act of that date for regulating the deposites of the capital of any bank to be left in it of the public money," and which are called for in the first part of the resolution, cannot be discriminated from any others, called for in the last part of the resolution, and which may not have been made in execution of the aforesaid act, unless the secretary is able to do it, and from memory rather than the records. The whole amount of these transfers which have taken effect, or been paid, appears to be $25,129,385. Those which have not taken effect, and are not payable, many of them till January, February, March, and April of next year, equal $12,910,000, making the whole amount ordered $38,039,385. longer than was necessary to select new banks, and to complete the transfers proper for removing the excess, it became indispensable to transfer, for that purpose alone, about $18,300,000. New transfers for this whole amount became necessary, except in a few cases where the transfers outstanding tended to accomplish that object, though in other In order, therefore, to avoid any mistakes | cases they quite as much retarded it. The as to the whole amount of transfers directed, department, therefore, took immediate steps, from all causes whatever, within the period even before the adjournment cf congress, to mentioned, the treasurer was, on the day the comply with this direction of the law. But resolution reached me, required to prepare an it was at once perceived that, by the peculiar exhibit of the whole since the 23d of June last, phraseology adopted in the deposite act, it and to accompany it by the details desired in was very doubtful whether any of these new the resolution, as to the times of payment, transfers could be made to banks in other and the names of the banks to and from which states than those where the money then was, they have been respectively ordered. unless done to facilitate the public disbursements, or unless suitable and sufficient banks to hold the excess could not be obtained in the latter states; and, hence, that the transfers of any of it, for the purpose of beginning the equalisation of the surplus among the different states could not probably, in any case, however convenient, be carried on at the same time, or be commenced before the 1st of To be able to decide, as nearly as practicable, January next. These impressions were com. what portion of those have been directed" for municated by me in reply to several members the purpose of executing the deposite act," of congress who inquired at the department and what portion, if any, for other objects, it on the subject, and wished new banks selected, will be necessary to advert to the following and transfers made under the new act, immefacts and explanations :-The department sup-diately from states where the public money poses that they may all be construed by some had greatly accumulated beyond their proporas having been ordered for that purpose, be- tion to other states where large deficiencies cause they were all issued under the autho-existed. rity of that act, and the supplement to it, Accordingly, the form of a bill was, at their passed July 4, 1836. But a portion of them request, prepared, which might, if congress having been issued with a view to facilitate deemed it proper to legislate further on the disbursements, and make payments, at conve- subject, remove the supposed difficulty, and nient points, of the appropriations by congress, which, with some modifications, afterwards may not, in strictness, perhaps, be considered passed into a supplemental law on the 4th of by others as ordered for the purpose of exe-July last. Consequently, in any subsequent cuting the act, and hence will, as far as prac- proceedings to accomplish those first transfers ticable, be estimated by themselves. The of about $18,300,000, with a view to equalise amount of them, though not attainable with the amount among different banks, in conexactness, can, by a few considerations, pro- formity to the first section of the deposite act, bably be separated and computed distinctly it was considered that congress, by the supfrom the rest with sufficient certainty for any plemental act, expressly intended to remove general object contemplated by the resolution. the doubts and objections before entertained Thus the sum in the treasury subject to to the course previously proposed, of comdraft on the 23d of June, 1836, was about bining with the division of the excesses among $34,000,000. Of this amount about $6,200,000 new banks, the commencement of the appor were then under transfer to different places, tionment of the deposites among the different and to take effect at future periods, for pur-deficient states, preparatory to a gradual and poses of safety, and affording facility to future easy payment to the states themselves the en. disbursements. suing year. On the passage of the deposite law, however, and in execution of the first section of it, prohibiting any amount over three fourths In several cases, therefore, both objects or purposes, when convenient, were seasonably united, and with a mitigated and more bene REPORT FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. ficial effect, it is believed, on the whole ad- placed under transfer to some other banks, in But, as the payments were not required to congress, except so far as, while accumulat- In addition to all these removals of money, The result of the whole is, that the amount of transfers ordered to execute only these purposes would be about $30,666,666, or but seven to eight millions less than all the transThis residue is near the whole amount fers ordered since the deposite act passed. which has probably been required to be transferred for facilitating the public disbursements at other points, amounting, since June last, at those other points, it is presumed, to about $12,000,000 out of the whole. This sum is only from one to two millions larger than the transfers outstanding for this and a similar purpose when the deposite act passed, and is less than the average amount repassed, as well as while the United States quired during the two years before the act Bank was employed as the depository of the This is the nearest approximation public money in the expenditure of a similar which can be made to the amount which has perhaps "for the purpose of executing the been transferred since June last, not strictly In several cases, also, where the transfers act," provided that the clause in it by which are at first, for the convenience of commerce, they are authorised be not so understood in or other proper cause, ordered to banks in connection with the resolution as that these an amount beyond three fourths of their transfers may be properly considered as made The dates of the particular transfers which capital, it will be seen that, before all the" for the purpose of executing the act." transfers take effect or become paid, other transfers are ordered from the receiving banks, were made exclusively to aid disbursements, so as to prevent them from holding permanently and the names of the banks from and to which more than the amount prescribed in the law. they were made, cannot now be distinguished But, besides the transfers of the $18,300,000, from the others, except by some general cirrendered imperative to equalise the money cumstances, which may be briefly indicated. among the banks, there has been an accruing They embrace a portion of all those transfers revenue since the deposite act passed, amount- which have been made to places where the Besides some of these ing to nearly $22,500,000, and most of which, public money is disbursed to a large amount being at first paid into the banks where an for any legitimate purpose, and especially in excess already existed, and hence not by law the deficient states. retainable there, has also been necessarily transfers, required in over one half the states If this be done sometimes, in the first step of its progress, without a rigid regard to deficiencies or excesses in the bank or state re-sum. ceiving the money, yet, in the next and final step of transferring it to its ultimate destination, those are always strictly adhered to. able time for all those transfers to be effected, varying the notice given by this department to all the parties concerned, generally according to the amount and distance, from thirty to one hundred and twenty days, and in several cases to a longer period, so as to enable the banks easily to remove the money by bills of exchange, drafts, bank balances, and other satisfactory remittances, and by allowing the payment to be made, as has always been usual, at the places to which the money is to be transferred, unless the bank making the transfers prefers to pay them at its own counter. of the Union, the largest amounts rendered ure in the money market, by affording reason. necessary to meet appropriations since the 23d of June last have been to New Hampshire, chiefly for the navy yard and pensions; to the District of Columbia, for various great public expenditures of almost every description; to Norfolk, Virginia, very large sums for the navy yard and fort near that place; to Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah and Augusta, Georgia, as well as to New Orleans; for the prosecution of Indian hostilities and disbursements anticipated on our southwestern frontier, and to Tennessee, as well as the other places last named, a sufficiency to meet heavy payments connected with the removal of the Cherokees, Creeks, and Seminoles, beyond the Mississippi. The explanations of both branches of the last resolution, and of the tabular statements referred to, in answer to the call of the senate, might here be closed, had not the treasurer prepared the schedule of transfers in a form only chronological, when it might be desirable to some members to have the results presented in their connection with the situation of the different states as bearing on the amount of deposites of public money within each, as well before these transfers began, in June last, as at the date of this enquiry, and both of these as compared with the proportion of deposites which the states will respectively be entitled to receive under the act. An exhibit has, therefore, been added, which gives in round numbers the proportion each state would be entitled to receive from a distribution of deposites amounting to $37,000,000; and in other columns, the amount on deposite in each state subject to draft about the time the act passed, and also at the present time. But it will be seen, at the same time, that while all has thus been accomplished which was deemed necessary to execute the purpose of the 1st section of the deposite act, dividing the excesses among different banks, and to aid the operations of the mint under the 13th section, and to facilitate our very large disbursements the last half year, and for a few months to come, at the necessary points, yet the other and last process of transfers for the apportionment of the deposites among the states in the prescribed proportions, so as to be gradually and seasonably ready for payment to each state the next month, and quar terly thereafter during the year, has made but little progress since June, by means of trans fers to the several states then deficient, and has not been thus completed in a single case, unless the state of Ohio be considered an exception. Her contiguity to other states which had not banking capital sufficient to hold the great accumulation in them, has required the department, under the act, in order to execute the 1st section alone, to place enough within her limits by transfers from only the neigh By this document, and those on the subject bouring states, to supply, with the aid of col of the deposite banks, submitted to the senate lections there, any deficiency before existing, with my last annual report, and connected and all the current expenses of the govern with the present call, it will be seen that suf- ment, with some excess for transmission elseficient transfers have already been issued, where. Very unequal sums have been placed though all have not yet become payable, to in some other states from the same unequal execute the 1st section of the act, prohibiting cause; a cause not within the control of this more money to remain in any bank than three department, but yielded to under the express fourths the amount of its capital. It deserves directions of the deposite act. It deserves notice, however, that the revenue has increased notice under this head, that, of the other over our expenditures during the last six states which were deficient last June, being, months so constantly, and in such large as appears by the table C, seventeen in num amounts, as to keep up to the present moment ber, all except Indiana still remain deficient and imperatively require almost weekly trans-in sums ranging from $150,000 to $1,600,000 fers and weekly selections of new banks, in each, and requiring in the whole, to produce order to comply with the above direction of an equality, nearly $11,000,000 more to be the deposite law. But the utmost care has paid from other states, besides about two been exercised, while endeavouring to enforce the spirit of the law on this point, to take every precaution to prevent, as far as practicable, any unnecessary derangement or press thirds of the five millions to be reserved next month, to defray current expenditures. Indiana has since been filled up, and now has an excess of more than a million, derived from REPORT FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. the large sales of land within her limits, and [tures there, are now so situated that they will not from transfers. not be actually put under transfer till the beOn the other hand, all of the states which ginning of each quarter in 1837, and will then, last June had an excess, still retain one, except in general, be made directly to the agent of Maryland, which has now only about her just the state to which they are to be paid, as the proportion. In all of them, likewise, with a banks in which they now are can, by law, Care, however, will be taken to single exception, those excesses, instead of hold them till wanted for the several state being much diminished by large transfers to treasuries. a distance, or payments at home beyond the give a suitable general notice of the time and accruing revenue within their limits, have place of all these subsequent transfers, as has been all increased, and in several cases in been done concerning the preceding ones. such great amounts as to range from a third Indeed, as long ago as the first of last Novemof a million to two millions higher than they ber, the department addressed a circular to did in June. That exception is New York; almost every deposite bank, notifying it of the but which, at the same time, has been dimi- probable amounts, times, and places of all funished only about $400,000, and still retains ture transfers or payments which were exan excess beyond her proportion, and mostly pected to be made from it to the several states in her commercial capital, of over six and one in the course of the ensuing year. fourth millions of dollars. These banks will thus enjoy a longer time than usual to make preparation for completing most of these last transfers to the states themselves, by having sixty days' notice in all cases, and in others an additional time of three, six, and nine months. If, looking to the whole amount in the treasury when the deposite act passed, and to the proportions then on deposite within the several states, and to the proportions of it The necessity for further explanations upon they were then entitled to receive, on the principles of the two acts, provided all excesses had then at once been reduced, and all this subject is not perceived, except to remark deficiencies supplied, it will be seen that they that, in all cases where the amount transferred did not then vary over one and a half millions was not required for expenditure, the transfrom what is still to be accomplished in the fers which were made exclusively for division present state of things; and consequently, of the money among the banks have been that during the six months which have since arranged to the nearest practicable and conelapsed, the operation of equalisation among venient points where public money was either the states has not been begun or consum- collected or disbursed, and banks could be mated; because not found easy and conve- selected agreeably to the provisions of the nient, while carrying on the other imperative law under which they were ordered. The operations under the law, beyond the small practice, which had heretofore prevailed, of extent of less than two millions of dollars. here transferring chiefly from one great section of But, however difficult the apportionment the country to another, according to the among the states must be when it all goes course of the commercial operations between into final effect, merely from the collection them, was prohibited by the twelfth section of may and paying over such immense sums into new that law, except for the purpose of facilitating hands, and however widely and with what em- expenditures, or except, as under the supplebarrassment some of the money must, in the mental act, it has in few cases, and end, depart from the usual channels of com- after in many, become necessary and permismerce and of our fiscal operations, the direc-sible in transfers made either principally or tions of the act in this respect, as stated in my annual report, could not, with propriety, be neglected by the department, and are in the course of completion at the proper periods within the ensuing year. That, among the transfers already ordered, but not to take effect till 1837, it will be seen, by the table annexed (B), that a portion of them will in a few months somewhat reduce these excesses, and a portion of the existing deficiencies will, by the same transfers, be further filled up or supplied. But considerable parts of the excesses in several states, after leaving a due proportion of the five millions continuing in the treasury to meet the current expendi wholly with a view to begin to execute in LEVI WOODBURY, Sec'ry of the Trea'y. 46 From the National Intelligencer. of each state in the Union, or such person as COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION OF he may appoint, for the use of the states, re THE UNITED STATES. The imports during the year ending on the 30th of September, 1836, have amounted $189,980,035 to Of which there was imported in American vessels to And in foreign vessels 171,656,442 The exports during the year ending on spectively, to the end that a uniform standard WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1837. We have placed on our free list some thirty the 30th of September, 1836, have amounted or forty newspapers, to which the Register will be sent, and should the editors find amongst its original matter any thing worthy of dissemination, its republication, with credit, will be duly appreciated. Of which there were of domestic articles And of foreign articles Of the domestic articles, there were exported in American vessels And in foreign vessels Of the foreign articles, there were exported in American vessels $128,663,040 And in foreign vessels 1,255,384 tons of American shipping entered, and 1,315,523 cleared from the ports of the United States; 680,213 tons of foreign shipping entered, and 674,721 cleared during the same period. I have also the honour to state, that the registered tonnage, as corrected at this office, for the year ending on the 30th September, 1836, amounted to The enrolled and licensed tonnage amounted to And the fishing vessels to 897,774 the history of the present crisis- The act of Congress for the distribution of the surplus revenue, of 23d June, 1836. Hon. John Q. Adams, of the 11th November, The letter of Nicholas Biddle, Esq. to the 1836, giving his views of the operation of the 872,023 specie circular, which we have already published, and of the state of the currency at that period; and 111,304 897,774 Tons, 1,882,102 Of registered tonnage, amounting, 144,680 The total tonnage of shipping built 46,645 Tons, 113,527 Resolution providing for the distribution of Weights and Measures. Resolved, &c. That the secretary of the treasury be, and he hereby is, directed to cause a complete set of all the weights and measures adopted as standands, and now either made or in the progress of manufacture, for the use of the several custom-houses, and for other purposes, to be delivered to the governor The Report of the Secretary of the Trea sury to Congress, of 26th December, 1836, upon the transfer of the public moneys made by him under the act of 23d June. The essays of " An Examiner," amounting to sixteen in number, will be commenced in our next number, and will be continued in the order in which they appeared in the National Gazette. Congress is to assemble on the 1st of September next. The season of the year is not favourable for legislative labour, and it is not improbable that an adjournment will take pensable for carrying on the government, place after the enactment of a few laws indissystem of finance for the winter session. leaving the great question of a permanent Amongst the acts which are deemed indispens able at this period, are the repeal of the law directing the distribution of the October instalment of near ten millions of dollars amongst the states; and a decision as to the collection of the revenue during the con |