the debt had been
reduced from upward of twenty-two millions to ten. It is exceedingly
desirable that it should be extinguished altogether; and to facilitate
that consummation I recommend to Congress the revival for one year more
of the act of 18th May, 1824, with such provisional modification as may
be necessary to guard the public interests against fraudulent practices
in the resale of the relinquished land. The purchasers of public lands
are among the most useful of our fellow-citizens, and since the system
of sales for cash alone has been introduced great indulgence has been
justly extended to those who had previously purchased upon credit. The
debt which had been contracted under the credit sales had become
unwieldy, and its extinction was alike advantageous to the purchaser and
to the public. Under the system of sales, matured as it has been by
experience, and adapted to the exigencies of the times, the lands will
continue as they have become, an abundant source of revenue; and when
the pledge of them to the public creditor shall have been redeemed by
the entire discharge of the national debt, the swelling tide of wealth
with which they replenish the common Treasury may be made to reflow in
unfailing streams of improvement from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

The condition of the various branches of the public service resorting
from the Department of War, and their administration during the current
year, will be exhibited in the report of the Secretary of War and the
accompanying documents herewith communicated. The organization and
discipline of the Army are effective and satisfactory. To counteract the
prevalence of desertion among the troops it has been suggested to
withhold from the men a small portion of their monthly pay until the
period of their discharge; and some expedient appears to be necessary to
preserve and maintain among the officers so much of the art of
horsemanship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting on the possible
sudden eruption of a war, which should take us unprovided with a single
corps of cavalry. The Military Academy at West Point, under the
restrictions of a severe but paternal superintendence, recommends itself
more and more to the patronage of the nation, and the numbers of
meritorious officers which it forms and introduces to the public service
furnishes the means of multiplying the undertakings of public
improvements to which their acquirements at that institution are
pec