320 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



annual taxed production of spirits went up from 50^704,189 gallons 

 in 1878 to 79,616,901 gallons in 1884, and the per capita consump- 

 tion from 1'07 gallons to 1*45 gallons in the corresponding years. 

 During the period from 1871 to 1880 there was a decrease both in 

 the quantity of spirits on which the Government was able to col- 

 lect a tax and in the apparent per capita consumption of the 

 people, and this, too, notwithstanding an increase during this 

 same period of thirty per cent in the population of the country ; 

 1871 showing a tax on sixty-two and one third millions (1"58 gal- 

 lons per capita), while in 1879 the tax was collected on only fifty- 

 three million gallons (1'09 gallons per capita). 



The decade from 1870 to 1879 was further characterized by two 

 periods of disturbance which ought to be instructive in view of 

 future legislation occasioned by an advance in 1873 of the gallon 

 tax from fifty to seventy cents, and again in 1875 from seventy to 

 ninety cents. In both cases these advances in rates were followed 

 by large annual reductions in the quantity of the spirits taxed 

 and in an apparent per capita consumption, which in turn indi- 

 cated extensive revivals of illicit practices which the reduction of 

 the tax to fifty cents in 1868 had nearly extinguished, and which 

 indications were also made certainties by abundant direct evi- 

 dence. 



The decade of 1880 to 1889 showed, on the other hand, an in- 

 crease in the aggregate amount paying taxes from sixty-two and 

 one eighth million gallons in 1880 (1*23 gallons per capita) to sev- 

 enty-seven and one eighth million gallons in 1889 (1'25 gallons 

 per capita), an aggregate increase approximating a concurrent in- 

 crease of twenty-two per cent in the population of the country. 



During the fiscal years from 1888 to 1893, inclusive, under a 

 uniform and prospectively stable rate of tax, an apparently good 

 and efficient administration of the law, and a fairly prosperous 

 condition of the country, the results in this department of our 

 national revenues were very exceptional and interesting. The 

 continuous increase in production, in per capita consumption, and 

 in revenue was remarkable, the average increase in spirits paying 

 taxes having been nearly 4,600,000 gallons per annum, or in a 

 ratio greater than any concurrent increase in the population of 

 the country ; in average per capita consumption, nearly one third 

 of a gallon; in average increase in revenue of nearly $5,000,000 

 ($4,910,000) per annum, the whole culminating for the fiscal year 

 (1893) in a product of 99,000,000 gallons, an annual revenue of 

 $89,000,000, and a per capita consumption of 1*48 gallons. During 

 the same period the per capita consumption of all spirits, domestic 

 and foreign, in Great Britain was about 1'063 gallons. 



The financial troubles and business depressions in Europe and 

 other countries during the years 1892 and 1893 do not appear to 



