"I did, however, immediately direct the messages you desired to be at once sent, and I now will answer your inquiry in respect to the statement of Federal taxation for the year 1870, contained in my last annual message.
"The year taken is that which ends on the 30th of June, 1870, being most nearly identical with that in which and for which the census statements are made.
"The statement is of taxation and not of expenditures. All the statements in the comparative tables are of taxation. In the long run, unfortunately, the expenditures equal the taxes. At any rate, the comparison is a comparison of taxation.
"If you will refer to the first page of the report of the Secretary of the Treasury for December 5, 1870, you will find the receipts for the year ending June 30, 1870, stated as follows:
| From customs (in gold) | $194,538,374 44 |
| From internal revenues | 185,128,859 07 |
| From sales of public lands | 3,350,481 76 |
| From miscellaneous sources | 28,237,762 06 |
| Total | $411,255,477 33 |
"To reduce the gold revenue from the customs to currency requires the addition of the premium on gold. The gentleman to whom I intrusted that computation made an average which fixed the premium at 24 per cent. That is no doubt considerably below the real premium at the times when the revenues were collected.
"The amount of the premium is $46,689,209.86. From that should be deducted premium received on the sales of gold which form the larger part of the 28,000,000 of receipts from miscellaneous sources, and amount to $15,294,137.37, leaving a balance of $31,395,072.49—
| $31,395,072 49 | |
| Add | 411,255,477 63 |
| $442,650,550 12 | |
| Add to that the amount collected by Postmasters | 15,141,623 71 |
| Total | $457,792,173 83 |