Page. Circular No. 2. The Secretary's circular of June 12, 1861, to collectors, surveyors, Circular No 3. The Secretary's circular of August 22, 1861, to collectors, surveyors, and other officers of the customs...... 163 Circular No. 4. The Secretary's circular of September 3, 1861, to collectors and 167 Circular No. 5. The Secretary's circular of September 21, 1861, to collectors and 168 Statement F. Report of the Sixth Auditor on the operations of his office 169 Statement No. 12. Statement G. Report of the First Comptroller on the operations of his office................ 171 172 174 175 180 202 203 Statement No. 13. Amount due under treaties with various Indian tribes, payable 207 Statement No. 14 exhibits the gold and silver coinage at the mint of the United from 1789 to June 30, 1861; also, the registered and enrolled and licensed 219 221 222 224 ment to June 30, 1861, under the several heads of customs, public lands, and 226 230 and consumed, annually, from 1821 to 1861, inclusive; and also the estimated of the United States, annually, from 1847 to 1861, inclusive 232 233 235 Statement No. 23 exhibits the value of certain articles imported, annually, from Page. 236 241 243 Statement No. 26 exhibits the value of imports, annually, from 1821 to 1861, 247 Statement No. 27 exhibits the value of dutiable merchandise re-exported, annually, 248 Statement No. 28 exhibits the aggregate value of breadstuffs and provisions exported, 249 Statement No. 29 exhibits the quantity and value of cotton exported, annually, from 250 252 254 Statement No. 32 exhibits the value of iron, manufactures of iron, and iron and steel, 262 267 268 272 Statement No. 36 exhibits a comparative view of the condition of the banks in dif- ferent sections of the Union in 1856-57, 1857-'58, 1858-59, 1859-'60, 278 Statement No. 37 exhibits a general statement of the condition of the banks accord- 282 285 286 Page. Statement No. 40. Value of exports of the growth, produce, and manufacture of the United States, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1861.. Statement No. 42 shows a list of parties to whom sixty days treasury notes were 287 291 292 295 297 Statement No. 45. Payments annually on account of the principal and interest of the 299 301 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. DECEMBER 9, 1861.-Referred to the Committee on Finance, and ordered to be printed. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, December 9, 1861. SIR: The Secretary of the Treasury, in obedience to law, submits the following report to Congress: The general principles by which, as the Secretary conceives, the administration of the public finances should be regulated, with a view to insure the desirable results of efficiency, economy, and general prosperity, were set forth, with as much clearness and plainness as he is capable of, in his report made to Congress on the 4th day of July last. In that report, also, the Secretary submitted to the consideration of the legislature the measures by which, in his opinion, the pecuniary means, necessary to the speedy and effectual suppression of the gigantic rebellion set on foot by criminal conspiracy against the gov ernment and the people of the United States, might be most certainly and most economically obtained. The estimates of the several departments then laid before Congress by the Secretary contemplated an aggregate expenditure, during the fiscal year to end on the 30th June, 1862, of $318,519,581 87. To provide this sum the Secretary proposed such modifications of the tariff and such internal taxes as would, in his judgment, produce the sum of eighty millions of dollars, and such loans, in various forms, not exceeding in their aggregate two hundred and fifty millions of dollars, as would yield the required residue. Without adopting all his recommendations in regard to customs and internal taxes, Congress made such provision for both as was deemed necessary to secure the sum proposed to be derived from those sources, and authorized loans, in the mode and to the extent proposed by the Secretary, for obtaining the additional sum required by the estimates. It now becomes his duty to give some account of the execution and practical operation of these measures; and in the performance of it he solicits, first, the attention of Congress to that part of them relating to loans. The acts authorizing loans provided First, For a National Loan of one hundred millions of dollars, or any larger sum, not exceeding the whole amount authorized, in bonds or treasury notes, bearing 7.30 per cent interest, payable three years after date, and convertible at or before maturity into twenty years six per cent bonds. Secondly, For a loan in Europe, or in the United States, at the discretion of the Secretary, of one hundred millions of dollars, payable twenty years after date, and bearing interest not exceeding seven per cent. Thirdly, For the issue, in payments to public creditors, or in exchange for coin, of treasury notes payable one year after date, bearing an interest of 3.65 per cent, and convertible into the three years 7.30 bonds or treasury notes. Fourthly, For the issue of notes, payable on demand and receivable for all public dues, to be used as coin in payments and exchanges. The aggregate of notes of the two last descriptions was limited to fifty millions of dollars, in denominations less than fifty, but not less than five dollars. A further authority was conferred by the act to issue treasury notes of any of the specified denominations, bearing six per cent interest and payable not over twelve months from date, to an amount not exceeding twenty millions of dollars. To provide for immediate exigencies was the first duty of the Secretary, and he performed it by issuing, under authorities conferred by various acts, for payment to public creditors or for advances of cash, $14,019,034 66 in treasury notes, payable in two years, and bearing 6 per cent interest, and $12,877,750 in treasury notes, bearing the same rate of interest, but payable sixty days after date. His next care was to provide for the regular and continuous disbursements of the war, under the acts of the July session, and with this view, he carefully examined the various powers conferred on him; compared the probabilities of the American and European markets for capital; and considered the relative advantages and disadvantages of the several forms of loan authorized. His reflections led him to the conclusion that the safest, surest, and most beneficial plan would be to engage the banking institutions of the three chief commercial cities of the seaboard to advance the amounts needed for disbursement in the form of loans for three years 7.30 bonds, to be reimbursed, as far as practicable, from the proceeds of similar bonds, subscribed for by the people through the agencies of the National Loan; using, meanwhile, himself, to a limited extent, in aid of these advances, the power to issue notes of smaller denominations than fifty dollars, payable on demand. Upon this plan he hoped that the capital of the banking institutions and the capital of the people might be so combined with the credit of the government, in a proper provision for necessary expenditures, as to give efficiency to administrative action, whether civil or military, and competent support to public credit. The result thus far has fulfilled that hope. Representatives from the banking institutions of the three cities, responding to his invitation, met him for consultation in New York, and, after full conference, agreed to unite as associates in moneyed support to the government, and to subscribe at once a loan of fifty |