Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-03-09
Receipts and Expenditures OF tho Fede-
raj Government.

Receipts and Expenditures OF tho Fede-
raj Government.
most instructive document has just been
laid before the Senate of the United States.
1t is very short, only seven pages in all, and
rather repulsive in its appearance, every
page except the last being taken up with six
or seven long columns of figures, with abso-
lutely no reading matter" but still this
mass of dry facts contains the results OF our
whole financial history. 1t gives US the re-
ceipts and expenses of the General Govern
ment, classified and arraoged under appro-
pirate heads, from March 4, 1889, when the
Union under the present Constitution was
u>hered into existence, dawn to June 80,
/ 1857 10 these sixty eight years, the total
amount OF receipts into The treasury has
reached the enormous SUN OF 81 ,955 1885,
226 IS, nearly two thousand millions of dol
lars. The annual income from ordinary
sources has ranged from Si,4lS,9l3 in the
I first year Of the gOyerumont, TO $40, $50, S99
10 the year 1856. The vast aggregate of
receipts was male up from the following
sOurces:-
Internal Revenue. .............2 2,2Is,v@3 81
}. =. .
! Postage OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. ,0a2,2 SO
/ Public Lands ........-.-,.-. .lo',oSo,5'l 10
Bank STOCK and dividends. .2l 1862 80
miscellaneous. 81, 'oo,V'O ~
Loans and treasury notes 800. 307 ,S3s570 70
! OF these sources of reve ne, the customs,
public lauds, and that sailed ''miscelsoe
ous' alone are permanent. The internal
revenue has yielded but little for thirty years
past and for ten years absolutely nothing
and the same is true OF the direct taxes, the
lat scattering receipts from which ceased in
1887. 1t is twenty years since the item OF
postage has appeared on the right side, the
department having for long time been
heavy burden upon the treasury, its detisien.
cy amounting last year II nearly three-and-
a-half millions. These three items have
produced but little since the war with Eng
land. Daring that war, however, they were
very important sources of income, twJ-thlrds
of the eutire income from these branches of
revenue having been obtained during the
years 1914 10 l6-'lT, and but triHIng
amount siuce The dividends and sales of
bank stock have, Of course, ceased, since the
downfall of the United States bank, the only
receipts from tAat source now being an coca
slOuaI trItng payme1; IN adjusting accounts.
The receipts from public lands are now a
Constant source OF Income, but irregular IN
prodUcrlyene,s. In the year 1896 nearly
&25 ,00O, 600 were realized from this source,
tue next largest amount being Sll,5OOO 900
in 1854 ). which tell last year to less than
$4,000, 900.
The expenditures Of the government, for
the six;y-eight years of its existence have
been
Civil list. 1909 $50 %
Foreign intercourse. .......I5,S 3S,55S %
Miscellaneous l,9o5,jSi 81
Military. 4S4Ol73l9 43
Observation-Disclosures. 10, l6O,669 70
Indian Department. II, l6s,l+i IL
Naval. 3J7, 3g6,Ig2 81
Public debt. ............ @94 643,724 90
1t is impossible for US to give anything
like an aualy-is Of these expenditures -
Every item 10 the list is one which constant
~ recurs, and generally with tolerably re-
gnlar increase of amount. But there is one
fact which is somewhat strikingly exhibited |
BIZ these returns. The ratio OF increase in |
the expenses OF the government seems to be |
constantly increasing, 40 that not only the |
sum total is enlarging; but 1t expands with |
accelerated rapidly. Our total e1pendl- |
lures, exclusive Of the public debt, are now |
something over $50 100000 annually, and |
vet the year before the Mexican war, they
amounted TO but 100000, while ten
years before that date, when the Seminole |
war was pressing upon the treasury, causing |
an annual outlay OF S6,0O0,0OO or more. the
total expenses, civil and military, were but
$50 900 900.
These accounts oil our national e1pendi
ture teach at least one important lesson. |
They show that no agency, not even war, |
with all its wasteul expenditure, is so po- |
tent to Increase the cost OF government IN |
every department of its expenses, As the pos |
session Of abundant revenues. The eDor- |
nous increase of expenditure, which we !
have noticed between 1915 u and the pre-.
sent time, has followed pretty regularly the
increasing revenue from the customs, and
NUT, we think, be ascrIbed to that increase.
We can hardly attribute il to the natura! in
crease, which follows rs a necessity from the |
growth of the country, for there is too mark.
cd disparity IN the ratios of Increase; nor
can we assign aOy temporary extraordinary |
circumstances or the undertaking of new en-
terprises by the government as its cause, for
the increase has taken place IN every branch |
of the publ; service, from the civil list to ,
the lndian department ADD the navy. We
can only conclude that the abundance OF
funds 10 the public treasury is the cause;
and hope, but we fear vainly, that the pre-
sent depletion of the government vaults may
enforce return TO something of the former
frugality of e1penditure.-Bo Boston DAILY Adr.
Virginia Timber.
Within the last five years thousands of
acres of Virginia timber have been culled,
and the majestic growth of centuries has
fallen before the wood mans axe. Timber
for fuel, timber for railroad purposes, and