that
which has been repeatedly granted before. If the future may be judged of
by the past, little harm can be done to the interests of the Treasury
by yielding to their request. Upon a critical examination it is found
that the lands sold at the public sales since the introduction of cash
payments, in 1820, have produced on an average the net revenue of only
6 cents an acre more than the minimum Government price. There is no
reason to suppose that future sales will be more productive. The
Government, therefore, has no adequate pecuniary interest to induce it
to drive these people from the lands they occupy for the purpose of
selling them to others.

Entertaining these views, I recommend the passage of a preemption law
for their benefit in connection with the preparatory steps toward the
graduation of the price of the public lands, and further and more
effectual provisions to prevent intrusions hereafter. Indulgence to
those who have settled on these lands with expectations that past
legislation would be made a rule for the future, and at the same time
removing the most plausible ground on which intrusions are excused and
adopting more efficient means to prevent them hereafter, appears to me
the most judicious disposition which can be made of this difficult
subject. The limitations and restrictions to guard against abuses in
the execution of a preemption law will necessarily attract the careful
attention of Congress, but under no circumstances is it considered
expedient to authorize floating claims in any shape. They have been
heretofore, and doubtless would be hereafter, most prolific sources of
fraud and oppression, and instead of operating to confer the favor of
the Government on industrious settlers are often used only to minister
to a spirit of cupidity at the expense of the most meritorious of that
class.

The accompanying report of the Secretary of War will bring to your view
the state of the Army and all the various subjects confided to the
superintendence of that officer.

The principal part of the Army has been concentrated in Florida, with a
view and in the expectation of bringing the war in that Territory to a
speedy close. The necessity of stripping the posts on the maritime and
inland frontiers of their entire garrisons for the purpose of assembling
in the field an army of less than 4,000 men would seem to indicate the
necessity of increasing our regular forces; and the superior efficiency,
as well as g