The source of this reduction is as follows:
| Net ordinary receipts during the year | $364,694,229.91 |
| Net ordinary expenditures, including interest on the public debt | 270,559,695.91 |
| Leaving surplus revenue | 94,134,534.00 |
| Add amount received from premium on sales of gold, in excess of the premium paid on bonds purchased | 2,454,370.89 |
| Add the amount of the reduction of the cash balance at the close of the year, accompanied with same at commencement of the year | 3,371,348.65 |
| Total | 99,960,253.54 |
This statement treats solely of the principal of the public debt.
By the monthly statement of the public debt, which adds together the principal, interest due and unpaid, and interest accrued to date, not due, and deducts the cash in the Treasury as ascertained on the day of publication, the reduction was $100,544,491.28.
The source of this reduction is as follows:
| Reduction in principal account | $99,960,003.54 |
| Reduction in unpaid-interest account | 3,330,952.96 |
| 103,290,956.50 | |
| Reduction in cash on hand | 2,746,465.22 |
| 100,544,491.28 |
On the basis of the last table the statements show a reduction of the public debt from the 1st of March, 1869, to the present time as follows:
| From March 1, 1869, to March 1, 1870 | $87,134,782.84 |
| From March 1, 1870, to March 1, 1871 | 117,619,630.25 |
| From March 1, 1871, to March 1, 1872 | 94,895,348.94 |
| From March 1, 1872, to November 1, 1872 (eight months) | 64,047,237.84 |
| Total | 363,696,999.87 |
With the great reduction of taxation by the acts of Congress at its last session, the expenditure of the Government in collecting the revenue will be much reduced for the next fiscal year. It is very doubtful, however, whether any further reduction of so vexatious a burden upon any people will be practicable for the present. At all events, as a measure of justice to the holders of the nation's certificates of indebtedness, I would recommend that no more legislation be had on this subject, unless it be to correct errors of omission or commission in the present laws, until sufficient time has elapsed to prove that it can be done and still leave sufficient revenue to meet current expenses of Government, pay interest on the public debt, and provide for the sinking fund established by law. The preservation of our national credit is of the highest importance; next in importance to this comes a solemn duty to provide a national currency of fixed, unvarying value as compared with gold, and as soon as practicable, having due regard for the interests of the debtor class and the vicissitudes of trade and commerce, convertible into gold at par.
WAR DEPARTMENT.