Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/353

Rh have exerted the slightest influence on the production and consumption of distilled spirits in the United States. But the advent in 1894 of a similar state of affairs in the latter country speedily manifested itself, reducing the current per capita consumption from 1·48 gallons in 1893 to 1·33 gallons; the direct revenue from $89,231,000 in 1893 to $79,899,000; the current per capita consumption from 1·48 to 1·33 gallons, and the total annual revenue to the extent of $9,461,008.

The normal consumption of distilled spirits in the United States in 1894, as indicated by withdrawals from distilleries and warehouses, was about 8,000,000 gallons a month. The extent to which the increase in the direct tax on spirits by the act of August 28, 1894, from ninety cents to one dollar and ten cents per gallon, was anticipated by speculators is strikingly illustrated by the fact that an average monthly revenue from the lesser tax of about $8,000,000 per month during the first six months of 1894 increased during the month of July and the first twenty-seven days of August to $19,064,000 and $21,470,000 respectively, and declined in the succeeding month of September to $510,696.

Any review of the comparatively recent tax experiences of the United States would be incomplete that failed to notice its taxation (concurrent with that on distilled spirits) of domestic fermented liquors (beer, etc.). The internal revenue tax on this commodity has been practically uniform since its first authorization in 1863, namely, one dollar per barrel, holding theoretically thirty-one gallons. The tax was originally assessed and collected on the returns of the brewers, and was largely evaded. After July, 1866, it was successfully enforced through the employment of stamps, one of which, "denoting the amount of the tax," is required to be affixed upon the spigot hole or tap (of which there shall be but one) in such a way that the stamp shall be destroyed upon the withdrawal of the liquor from the barrel or other receptacle. The following table exhibits in detail the experience which has characterized each fiscal year since the inception of this source of revenue in 1863 down to and including 1894: