A Five-million Deficit

The deficiency producer known as the Wüsotn law continúes its deadly vork. The receipts tor the first haU of the month of May are only $12,843, 4S8, tuid the deficiency for the ü'teen days of the ni'cmth is' in round figures $5,000,000. It is apparent Chat the month of May is go Ing to-be as disappointing as numerous o Mier months- practically every month in fact. - since th law went into1 effect. Ifc is sca;rcely probable that the receipts for the mpntli will reach $26,000,000, thus lalling $4,000,000 or $5,000,000 below the average inontlily expenditures. The deíiciency íor the fiscal year thus i'ar is a littleover $l'S,000,000, or $10,000,000 in excess of Secreta-ry Carlisle's latest isttmate and $56,000,000 more tluui his original estiimate. As a guesser on the operatiions of the Treasury Department Secretary Carltele is not a Bucceas. On December 3, 1894, -svhen the Wllson law bad been over three months in operation, Mr. Carlisle in bis report to congres said : It is assumed Uiat upom the basis of existáis law.s tú revenue of the government íor tlhe fiscal year 1890 Win be from customs $185,000,000, trom imteraal revenue $190,000,000, tram miscelaneous sources $15,000,000. Follow.'n tlii; statement he presented hifi estímate of the expenditures, which lie put at $357,000,000 exclusive of the postal service. His i uil .statement rounded up with the estimate tlhat the surplus for the fiscal year, cnding June 30, 1896, wcrald be $28,814,920. It is now witliin 4G days oï the End of the fiscal year. Uhe cusbom receipts, which Mr. 'Carlisle estimated -svould be $185,000,000, are now $145,000,000, and to Uiis the next 46 days Kvill add abo-ut $15,000,000, bringing the total to l$160, 000,000 iu round figures, or $25, 000,000 'belwv Mr. CarlLsle's tímate. He ateo estimated that mtei-nal revenue receipts would be for íhe year, $190,000,000. They now iimount to $127,000,000, and be at fhe end oí the yaar, 46 days. henee, alxmt $143,000,000, or $47,000,000 Short of Mr. Carlisle's estímate. It Ís now apparent that tlie operations oí the fiscal year, instead of producing a surplus of $28,814,920, BS estimated "by Secretary Carlisle, twill produce a deficieney of about $35,000,000, besides tlie postal deficieney, w-hich will probably amount to atcout $10,000,000. inaUing tlie real deficieney {or the jysar $45,000,000, imstead of a surplus of $28,814,920. Had Secretary Carltsle cari-ied out the ordei-s oí Icoagres ín refeard to the refund of internal revenue tax paid on alcohol rwithdrawn íor manufacturing purposes, there ■would 'have been taken from the proceeds of tlie revenue law $12,000,000, thus lncreasing tlie delieiency by fchat amournt. Ttoeao figures, It should lie remembered, include notliing ior the fund. The law requives that a g-iven amount i. ■ sel aside eacli year íor tlie shiking lui'.d to extinguish the public debt. Had bhis vequirement been complica wii.i. it would Ihave added $45,000,000 to the Ueíicieney, maWng it ver 9100,000,000 or tlxe year. The recklessness of Secretary CarJisle's original estímate oí ?2S,000,000 srirplus {or tlie fiscal year 1869 is more etronsly marked because it was made in tai eíace of extraordinarlly low receipts under the Wilsoii law at tlie time the estímate 'wasi sent to congress. This estímate was made on December 3, 1894, when the Wilson law had toen in operation three montáis, and had averaged only 620,000,000 a month in its total revenue. Yet Mr. Carlisle based nis estímate of receipts on an assumption of 50 per cent. more tiian the law had produced up to that time. The oojiBtaiit assurance of the fi-iendis oï the WilBon law tüat it would improve wit'h age, so to speak, or, in otiher words, furnisli more rev-enue, atter It had got into working order, ie not being realized. The cusbom receipts for the last month feil early $1,000,000 short of the corresponding month in tlie preceding year, -while those for March were $1,500,000 öhoi-t of those of the preceding year. The total deiiciency ior the month of May '95, was $3,286,135, while the deiiciency oi May 1896 up to to-day, is $5,000,000. The falling off in the custonvs receipts Is üue to tlie falling off iiü the importatians, whiicli ■wei'e enormously in excess of public denmand during the ïirst year of the Wilson law. So excessive liad been the importations of last year that th.ose oí the present year have fallen off greatly. The April importations were only $5S,705,299 against $68.794,958 in the corresponding moiitli of last year- a falling oif of over $10,000,000, and a consequent reduction in the custouis receipts. The total deiiciency since the ■Wilson law went into operation, twenty months and eighteen days ago, is over $85,000,000, and tlieto1 al expeMiditures in exce.-ss of receipts :sinco this administration came into office is in round numbers