308 



FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



economy, and to reduce their employes to the 

 minimum number requisite for the discharge of 

 the public service. 6. That no money be appro- 

 priated for the further purchase of foreign terri- 

 tory, and that no commercial treaty with any for- 

 eign nation be ratified of a character calculated 

 materially to diminish the customs revenue." 



The adoption of such a policy by Congress, 

 it is believed, would immediately reduce the 

 ordinary expenses of the Government to one 

 hundred and forty millions of dollars per an- 

 num, -which would be an excess of over 100 per 

 cent, on the ordinary expenditures of the fiscal 

 year 1861. In a word, the commissioner asserts 

 that if a reduction could be effected of thirty 

 millions in the expenditures of the War Depart- 

 ment, of fifteen millions in those of the Navy 

 Department, of fifteen millions in those of the 

 civil service, with a discontinuance of any fur- 

 ther appropriations for what may be called ex- 

 traordinary expenditures, it would permit the 

 removal, substantially, of nearly all of what are 

 understood to be industrial taxes, and also off- 

 set the amount derived during the last fiscal 

 year from the tax upon raw cotton. Sweeping 

 as these changes may be, they are regarded, in 

 reality, as only a part of what may be effected 

 in the way of reform. A change is required in 

 the character of the administration and ma- 

 chinery employed to collect the taxes. Under 

 the present system the commissioner estimates 

 that not over fifty per cent, of the amount of 

 the assessed internal revenue taxes is received 

 in the national treasury. 



According to the views presented for the re- 

 duction of the ordinary expenditures, the cus- 

 toms could be relied on for one hundred and 

 fifty to one hundred and seventy millions of 

 dollars in gold, leaving to be provided one hun- 

 dred and seventy millions by other forms of 

 taxation, all of which might be obtained from 

 the internal revenue alone. If the miscellaneous 

 sources of revenue are taken into account, the 

 gross amount required to be raised by taxation 

 would be three hundred and twenty millions. 



A summary view of the present condition of 

 the capital and industry of the country, relative 

 to the question of its ability to sustain the 

 necessary burden of taxation, presents the fol- 

 lowing results. The immigration of over three 

 hundred thousand persons per annum makes a 

 yearly addition to the wealth and producing 

 industry of the country of not less than one 

 hundred and fifty millions of dollars. The con- 

 tinued increase in the invention of machinery, 

 and the perfecting of processes for improving 

 ajid cheapening products, has advanced from 

 4,637 in 1864, to 10,907 in 1867. The increase 

 in the quantity and value of national agricul- 

 tural products for 1867 exceeded those of any 

 previous year. The increase in the capital in- 

 vested, and in the number and capacity of 

 establishments for manufacturing purposes, has 

 made great and substantial progress in nearly 

 every section of the country. In the manufac- 

 turing of cotton, the amount of machinery in 



the country substantially engaged is from fifteen 

 to twenty per cent, more than existed at the 

 beginning of the war. In the branch of wool- 

 len industry, notwithstanding a recent unusual 

 depression, the erection of new mills has con- 

 tinued with a reported general improvement in 

 the character of the products. Notwithstand- 

 ing the almost continued reported depression of 

 the iron interest in the country, the average 

 annual increase in the domestic product of pig 

 iron is remarkably uniform, and greatly in ex- 

 cess of the ratio of the increase of population 

 the annual ratio of increase of pig iron, from 

 1850 to 1866, having been in excess of eight 

 per centum, while that of population from 1850 

 to 1860 was about 3-J- per cent. ; or, stated dif- 

 ferently, the increase in the production of pig 

 iron, from 1810 to 1866, was 2,371 per cent., 

 while that of population was 410 per cent. 

 The annual ratio of increase in the product of 

 pig iron in the United States since 1855 has 

 also been greater than in Great Britain. 



The increase in the ability of the country to 

 consume anthracite coal, which is mainly used 

 for industrial purposes, has been such as to ren- 

 der a consumption legitimate and permanent, 

 while uncertain and abnormal in the previous 

 year. The export of petroleum, which aver- 

 aged thirty millions of gallons in 1864 and 1865, 

 reached in 1866 an aggregate of sixty-five mil- 

 lions of gallons; an amount that was substan- 

 tially maintained in 1867. The increase of 

 tonnage on the northern lakes and other inland 

 waters is in excess of any former period. On 

 the northern lakes this increase in 1867 is esti- 

 mated at fifteen per cent., or fully forty thou- 

 sand tons. The commerce of the ocean has 

 improved during the same time. The aggregate 

 business of the country for the fiscal year 1867, 

 as measured by the returns of the internal 

 revenue, does not indicate any falling off as 

 compared with the preceding year, but, on the 

 contrary, a slight increase. 



The aggregate amount of the business trans- 

 acted in the leading commercial cities of the 

 country, by wholesale and retail dealers in mer- 

 chandise and liquors, and by auctioneers and 

 merchandise brokers, during the fiscal year end- 

 ing June 30, 1867, as deduced from the returns 

 of taxes on sales and licenses, was approxi- 

 mately as follows: 



New York .' . . ... $1,976,565,000 



Philadelphia 616,697,000 



Boston 646,407,000 



Baltimore 307,076,000 



New Orleans 867,591,000 



St.Louis 284,891,000 



Cincinnati 1SO,753,000 



Chicago 174,245.000 



San Francisco 164,225,000 



Providence 78,904,000 



Pittsburg 76,240,000 



Louisville 72.949,000 



Brooklyn 61,448,000 



Milwaukee 58,165,000 



Cleveland 56,117.000 



Mobile 54,291,000 



Buflalo 51,783,000 



Detroit 50,471,000 



Charleston 86,574,000 



Newark 84,396,000 



