Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-12-09

sight OF In the allowances heretofore
made. The compensation which may
suffice for the decent maintenance of a
worthy and capable officer in position
of onerous and representative trust at a
post readily accessible, and where the
necessaries of life are abundant and
cheap, may prove an inadequate pittance
IN distant lands where the better part of
a years pay is consumed in
reaching the post of duty end
where the comforts of ordinary
civilized existence can only be obtained
with difficulty and at exorbitant cost. 1
trust that in considering the submitted
schedules no mistaken theory of economy
Will perpetuate system which in the
past has virtually closed to deserving tai
ent, many offices where capacity and at
tainments of high order are indispens-
able; anu In not a few instances has
brought discredit on our national charac-
ter, and entaiied embarrassment and even
suffering on those Geputed to uphold our
dignity and interests abroad. In connec-
ton with the subject | earnestly reiterate
the practical necessity of supplying some
mode of trustworthy inspection and re-
port of the manner in which the consul
ates are conducted. In the absence of
such reliable information, efficiency can
scarcely be rewarded or its opposite cor
rected.
In creating competition in trade has
directed attention to the value of the con-
sular reports printed by the department
of state, and the efforts of the govern
ment to extend the practical usefulness of
these reports have created wider demand
for them at home, and as the spirit of
emulation abroad, constituting a record
of the changes occurring in trade, and of
the progress of the arts and invention in
foreign countries, they are much sought
for by all interested in the subjects which
they embrace.
THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE
TREASURY.
exhibits in detail, the coalition of the
public finance, and of the several branch
es of the government related to his de-
partment. l especially direct the at
tentlon of congress to the recommends
tlons contained in this and the last pre-
ceding report of the secretary, touching
the simplification and a1nendment of the
laws relating to the collection of our rev.
enues, and in the interest of economy and
justice to the government [ hope they
may be adopted by appropriate legisla-
ton. The ordinary receipts of the gov
eminent for the fiscal year ended June
80, 1886, were 1886, 439, 727.06. OF this
amount 1892, 905, 023.41 was received from
customs, and $116,805, 936.48 from inter
nal revenue, with the total receipts as
here stated were $13,749,O20.83 greater
than for the previous year, but the in
crease from customs was $11, 434, 084.10
and from internal revenue 4,407 ,210.94,
making gains in these items for the last
w-U,oEI ,1I0.U4, falling OFT In
other resources, reducing the total I'M
crease to the smaller amount mentioned.
The expense at the different custom
houses in collecting this increased Gus
tom revenue was less than the expense
attending the collection of such revenue
for the preceding year by $490,6O8, and
the increased receipts of internal revenue
were collected at a cost to the internal
revenue bureaus of $155, 944.99, less than
the expense of such collection for the
previous year. The total ordinary ex-
penses of the government for the fiscal
year ended June 30th, 1886, were $242,
433, 1850, being less by $I7,788,787 than
such expenditures for the year preceding,
and leaving surplus in the
treasury at the close of the last
fiscal year of $93, $50, 548.56,
as against $63, 1857 at the close of
the previous year, being an increase in
such surplus of $50, ,817.29. The ex-
penditures are compared with those of
the preceding fiscal year, and classified
as follows: