Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will attract especial interest
in view of the many misleading statements that have been made as to the
state of the public revenues. Three preliminary facts should not only be
stated but emphasized before looking into details: First, that the public
debt has been reduced since March 4, 1889, $259,074,200, and the annual
interest charge $11,684,469; second, that there have been paid out for
pensions during this Administration up to November 1, 1892,
$432,564,178.70, an excess of $114,466,386.09 over the sum expended during
the period from March 1, 1885, to March 1, 1889; and, third, that under the
existing tariff up to December 1 about $93,000,000 of revenue which would
have been collected upon imported sugars if the duty had been maintained
has gone into the pockets of the people, and not into the public Treasury,
as before. If there are any who still think that the surplus should have
been kept out of circulation by hoarding it in the Treasury, or deposited
in favored banks without interest while the Government continued to pay to
these very banks interest upon the bonds deposited as security for the
deposits, or who think that the extended pension legislation was a public
robbery, or that the duties upon sugar should have been maintained, I am
content to leave the argument where it now rests while we wait to see
whether these criticisms will take the form of legislation.
The revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, from all sources
were $425,868,260.22, and the expenditures for all purposes were
$415,953,806.56, leaving a balance of $9,914,453.66. There were paid during
the year upon the public debt $40,570,467.98. The surplus in the Treasury
and the bank redemption fund passed by the act of July 14, 1890, to the
general fund furnished in large part the cash available and used for the
payments made upon the public debt. Compared with the year 1891, our
receipts from customs duties fell off $42,069,241.08, while our receipts
from internal revenue increased $8,284,823.13, leaving the net loss of
revenue from these principal sources $33,784,417.95. The net loss of
revenue from all sources was $32,675,972.81.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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