Treasury Department November 16^th, 1798. Sir, In pursuance of the request in your letter of the 14^th Instant and for the purposes therein mentioned I enclose a view of the public finances. I am respectfully Sir Your Obedient Servant [signed] Oliv Wolcott The Secretary of War The Secretary of the Treasury in pursuance of the request contained in the letter from the Secretary of War dated the 14^th Instant, and with reference to the facts mentioned in the document accompanying the same submits the following view of the finances of the United States. Of the Revenue The duties on Imports and Tonnage have produced in the Treasury the following sums Viz. — During the year 1795 Dolls $8,548,961.26 During the year 1796 ...... 6,567,987.94 During the year 1797 ...... 7,549,649.65 During the four months preceding the first of October 1798 7,406,420.86 It is presumed that notwithstanding the depreciation of our Commerce the before mentioned amount of Revenue may be safely estimated at ............... $d 7,000,000 The duties on Domestic distilled Spirits, Still Licences & Carriages, Licences for selling foreign Spirits and Wines by retail, refined Sugar and Carriages have produced during the periods above mentioned, the following sums — 1795 — During During the year 1795 [undecipherable] 337,935.36 During the year 1796 ...... 675,289.60 During the year 1797 ...... 570,491.65 During twelve months next preceding the 1^st of Oct^r 1798 638,879.67 It is estimated that including the product of the Stamp duties which began to be collected on the first of July 1798, and after no considerable sum had reached the Treasury by the 1^st of October, the before mentioned duties will produce annually the following .... 800,000 Revenue from the Post Office 50,000 Foreign Bills Interest 1,400 Dividends on the Capital Stock of the Bank of the United States belonging to the United States calculated on 2330 Shares at $32 Dollars ⅌ Share 70,040 Proceeds of that part of the Sinking Fund which consists of Interest on Stock purchased and redeemed 89,457 Total annual value of the Branches of Revenue above mentioned $[8,]811,897.84 Of the Expenditures The Interest of the Foreign Debt is secured by a permanent appropriation, and certain duties on Imposts imposed by an Act passed on the 2^d of March [undecipherable] are pledged for the payment of the Principal of the said Debt. [The] Installments of principal fall due in unequal Sums annually from the present Times till the year 1809, [undecipherable] which [undecipherable] the last payment. Interest and certain [undecipherable] of the Domestic debt are also secured by permanent appropriations; in the year 1801 a new charge for the [full] extinguishing a [sum] of the [undecipherable] Debt will fall [undecipherable] the Revenue amounting to $d 146,370; and by the Act of August the 4^th 1790 the Sum of Six hundred thousand Dollars of the [Imposts] and Tonnage is annually reserved to defray the expenses of Government. [Int] But when We turn [to] the permanent charges upon the Revenue, it is at no distant period very considerably increased; yet it may now be estimated to be [undecipherable]. [undecipherable] to state the Expenditures as arising under the Installments which can now be formed for the amount yet due. The Expenditures exclusive of the Military and Naval Establishment, seem to be nearly as follows. For the Civil list including the salaries of Consuls [undecipherable] for the underwritten $140,000 Annuities and Grants 2,500 Mint Establishment 12,000 Diplomatic Expenses 100,000 Military Pensions 114,000 Light Houses exclusive of the expenses of 2 new Erections 40,000 Treaties with Barbary Powers 100,000 Indian Expenses 50,000 For Miscellaneous Expenses which experience has proven will be incurred such as contingent expenses of Government [generally?] by Congress, Charges [for] the protection of American Seamen &c it will not be safe to calculate on the Expenditures of $300,000 200,000 The Appropriations to the Debt of the United States are as follows — For the Foreign Debt 1800 calculating on a rate of Exchange at 40 Cents ⅌ Guilder 676,391. For the Domestic Debt 3,063,120.67 For Interest on temporary Loans 239,400. Making in the whole a permanent expenditure upon the scale of existing establishment and a [undecipherable] of the Military & Naval establishment[;] [undecipherable] considerable deduction from the amount of Revenue. It is necessary however to [undecipherable] the support of the military & naval establishment as a fund for the payment of interest and the reimbursement of new Loans the amount sum of 4,979,479 The [foregoing] is stated as the permanent Revenue and [permanent] Expenditures of the United States [accordingly stated] [signed] O Wolcott Establishments, independent of the Military and Naval establishments; this however is not strictly the case — Inclusive in the [estimates] the Revenue from Imposts and Tonnage is the product of a duty of [sixty] cents on each bushel of imported Salt which has for the last two or three years [undecipherable] the [establishing] of Salt [undecipherable] the [undecipherable] of [undecipherable] which may be [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] there are daily made from three hundred to fifty thousand Dollars; the duties on Salt at Custom House [undecipherable] large [undecipherable] to [undecipherable] [distilled] Spirits, and on Carriages will amount [undecipherable] in the year 1802 [undecipherable] an estimate of one hundred & ninety five thousand Dollars. Of these [if] these duties should not be continued, the permanent Revenue may possibly suffer a depreciation which is now estimated at $200 thousand and thirty five thousand Dollars; against this depreciation an equivalent sum to arise from the progress of national wealth and consumption may, however, be presumed to be safely expected. In order to present a full view of the resources of the Treasury the following provisions made by Acts passed during the last Session of Congress ought however to be considered. 1^st The product of a Direct Tax of Five Millions of Dollars granted by an Act passed on the 14^th of July, with the provision of anticipating the amount thereof by a Temporary Loan granted by an Act passed on the 14^th of July 1798. 2^nd The Sum which may be attained in consequence of the Act passed on the 16^th of July 1798, authorizing a Permanent Loan of Five Millions of Dollars. A great progress has been made in the preliminary arrangements for collecting the Direct Tax [as not to have been effected], and nothing has yet occurred to render it improbable that a considerable part of this Tax, at least, will be received into the Treasury in the course of the ensuing year; — It is moreover certain that monies can be obtained on Loan, though on terms less favorable than they have been heretofore effected; it is believed however that the increased expense [expected] to attend new Loans, ought not to be attributed to a distrust of public credit, but solely to the high value of money at the present times. [Cont] But to the resources expected from the Direct Tax & from Loans, there ought to be opposed certain expenditures which will be required to fulfill the stipulations of the Treaty with Great Britain, and for objects provided for by appropriation which remain unsatisfied; the amount is not susceptible of any precise Estimate, though it is certain that the amount would be considerable. To confirm and illustrate the several facts before stated the following papers are hereto annexed: — 1^st A Report presented by the Committee of Ways and Means to the House of Representatives on the first of May 1798, accompanied with documents transmitted from the Treasury Department on the 27^th of April last. 2^nd An Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of the United States, for one year prior to the first of October and a Statement of certain Appropriations which remained unsatisfied on the 14^th of November 1798. Treasury Department November 16, 1798 [signed] Oliv Wolcott Sec'y of the Treasy