The Washington times., 1894-12-31

The close of the fourth month of the opera
tions of the new tariff law presents some in
teresting and not altogether pleasing prob
ieris for the statesmen to solve after their
holiday rest They come along, too, just in
time to be taken into consideration in con-
nection with the currency and gold disap-
pearance questions, and i is believed by
many are so intimately as; ociated with those
question that the one is largely the result Of
the other There are a good many people
who believe that all the furry about the dis
appearance OF the gold reserve would never
have come had the receipts of the Treasury
been sufficient TO meet the current expenses.
Fortunately the figures for the year which
is just ending are accessible. and may be COM
pared with the figures Of other years at the
same time the figures of the four months of
the new tariff are compared with other
periods. II is a curious coincidence that the
losses of the Treasury since the re.eirts began
to fall below the expenditures have been pre-
cisely identical with the sum which has been
raised by the sale OF bonds, ostensibly for the
purpose of keeping up the gold reserve. "
which reserve was really depleted by being
drawn upon for money to meet the
RUNNING EXPENSES OF THE TREASURY.
The years 1898 and 1894 are the only ones
since the close of the war in which the re-
ceipts haye fallen below the expenditures.
1t is not necessary.to.go back very far, but it
may be interesting to see what the record has
! been for the past ten years. Ii is as follows:
1885. surplus S4S 600 600; 1886, surplus, $780,
0O0, 600; 1887. surplus. Sl02. 600; 1888, sur
plus, $4,000, 900: 1885, surplus. Sl00, ,00Oi
| 1890. surplus, Sill, 600, 900; 1891, surplus,
! 81, ,000. 900; 1892 surplus. S25, 100000; 1898,
deficiency, S44, 900, ,0O0; 1894, deficiency, $685.
O00. 900.
1t seems little curious that the deficiency
| of the past two years amounts to precisely
the sum for which bonds have been issued,
/ but it is a fact.
Another curious and interesting fact, nain-
| full though il may be to the friends OF the
new tariff law, is that more than one-thlrd of
the deficiency of the past twenty-four months
has been produced In the four months in
which the new tariff law has been in opera
ton. The new law went into effect August
2s. For the four months ending December
% the books of the Treasury show the fol-
lowing receipts: August (three days.,
S2O66. 7l9; September, S22, ,621, ,228; October,
SIS, ,l39, ,240; November. S19, All ,403; December
(twenty-eight days, s2l, ,541 ,814; total,
$50, ,I26.190.
Expenditures August (three days, s3, ,127,
IA; September, $50. 1928. .016; October, $32,-
| 7I8,OS9; November, s2S. AT, ,1SS; December
Qtwenty-eight days, S26, ,077, 900; total, s1lS,-
,17s.
THIS SHOWS THE FOLLOWING FIGURES
as the operations of the Treasury during the
first four months of the new law, as follows:
Expenditures, s118. .9OS, ,1Ts; receipts, $685.
126, 100; deficiency, $35. .7s7. 1888.
1t is interesting, also, to compare the opera
tions of the past four months. under the new
law, with the operations under the old law in
the corresponding months OF former years.
The result Is as follows:
September, October, November, December,
1891, surplus. 81, 100000
September, October, November, December
1892, surplus, S2,000000.
September, October, November, December,
1888, deficit, S21 ,0O0, 900.
September, October. November, December
1894, deficit. S35, ,787 1888.
One other form of comparison may not be
uninteresting. 1t is as to the monthly re
eeipts of the Treasury under the forty-seven
months Of the Mckinley law, as compared
with the monthly receipts under the four
months of the new law.
Average receipts per month under McKin
ley law. S31 ,000. 900.
Average receipts per month under Wilson
law, S21 ,000, 900.