have been
reduced nearly $2,000,000 below the estimates for the present fiscal
year and $500,000 below the amount granted for this year at the last
session of Congress.

The expenditures of the Post-Office Department during the past fiscal
year, ending on the 30th June, 1859, exclusive of payments for mail
service specially provided for by Congress out of the general Treasury,
amounted to $14,964,493.33 and its receipts to $7,968,484.07, showing a
deficiency to be supplied from the Treasury of $6,996,009.26, against
$5,235,677.15 for the year ending 30th June, 1858. The increased cost of
transportation, growing out of the expansion of the service required by
Congress, explains this rapid augmentation of the expenditures. It is
gratifying, however, to observe an increase of receipts for the year
ending on the 30th of June, 1859, equal to $481,691.21 compared with
those in the year ending on the 30th June, 1858.

It is estimated that the deficiency for the current fiscal year
will be $5,988,424.04, but that for the year ending 30th June, 1861,
it will not exceed $1,342,473.90 should Congress adopt the measures of
reform proposed and urged by the Postmaster-General. Since the month
of March retrenchments have been made in the expenditures amounting to
$1,826,471 annually, which, however, did not take effect until after
the commencement of the prese