PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 471 



a duty of eighty francs per hectolitre upon all high-grade liquors 

 imported, and by a graduated scale of duties npon all containing 

 less than seventy-two per cent of alcohol. No one except the 

 Federal Government is permitted to import alcohol for industrial 

 purposes, because the reducing process must undergo inspection 

 in order to prevent fraud. In getting its supply for the home 

 market the Government may purchase three fourths of the de- 

 mand for all kinds of spirits anywhere it chooses. The other 

 fourth, as mentioned above, must be of home manufacture, and 

 the Government has not exceeded that limit, because spirits can 

 be bought cheaper abroad than at home." 



The financial operations of this branch of administration in 

 1891 amounted to about 13,660,000 francs, from which the net 

 revenue was 5,830,000 francs ($1,165,000). "This net gain was 

 chiefly due to the mercantile profit on liquors for drinking pur- 

 poses, since industrial spirits must be sold at cost. Hence, as a 

 business enterprise, the monopoly is certainly a success. When 

 we inquire into the moral and social results, there is at present 

 less that is tangible to be observed. The expectation of the pro- 

 moters of the scheme was that the evils of drunkenness would be 

 reduced, both by decreasing consumption and providing a purer 

 quality of drink. This latter end is obtained by Government in- 

 spection, not only of the monopoly distilleries, but also of the 

 smaller establishments manufacturing free products." 



" In the matter of consumption there would seem to have been 

 a decrease. In 1885, before the introduction of the monopolj 7 ", the 

 total demand of distilled liquors for drinking purposes was about 

 150,000 hectolitres, while in 1889 the amount sold by the Federal 

 Government for such use was 67,242 hectolitres. But it would 

 not be safe to say that the country had become temperate to this 

 extent, for there is strong reason to believe that much of the re- 

 duced alcohol intended for the arts is either purified again and 

 used for drinking, or consumed outright in its mixed state. The 

 use of liquor will by no means be brought under control so long 

 as the distillation of low grades of fruit spirits and the manufac- 

 ture of malt drinks are under no restriction. No one can tell 

 whether the apparent decrease in consumption is not merely a 

 diversion of appetite to applejack and absinthe, or perhaps to an 

 increased use of wine and beer." 



Small amounts to the credit of the Federal revenue also accrue 

 from the postal and telegraph service, from the lease of public 

 domains, the monopoly of the manufacture and sale of gun- 

 powder, from military exemptions, and the like ; but the aggre- 

 gate income from these sources is comparatively unimportant. 

 The powder monopoly at one time yielded considerable revenue, 

 but when new and more powerful explosives came into favor the 



