rease in the cost of the naval
service growing out of the universal use and great expense of steam
machinery. The money necessary for these repairs should be provided at
once, that they may be completed without further unnecessary delay and
expense.

When this is done, all the strength that there is in our Navy will be
developed and useful to its full capacity, and it will be powerful for
purposes of defense, and also for offensive action, should the necessity
for that arise within a reasonable distance from our shores.

The fact that our Navy is not more modern and powerful than it is has
been made a cause of complaint against the Secretary of the Navy by
persons who at the same time criticise and complain of his endeavors to
bring the Navy that we have to its best and most efficient condition;
but the good sense of the country will understand that it is really due
to his practical action that we have at this time any effective naval
force at command.

The report of the Postmaster-General shows the excess of expenditures
(excluding expenditures on account of previous years) over receipts for
the fiscal year ended June 30, 1876, to be $4,151,988.66.

Estimated expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878, are
$36,723,432.43.

Estimated revenue for same period is $30,645,165, leaving estimated
excess of expenditure, to be appropriated as a deficiency, of
$6,078,267.43.

The Postmaster-General, like his predecessor, is convinced that a
change in the basis of adjusting the salaries of postmasters of the
fourth class is necessary for the good of the service as well as
for the interests of the Government, and urgently recommends that the
compensation of the class of postmasters above mentioned be based upon
the business of their respective offices, as ascertained from the sworn
returns to the Auditor of stamps canceled.

A few postmasters in the Southern States have expressed great
apprehension of their personal safety on account of their connection
with the postal service, and have specially requested that their reports
of apprehended danger should not be made public lest it should result in
the loss of their lives. But no positive testimony of interference has
been submitted, except in the case of a mail messenger at Spartanburg,
in South Carolina, who reported that he had been violently driven away
while in charge of the mails on account of his political affiliations.
An assistant superintendent of the R