626 
Editorial. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\   December,  1898. 
1896.  1897-  1898. 
Receipts  from  Customs  $11,374,116  $7,943,100  $16,759,574 
(September)  Internal  Revenue  11,679,136  12,701,975  21,555,283 
Miscellaneous                                                  1,530,991  1,288,022  1,463,207 
The  three  months  enumerated  are  those  in 
which  Government  revenues  are  lightest. 
A  careful    examinatijn    and  estimate, 
based  upon  comparisons  of  the  receipts 
for  July,  August  and  September,  189S, 
with  previous  years,  indicate  that  the 
monthly  receipts  from  customs  will  be 
about  $17,000,000,  or  for  the  fiscal  year  .  .  204,000,000 
From    Internal    Revenue,    $24,000,000  per 
month,  or  for  the  fiscal  year   288,000,000 
From  miscellaneous  receipts,  $2,000,000  per 
month,  or  for  the  fiscal  year   24.000,000 
Making  a  total  revenue  of  .......  .  $516,000,000 
Deducting  from  this  the  estimated  expendi- 
tures for  the  fiscal  year   .  400,000,000 
And  we  have  left  a  surplus  revenue  of  .  $  16,000,000 
"  Already  the  available  cash  balance  in  the  Treasury  has  reached  the  enor- 
mous amount  of  over  $300,000,000.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  put  to  his 
severest  efforts  to  prevent  such  large  withdrawals  of  currency  from  the  chan- 
nels of  trade.  The  Spanish  War  gave  him  a  chance  to  unload  some  of  this 
surplus,  to  meet  the  emergency  expenses,  but  that  war  is  over,  and  soon  all 
bills  contracted  therefor  will  be  paid.  There  would  seem  to  be  no  other  course 
left  open  but  a  reduction  of  internal  taxation.  Among  the  subjects  of  taxation 
resorted  to  by  the  War  Revenue  law  of  1898  there  are  several  which  will  un- 
doubtedly be  permanently  taxed,  such  as  legacies  and  successions,  sales  of 
stock  in  Wall  Street,  the  increased  tax  on  beer  and  tobacco  and  one  or  two 
others.  It  therefore  becomes  a  matter  for  your  thoughtful  consideration 
whether  you  should  not  make  every  possible  exertion  to  get  your  stamp  tax 
reduced,  if  not  altogether  repealed. 
"The  sudden  termination  of  the  war  has  not  only  left  the  Treasury  with 
those  enormous  receipts  from  internal  taxation,  but  the  Secretary  finds  himself 
with  $200,000,000  in  cash  realized  from  the  sale  of  bonds,  and  this  cash  must, 
by  the  terms  of  the  law,  be  applied  to  meeting  the  war  expenses,  and  nothing 
else.  He  will,  consequently,  use  these  funds  in  preference  to  the  receipts  from 
taxation.  This  amount  will  be  ample  to  cover  the  entire  outlay  requi  ed,  and 
an  annual  surplus  of  $116,000,000  will  continue  unchecked,  unless  Congress 
shall  wisely  repeal  some  portion  of  the  war  revenue  law." 
It  would  appear  that  the  revenues  of  the  Government  by  reason  of  the  reve- 
nue bill  and  sale  of  bonds  are  more  than  are  needed  for  the  purposes  for  which 
they  are  intended.  It  is  further  apparent  that  the  business  of  the  pharmacist, 
particularly  that  of  the  retail  druggist,  is  singled  out  from  all  other  business 
interests  in  bearing  this  burden.  He  pays  his  share  of  the  war  expenses 
along  with  every  other  business  concern  by  stamping  their  checks,  telegrams, 
insurance  policies,  express  receipts,  legal  instruments,  etc.,  etc.,  and  the 
special  tax  on  medicines  is  just  that  much  more  than  should  be  levied  on  the 
drug  trade,  and  should  be  removed.  There  was  no  reason  in  the  first  place  why 
manufacturers,  of  various  protected  articles,  who  are  enabled  by  governmental 
