766 



UNITED STATES, FINANCES OF THE. 



The extensive reduction- works on Douglas 

 Island, opposite to Juneau, were completed and 

 put into operation about the 1st of July, and 

 are, perhaps, the most complete of any to be 

 found on the Pacific slope. During July and 

 August this mill turned out $115,000 in gold 

 bullion, while the accumulated sulphurets (con- 

 centrates) awaiting treatment were shown by 

 frequent assays to be worth $100,000 more. 

 The mine is in what appears to be simply a 

 great mountain of gold-bearing quartz. The 

 rock is what is called "low-grade milling," 

 carrying free gold and sulphurets, and yields 

 an average of about eight dollars a ton. 



In the rear of Juneau two or three miles, on 

 the mainland, is Silver Bow Basin, where some 

 rich placer-mines are worked. The value of 

 the product of these mines has been estimated 

 at not less than $150,000 in 1884. 



A San Francisco fleet of from twenty-five 

 to thirty vessels is engaged in codfishing on 

 the banks off Kadiak and the Shumagin Isl- 

 ands, while at Killisnoo the Northwest Trad- 

 ing Company is curing large numbers of cod, 

 and has works for rendering oil from the her- 

 ring which swarm in the waters of Chatham 

 Strait. 



UNITED STATES, FINANCES OF THE. The gen- 

 eral policy that has hitherto prevailed in regard 

 to national finances underwent no appreciable 

 change daring the year 1885. Congress hav- 

 ing failed to enact any legislation touching 

 the national banks or the coinage of silver, 

 the contraction of bank-note circulation and 

 the coinage of standard silver dollars contin- 

 ued ; the public debt has been somewhat di- 

 minished and the cash assets have sensibly in- 

 creased the chief item of increase being the 

 noteworthy addition to the amount of silver 

 dollars held by the treasury. In other re- 

 spects the financial history of the past year 

 has been uneventful. The following state- 

 ments show in detail the monetary transac- 

 tions of the United States Government during 

 the year: 



Receipts and Expenditures. The ordinary reve- 

 nues of the Government, from all sources, for 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1885, were as 

 follow : 



Customs $151,471,939 84 



Internal revenue 112,498,725 54 



Sales of public lands 5,705,986 44 



Tax on national banks 2.914,222 25 



Profits on coinage 6,051,284 96 



Customs fees, fines, etc 907,46427 



Consular fees, etc 8,714,613 58 



Pacific Railroad interest 1,608.071 58 



Pacific Railroad sinking fond 2,476,707 78 



Surveying public lands 



Sales of Government property . . . 



Indian trust funds 



Immigrant fund 



Soldiers' Home fund 



Sale of naval vessels 



Taxontonnage 



Revenues of District of Columbia 1,929,298 11 



Miscellaneous 2,471,582 23 



Total $323,690,70618 



The ordinary expenditures for the same pe- 

 riod were: 



594,414 34 

 302,882 07 



76,942 08 

 177,002 50 

 8-33,785 05 



55,541 80 

 400.842 46 



Civil list $23,826,94211 



Foreign intercourse 5,439,609 11 



Indian service 6,552,494 68 



Pensions 56,102,267 49 



Military establishment 42,670,578 47 



Naval establishment 16,021,079 67 



Miscellaneous, including public buildings, 



lighthouses, and collecting the revenue. . . 54,728,056 21 



District of Columbia 8,499,650 95 



Interest on the public debt 51,886,256 47 



Total $260,226,98511 



As compared with the previous fiscal year, 

 the revenues fell off $28,474,134.50, the prin- 

 cipal items of decrease being customs, $13,- 

 595,550.42 ; internal revenue, $9,087,346.97, 

 and sales of public lands, $4,104,718.57. There 

 was an increase of $3,644,970.96 in profits on 

 coinage, and in consular, customs, and other 

 fees, making a net decrease for the year of 

 $24,829,163.54. There was an increase in the 

 expenditures of $20,564,334.56, as follows : 

 civil and miscellaneous, $16,573,824.68; mili- 

 tary establishment, $3,240,975.11 ; pensions, 

 $673,039.43, and Indian service, $76,495.34. 

 There was a decrease of $1,271,521.77 in the 

 naval establishment, and $3,192,122.01 in the 

 interest on the public debt, making a net in- 

 crease in the expenditures of $16,100,690.78. 

 The excess of revenue over expenditures was 

 $63,463,771.27, of which $45,992,745.43 was 

 applied to the redemption of the debt. The 

 revenue derived from the various objects of 

 internal taxation during the last two fiscal 

 years is shown in the following table : 



The following table shows the receipts and 

 expenditures of the Government for the calen- 

 dar years 1884 and 1885 : 



The revenues derived by the Government 

 from the postal service, being collected and 

 disbursed through the agency of the Post- 

 Office Department, do not enter into the gen- 



