300 



FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



other sources. The impost statements for 

 1872-'73 show how heavily the revenues from 

 customs were depleted by the reduction of 

 1872, coffee alone having yielded $10,969,- 

 098.77 in 1871, and $7,192,074.91 in 1872. 

 On the importations of coffee, in 1873, the 

 rate of three cents per pound would have 



yielded nearly $9,000,000, and two cents per 

 pound almost $6,000,000. 



The following table exhibits the annual im- 

 ports of coffee and tea from 1871 to 1874, in- 

 clusive, with the total value thereof, and the 

 average price per pound in the countries of 

 their production : 



STATEMENT OP IMPOKTS OF COFFEE AND TEA DURING THE FOUR FISCAL YEARS (ENDING 



JUNE 30), 1871 TO 1874, INCLUSIVE. 



This record of foreign prices for coffee tends 

 strongly to the conclusion, making due allow- 

 ance for the effect of short crops on prices, 

 that the duty repealed by the act of 1872 was 

 added to the selling price abroad, with no ad- 

 vantage to consumers here, while the country, 

 as a whole, has paid more than before for the 



entire stock. The repeal of the duty on tea 

 caused little or no reduction of prices to con- 

 sumers here, but an increase of prices abroad. 

 The decrease from each source of internal 

 revenue for the year ending June 30, 1874, as 

 compared with the fiscal year 1873, appears 

 from the following statement : 



The decrease in the receipts from spirits is 

 due to the small production of brandy in 1874, 

 in consequence of the partial failure of the 

 fruit-crop in 1873 ; the earlier collection of 

 special taxes in 1874 than in 1873 ; the reduc- 

 tion in the value of warehouse, rectifiers', and 

 dealers' stamps by act of June 6, 1872, which 

 reduction operated during the whole of the 

 fiscal year 1874, but during only eleven months 

 of 1873 ; and the smaller collections from re- 

 pealed taxes relating to spirits in 1874 than in 

 1873. 



The falling off in the receipts from tobacco 

 is owing chiefly to the abolition of the system 

 of bonded warehouses, under act of June 6, 

 1872, by which large quantities of manufact- 

 ured tobacco were placed upon the market 

 during the fiscal year 1873, and to the in- 

 creased activity given during the early part of 

 the same year to the movement of plug-tobac- 

 co by the reduction in the rate of tax from 32 

 to 20 cents per pound. 



The act of June 6, 1872, BO far as it relates 

 to a reduction of taxation on banks and docu- 

 mentary stamps, did not go into full operation 

 prior to the last fiscal year. 



The number of brewers engaged in the pro- 

 duction of fermented liquors during the fiscal 

 years 1873 and 1874, was as follows : In 1873, 

 3,554; in 1874, 2,524 a decrease of 1,030. . 



During the fiscal year 1873, over $5,000,000 



were collected from income as back taxes, and 

 $500,000 from gas, items no longer taxable, and 

 collections of past-due taxes, under repealed 

 statutes, are of course constantly decreasing. 



The receipts from internal revenue for the 

 first quarter of the fiscal years ending June 30, 

 1874 and 1875, were as follows : 



Fi rst quarter of 1874. . . , . . $25,640,454 41 

 First quarter of 1875 26,314,615 33 



Increase , 



674,160 92 



The aggregate receipts for the months of 

 October and November, 1873, were $13,863,- 

 029.97, and for the same months of 1874 they 

 were $17,476,202.99. 



The comparative coin value of the exports 

 and imports of the. United States for the last 

 fiscal year, as appears from official returns to 

 the Bureau of Statistics, may be exhibited as 

 follows : 



Exports of domestic merchandise $569,433.421 



Exports of foreign merchandise 16,849,619 



Total exports $586,283,040 



Imports 567,406,342 



Excess of exports over imports. 



Exports of specie and bullion $06,630.405 



Imports of specie and bullion 28,454,900 



Excess of exports over imports $38,175,499 



Total excess of exports of merchandise, spe- 

 cie, and bullion, over imports of same $57,052,197 



