State of the Finances. 3. Sales of public lands.-The only data on which to calculate the annual revenue, which may probably be derived, for the ensuing eight years, from those sales, are the quantity of land at the disposal of Government, compared with the probable annual demand, and the actual sales which have taken place since the several land offices have been opened. The precise quantity cannot be ascertained, all the surveys not being yet completed, and the western boundary line of the Virginia reservation, from the head spring of the Little Miami northward, being neither surveyed, nor even the principle on which its course must depend, determined by the terms of cession accepted by Congress. The estimate N may, however, be considered so far correct, as to render it certain that the quantity of public lands Northwest of the Ohio, within the Indian boundary line, and not yet disposed of, amounts to very near nine millions of acres. A general map of those lands, including the Virginia reservation and the grants to the Ohio Company and to John C. Symmes, which has been compiled from the survey of the Indian boundary line and from the draughts returned to the Treasury Department, will be transmitted to Congress, and will more clearly explain their relative situation than could be done by any written description. The statement O shows the actual sales which have taken place in the several land offices, to the 31st day of October last. By this it appears that 398,646 acres have been sold, for $834,887; of which sum, $248,461 have been paid, and $586,426 remain due, being payable under the law in instalments, bearing interest from the date of sales, and which will become due in the years 1802 and 1805, in the proportions exhibited in the statement. The quantity of land sold, either at the public sales of the three land offices of Marietta, Chillicothe and Cincinnati, or at private sale at Steubenville, when the land office was first opened, cannot afford any just data, on which to predicate an estimate of the probable annual sales; as they may be supposed to have been greater when the lands were first offered for sale than at subsequent periods. Rejecting, therefore, the result of the whole of the public sales, and that of the first two months private sales, at Steubenville, it appears that there have been sold, at private sale, 122,673 acres, at Steubenville, during a period of fourteen months, ending the 31st day of October last―64,205 acres at Chilicothe, during a period of five months, ending on the same day-42,656 acres at Cincinnati, during a period of six months, ending on the same day; and 1,544 acres at Marietta, during a period of sixteen months, ending on the same day-which gives, in the whole, a result of 245,000 acres, annual sales, in all the land offices. and the Virginia reservation, are not embraced in this general result. The reservations and the military tract are not yet disposable by any existing law; and the tract lying between the Great Miami and the Virginia lands has been only partially offered for sale, under the act of Congress giving a right of pre-emption to certain purchasers under J. C. Symmes. The result of the operation of this act has not yet been ascertained. It is, however, known that under it a number of tracts have been sold, and some payments already made. The remainder of the tract will afterwards, according to law, be surveyed and offered for sale on the same terms as other lands. Taking in consideration the probable sales in those several tracts, the total amount of annual sales might fairly be estimated at 400,000 acres, if the periods during which the land offices have been opened had been sufficiently long to form a safe basis for calculation. To estimate them at 250,000 acres a year, for the ensuing eight years, is equally justifiable, by the actual sales, by the known usual demand, and by the quality and superior safety of title of the public lands. The nominal price of those lands is two dollars per acre; but, on account of the provision which relate to interest and discount, they may be obtained, within a fraction, at the rate of one dollar and eighty-four cents, if the whole purchase money is paid at the time of sale, and may bring in the Treasury two dollars and twenty-seven cents per acre, if the purchaser shall avail himself of the terms of credit given by law. If the proceeds of the whole sales shall be estimated only at the rate of $1 84 per acre, it will allow 24 per cent. for losses on account of nonpayments on the three last instalments; and, after the year 1805, give, on an annual sale of 250,000 acres, an annual income of $460,000. But as, on account of the credit given by law, the whole of this sum will not, till after the year 1805, be annually receivable in payment of lands sold after the 1st of January next, whilst, on the other hand, the sums due for lands sold before the end of this year will become payable during the four next ensuing years; it will be found that, making the same deduction of 24 per cent. for losses on the sums already due, the whole sum receivable for lands already sold, or to be sold, during the eight years 1802-1809, will, for those eight years, on an average, amount annually to $400,000. Some legislative provisions seem necessary to ascertain the western boundary of the Virginia lands: to define in what manner the seven first ranges of townships shall be subdivided into sections, without interfering with the claims of former purchasers; and, perhaps, in relation to the lands claimed by purchasers under John C. Symmes. But the most important object, in order to secure and improve this valuable branch of revenue, is to provide against the progress of intrusions on the public lands, and especially to devise some efficient and prompt mode of giving quiet possession to every person purchasing under the law. The reservations in the grants to the Ohio company and to John C. Symmes, and in the township formerly sold at New York; the surplus of the tract appropriated for military bounties, after the same shall have been satisfied; and a tract of near one million of acres, lying north of Symmes's 4. Postage, dividends on bank shares, incipatent, and contained between the Great Miami | dental.-The annual proceeds of the duties on 7th CoN. 2d SEs.-39 State of the Finances. postage may not be estimated at less than $50,000. Powers-estimated, after the ensuing year, by the The dividends on bank shares, at the rate of eight Secretary of State, at $70,000; of those which may per cent. dividend, amount to $70,040. But, as be incurred for the purchase of arms-estimated, the shares themselves may eventually be want- by the Secretary of War, at $55,000; and of a ed as a resource to meet certain contingent de- part of the Indian annuities, amounting to $11,000: mands against the United States, those dividends, these iteins having been omitted in the estimates although constituting a part of the revenue, unless of the ensuing year, because the balances of unexit shall be found necessary to sell the stock and pended appropriations have been considered as sufthe incidental or temporary revenues, shall be ficient for those objects, by the Secretaries of State omitted in the estimate of the permanent revenues. and War, respectively. On the other hand, a sum These, therefore, are estimated in the whole at of about $70,000, in relation to the census and quar$10,000,000, viz: antine laws, which is included in those estimates, $9,500,000 is a temporary expense. 650,000 The particular sums, which, under existing laws, 400,000 seem necessary to defray each particular author50.000 ized expense, being detailed in the annual estimates, The other temporary resources of the United will not be repeated here; and it appears sufficient States areto recapitulate the gross amount of the general heads of expenditure, viz. Duties on merchandise and tonnage 1st. The proceeds of stamp duties for fourteen months from the 1st of January, 1802, to the 4th March, 1803, which, under the existing law, limits their continuance, $260,000. 2d. The balance due on the direct tax. The amount paid in the Treasury to the 1st instant, so far as the same can be ascertained, was $1,245,000, leaving an outstanding sum of $755,000; but, as this last sum is chargeable with all the expenses of collection, estimated at the rate of seven per cent., at $140,000, the real balance is only about $615,000, and as delays and perhaps an eventual loss may be expected on the last part of the collection, it would not be safe to estimate the amount which will probably be paid into the Treasury at more than $450,000. 3d. The proceeds of sales of public vessels. Fifteen vessels have been sold under the act of last session of Congress, for $275,767 73; of which sum, $86,412 83 had been paid on the 30th of September last, leaving an outstanding balance of $189,354 90. 4th. The excess of specie in the Treasury beyond the sum which it is prudent to keep there, may be estimated at about one million of dollars. 5th. The shares of the Bank of the United States, owned by the United States, are, at 333 per cent. advance, worth $1,184,000. lars, leaves a sum of seven millions and one hundred thousand dollars, annually applicable to the payment of interest and redemption of the principal of the public debt. Those several items, exclusively of several bal-nue of ten millions and six hundred thousand dolances due by individuals, and a part which will eventually be received in the Treasury, constitute a sum exceeding three millions of dollars; and may, for the present, be considered as resources, sufficient to meet the demands against the United It must be further observed, that the sums asStates, which may be eventually payable on ac-signed to each head of expenditure being deduc!count of the sixth article of the Treaty with Great ed from the estimates of appropriations necessary Britain, and of the article of the Convention for the ensuing year, and these having been calwith France. culated before the re-establishment of peace in The permanent expenditures of the United Europe was known, they are predicated, for every States relate either to the current expenses of Gov-item which relates to supplies, on the then exist ernment, domestic or foreign, civil and military, or to the payment of the interest and principal of the public debt. ing prices, a considerable reduction will take place in every item, which depends on the price of provisions, freight, transportation, and even wages. The estimate of appropriations for the ensuing Although the saving thence arising cannot yet be year, amounting to $3,448,147 18, include all the correctly ascertained, it may not be estimated at expenses of Government, other than those in re- less than $200,000 annually. It is therefore be lation to the public debt, with the exception of lieved that, after defraying every expense necesthose incident to the intercourse with the Barbarysary to support every civil, military, or naval es State of the Finances. tablishment to the extent now authorized by law, the annual surplus applicable to the debt may be confidently estimated at seven millions and three hundred thousand dollars. The statement P exhibits the amount of the unredeemed principal of the public debt as it will be on the 1st of January next, and of the annual interest and charges payable thereon, including the annual reimbursement on the six per cent. and deferred stocks. By the printed statements of receipts and expenditures for the year 1800, transmitted to Congress the first week of the present session, it appears that the unredeemed principal of the public debt (exclusively of the sums passed to the credit of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, which are only a nominal debt due by the United States to themselves; and after deducting the reimbursement of the principal of the six per cent. stock, operated by the annual payment of eight per cent. on the nominal amount of that stock) amounted, on the 1st of January, 1801, to $80,161,207 60. By the statement P, it appears that the unredeemed principal will, on the 1st of January, 1802, amount to $77,881,890 29; the difference of $2,279,317 31 being the amount of principal paid during the year 1801; during the same year 1801, more than eight hundred thousand dollars shall have been remitted to Holland in part of the interest and instalments on the Dutch debt falling due next year, which sum is not included in the amount of principal thus stated to have been paid during the present year. The sums which, on the 1st of January, 1801, had been remitted to Holland, in part of the interest and instalments due in the course of this year, and which were not deducted from the amount of public debt on the 1st of January, 1801, did not exceed five hundred thousand dollars. The amount of debt actually paid, or for the payment of which provision shall have been made during the present year, will not, therefore, be less than two millions five hundred thousand dollars. And it is believed, though it cannot at present be precisely ascertained, that the balance of specie in the Treasury, which, on the 1st of January, 1801, was $2,557,395 38. will not be diminished on the 1st of January, 1802. The Treasury accounts being settled to the 30th day of September last, the amount of public debt paid during the half year commencing on the 1st of April, and ending on the 30th September, 1801, as well as the comparative view of the Treasury at the commencement and end of that period, may be precisely stated. The payments in part of the principal of the debt made during those six months, exclusively of certain parts of the unfunded debt which have been reimbursed, have been 1st. To the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, and to be by them applied, on the 1st of January next, to the reimbursement of the six per cent. stock $129,048 83 2d. To the Bank of the United States, on account of the principal of sundry temporary loans, formerly obtained from that institution 500,000 00 The balance of specie in the Treasury amounted, on the 1st of April, 1801, to $1,794,044 85, and on the 1st of October, 1801, to $2.946,038 73; making a difference in favor of the Treasury of $1,151,993 88; which last sum, added to the above stated payments on account of the principal of the debt, makes an actual difference in favor of the United States of $2,339,010 66 cents, during those six months. The principal of the public debt, unredeemed on the 1st January, 1802, is, in the statement P, arranged under four heads, viz: 1st. The six per cent. and deferred stocks. The nominal amount of this debt is $41,879,525 23, and the eight per cent. annuity, applicable to its interest and reimbursement of principal, amounts to $3,350,362 1. As, by the effect of this annuity, $5,027,740 57 of the principal shall have been reimbursed on the 1st of January, 1802, the unredeemed principal of that debt will, on that day, be only $36,851,784 66. The interest, at the rate of six per cent., on which sum, is $2,211,107 08. The part of the eight per cent. annuity, at present applicable to the redemption of the principal, is, therefore, $1,139,254 03, and increasing each year, at compound interest, shall, without any further provision, have discharged the whole of the six per cent. in the year 1818, and the whole of the deferred debt in the year 1824. 2d. Three per cent.stock, amounts $19,079,705 63 And the interest on the same, to - $572,391 16 No provision has been made for its redemption, occasional payments for lands excepted. 3d. All the other domestic debts created, under the present Government of the Union, in order either to discharge other debts, or to meet certain extraordinary expenses. These include the five and a half, four and half, navy six, 1796 six, and eight per cent. stocks, and the temporary loans obtained from the bank; and amount, altogether, to The interest on all these constitutes an item of - $12,035,400 00 $828,350 50 4th. The foreign debt due in Holland and Antwerp amounts, including premiums and gratifications, to The interest on which, commissions and charges included, is, for the year 1802 State of the Finances. have paid the whole of the Dutch debt; of the temporary loans due to the bank; of the navy six per cent.; and of the five and a half per cent. $9,915,000 00 stocks; $5.525,300 38 of the eight per cent stock; $150,387 26 of the four and a half per cent. stock; and $11,399,263 06 of the principal of the six per cent. and deferred stocks; amounting, altogether, $476,931 00 to thirty-two millions two hundred and eightynine thousand one hundred and fifty dollars and seventy cents. This last debt being payable in instalments, at certain fixed dates, and it being necessary to purchase remittances in America, near six months before the payments are made in Holland, the statement R has been added to show the payments, both on account of principal and interest, which become annually due in Holland, until the final redemption of the debts in 1809, and the sums which it will be necessary, every year, to provide in America, in order to meet those payments. The greater part of this debt becomes due in the course of the five next ensuing years; and the annual payments on account of principal and interest for that period, exceed, on an average, two millions of dollars. The inconvenience and difficulty of procuring remittances to that amount, and the real injury arising from such heavy disbursements abroad, render an extension of the terms of payment, by re-loans, a desirable object; and measures have been taken to ascertain its practicability. All that seems wanted, is, that the gross amount of payments, which are to take place during the eight next years, should be more equally apportioned amongst those years; and any greater surplus of revenue which might be freed by that operation, would be applicable to the redemption of those species of the domestic debt which it may be thought most eligible to reimburse. The public debt would, therefore, on the 1st of January, 1810, be reduced to $45,592,739 59, viz: $954,899 62 of the eight per cent. stock; $25.612 74 of the four and a half per cent. stock: (both of which would be discharged during the four first months of the year 1810; ($80.000 of the 1796, six per cent. stock: $25,452,521 60 of the six per cent. and deferred stocks; and the $19,079,705 63 three per cent. stock. It is true that this statement is predicated on the supposition, that the whole of the remittances to Holland may be purchased at par, which is not probable; but, on the other hand, it is calculated on the principle of a yearly, instead of a quarterly annuity; or as if all the payments made in one year, on account of the principal of the debt, took place only at the end of the year, instead of being made, as will be the case, in the course of the year, and stopping the interest from the end of the quarter in which they may be made. The supposed extra cost of bills on Holland is at least partly covered by that difference, and cannot materially affect the general result. It may, in the same manner, be shown, that the same annual sum of $7,300,000, applied to the payment of the principal and interest of the public debt, would, on the supposition that the whole of the six per cent. and deferred stocks may be redeemed at par, and that the whole of the three per cent. stock should be reimbursed at its nominal value, discharge the whole of the public debt in seven years and a half, after the year 1809, or within the year 1817. Whether this operation shall be effected or not, no difficulty is apprehended, from want of resources, to discharge every instalment as it shall become due; the sum payable in 1803, in which year the largest payment must be made in HolThe only part of the preceding estimates which land, amounting, including both those and all is liable to any material error, is what relates to other actually due, on account of the interest and the probable annual revenue derived from the reimbursement of the domestic debt, to only seven impost and from the sales of land. Should these millions one hundred thousand dollars, or to two prove to have been correct, it will result that the hundred thousand dollars less than the annuity of present revenues of the Union are sufficient to seven millions three hundred thousand dollars, defray all the expenses, civil and military, of GoFwhich has been estimated as the surplus of rev-ernment, to the extent authorized by existing enue applicable to that object. laws to meet the engagements of the United If that surplus does exist, and it will be suffi-States; and to discharge, within eight years, thircient to meet the engagements of the United States, as they become due, the only remaining objects of inquiry seem to be: What impression will, during the next eight years, to which these estimates refer, be made on the public debt, by the annual application of that surplus? In what time would the same annuity discharge the whole of the public debt? The statement S exhibits the effect produced at the end of the year 1809 on the debt, by the annual application of that sum, (7,300,000.) to the payment of both principal and interest, and shows that, at the end of those eight years, it shall ty-two millions of dollars of the principal, and All of which is most respectfully submitted. To the PRESIDENT, U. S. State of the Finances. Table of duties paid on merchandise, imported in American vessels, in the United States. Goods, wares, and merchandise, imported in the United States, unless free of duty, pay either duties according to their value, or specific duties according to their quantity. I. Articles free of duty, are All articles of American growth, produce, or manufacture, spirits excepted. Bullion, copper, old pewter, tin, teutenauge, wire, plaster of paris, saltpetre, sulphur, lapis caliminaris, dying drugs and woods, woad, furs, raw hides, sed stores, wearing apparel, personal baggage, and implements of trade belonging to emigrants; philosophical apparatus, imported for the use of seminaries of learning. II. Articles paying duties ad valorem, pay either twenty, fifteen, or twelve and a half per cent., on their respective value, which value is calculated by adding to their prime cost, all charges included, ten per cent., if imported from countries this side, and twenty per cent., if imported from countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope. Articles paying twenty per cent. ad valorem, are Carriages, and parts of same. Manufactures of glass, other than window glass, and black quart bottles. Articles paying fifteen per cent. ad valorem, are 1st. All manufactures of metal,* earth and stone, and leather; all fruits and spices; all painters' colors and medical drugs,§ not otherwise enumerated. 2d. Cabinet wares. hair powder, starch, and wafers; oil, anniseed, glue, essences, washes, perfumes, dentifrice, and cosmetics; paperhanging, cartridge and sheathing paper; carpets, carpeting, floor-cloths, and mats; bonnets, hats, caps, gloves and mittens, and stockings; fringes and tassels for saddles, upholsters, and coachmakers; buttons, millinery, artificial flowers, feathers, ornament dresses, dolls, and fans. Articles paying twelve and a half per cent. ad valorem. 1st. The following manufactures of metal, viz: anchors, locks, hinges, hoes, anvils, vises, and printing types. 2d. Gunpowder, black quart bottles, saddles and Including arms, cannon, plated ware and jewelry, buckles and buttons, clocks and watches, gold and silver lace. Excepting the articles free of duty; those enumerated as paying 12 per cent.; and lead, nails, spikes, steel, wool and cotton cards, which pay specific duties. Including China, queen's and earthen ware, window glass, bricks and tiles, marble and slate, pastework, and jewelry. Excepting articles free of duty, and hollow glass ware. Excepting saddles and saddlery, which pay only 12 per cent.; boots and shoes, which pay specific duties. S Excepting lampblack, which pays 12 per cent.; and colors of lead, which pay a specific duty of one per cent. per pound. |