le records, now constantly exposed
to destruction by fire.

These recommendations are all commended to your favorable
consideration.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy shows that the Navy
has improved during the last fiscal year. Work has been done on
seventy-five vessels, ten of which have been thoroughly repaired
and made ready for sea. Two others are in rapid progress toward
completion. The total expenditures of the year, including the
amount appropriated for the deficiencies of the previous year, were
$17,468,392.65. The actual expenses chargeable to the year, exclusive
of these deficiencies, were $13,306,914.09, or $767,199.18 less than
those of the previous year, and $4,928,677.74 less than the expenses
including the deficiencies. The estimates for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1880, are $14,562,381.45, exceeding the appropriations of
the present year only $33,949.75, which excess is occasioned by the
demands of the Naval Academy and the Marine Corps, as explained in the
Secretary's report. The appropriations for the present fiscal year are
$14,528,431.70, which, in the opinion of the Secretary, will be ample
for all the current expenses of the Department during the year. The
amount drawn from the Treasury from July 1 to November 1, 1878, is
$4,740,544.14, of which $70,980.75 has been refunded, leaving as the
expenditure for that period $4,669,563.39, or $520,899.24 less than
the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

The report of the Postmaster-General embraces a detailed statement of
the operations of the Post-Office Department. The expenditures of
that Department for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1878, were
$34,165,084.49. The receipts, including sales of stamps, money-order
business, and official stamps, were $29,277,516.95. The sum of
$290,436.90, included in the foregoing statement of expenditures, is
chargeable to preceding years, so that the actual expenditures for the
fiscal year ended June 30, 1878, are $33,874,647.59. The amount drawn
from the Treasury on appropriations, in addition to the revenues of
the Department, was $5,307,652.82. The expenditures for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1880, are estimated at $36,571,900 and the
receipts from all sources at $30,664,023.90, leaving a deficiency to
be appropriated out of the Treasury of $5,907,876.10. The report calls
attention to the fact that the compensation of postmasters and of
railroads for carrying the mail is regulated by la