354 
Editorial, 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jul3%  1868. 
the  expressed  oil  is  obtained  still  contains  from  8  to  io  per  cent,  of 
an  ethereal  oil,  which  is  employed  as  a  substitute  for  the  much 
dearer  (nine  times)  oil  of  mace  from  which,  according  to  Roller,  it  is 
hardly  distinguishable. — Krasser,  in  Zeitschr.  d.  Oesterr.  Apothe- 
kervereins,  1897,  825  ;  abs.  in  Pharm.  Centralh.,  1898,  p.  297. 
EDITORIAL. 
WAR  REVENUE  BIIX. 
It  is  long  ago  that  Alexander  Hamilton,  the  great  financier  of  the  young 
American  Republic,  wrote  "that  a  complete  power  to  procure  a  regular  and 
adequate  source  of  revenue,  as  far  as  the  resources  of  the  community  will  per- 
mit, maybe  regarded  as  an  indispensable  ingredient  in  every  constitution." 
One  of  the  first  acts  by  the  first  Congress  in  1789  was  the  Tariff  Act  of  that  year. 
In  this  act  were  contained  duties  for  revenue  and  duties  intended  to  give  pro- 
tection to  American  industries.  Since  that  time  the  tariff  has  been  a  matter  at 
issue  between  the  two  great  political  parties,  and  was  only  superseded  by  the 
slavery  question  between  1842  and  i860.  During  all  these  years  duties  have 
been  raised  from  time  to  time,  for  the  purpose  of  providing  an  increase  of  reve- 
nue as  well  as  for  improving  the  defences  of  the  country.  Thus  the  Act  of  1792 
raised  duties  to  provide  means  for  increasing  the  army  after  St.  Clair's  defeat 
in  the  Indian  war.  The  Act  of  1797  was  needed  to  provide  for  the  payment  of 
certain  installments  of  the  foreign  debt  then  coming  due.  In  1800  duties  were 
increased  to  pay  interest  on  a  loan  authorized  in  view  of  a  possible  war  with 
France.  In  1804  an  addition  of  2)/z  per  cent,  on  all  duties  yielding  the  "  Medi- 
terranean Fund  "  for  carrying  on  the  war  with  the  Barbary  Powers  was  made. 
In  1812  all  duties  were  doubled  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  war  of  that 
year.  In  1861  the  Morrill  Tariff  was  introduced.  This  was  one  of  a  series  of 
"war  measures"  occasioned  by  the  Civil  War,  in  every  year  of  which  several 
acts  for  increasing  duties  were  passed,  the  most  important  of  which  were  the 
general  tariff  acts  of  1862  and  1864. 
The  war  with  Spain,  contrary  to  Spanish  opinion,  has  cemented  the  nation  as 
nothing  but  war  apparently  could  do.  It  was  generally  realized  from  the  start 
that  the  war  would  necessitate  an  increase  of  revenue  for  the  Government,  and 
that  the  American  people,  as  a  whole,  must  contribute  toward  this  end.  In 
April  a  war  revenue  bill  was  introduced  by  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  of 
the  House.  As  was  to  be  expected,  it  needed  considerable  alteration,  and 
we  find  numerous  changes  in  the  bill  as  finally  adopted  by  the  House  and 
Senate,  and  signed  by  the  President  on  June  13th.  There  has  been  a  notable 
compromise  in  the  coinage  of  seniorage  and  in  the  issue  of  bonds.  There  were 
minor  compromises  on  other  subjects  in  dispute,  such  as  the  size  of  package  of 
smoking  and  chewing  tobacco.  The  change  in  the  measure  which  is  most 
satisfactor3T  to  the  drug  trade,  as  constituting  that  part  of  the  community  most 
vitally  affected,  is  the  reduction  of  the  rate  of  tax  on  medicinal  and  proprietary 
articles  from  4  cents  on  the  dollar  of  retail  price  to  2^  cents.  Mr.  Dingley,  in 
explaining  the  Conference  Report  on  the  War  Revenue  Bill  {Cong.  Rec,  p. 
6,426)  said,  relating  to  that  portion  which  affects  the  apothecary  : 
