Should defects in any of its details be ascertained by
actual experience to exist, these may be hereafter corrected; but until
such defects shall become manifest the act should be fairly tested.
It is submitted for your consideration whether it may not be proper, as
a war measure, to impose revenue duties on some of the articles now
embraced in the free list. Should it be deemed proper to impose such
duties with a view to raise revenue to meet the expenses of the war with
Mexico or to avoid to that extent the creation of a public debt, they
may be repealed when the emergency which gave rise to them shall cease
to exist, and constitute no part of the permanent policy of the country.
The act of the 6th of August last, "to provide for the better
organization of the Treasury and for the collection, safe-keeping,
transfer, and disbursement of the public revenue," has been carried into
execution as rapidly as the delay necessarily arising out of the
appointment of new officers, taking and approving their bonds, and
preparing and securing proper places for the safe-keeping of the public
money would permit.
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