The reasons in favor of the propriety of adopting at an early period proper measures for that purpose were explained by the Secretary of the Treasury in his annual report and recommended to your attention by myself. The experience of the last two months, and especially the recent decisions of the courts, with the continued suspension of specie payments by the banks over large sections of the United States, operating unfavorably upon the revenue, have greatly strengthened the views then taken of the subject.
M. VAN BUREN.
WASHINGTON CITY, February 14, 1840.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before you a communication from the Secretary of War, accompanied by a report of the Commissioner of Pensions, showing the great importance of early action on the bill from the Senate providing for the continuance of the office of Commissioner of Pensions. The present law will expire by its own limitation on the 4th day of the next month, and, sensible of the suffering which would be experienced by the pensioners from its suspension, I have deemed it my duty to bring the subject to your notice and invite your early attention to it.
M. VAN BUREN.
FEBRUARY 17, 1840.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I submit to Congress a communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, repeating suggestions contained in his annual report in regard to the necessity of an early provision by law for the protection of the Treasury against the fluctuations and contingencies to which its receipts are exposed, with additional facts and reasons in favor of the propriety of the legislation then desired.
The application assumes that although the means of the Treasury for the whole year may be equal to the expenditures of the year, the Department may, notwithstanding, be rendered unable to meet the claims upon it at the times when they fall due.