The report of the Secretary of War, accompanying this message, gives a detailed account of Army operations for the year just passed, expenses for maintenance, etc., with recommendations for legislation to which I respectfully invite your attention.  To some of these I invite special attention: 

First.  The necessity of making $300,000 of the appropriation for the Subsistence Department available before the beginning of the next fiscal year.  Without this provision troops at points distant from supply production must either go without food or existing laws must be violated.  It is not attended with cost to the Treasury.

Second.  His recommendation for the enactment of a system of annuities for the families of deceased officers by voluntary deductions from the monthly pay of officers.  This again is not attended with burden upon the Treasury, and would for the future relieve much distress which every old army officer has witnessed in the past—­of officers dying suddenly or being killed, leaving families without even the means of reaching their friends, if fortunate enough to have friends to aid them.

Third.  The repeal of the law abolishing mileage, and a return to the old system.

Fourth.  The trial with torpedoes under the Corps of Engineers, and appropriation for the same.  Should war ever occur between the United States and any maritime power, torpedoes will be among if not the most effective and cheapest auxiliary for the defense of harbors, and also in aggressive operations, that we can have.  Hence it is advisable to learn by experiment their best construction and application, as well as effect.

Fifth.  A permanent organization for the Signal-Service Corps.  This service has now become a necessity of peace as well as war, under the advancement made by the present able management.

Sixth.  A renewal of the appropriation for compiling the official records of the war, etc.

The condition of our Navy at this time is a subject of satisfaction.  It does not contain, it is true, any of the powerful cruising ironclads which make so much of the maritime strength of some other nations, but neither our continental situation nor our foreign policy requires that we should have a large number of ships of this character, while this situation and the nature of our ports combine to make those of other nations little dangerous to us under any circumstances.

Our Navy does contain, however, a considerable number of ironclads of the monitor class, which, though not properly cruisers, are powerful and effective for harbor defense and for operations near our own shores.  Of these all the single-turreted ones, fifteen in number, have been substantially rebuilt, their rotten wooden beams replaced with iron, their hulls strengthened, and their engines and machinery thoroughly repaired, so that they are now in the most efficient condition and ready for sea as soon as they can be manned and put in commission.