The herald., 1897-11-17
OFFICE OF THE HERALD.


LOS ANGELES. Nov 16. 1897.
So far for the current fiscal year the re-
tation between government receipts and
expenditures is less favorable than for the
first four months OF the last fiscal year.
The receipts for the month of october
amounted to s24,ss .415. which represents
On increase OF over $2.4oO,ooo as compared
with the preceding month, but decrease
Of nerly $l.sOo,00o a. compared with the
correspondfng month of last year. says
Rradstrect's. The falling of as compared
with last year WIS altogether under the
head OF customs. the receipts from internal
revenue showing an increase. The ex-
penditures for tho month amounted to $780,
701,5l2, whtch represents an increase Of
over S,l0O, 600 os compared with the prcced-
!ng mcmth, hut decrease of over 900
as compared with the corresponding month
of last year. Pension disbursements fig
ured largely IN the increase az compared
with October, 1896.
For the four months ending with Octo-
Der this year the receipts amounted to
e1A, ,750, 27O. which represents a decrease OF
about 500, 900. as compared with the cores
ponding period OF last year. Customs du-
tics amounted to $41.Sal,2O7, which was a
decrease OF over 81, GOO. ono as compared with
the corresponding period Of last year. The
receipts from interra! revenue. ON the
other hard. Fipwed an increase OF over
$6 ,o00 as compared with tho first fou:
months of the last fiscal year Miscel-
lancous receipts showed q failing OFT OF
nearly 81. 100 O0o as compared with the cor
responding period last yeer. The ex-
penditures for the four months ending with
October amounted to $l42. ;5a. .oS1, which wss
on increase OF over 900 az compared
with the corresponding period of the year
before. The Items showing exccsses over
last year were expenditures ON account
Of tho war department, where the Increase
was over $7.0O0.000; pensions, which showed.
an increase OF nearly So, 800, 900. and interest,
where the increase amounted to only
little over. ssa.0O0 Tho items showing de-
creases were civil and miscellaneous ex-
penditures. where there was q falling Off
Of over 340O. 900 900 expenditures on account
Of the navy. where theac was decrease of
q little over 81 ZOO, ,000 and expenditures for
Indians. where the failing Off was about
the same in amount For the first four
months of the last fiscal year the exepndi-
lures showed an excess OF nearly $S2.9OO.-
900 over the receipts, whereas for the cor
responding period Of the present fiscal year
the excess on the same side amounted to
over $3s, 600 oc0. an increase Of over $4,000 OOO
in the deficit thus far, as compared with
last year.
Internal revenue receipts for the last
fiscal year showed q slight decrcase--a lit
tic over $780, 0O0--as compared with those
for the fiscal year preceding. The receipts
from all internal revenue sources amount
cd to slic,6l9,593. The repor9 Of the COM
missioner. just made public, shows that
there was am increase of $l,3SS.47c In the re-
ceipts from distilled spirits. as compared
with the preceding fiscal year, and de-
Grease OF about the same amount in the
receipts from fermented liquors. The tota.
production of distilled spirits. exclusive
Of fruit brandies was G2. .4G5, GAS taxable gall
Ions. which represented a decrease of
?4.12s055 gallons as compared with 1896.
There were also produced 2s9,92l gallons
OF apple brandy. l7,c5l Of peach brandy,
l.%SG.6SG gallons OF grape brandy. and
varying amounts OF other fruit brandes.
making a total Of 1.SlS, i27 gallons. or an ag-
Kregate decrease of 1,59O.4o5 gallons. The
quantity Of distilled spirits gauged was
GAG 92i gallons. which represented a de-
crease of 2s,2s'.s4l gallons as compared
with the preceding year.
= 4 =
A useful table Is published In the British
Board of Trade Journal for Ocu-ber. 1t
Is the statement compiled by the secretary
Of her maiesty's customs of the tonnage of
pig-iron and steel billets imported into
Great Britain from The United States In
1897 to the end Of September. The total
import of pig for that period was $4,000
tons. and Of steel blooms and billets $1,000
tons. a London exchange says: "These
figures are not so far very alarming. but
1t will be. observed that the amounts do
not include our imports OF rails. wire nails.
and other manufactured commodities
which the Americans have recently been
exporting on very large scale. 1t would
be worth while to publish returns Of these
Imports at a later date. Meanw hile, 1t is
comforting to find that the quantities of
pig-iron and unworked steel imported have
diminished as the year advanced, until
In September they were less than one
fifth OF the volume imported In February.
Americans themselves appear to think that
for a time at least we shall receive very
little more from their country. Prices
have recently been rising fast. and there
Is every expectation of something like
boom"
4 \ 4
1t is reported that a company has been
formed 10 develop Russian-American COM
merce on a large scale. According to the
report, plans setting forth the principal OBJ
jects Of the enterprise have been submitted
to President Mckinley and Secretary
Gage. The priclpal offices Of the company,
1t Is said. will be in New York. and branches
will be at ST. Petersburg. Moscow, Odessa
Riga. Warsaw, and Astrakhan. in Euro
pean Russia, and at Vladivo ostock Omsk
and Tomsk. In Siberian Russia.
On tho sub1est of electric railway devel-
opment the Railway Age says: "Ten
years ago there were only SO miles of cleo
trio railway track In the United States
Now there are over $4,000 miles. In these
ten years. street railway propulsion has
been revolutlonizcd. Horse cars have dis
appeared entirely from mos. of the lines
and will soon be curiosities, cable lines
have probably reached their rlaximum
mileage, while the number of electrically
operated cars has grown from 172 to over
$1,000. These are some OF the Impressive
facts shown by the following table. taken
from an article In the Western Electrician
entitled A Decade of Electric Railway
Developments
january J.
1 1888. 1897.
Total number of onerattnr