FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



279 



was long connected with the Sunday-school 

 Union as president of the city organization. 

 He was one of the founders, and long Principal 

 and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the 

 Kntgers Female Institute (now Rutgers Female 

 College), then in Henry Sty-eet, but now in 

 Fifth Avenue, and subsequently was deeply 

 interested in the Ferris Institute. In 1853 

 Dr. Ferris was prevailed upon to accept the 

 cliancellorsip of the University of New York, 

 then laboring under serious embarrassment 

 from its heavy debts. He had a high reputa- 

 tion as an able administrator of educational 

 institutions, and his services were sought 

 primarily to complete the subscription for the 

 payment of the debt and place it upon a sound 

 financial basis, and secondarily to give that 

 dignity and character to its course of instruc- 

 tion which liis eminent scholarship could 

 command. He was very successful in both 

 undertakings. He collected about $74,000, 

 outside of the rentals and other receipts of the 

 university, and thns relieved it from its 

 financial embarrassments, and raised the stand- 

 ard of scholarship materially. Having accom- 

 plished these results, he retired from the chan- 

 cellorship in 1870, but was-immediately chosen 

 Chancellor Emeritus, while his successor, Rev. 

 Dr. Crosby, performed all the active duties of 

 the position. Chancellor Ferris retired the 

 same year to Roselle, near Elizabeth, N. J., 

 where he continued to reside till his death. 

 Dr. Ferris was a tall man, of very large frame, 

 and great dignity of manner. He was a man 

 of great benevolence and amiability. In his 

 intercourse with his parishioners he was genial 

 and sympathetic. He was eminent as a scholar, 

 and bore a high reputation for integrity and 

 ability. As a preacher he was logical rather 

 than brilliant or original; still his sermons 

 always held the attention of his hearers. He 

 endeared himself to them more by his char- 

 acter. His venerable appearance and kindly 

 manner first drew people toward him, and he 

 was ready to labor with them in all good works. 

 Though an able writer. Dr. Ferris was sin- 

 gularly averse to the publication of his produc- 

 tions. Aside from some occasional sermons, 

 essays, and addresses, we have been unable to 

 find any thing from his pen. He received the 

 degree of D. D. from Union College in 1833, 

 and that of LL. D., we believe, from Columbia 

 College. 



FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

 The general prosperity of the country was un- 

 diminighed during the first three-quarters of 

 the year 1873. The revenues of the Govern- 

 ment were maintained, and the reduction of 

 the debt continued during this period. But, 

 on the 18th of September, the most extraor- 

 dinary financial panic began which the country 

 has ever experienced. It reached its extreme 

 point about the middle of the ensuing month. 

 In that short space, of less than thirty days, it 

 prostrated thousands of commercial establish- 

 ments, and cut off the wages of hundreds of 



thousands of laborers. It overthrew the stock 

 exchange and banking-houses, trust companies 

 and manufactories. In one day it broke off 

 the negotiation of American securities in the 

 money-markets of Europe, and suspended the 

 construction of all public works dependent 

 upon such sale. It swept down the entire 

 banking system of the country, and paralyzed 

 the monetary circulation to a degree that car- 

 ried distress to that vast mass of the people 

 with whom credit for the necessaries of life 

 has little or no existence. Even the savings- 

 banks closed their doors. The effect of this 

 disturbance upon the national revenues was 

 immediate. Instead of being able to continue 

 the liquidation of the public debt, as hereto- 

 fore, at the rate of one hundred million dol- 

 lars annually, the Treasury Department could 

 not prevent its increase in the same propor- 

 tion, making a difference, in a single month, 

 of eighteen million dollars. 



In the annual report of the Secretary of the 

 Treasury, made December, 1872, there was 

 presented a statement of the receipts and ex- 

 penditures of the Government for the first 

 quarter of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1873, 

 and an estimate of the same for the remaining 

 three-quarters of the fiscal year. The receipts 

 and expenditures of the first quarter above 

 mentioned, ending on September 80, 1872, 

 which is the first of the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1873, were as follows : 



CUM. .in- $57,789,540 27 



Sales of public lands 797,824 67 



Internal revenue 84,169.047 22 



Tax on circulation, etc., of national banks 8,307.288 69 



Repayment of interest by Pacific Railways 119,098 73 



Cnetoms fines.etc 103,787 30 



Consular, patent, and other fees 479.306 03 



ProcecdBof Government property 336,801 88 



Miscellaneous sources 1,346,267 47 



Net ordinary receipts $98,368,897 16 



Premium on sales of coin 2,426,736 91 



Total receipts $100,815,134 07 



Balance in Treasury, June 80, 1872, In- 

 cluding *1,014.48 received from "una- 

 vailable ".. 106,565,371 42 



Total available $807,880,50549 



The expenditures, during the same quarter, 

 were as follows : 



Civil and miscellaneous expenses $18,299,891 28 



Indians 8,037,34383 



Pensions 9,135,389 71 



Military establishment 12.876,982 41 



Naval establishment 7.305.146 48 



Interest on the public debt, etc 86,196,894 88 



Total, exclusive of the principal and 



premium on public debt $86,851,648 54 



For premium on purchased 



bonds $1,702,568 63 



Net redemption of the pab- 



licdebt.T. 16,938,138 72 



. : 18,634,707 25 



Total net expenditures $105,488,855 79 



Balance in Treasury, Sept. 30, 1872.. 101,894,149 70 



$207,380,505 49 



For the remaining three-quarters of the 

 same fiscal year, ending June 30, 1873, it was 

 estimated that the receipts would be as fol- 

 lows: 



