FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



295 



and of silver coin and bullion at about $50,- 

 000,000. 



The coin values of the exports and imports 

 of the United States for the last fiscal year, as 

 appears from returns made to and compiled by 

 the Bureau of Statistics, are as follows: 



Exports of domestic merchandise $589,610,224 



Exports of foreign merchandise 12,804,996 



Total $602,475,220 



Imports 451,328,126 



Excess of exports over imports $151,152,094 



i'or the fiscal year 1876 there was an excess of 

 exports over imports amounting to 79,643,481 



Showing an excess for the last fiscal year 

 over the preceding year of $71,503,618 



Exports of specie and bullion $56.1 62,237 



Imports of specie and bullion 40,774,414 



Excess of exports over imports $15,887,828 



Total excess of exports of merchandise and the 

 precious metals over imports $166,539,917 



The principal sources of revenue to the Gov- 

 ernment are the receipts from customs, and 

 the collections of internal taxes. 



The receipts from customs for the year 

 ending June 30, 1876, were $148,071,984.61, 

 and at the corresponding date of 1877 they were 

 $130,956,493.07 a decrease of $17,115,491.54. 



The receipts for the first quarter of the last 

 fiscal year, 1876-'77, were $37,554,728.53, while 

 for the corresponding period of this year, 

 1877-'78, they were $36,983,531.56 a decrease 

 of $571,196.97. 



There was withdrawn from bond for con- 

 sumption, in excess of that entered for ware- 

 house, during the past fiscal year, merchandise 

 of the value of $7,629,861. The total expor- 

 tation of specie and bullion was less than that 

 for the preceding year by $344,165, while the 

 exports of domestic goods increased in value 

 $64,087,977. Importations of merchandise de- 

 creased to the amount of $9,418,064, as com- 

 pared with those of the preceding fiscal year ; 

 and of $81,682.310, as compared with the year 

 ending June 30, 1875. There was an increase 

 in the value of imports of the following arti- 

 cles, which are free of duty : Hides and skins, 

 $1,927,994; crude India-rubber and gutta- 

 percha, $1,478,507; raw silk, $1,368,529. The 

 largest increase in the value of dutiable goods 

 was in brown sugar, chiefly for refining pur- 

 poses, $25,484,601. 



The following tabular statement exhibits the 

 receipts from the several sources of taxation 

 under the internal-revenue laws, for the fiscal 

 years ending, respectively, June 30, 1876, and 

 June 30, 1877 : 



The increase in the aggregate receipts from 

 the sources specified, during the past fiscal year, 

 amounts to a little more than $1,750,000, and 

 is chiefly derived from spirits and tobacco. The 

 increase in the receipts from spiritsis due in part 

 to the greater quantity of whiskey withdrawn 

 from warehouses at 90 cents per gallon during 

 the current year than was withdrawn in 1876, 

 and in part to the greater quantity of brandy 

 distilled from fruit the past year. The aggre- 

 gate quantity of tax-paid spirits withdrawn at 

 70 cents per gallon under the act of June 6, 

 1872, and at 90 cents per gallon under the act 

 of March 3, 1875, was nearly the same ; where- 

 as the number of gallons withdrawn paying 

 90 cents was greater by 3,795,869 gallons dur- 

 ing 1877 than in 1876. 



The quantity of manufactured tobacco on 



which a tax of 24 cents per pound was paid in 

 1876 was 107,040,234 pounds; in 1877 the 

 quantity amounted to 112,716,534 pounds, the 

 increase being 5,676,300 pounds. 



The Register of the Treasury reports the 

 total tonnage of vessels of the United States to 

 be 4,242,600 tons, a decrease of 86,858 tons 

 from that of the fiscal year ending June 80, 

 1876. 



The actual decrease is believed to be about 

 13,568 tons, this amount being the excess of 

 the losses over the gains during the last fiscal 

 year, the balance being accounted for by drop- 

 ping canal-boats, exempt under the act of Con- 

 gress approved April 18, 1874. 



The following table exhibits the number of 

 vessels and the total tonnage for the last two 

 years : 



