foreign and domestic commerce annually pass in and out of these harbors.
Some of our most valuable interests and most vulnerable points are thus
left exposed. This class of vessels of light draft, great speed, and
heavy guns would be formidable in coast defense. The cost of their
construction will not be great and they will require but a comparatively
small expenditure to keep them in commission. In time of peace they will
prove as effective as much larger vessels and more useful, One of them
should be at every station where we maintain a squadron, and three or
four should be constantly employed on our Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
Economy, utility, and efficiency combine to recommend them as almost
indispensable. Ten of these small vessels would be of incalculable
advantage to the naval service, and the whole cost of their construction
would not exceed $2,300,000, or $230,000 each.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior is worthy of grave
consideration. It treats of the numerous important and diversified
branches of domestic administration intrusted to him by law. Among
these the most prominent are the public lands and our relations with
the Indians.

Our system for the disposal of the public lands, originating with the
fathers of the Republic, has been improved as experience pointed the
way, and gradually adapted to the growth and settlement of our Western
States and Territories. It has worked well in practice. Already thirteen
States and seven Territories have been carved out of these lands, and
still more than a thousand millions of acres remain unsold. What a
boundless prospect this presents to our country of future prosperity
and power!

We have heretofore disposed of 363,862,464 acres of the public land.