A project for the reorganization of the consular service and for recasting the scheme of extraterritorial jurisdiction is now before you. If the limits of a short session will not allow of its full consideration, I trust that you will not fail to make suitable provision for the present needs of the service.
It has been customary to define in the appropriation acts the rank of each diplomatic office to which a salary is attached. I suggest that this course be abandoned and that it be left to the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to fix from time to time the diplomatic grade of the representatives of this Government abroad as may seem advisable, provision being definitely made, however, as now, for the amount of salary attached to the respective stations.
The condition of our finances and the operations of the various branches of the public service which are connected with the Treasury Department are very fully discussed in the report of the Secretary.
It appears that the ordinary revenues for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1884, were:
| From customs | $195,067,489.76 |
| From internal revenue | 121,586,072.51 |
| From all other sources | 31,866,307.65 |
| ______________ | |
| Total ordinary revenues | 348,519,869.92 |
The public expenditures during the same period were:
| For civil expenses | $22,312,907.71 |
| For foreign intercourse | 1,260,766.37 |
| For Indians | 6,475,999.29 |
| For pensions | 55,429,228.06 |
| For the military establishment, including river and harbor improvements and arsenals | 39,429,603.36 |
| For the naval establishment, including vessels, machinery, and improvements at navy-yards | 17,292,601.44 |
| For miscellaneous expenditures, including public buildings, light-houses, and collecting the revenue | 43,939,710.00 |
| For expenditures on account of the District of Columbia | 3,407,049.62 |
| For interest on the public debt | 54,578,378.48 |
| For the sinking fund | 46,790,229.50 |
| ______________ | |
| Total ordinary expenditures | 290,916,473.83 |
| ============== | |
| Leaving a surplus of | 57,603,396.09 |
As compared with the preceding fiscal year, there was a net decrease of over $21,000,000 in the amount of expenditures. The aggregate receipts were less than those of the year previous by about $54,000,000. The falling off in revenue from customs made up nearly $20,000,000 of this deficiency, and about $23,000,000 of the remainder was due to the diminished receipts from internal taxation.
The Secretary estimates the total receipts for the fiscal year which will end June 30, 1885, at $330,000,000 and the total expenditures at $290,620,201.16, in which sum are included the interest on the debt and the amount payable to the sinking fund. This would leave a surplus for the entire year of about $39,000,000.
The value of exports from the United States to foreign countries during the year ending June 30, 1884, was as follows: