ical or financial importance in American
politics was under discussion, and I was compelled, by my position
on the committees on foreign relations and finance, to take an
active part in the debates.

On the 6th the President sent to Congress his annual message, in
which he departed from the established usage of his predecessors,
who had presented in order the subjects commented upon, commencing
with a summary of our relations with foreign nations, and extending
to the business of all the varied departments of the government.
Instead of this he abruptly opened with a cry of alarm, as follows:

"To the Congress of the United States.

"You are confronted, at the threshold of your legislative duties,
with a condition of the national finances which imperatively demands
immediate and careful consideration."

This threatening announcement of a great national danger startled
the general public, who had settled down into the conviction that
all was going on very well with a Democratic administration. The
President said that the amount of money annually exacted largely
exceeded the expenses of the government. This did not seem so
great a calamity. It was rather an evidence of good times, especially
as he could apply the surplus to the reduction of the national
debt. Then we were told that:

"On the 30th day of June, 1885, the excess of revenues over public
expenditures, after complying with the annual requirement of the
sinking fund act, was $17,859,735.84; during the year ended June
30, 1886, such excess amounted to $49,405,545.20; and during the
year ended June 30, 1887, it reached the sum of $55,567,849.54."

In other words, we had an excess of revenue over expenditures for
three years of about $122,000,000. The sinking fund during that
three years, as he informed us, amounted in the aggregate to
$138,058,320; that is, we had stipulated by law to pay of the public
debt that sum during three years, and had been able to pay all we
agreed to pay, and had $122,000,000 more. He did not state that
during and subsequent to the panic of 1873 the United States did
not pay the sinking fund, and this deficiency was made good during
the prosperous years that followed 1879. Upon the facts stated by
him he based his extraordinary message. The only recommendation
made by him was a reduction of taxation. No reference to the vast
interests intrusted to departments other than the treasury was made
by him except in a brief parag