During the past year the Navy has, in addition to its regular service, supplied the men and officers for the vessels of the Coast Survey, and has completed the surveys authorized by Congress of the isthmuses of Darien and Tehuantepec, and, under like authority, has sent out an expedition, completely furnished and equipped, to explore the unknown ocean of the north.

The suggestions of the report as to the necessity for increasing and improving the materiel of the Navy, and the plan recommended for reducing the personnel of the service to a peace standard, by the gradual abolition of certain grades of officers, the reduction of others, and the employment of some in the service of the commercial marine, are well considered and deserve the thoughtful attention of Congress.

I also recommend that all promotions in the Navy above the rank of captain be by selection instead of by seniority.  This course will secure in the higher grades greater efficiency and hold out an incentive to young officers to improve themselves in the knowledge of their profession.

The present cost of maintaining the Navy, its cost compared with that of the preceding year, and the estimates for the ensuing year are contained in the accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy.

The enlarged receipts of the Post-Office Department, as shown by the accompanying report of the Postmaster-General, exhibit a gratifying increase in that branch of the public service.  It is the index of the growth of education and of the prosperity of the people, two elements highly conducive to the vigor and stability of republics.  With a vast territory like ours, much of it sparsely populated, but all requiring the services of the mail, it is not at present to be expected that this Department can be made self-sustaining.  But a gradual approach to this end from year to year is confidently relied on, and the day is not far distant when the Post-Office Department of the Government will prove a much greater blessing to the whole people than it is now.

The suggestions of the Postmaster-General for improvements in the Department presided over by him are earnestly recommended to your special attention.  Especially do I recommend favorable consideration of the plan for uniting the telegraphic system of the United States with the postal system.  It is believed that by such a course the cost of telegraphing could be much reduced, and the service as well, if not better, rendered.  It would secure the further advantage of extending the telegraph through portions of the country where private enterprise will not construct it.  Commerce, trade, and, above all, the efforts to bring a people widely separated into a community of interest are always benefited by a rapid intercommunication.  Education, the groundwork of republican institutions, is encouraged by increasing the facilities to gather speedy news from all parts of the country.  The desire to reap the benefit of such improvements will stimulate education.  I refer you to the report of the Postmaster-General for full details of the operations of last year and for comparative statements of results with former years.