INDIA. 



INDIANA. 



417 



ion in India. The resentment against this un- 

 popular measure was embittered by the reflec- 

 tion that English pressure had brought about 

 a condition of affairs in which England was 

 actually protected against Indian products, 

 since Indian silver-work, for instance, must pay 

 a heavy import duty in England, while the 

 Indians must admit British silverware free, and 

 in which Indian tea and tobacco must pay 

 high duties in England, while free entry is 

 given to China teas and foreign tobacco in 

 India. The chief of the custom imposts was 

 the duty on cotton fabrics, which yielded in 

 its curtailed form but little revenue, yet pro- 

 tected the Indian manufacturers from Man- 

 chester competition. The only duties retained 

 are those on wines and spirits, opium and salt, 

 and those on arms and ammunition ; the first 

 to balance internal imposts, and the latter for 

 political reasons. A more important fiscal re- 

 form is the reduction of the salt-tax. This 

 oppressive impost is lowered to two rupees per 

 maund (82 pounds), and is made uniform all 

 over India. The reduction amounts to 30 per 

 cent in Bengal, and 20 per cent in the other 

 provinces. The tax per capita is about ten 

 cents, which is equal to two days' wages for 

 field-labor. The duty in Burmah and in the 

 Punjab districts was already lower than this, 

 and has not been altered. The Government 

 wisely granted this relief to the poorer classes 

 instead of removing the obnoxious license-tax 

 imposed on traders. This objectionable tax 

 has encountered vehement opposition from the 

 beginning, and the Government has lessened 

 its evil effects by exempting all whose incomes 

 are less than 500 rupees ; but it insists on keep- 

 ing it in force, not only because it is an indis- 

 pensable source of revenue at present, but as a 

 precedent which will render easier the intro- 

 duction in the future of an extensive and more 

 rational system of direct taxation. The Indian 

 authorities refuse to entertain the notion of 

 giving up the Bengal opium monopoly. It is 

 in reliance upon the increased receipts from 

 this source that a revenue, estimated for 1882 

 -'83 at 11,080,000 rupees, or half that many 

 dollars, from the import duties, has been aban- 

 doned, and a reduction to the amount of 14,- 

 230,000 rupees made in the salt-tax. The only 

 evil in the opium revenue in official eyes is the 

 uncertainty of the yield. The contingency of 

 a bad year has usually been guarded against by 

 purposely underestimating the income from 

 opium in the financial statements. To make 

 up for the remitted taxes, the estimate must 

 be placed for the present at higher figures than 

 have been customary in the future Indian bud- 

 gets. This is perhaps warranted by the in- 

 creased gross revenue and the diminished cost 

 of collection. In the budget for 1882-'83, 

 Major Baring estimates the net receipts from 

 opium at 72,500,000 rupees, whereas in 1881 

 -'82 they were entered in the estimates as 

 65,000,000 rupees. The present estimate is 

 6,000,000 rupees less than the probable re- 

 VOL. xxn. 27 A 



ceipts in 1881-'82, and less by twice that 

 amount than the actual receipts in 1880-'81. 

 The danger of relying solely on this one 

 source to make good the surrendered revenues 

 is seen from the fact that in the preceding ten 

 years (1871-'80), the average net annual re- 

 ceipts from opium were only 68,100,000 ru- 

 pees, and that for three years together (1875 

 -'77) they never exceeded 63,000,000 rupees. 

 Short crops for the last three years had obliged 

 the Government to draw heavily upon the re- 

 serve stock, and doubts were expressed whether 

 they can continue to supply 56,490 chests of 

 Bengal opium per annum. Meanwhile the na- 

 tive Chinese and the Persian production are in- 

 creasing, and the prices must sink ; so that a 

 permanent reduction in the opium revenue may 

 be looked for before long. Some elasticity 

 in the general finances can undoubtedly be 

 counted on; for grievously as the people are 

 ground down by taxation and many oppres- 

 sions, war or famine may not visit them again 

 soon, and capitalists are slowly improving the 

 productive resources of the land. The abate- 

 ment of the salt duty will aid in the process of 

 recuperation. 



INDIANA. STATE GOVERNMENT. The 

 State officers during the year were as follow : 

 Governor, Albert G. Porter, Republican ; Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, Thomas Hanna ; Secretary of 

 State, Emanuel R. Hawn ; Treasurer, Roswell 

 S. Hill ; Auditor, Edward M. Wolfe ; Attorney- 

 General, Daniel P. Baldwin; Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction, John M. Bloss ; Secretary 

 of Board of Agriculture, Alexander Herne; 

 State Librarian, Mrs. Emma Winsor ; Judiciary, 

 Supreme Court: William E. Niblack, James 

 L. Worden, George V. Howk, Byron K. Elli- 

 ott, Horace P. Biddle, and William A. Woods. 



The general condition of the State during 

 and at the close of the year was prosperous. 

 The Governor, in his message to the Legislature, 

 says: 



The circumstances under which you assemble could 

 not well be more satisfactory. The condition of the 

 State has never been more prosperous. During the 

 year just ended the products of our fields havel)een 

 unusually abundant. Our manufacturing and mining 

 industries have yielded good returns. Within the 

 past year 560 miles of railway have been built within 

 the State a larger number than in any previous year. 

 Of the ninety-two counties in the State, there are only 

 four through which railroads do not pass, and three 

 of these, happily, border on the Ohio River. More 

 than 225,000 acres of land have during the year been 

 brought for the first time into cultivation. The prac- 

 tice of underdraining soils charged with an excess of 

 moisture has never been so energetically prosecuted. 

 Along with it has come increased productiveness, and 

 a lessening of all malarial diseases. Our common 

 schools, under the careful superintendence of a dili- 

 gent and capable officer, have increased in usefulness 

 and in public favor. 



FINANCES AND RAILROADS. From the report 

 of the Auditor of State for the year ending 

 October 31, 1882, it appears that the cash in 

 the Treasury November 1, 1881, was $740,650.- 

 72. Add to this the net cash receipts during 

 the year, amounting to $3,067,843.50, and the 



