Treasury notes issued under act of De cember 23d, 1857...... Treasury notes issued under act of December 17th, 1860....... Treasury notes issued under acts of June 22d, 1860, and February and March, 1861-two years...... Treasury notes issued under acts of March 2d, July 17th and August 5th, 1861, for 60 days-temporary loan.. Three-years bonds, dated August 19th, 1861, issued under act of July 17th, 1861.. Three-years bonds, dated October 1st, 1861, issued under acts of July 17th, 1861...... Three-years bonds under act of July, Rate. 6.. $2,883,364.11 2,883,364.11 6.. 9,415,250.00 9,415,250.00 6.. 8,908,341.80 8,908,341.80 6.. 20,000,000.00 20,000,000.00 5.. 7,022,000.00 7,022,000.00 6.. 18,415,000.00 5.. Advanced. Paid back. $1,125,000 230,000 74,000 92,000 support of the Federal Government involved the apportionment of the tax among the States, $450,000 according to their Federal representation, since 900,000 direct taxes, or taxes upon property, are by the 775,000 Constitution so ordered. Hence, the proportion 400,000 of the whole tax which each State is required 307,500 123,000 to pay depends, not upon its ability, but upon 200,000 80,000 its numbers. The following table gives the 500,000 512,500 205,000 population of each State, the amount of its 1,515,000 606,000 debt in 1861, the amount of the State valua500,000 200,000 tion on which local taxes are levied, and the $10,255,500 $4,105,000 portion which each State must pay of the Federal tax of $20,000,000: 200,000 Taxation.-The levying of a direct tax for the The imposition of this tax falls very unequally. Thus, Missouri must pay nearly as much as Massachusetts, although the latter has more than double the taxable wealth, and quite five times the actual wealth of Missouri, which has been impoverished by the war operations, while the industry of Massachusetts has been less interrupted by hostilities. The tax in Missouri is two dollars on the thousand of valuation; in Massachusetts, it is less than one dollar. Illinois, with less than half the taxable property, must pay 40 per cent. more tax as compared with Massachusetts; and taxes on articles of $11,296,306,942 consumption will, of course, fall heaviest on the largest population. The aggregate valuation here given is that on which the State taxes are levied. The census gave another estimate of valuation which carried the amount to $16,000,000,000. The following shows the Federal representative numbers and the census valuation, distinguishing real and personal property. The aggregate of real and personal property is given at $17,088,417,635, or $5,792,110,693 in excess of the amount on which the State taxes are levied. Yet in New York and Massachusetts the State valuation is the highest. TABLE SHOWING THE FEDERAL POPULATION, AND THE ASSESSED VALUE OF REAL AND PEE SONAL PROPERTY OF THE SEVERAL STATES OF THE UNION. CENSUS, 1860. TRUE VALUE OF REAL AND PERSONAL ESTATE, According to the Seventh Ceneus, 1850, and the Eighth Census, 1860, respectively. its credit, unless it makes available, by taxation, The State valuation is, however, the practical one. In addition to the aggregate debt of the States, there are the city, town, and county debts, which swell the amount to fully $300,000,000, and make the whole public debt, actual and authorized, $1,400,000,000, bearing an annual average charge of $84,000,000, or, in round numbers, $100,000,000, with a one per cent. sinking fund. The $781,000,000 that have been paid in the past eighty years of the Government, were met by the duties levied on the goods purchased abroad with the proceeds of cotton sold. That resource is, for the present, at all events, cut off, and the general exports of the country will not sustain an import revenue more than equal to the ordinary expenses of the Government; hence, the whole burden of the debt must fall upon taxation, direct and indirect. These taxes, which are now new in the country, will be systematized, so as hereafter to yield the largest portion of the Government Net export, 1849 to 1861... revenue made necessary by the debt. The currency necessities of the Government have produced also another radical change. Heretofore, under the Constitution, gold and silver have been the only legal currency, and the powers of Government have been repeatedly directed to its increase as the basis of the circulating medium. The Government has, however, resorted to paper money as a resource, by which $150,000,000 are obtained by the use of notes, where bank notes have previously circulated to the extent of $200,000,000. This paper, competing with that of the banks, as a matter of course, would depreciate in the proportion in which it is emitted to the amount of taxes collected. If the taxing is sufficient to meet the wants of the Government, there will be no depreciation of paper, whether the notes are paid in coin or not. The banks issue, in the United States, some $200,000,000 of paper for circulation, payable in coin; yet, in ordinary times, they are never really paid in coin, because they are carried back to the issuer through the cancelment of the credits on which they were issued. If that did not take place, redemption in coin would be impossible; as it does take place, redemption in coin is not asked. The case is not different with the Government. No possible form or device of paper issue can save United States mines, 1821 to 1849.. $18,811,206 On hand, 1849.. United States mines, 1849 to 1861..$481,880,963 On hand, January, 1861... Net import, 1861...... ... In the country, January, 1862... $87,000,000 61,642,397 75,458,603 $112,453,603 481,552,145 49,828,818 The amount in the country in 1821 was the estimate of the Secretary of the Treasury. The result is the amount in the whole country, including about $60,000,000 which is in banks, &c., at the South. It has been estimated that there is $50,000,000 in plate, jewelry, &c. There would then remain about $127,000,000 in Northern banks and circulation. Of this amount, $50,000,000 are gold dollars and silver fractions. A considerable portion of the whole has gone out of circulation, leaving an opening for an equal quantity of paper, which, for denominations above $5, will be well supplied with Government notes, and bank issues for small notes. The large increase which took place in the imports of specie in 1861 grew out of the balance due the United States from the foreign trade, which brought large sums of specie into the country, and caused the retention of the California supplies. The general state of the trade, as manifest in the rates of bills and money, and the amount of specie in the city of New York monthly during the year, are expressed in the following tables: 21 61 $24,839,475 51 7 38,044,229 3,336,700 41,380,929 74 7 41,408,308 6,092,841 47,501,149 7,614,058 45,116,460 42,078,011 6,093,283 48,172,294 2575 10 10 77 2767O7776666 41,609,063 . 12 26,182,235 49,591,379 7,945,939 49,555,002 1,598,100 27,780,335 $47,640,462 65 $42,325,916 28 $40,676,758 40 The following is the proportion of shipments from California to New York: 1855. 1857.. |$84,485,949 $37,088,413 368,408,112 $4,236,250 In December, the amount drawn from the banks was very large, and involved their suspension. It is to be regarded as a matter of course, that the stagnation of trade which 1854. caused specie to arrive from abroad in place of goods, and which caused money to accumu. late in the banks, also produced unusually low prices for money. Few people wished to employ it, and the lenders were fain to accept low rates. The table on page 303 shows the highest and lowest rates of sterling bills in each month, the highest and lowest rates for money, and the amount of specie in the banks and subtreasury, forming the total in mints. The year opened with a very low rate for sterling bills, being nearly seven per cent. under the nominal par, and several per cent. below the cost of importing specie. The arrivals consequently were large; and none of the California receipts being shipped, the amount in the city rose nearly $20,000,000 to March. The metals continued to fluctuate between the banks and the Treasury in proportion as the banks paid it over for loans and gradually re-collected it from the Government disbursements. The supply of gold from California was indeed less in the year 1861 than for previous years. The State has of late supplied more of its own wants, and has therefore exported less gold, while of that diminished export a larger quantity has gone direct to Europe. California Gold Receipts, Exports, and Coinage. 1860. 1861.. The shipments have declined since 1854, when they were, at the highest, $10,700,000 per annum; but the proportion sent to New York has, it appears, fallen off more than $13,000,000, by reason of the greater quantities sent to China and to England direct. The gold exported from California to New York is in refined bars mostly. These are stamped with the value according to the fineness. The bars, on being lodged at the New York Assay Office for coinage, are charged five cents per ounce for parting the silver, onehalf per cent. for coinage. The silver required for coinage is of the standard. This is taken from the parted silver, and the remaining silver is coined at a charge of one-half per cent. The calculation is simple. Thus, a bar stamped 840 fine, $17 36.4341, will be worth, when coined, $17 42.5951. Thus, 387 oz. of gold, 1,000 fine, are worth $8,000; and 99 oz. of silver, 1,000 fine, are worth $128. Hence, 387: 8,000 :: 840: 1736.4341. From $17 36.4341 is deducted per cent. for coinage, leaving $17 27.7519. In a bar, 840 fine, the silver is 155; hence, 99 128 155: 20.0404. From this deduct the 110 of alloy re quired, and the result is.. Charge for parting.. Charge per cent for coinage.. 18.9434 8.0000 80947 18.5457 9943 14.6499 Adding the 5 premium for silver, on cents Value in coin, gold bar, 840 fine.......... $17 42.5951 The invoices of gold received from California range from 675 to 950 fine. The average of the bars governs the deposit. We have annexed a carefully prepared table, showing at a glance the value of any bar deposited. No allowance for silver is made, unless the bars deposited yield $5 above the expense of parting. |